Neuropsychology

Street address
New Children's Hospital
Stenbäckinkatu 9, Helsinki

Mailing address
PO Box 347
00029 HUS

Contact information
The hospital contacts the unit for you.

A neuropsychologist assesses a child’s developmental level and any special difficulties they may have. The assessment tools used include neuropsychological tests, interviews, questionnaires, and observing the child's skills. Methods are chosen according to the child’s individual needs. The child’s performance in tests is compared to the average performance of other children of the same age.

The neuropsychologist can assess the child’s

• Verbal and visual reasoning skills
• Attention and executive function
• Ability to interact with others and control their emotions and behaviour
• Basic verbal skills (e.g. understanding speech and naming things)
• Basic visual skills (e.g. perceiving spatial relations and directions)
• Memory and learning
• Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination
• Social perception skills (e.g. putting yourself in another’s position, and recognising emotions)
• Reading, writing, and mathematical skills

The neuropsychologist’s assessment provides information about the child’s strengths and difficulties for planning support measures in the home, daycare and school. In some cases, the neuropsychologist may recommend neuropsychological rehabilitation for the child.

Neuropsychologists work in child neurology and child psychiatry. Neuropsychologists are members of a multi-professional team that works to figure out the child’s or adolescent’s problems and creates treatment and rehabilitation plans. Neuropsychologist’s assessment requires a doctor's referral.