Neuropsychological evaluation of the child

It is with extreme pleasure that I write a review of this outstanding text, and also pride that I was selected to be the reviewer. When Dr. Lezak mailed me the book with a request to write a review forJINS, I literally called her and thanked her for this opportunity. I should note, this was not because I would receive a complimentary copy of The Neuropsychological Evaluation of the Child , as I had already purchased and read the text, and ordered an additional copy for my clinic and trainees’ access. Dr. Baron has provided those of us in the field of child0pediatric neuropsychology with has long been needed: a general background on clinical issues in conducting neurocognitive assessments with children and adolescents, along with practical matters and concerns, such as how to cope with the varying needs of different referral sources, and providing feedback to parents. Moreover, and most essential, the text comprehensively reviews neuropsychological measures under all cognitive domains, and presents exhaustively researched historical and current normative data for the developmental population. This compilation is an excellently written book that is comprehensive, detailed, current, thoughtful, and an invaluable reference for every child and pediatric neuropsychologist. Indeed, our colleagues who specialize in adult neuropsychological evaluations would well benefit from reading the text because the clinical insights are germane to all ages, and the normative data will enrich their understanding of brain function and progression throughout the development years. I will briefly outline the structure and content of The Neuropsychological Evaluation of the Child . The text begins with a discussion of how one encounters many different referral sources in the field of child neuropsychology. Pediatricians, school personnel, parents, pediatric neurologists, and other pediatric medical specialists will all request neuropsychological evaluations. Each source will have individual and varying aims, goals, and questions. Thus, it is appropriately emphasized that one needs to closely attend to the referral source when considering the structure of the valuation, and reporting of results. Pragmatic and logistic issues are addressed. Chapter 2 discusses important practical and clinical concerns such as the environment in which testing should occur, scheduling, and establishing rapport with the child0adolescent. An added bonus is the inclusion of a structured parent interview that will provide the child neuropsychologist with an excellent template for recording history and family information. The next chapter addresses how one communicates results, both within the format of a written report, and also during interpretive 0f edback sessions with the parents. In this section Dr. Baron shares with us her lessons from extensive clinical experience, as well as her professional child neuropsychological assessment and iagnostic acumen. The remainder of the text is devoted to cognitive domains and the presentation of normative data. Descriptions of virtually every neuropsychological test appropriate for children and adolescents are presented, and the corresponding normative data are rich and indispensable. Following an outline of approaches to domain assessment, measures of intelligence are described with relevant eliability and validity information, along with appropriate normative considerations. I found this brief review to be extremely clinically useful and practical. Unfortunately, the 4th version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children is not included in this section due to its recent publication. Dr. Baron then proceeds to evaluate tests by neurocognitive domain, and on an extremely refreshing note, this is not done in a rote manner. In addition to listing available tests under each domain along with relevant normative data, if not supplied by the test publisher, theoretical considerations have been addressed. For example, under the first domain, executive function, the chapter begins with a discussion on the construct of executive functions in general, subdomains, and relevance over the developmental span. The following neurocognitive domains are then reviewed: Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society (2004),10, 920–925. Copyright © 2004 INS. Published by Cambridge University Press. Printed in the USA.