Why might someone receive cognitive testing in Brisbane?
It’s quick, easy and identifies how well your brain is functioning.
If you, a close friend or a family member has suggested undergoing cognitive testing in Brisbane, it can only mean one thing. They care about you and suspect you might be in bouts of mental decline or impairment. Cognition is your brain’s ability to process and make sense of all the information around us. Its intellectual activities are essential for remembering, thinking and understanding – to name a few. For this reason, older adults often have cognitive testing in Brisbane during wellness checks. Early detection can help treat or slow down cognitive impairments like Dementia or Alzheimer’s.
With this said, people of ALL ages can receive cognitive testing as not all symptoms and conditions are caused by age.
Cognition is generally defined as the state or processes of being able to perceive and judge reality effectively. Cognitive testing in Brisbane helps determine whether you have any issues. However, it will not diagnose any cognitive problems. Instead, they help illuminate any points of concern for your assessor, who will then determine whether you need to take more tests.
Many things cause cognitive impairment, including:
? | Depression
? | Dementia (including Alzheimer’s)
? | Side effects of medication
? | Sleep disorders
? | Thyroid disease
? | Vascular diseases
? | Vitamin deficiencies
With the above in mind, you might seek out cognitive testing in Brisbane if you experience any of the following symptoms:
? | Anxiety
? | Getting lost
? | Forgetting life events
? | Irritability
? | Lethologica
? | Misplacing items
? | Misremembering
? | Needing to make lists
? | Repetition
If you notice any of these symptoms or if people in your life tell you that you exhibit them, you should let your doctor know. These are the key symptoms of cognitive impairment.
Benefits of cognitive testing in Brisbane
Identify your child’s strengths as well as what they need support with
Create strategies for your child’s learning and how they can move forward
Develop a plan to access appropriate support for your child’s education
An asssessment can be a relief for your child – and it can be a relief for you
Raise your child’s self-esteem and confidence and provide targeted help
How can we quickly provide cognitive testing in Brisbane?
Cognitive disorders result from primary or secondary abnormalities of the central nervous system.
The mini-mental status exam tests cognitive function. This is an excellent screening tool included in any mental status exam. It’s quick, it’s short, it’s easy, and again, it’s a screening tool that indicates whether we need to dig deeper to determine a cognitive problem. Errors in cognition can come with all kinds of psychiatric disorders and general medical conditions. Things like depression and psychosis, poor memory and concentration can be features of these illnesses. That’s why it’s essential to get some baseline MMSE on every patient we encounter. Now, the mini-mental status exam (MMSE) – also called a Folstein – it’s scored out of 30 points.
Anyone scoring below a 26 likely has some problems that need further examination regarding their cognition.
We’ll ask things like the patient’s orientation, e.g. do they know the month and year? Do they know where they are? That it’s a hospital, what floor they’re on, or whether it’s an outpatient clinic? What city they’re in, etc. We will score them based on their orientation and expect them to name three objects and register and repeat them. Our team will test their attention by asking them to calculate maths problems or undergo a spelling quiz. Yet, before this step, we must know our patients’ educational level. This way, we can tailor the exam to meet their academic level. We’ll also want to know about their recall abilities. So we’ll ask them to repeat the three words they had registered 5 minutes previously. Then we’ll score patients by asking them to name simple objects, like a pen and a clock. We’ll ask them to repeat a sentence after giving them a 3-step command to follow. So other things that we’ll ask our patients to do is to see how well they can complete tasks. We’ll ask the client to close their eyes, have them write a sentence, and have them copy a 3-dimensional design. These elements are essentially something that they should be able to construct without a problem.
In summary, the mini-mental status exam tests all kinds of things, like:
Alertness | Executive functioning | Language skills | Memory | Orientation | Recall
As part of this exam, we might also throw in some obstructions to see how well you can join objects together. Do you know that an apple and an orange are similar because they’re fruits? That’s an excellent example of an abstract thinker. Someone, more concrete a thinker, will say, “well, they are both round”, which is not so good of an answer.
Montreal Cognitive Assessment in Brisbane
There are two other quick tests that you can do in terms of checking cognition. Sometimes these come up on exams and are worth noting. Now when we suspect a cognitive disorder in a patient, we might take it one step further with a MoCA, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. This brief screening tool takes about 10 minutes to deliver and tests a variety of things. It’s more sensitive to the detection of mild cognitive impairments, such as:
Attention | Executive Functioning | Language | Memory | Visuospatial things
For example, the MoCA includes little quizzes like drawing a clock with a specific time and a trail-making sequence. They test how quickly a person can name words starting with a particular letter within a minute. So, it’s just a bit more challenging than the MMSE and a bit newer.
Mini cognitive testing in Brisbane
There’s also a test called the mini-cog, which is a clock drawing test and recall test. This is a quick way to assess whether somebody is having some cognitive trouble. The clock drawing test is a great way to see if people can connect the sequence of ideas and strategize in a goal-oriented task-driven way. Then, with a recall of three words, we can quickly see whether they can recall all three words easily or if it’s a struggle to even come up with one.
The advantage of the mini-cog is that it has . . .
High sensitivity for predicting dementia. It also has a short testing time compared to the mini-mental status exam or MoCA, which may take about 7-10 minutes each. Diagnostic value is limited in the mini-cog because it’s so short. However, it’s a good way to clue us in and gauge whether there might be a severe cognition problem.
Sound Familiar?
Every learning disability is different. Having a diagnosis can be really important and helpful. But some individuals may feel that they needn’t get a diagnosis.
We think otherwise. Being diagnosed with a learning disability is more than just helpful. It can help you to get the necessary support you need and open new doors.
However, you may not have a learning disability but a learning difficulty – a specific cognitive difficulty – that can be identified via cognitive testing in Brisbane.
What’s involved with cognitive testing in Brisbane?
Our assessors are sensitive to your elation and frustration.
Cognitive assessments measure various thinking abilities, such as memory, language, perception and communication. The length of an assessment will depend on the assessment type, whether it’s a clinical or research assessment. It might be anywhere from half an hour to 2 or 3 hours, but more comprehensive assessments would typically be broken up into shorter parts or split over different days. Most people are happy to do these tests, but it can be frustrating as particular bits can get pretty tricky.
With this in mind, our assessors are sensitive to that perspective. Our clients can always stop and take a break or move on to something different.
The tasks and questions vary quite a bit. Some of them might be easy, whereas others might be difficult – but they’re designed to be that way. If everybody got 100%, it wouldn’t tell our assessors anything! If people have difficulties in particular areas, it can suggest specific skills being affected. We know that certain brain parts are essential for individual skills, so we can start understanding what part of the brain might be involved. This will prompt us to consider whether that might support any particular diagnosis. If you’re thinking about having a cognitive assessment, it’s well worth your time giving it a go to see how you get on.
Our assessors will be very sensitive to whatever you find challenging or not so and will try to make it as comfortable as possible for you.
Most people find cognitive testing in Brisbane completely fine. Although people sometimes find it frustrating or complex, so we can stop and do something else in those cases. We think it’s exciting as it shows the point of view of our health and precisely where we are at the moment. It’s interesting; it impacts your feelings but doesn’t induce stress. If you go through that process and find yourself facing something difficult, we recommend not worrying. Remember, the testing doesn’t assess any form of success or not – go with the flow and do what you can.
Educational Reports
This defines your child’s performance compared to children of a similar age tested internationally.
Assessments challenge your child in varying ways, and each report provides comparative data. On the completion of the service, you will receive an educational report. This will assist professionals interested in supporting the student with their educational opportunities.
The report will feature:
? | A summary of educational, medical and developmental history
? | An outline of the tests administered to the child or young adult
? | Results of these tests in regards to the child or young adult
? | Outline specific strategies to enhance their learning ability
Career & Work Reports
Discover whether you’ve got the right skill sets to achieve your career goals.
Entering the workplace, reconsidering your career or facing uncertainty about your career options? The data allows you to identify your strengths and weaknesses to develop the core skills needed to succeed. We also provide services to private individuals and organisations.
Employers that use standardised recruitment profile tests:
? | Fire Services
? | Medical Professions
? | Military
? | Private Industries
Court Reports
Admissible to the court, reports include extensive data to validate or discredit a legal argument.
Working within an ethical framework, we provide services to legal establishments. These include solicitors, barristers, child safety services, legal advocacy teams and private individuals. The assessments used depend upon the purpose of the case and the legal argument at hand.
Court reports can be used to validate the following and more:
? | Family Law
? | Driving Competency
? | Mental & Psychological Wellbeing
? | General Intelligence & Ability
Looking for cognitive testing in Brisbane? Get in contact!
At Educational Assessments, our psychologists carry out full cognitive assessments. These provide essential learning and performance data to bolster support for individuals. If you believe that you or a loved one is struggling, get in touch. We have extensive coverage in Australia.
Our team of expert consultants conduct home visits to assess you or your child and evaluate the patient’s learning needs to succeed. We evaluate an extensive range of learning, social and emotional issues. The knowledge gleaned from our assessments and subsequent report permit you to make informed choices. So, if you want to find the best way forwards that’s suited to you or your child’s learning needs, then this is the answer.
We offer clear, jargon-free advice, consistent personal support and offer valuable expertise. So, if you need a cognitive testing Brisbane, don’t delay. Simply get in touch today.