If you're here because of a specific diagnosis, a recent event, or a concern you can't quite name yet, you're in the right place. We evaluate adolescents (ages 13+) and adults. Dr. Baldassarre leads a clinical team dedicated to each patient's experience at Riverside Psychology. The conditions below represent the most common reasons patients are referred for neuropsychological evaluation.
If yours isn't listed, reach out. There's a good chance we can help.
Memory Loss and Dementia
Memory changes are one of the most common reasons families seek a neuropsychological evaluation. Not every instance of forgetting signals dementia, but knowing the difference matters, both for the person experiencing it and for everyone around them. A neuropsychological evaluation assesses memory, orientation, language, and related cognitive functions to help clarify whether changes reflect normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, or a condition like Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, or frontotemporal dementia.
What the evaluation reveals
The pattern and severity of memory changes, how they compare to age-adjusted norms, and what cognitive domains are and aren't affected.
What happens next
Findings support your physician's diagnostic process, care planning decisions, and conversations with family about what support looks like going forward.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
A head injury (whether from a car accident, a fall, a sports-related concussion, or another cause) can affect cognition in ways that don't show up on imaging. Attention, memory, processing speed, and executive function are commonly affected after TBI, and the effects can persist long after physical recovery.
What the evaluation reveals
The specific cognitive domains affected, how they've changed from baseline, and whether the profile is consistent with TBI.
What happens next
Results inform treatment planning, rehabilitation goals, return-to-work or return-to-sport decisions, and legal proceedings when relevant.
Stroke
A stroke can affect cognitive function in ways that vary significantly depending on the location and extent of the event. Post-stroke cognitive changes often include difficulties with memory, language, attention, or executive function, and they're not always obvious to the person experiencing them.
What the evaluation reveals
Which cognitive domains have been affected, the severity of the changes, and how they compare to norms for age and education.
What happens next
Results guide rehabilitation planning, inform conversations with your neurologist, and help establish a documented baseline for monitoring future changes.
Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's Disease affects more than movement. Cognitive changes, including memory difficulty, processing speed, and executive dysfunction, are common across the course of the disease and can significantly affect quality of life and daily function.
What the evaluation reveals
The current cognitive profile, which areas are most affected, and how findings compare to disease-stage norms.
What happens next
Results support your movement disorder specialist's care plan and can guide decisions about medications, occupational support, and care coordination.
Multiple Sclerosis
Cognitive symptoms affect a significant portion of people living with MS, including difficulties with processing speed, memory, and attention. These symptoms are often invisible to others and can be difficult to distinguish from fatigue or mood-related changes without formal assessment.
What the evaluation reveals
The specific pattern of cognitive involvement, its severity, and how it compares to MS-population norms.
What happens next
Findings inform your neurologist's treatment decisions and can support accommodations in work or academic settings.
Epilepsy
Neuropsychological evaluation plays a specific and important role in epilepsy care, particularly for patients being considered for surgical intervention. Pre-surgical evaluation helps identify which cognitive functions may be at risk. Post-surgical evaluation tracks whether expected changes occurred and documents recovery. Beyond surgery, evaluation is useful for patients whose seizures or medications are affecting cognitive function in their daily lives.
What the evaluation reveals
Cognitive strengths and vulnerabilities, lateralization of function, and the specific impact of seizure activity or treatment on memory, language, and processing.
What happens next
Results are used directly in surgical planning conversations, post-operative monitoring, and functional support planning.
Brain Tumors
A brain tumor diagnosis, along with the treatments that follow, can affect cognitive functioning in ways that deserve careful attention. Baseline evaluation before treatment allows for meaningful comparison afterward. Follow-up evaluation documents changes and supports decisions about rehabilitation, work, and daily functioning.
What the evaluation reveals
Current cognitive functioning across relevant domains, interpreted in the context of tumor location and treatment history.
What happens next
Results contribute to your neuro-oncology team's care plan and can support requests for academic or workplace accommodations during and after treatment.
Behavioral and Personality Changes
When someone's behavior or personality changes in ways that feel out of character, including increased irritability, impulsivity, social withdrawal, or difficulty with judgment, it isn't always a psychiatric condition. Sometimes the origin is neurological. Neuropsychological evaluation helps differentiate between psychiatric conditions and brain-based structural conditions that present with behavioral symptoms, including frontotemporal dementia, TBI sequelae, or other neurological disorders.
What the evaluation reveals
Whether the behavioral profile is consistent with a brain-based structural condition, which cognitive domains are involved, and how findings integrate with psychiatric and neurological history.
What happens next
Results support diagnostic clarity for your treatment team and can meaningfully change the course of care.
ADHD in Adolescents and Adults
ADHD evaluation for adolescents (ages 13+) and adults deserves its own full discussion, including how it differs from a psychiatric assessment and why a neuropsychological evaluation provides a level of diagnostic clarity that other approaches often don't. We have a dedicated page that walks through everything.
