ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a reasonably broad range of the patients that clinical neuropsychologists might be asked to see, from the apparently straightforward screening assessment to the complex, difficult-to-assess client. Conducting neuropsychological assessments in real-world clinical settings are often subject to a number of significant limitations. Working in neuro-rehabilitation exposes the clinical neuropsychologist to patients with a plethora of different problems and presentations. Feeding back and reporting the results of neuropsychological assessment is a core part of the process of assessment. Neuropsychological assessment represents a broad area of clinical enquiry, drawing upon many sources of data, and requires considerable skill to integrate and interpret in a clinically meaningful way. Critical to the assessment process is obtaining a detailed history of the patient, qualitative observation of their functioning and the data available from neuroimaging and other clinical and diagnostic procedures. Other clinicians are often cynical about neuropsychological assessment and the findings from such assessments.
