PATIENT SERVICES

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN

Using evidence-based neuropsychological instruments, patients are evaluated for a range of brain functions including attention, concentration, memory, language, intelligence, executive functioning (such as abstraction, reasoning, planning, judgment), sensori-perceptual ability, emotion, personality style, and quality of life issues.  Frequently, I see patients to provide support for a diagnosis or in cases of differential diagnosis.  For patients with neurosurgical disorders (i.e. brain tumor, epilepsy, CVA), I provide baseline and follow-up evaluations to monitor effects of neurological disorders and interventions as well as recommendations for treatment and rehabilitation.

WORK-FITNESS EVALUATIONS

Often, clinicians are asked to provide evidence of a patient’s ability to return to work.  A neuropsychological evaluation provides such guidance to physicians and to the work place on ability to return to work as well as suggested accommodations to the work environment.  Though these are often requested by the work-site, patients may also wish to have an independent evaluation of the best time and conditions to return to work.

TELEMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

Some patients have difficulty traveling to get medical services, have little time during the busy work day, or have unpredictable travel schedules.  For those and many others committed to ongoing psychotherapy, occasional or regularly scheduled remote telemental health sessions can help maintain continuity of treatment.

COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

Because neurological disorders often involve behavioral changes, this therapy focuses on the connection between brain and behavioral symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and irritability.  Therapy is sometimes combined with couple and family therapy to help those caring for loved ones.

SLEEP HYGIENE THERAPY

Approximately 20 percent of people have difficulty with sleep, and in persons with neurological dysfunction, the incidence is higher.  Sleep is essential to normal brain functioning (including focus of attention and concentration, memory, processing speed, and abstract thinking) and can aid recovery from a variety of events including brain injury, stroke, neurosurgery, and many others.  Sleep Hygiene Therapy helps patients to optimize sleep, improve cognitive performance, and aid in patients’ recovery after neurosurgical intervention.

NEUROCOGNITIVE REHABILITATION

This intervention is often very effective in the treatment of conditions such as brain tumor, epilepsy, stroke, and mild cognitive impairment.  Treatment focuses on cognitive retraining and compensation strategies to improve brain functioning.  This involves using strategies to work around cognitive changes and help improve functioning while also making changes to accommodate to one’s environment.