Nan Truitt, PhD. Clinical Psychologist
Why a Neuropsychologial approach?
Clinical neuropsychology is a sub-discipline of psychology that specializes in the clinical assessment and treatment of patients with brain injury or neurocognitive deficits. What distinguishes neuropsychological training from the generalist psychologist is an extensive knowledge of the brain. The clinical practice of neuropsychology involves studying the cognitive effects of injury or illness, or brain function, to understand psychological function.
Culturally sensitive Neuropsychological evaluations across the lifespan for:
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder (i.e., Autism Spectrum Disorders, Retts Disorder)
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Learning Disorders, and other behavioral, academic, and vocational problems
- Assessment of cognitive abilities for psychoeducational planning or determination of giftedness
- Psychiatric conditions with a high index of risk for organic involvement (i.e., chronic alcoholism, schizophrenia)
- Memory, attention, or language problems
- Identification and description of cognitive abilities in preparation for neurosurgery, including post-surgical testing
- Acquired brain injury (i.e., stroke, traumatic brain injury, central nervous system infection, toxic encephalopathy, brain tumor, or hypoxia)
- Medical conditions affecting central nervous system function (i.e., cardiovascular, renal, liver, respiratory disorders, and Lyme disease)
- Degenerative disease (i.e., Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis)