The Difference Between Cognitive Screening Assessments and Neuropsychological and Perceptual Assessment Batteries
Cognitive screening assessments help clinicians to determine whether an individual has cognitive impairment. Screening assessments often consist of a number of questions and instructions given to stroke patients to test their orientation (knowing the day, month or year, time of day, location and people around them), attention, memory, ability to follow directions and visual processing ability. Examples of screening assessments include the Mini Mental State Examination and Abbreviated Mental Test Exam which were developed to determine the likelihood of the patient having dementia. However, they have been found to be useful in determining the likelihood of cognitive impairment in stroke patients.
Neuropsychological and perceptual assessment batteries test specific areas of cognition in order to understand the nature of patients’ difficulties. “Battery” is a term used to describe an assessment which contains several different tests to assess different areas of cognition. For example, where screening assessments can help to determine if a patient has a memory problem, a neuropsychological memory assessment can provide the detail of which type of memory is impaired by administering different tests which are sensitive to different types of memory. This is valuable for specific rehabilitation intervention planning. Some assessments come in parallel forms. These can be useful for carrying out repeat assessments that are used to monitor progress and help clarify if our interventions are working.
A common procedure for stroke patients is for them to be tested using a screening assessment to determine the possibility of impairment in the broad areas of cognition and perception, to assess the impact on activities of daily living such as personal care and kitchen skills, and if functional problems are discovered, to use neuropsychological and perceptual assessment batteries to understand the cause and nature of the functional problem.
Some patients are unable to undertake a formal screening or neuropsychological assessment battery due to severe cognitive, communication or sensory limitations. When this is the case, clinicians often use informal methods to test aspects of their cognition. This may involve using adapted questioning where patients only need to choose the answer, items such as coloured blocks, simple jigsaws, playing cards, pictures of everyday objects and dominoes to test visual perception, numeric awareness, matching, sorting and problem solving, and functional assessments.
