Home-Based Pediatric Teleneuropsychology: A validation study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate home-based teleneuropsychology in a pediatric cohort to determine if assessment via in-person and home-based videoconference yield similar results. The second objective was to determine the level of satisfaction with videoconference-based assessment among participants and caregivers. METHOD: Fifty-eight participants, aged 6-20 years, were recruited through specialty programs for pediatric demyelinating disorders. Each participant was administered the same brief neuropsychological battery of common measures twice, once during an in-person session and once during a remote home-based videoconference session. Order of sessions was counterbalanced and time between assessments ranged from 1 to 50 days. It was hypothesized that results obtained through in-person vs. remote videoconference sessions would not be significantly different and that most participants and caregivers would rate the experience with teleneuropsychology as satisfactory. RESULTS: Mann-Whitney U tests showed no significant differences in results obtained in the in-person first vs. remote videoconference first sessions or the change in performance across sessions. Satisfaction ratings by participants and caregivers were largely favorable for the use of the videoconference testing format. CONCLUSIONS: The current study is the first to validate home-based teleneuropsychology and is the first to validate teleneuropsychological assessment in a pediatric sample. Future studies should replicate these findings as well as expand on sample size, diversity of populations evaluated, and the assessment tools administered. Careful consideration of ethical and practical factors should be given before providing pediatric teleneuropsychology services.

Practical Considerations in the Neuropsychological Assessment of Bilingual (Spanish-English) Children in the United States: Literature Review and Case Series.

The field of neuropsychology is becoming increasingly responsive to addressing the specific needs of an ever-growing Hispanic/Latinx population. As such, bilingualism and bilingual education are at the forefront of considerations for neuropsychologists. This paper examines models of bilingual academic instruction and levels of bilingualism and how they impact neuropsychological findings and diagnostic determinations in pediatrics. The present case series highlights five children assessed in a pediatric medical setting. Various profiles are analyzed to highlight the intricacies in assessment that must be considered. These findings present a set of considerations as a step toward a systematic approach to bilingual neuropsychological assessment.