Why is Neuropsychological Testing Important?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly five percent of children have AD/HD without a learning disability, five percent have a learning disability without AD/HD and four percent have both AD/HD and a learning disability. Thus, almost as many have AD/HD and a learning disability, as have AD/HD alone.

This is why testing is so important in the diagnosis of AD/HD and its common comorbid disorders. Since AD/HD has such a high rate of comorbidity (i.e. if a person has AD/HD, they likely have other at least one other disorder), it is very helpful to test for other disorders in addition to testing for AD/HD. Moreover, even if an individual does not have AD/HD, they may have another disorder such as a learning disability that negatively affects their daily functioning. Thus, focusing solely on the possibility of an attention deficit often hinders individuals from understanding the full extent of their difficulties; thorough neuropsychological testing designed to investigate several potential diagnoses provides a more accurate view of the problem, as opposed to simply honing in on AD/HD.

An accurate diagnosis is also very important in treatment. Treating AD/HD does not treat other comorbid issues such specific learning disabilities; similarly, treating learning disabilities does not treat AD/HD. Instead, each issue should be addressed individually to reap the maximum treatment benefit. Otherwise, treating one or the other may yield some positive results, but an individual will not be able to reach full potential until all difficulties are effectively addressed.