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NEPSY-II
Availability
Please visit this website for more information about the instrument: NEPSY-II
Classification
Supplemental: Mitochondrial Disease (Mito)
Short Description of Instrument
The NEPSY-II measure includes six domains. Subtests selected for administration can be customized for a child's specific situation to answer referral questions or diagnostic concerns. The results provide information that can lead to accurate diagnosis of typical childhood disorders, and intervention planning for school and home settings.
 
Domains:
Social Perception
Executive Functioning/Attention
Language
Memory and Learning
Sensorimotor Functioning
Visuospatial Processing
 
Administration: Administered by a trained examiner in a 1:1 testing environment. Children are asked to work with manipulative (e.g., construct with blocks), respond to questions, remember verbal and nonverbal information, and complete paper and pencil tasks. The examiner can select a subset of subtests of interest rather than administering a fixed set of tests.
 
Age: 3-16 years old
 
Time: General Assessment: Preschool ages - 45 minutes; School ages - 1 hour. Diagnostic & Selective Assessment: Varies. Full Assessment: Preschool ages - 90 minutes; School ages - 2 to 3 hours
Comments/Special Instructions
Examiners can select single subtests or subsets depending on the particular area of interest, thereby abbreviating administration time. Some measures, like Executive Function/Attention measures are analogous to well validated adult measures, allowing monitoring of cognitive domains of interest across a broader range of ages.
Scoring and Psychometric Properties
Scoring: Standard (Scaled) Scores; Process Scores; Behavioral Observations
 
Psychometric Properties: Reliability studies indicated that most NEPSY-II subtests have adequate to high internal consistency and reliability for both normative and clinical samples (Korkman, Kirk and Kemp, 2007).
Rationale/Justification
Strengths: The normative sample incorporates a number of clinical groups providing good comparisons to particular populations of interest (e.g., autism, mild intellectual disability, language disorder). Provides pediatric analogues to adult tests that have been demonstrated to be sensitive to changes in mitochondrial disorders in adults. For example, the Inhibition subtest on the NEPSY-II is analogous to the Stroop test in adults, with stimuli that are more appropriate for use in a pediatric population. Provides assessment of domains like fine motor control, attention and executive functioning, processing speed and language that may be particularly affected in children with mitochondrial disease. Nonverbal memory assessment (Memory for Designs) eliminates graphomotor demands. The subset is also directly analogous to the adult WMS Design Memory subtest, allowing for longitudinal assessment (e.g., Chang, 2011).
 
Weaknesses: Some tests are complex and may be inappropriate for individuals with more significant neurological or cognitive impairment. Particular care must be taken with the interpretation of the Social Perception subtests as it appears that tests within this domain perform differently depending on language demands. This is particularly important when assessing children with Autism Spectrum characteristics or diagnoses as these subtests do not appear to reliably differentiate Autism Spectrum Disorder from other groups (e.g., Narzisi et al., 2013).
References
Key Reference:
 
Additional References:
Chang, J.S. (2011). Relationships among Processing Speed, Attention, and Biochemical Features in Children Identified with Mitochondrial Disease. Georgia State University.
 
Narzisi A, Muratori F, Calderoni S, Fabbro F, Urgesi C. Neuropsychological profile in high functioning autism spectrum disorders. J Autism Dev Disord. 2013 Aug;43(8):1895-909.
 
Document last updated March 2024