Neuropsychologists are routinely faced with the task of summarizing a wealth of complex data, observations, impressions, and recommendations in a concise and readable report for recipients in diverse professional settings (e.g., acute care hospitals, neurosurgical and psychiatric units, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation programs, nursing homes, outpatient practices, colleges and universities). This edited volume provides clear and easy-to-follow guidelines to help clinical practitioners, teachers, and students prepare consumer-oriented, user-friendly, and clinically useful neuropsychological reports. The goal is to create a report that will help the recipient make appropriate decisions regarding treatment, care, and rehabilitation. Authors of individual chapters were selected based on their areas of professional expertise.

The first section of the book deals with broad issues that define the practitioner, the consumer of the report, and their interface at the time of referral. The next section deals with the report itself (i.e., scope of assessment, background and collateral information, general issues, whether/how to include scores, writing recommendations, use of computerized assessment tools), and the ethical issues involved in generating brief, focused assessments. The third section provides guidelines to writing brief, timely, and informative reports targeted for specific audiences. The final chapter of this book provides sample reports for consumers in diverse settings. These reports were generated by contributors to illustrate the differences in style, content, and format discussed in the preceding chapters. A brief introduction highlights the differences and salient aspects of each type of report. The goal of this chapter is to assist the neuropsychologist in writing a report that meets the needs of its intended recipients while fostering an appreciation of neuropsychology and its clinical applications.