What to Expect at Your Appointment

Please:

  • Wear your glasses and/or hearing aids
  • Eat a small meal beforehand to maintain energy and focus
  • Choose a quiet, private location free from interruptions
  • Ensure reliable internet access to Zoom
  • Have your device fully charged or plugged in
  • Bring a notebook if you’d like to jot down important information
  • Invite a family member or care partner to join part of the appointment if possible

During your appointment, we begin by listening to your story—your concerns, your history, and your goals for our time together. The conversation is thoughtful, respectful and friendly. We will ask detailed questions about many areas of life because brain health is influenced by medical, emotional, cognitive, lifestyle, and social factors.

Our most important questions would benefit from some thought beforehand:

  • When did you first notice any changes in thinking, memory, mood, behavior, or daily function (money management, remembering to take medications, driving)?
  • Did the changes begin suddenly or gradually over time?
  • Have the changes been stable, getting worse or have there been ups and downs?
  • What are some clear examples of what you or others have noticed?
  • Was there anything happening around the time the changes began (illness, fall, surgery, infection, stress, grief, medication change, retirement, COVID, hospitalization)?
  • What are your hopes for this evaluation? (clarity, diagnosis, treatment plan, peace of mind, finding resources, etc.)

You don’t need perfect answers, just your honest perspective. These questions help us understand your story so we can give you the most accurate and personalized guidance. You don’t need to write anything down unless you’d like to, just taking time to think through these questions can make your evaluation more meaningful and accurate.

Remember, it’s normal for different people to see the same situation in different ways. We will listen to everyone’s perspective equally. This evaluation is objective and we consider many sources of data to inform a possible brain health diagnosis. There are three common outcomes from our neuropsychological evaluation:

  • We conclude that you are experiencing normal cognitive aging;
  • We conclude that you have a mild cognitive impairment; or
  • We conclude that you have a type of cognitive disorder/dementia.

We view our time with you as a partnership. You are the expert in your life. Your family member or support person may be an expert in what they’ve observed. And we bring expertise in neuropsychology. Together, we can uncover what’s changing and why and what to do next.

If your appointment includes testing, our goal is that it feels as comfortable as possible. There are no grades or pass/fail scores; the purpose is simply to understand how your brain is working in comparison to your peers (people your same age with your same education) so we can better understand what’s going on and how to make it better. You will be asked to try your best to remember a story, name an object you see on the screen, and answer questions about how you’ve been feeling. Be prepared for testing with a few pieces of paper and a pen. No fancy computer knowledge is required.

It is completely normal to feel nervous, most people do. We promise to try our best to make you feel comfortable, respected, and supported throughout the process.