Memory and Dementia Evaluation
Windy City Neuropsychology provides specialized neuropsychological evaluations for adults concerned about memory, attention, or other changes in thinking. Dr. Michael Wilson is a clinical neuropsychologist with a primary clinical focus on older adults, and the practice serves Chicago and the north and northwest suburbs from an office at 4747 West Peterson Avenue.
The practice is currently accepting new patients with no waitlist.
First evaluations are typically scheduled within two to three weeks. For families navigating concerning cognitive changes, this is often a meaningful difference compared with the multi-month wait times common at academic medical centers.
When to Consider a Memory Evaluation
A neuropsychological evaluation can help when an adult, or a family member, has noticed changes that are persistent and that go beyond ordinary forgetfulness. Common signs include:
- Forgetting recent conversations or repeating the same questions
- Misplacing items in unusual locations
- Getting lost in familiar places, or difficulty driving in once-familiar areas
- Trouble managing medications, finances, or appointments that used to be easy
- Word-finding difficulty that is more than the occasional missing word
- Personality or behavior changes that are out of character
- Difficulty following recipes, instructions, or multi-step tasks
Not every change in memory is a sign of dementia. Anxiety, depression, sleep problems, medication side effects, thyroid disease, vitamin deficiencies, and ordinary aging can all affect cognition. A neuropsychological evaluation helps determine which, if any, of these factors is contributing, and what is going on cognitively at this point in time.
Conditions Evaluated
Common diagnostic questions and conditions include:
- Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), including amnestic and non-amnestic subtypes
- Alzheimer’s disease, including early-stage and atypical presentations
- Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia
- Frontotemporal dementia, including behavioral variant and primary progressive aphasia
- Vascular cognitive impairment and vascular dementia
- Mixed dementias
- Cognitive changes following stroke, traumatic brain injury, or neurosurgical procedures
- Cognitive symptoms in multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune conditions
- Cognitive concerns related to mood, anxiety, or sleep disorders
- In some cases the question is whether a person’s cognitive changes are within the range expected for normal aging or whether they suggest something more. That is itself a useful question, and the evaluation can answer it.
What an Evaluation Involves
A memory and dementia evaluation typically includes:
Written report. A formal report sent to the patient and to the referring provider when authorized.
Clinical interview. A detailed conversation with the patient, and often with a family member or other informant when the patient consents, about the history of the cognitive concerns, medical and psychiatric history, medications, education, and daily functioning.
Cognitive testing. Standardized, norm-referenced tests of memory, attention, processing speed, language, visuospatial skills, executive function, and other cognitive domains. Testing is administered one-on-one by Dr. Wilson and typically takes three to five hours.
Mood and behavior screening. Brief structured measures of depression, anxiety, and other psychological factors that can affect cognition.
Records review. Examination of relevant medical records, prior neuropsychological reports, and neuroimaging reports when available.
Feedback session. A meeting to review results and recommendations with the patient and, when appropriate, family. Many patients find this the most useful part of the process.
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