Up to this point, most estimates of premorbid abilities have focused on pre-injury/pre-illness intellectual abilities, and little work has been devoted to predicting premorbid memory abilities. Each of these different techniques has its own strengths and weaknesses in certain situations and with certain patient samples ( Larrabee, Largen, & Levin, 1985 Patterson, Graham, & Hodges, 1984), and no one method of estimating premorbid abilities appears to be the “gold standard” at this time ( Powell, Brossart, & Reynolds, 2003 Schoenberg, Scott, Ruwe, Patton, & Adams, 2004). Crawford, Nelson, Blackmore, Cochrane, & Allan, 1990 Krull, Scott, & Sherer, 1995 Lange, Schoenberg, Chelune, Scott, & Adams, 2005 Schoenberg, Scott, Duff, & Adams, 2002 Vanderploeg & Schinka, 1995), and (d) academic achievement scores ( Baade & Schoenberg, 2004). Multiple techniques have been developed to estimate premorbid general cognitive functioning, and these include: (a) algorithms using a variety of demographic variables ( Barona, Reynolds, & Chastain, 1984 Psychological Corporation, 2001 Reynolds & Gutkin, 1979 Schoenberg, Lange, Brickell, & Saklofske, 2007 Vanderploeg, Schinka, Baum, Tremont, & Mittenberg, 1998), (b) current ability, which includes “hold” subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence scales ( Vanderploeg & Schinka, 1995) and single word reading tests ( Blair & Spreen, 1989 Nelson, 1982 Nelson & O'Connell, 1978), (c) current ability combined with demographic variables ( J.R. Clinicians, however, are often asked to make this judgment based on a single evaluation by inferring cognitive decline based on a discrepancy between current neuropsychological functioning and estimates of premorbid abilities ( Babcock, 1930 Lezak, Howieson, & Loring, 2004 McFie, 1975 Wechsler, 1958). Ideally, two or more neuropsychological evaluations will be used to make this determination. Assessing cognitive change across time is an important contribution of neuropsychology.
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