Test accommodations for the geriatric patient

Abstract

Obtaining accurate information about the neuropsychological functioning of elderly individuals with physical or sensorimotor limitations may be fostered by judicious use of nonstandard testing strategies. We review professional documents that support this position and discuss selected "flexible" testing techniques that can serve this goal. These approaches may permit assessment of skills that might otherwise go unmeasured (e.g., naming ability or executive function in persons with visual impairment). This perspective is particularly critical when clinicians are asked to assess an older adult's capacity and competence in daily life functions.

Considerations and suggested practices for psychological assessment and intervention when working with older adults with disabilities.

“…In assessment sessions, accommodations may be required such as the use of specialized tests or modifications/adaptations to existing tests depending on the population. In these instances, caution should be used regarding the selection and use of appropriate norms given differences from the original normative sample (Caplan & Shechter, 2008; DeLuca, 2005; Hill-Briggs et al, 2007; Magasi et al, 2017; Morgan, 2005). For example, data from the original “Mayo’s Older American Normative Studies” (MOANS; Ivnik et al, 1992) was specifically based on an older sample aged 56–97 and has since been revised a number of times (i.e., see Steinberg & Bieliauskas, 2005) resulting in a variety of clinical and research-based normative data sets.…”