Abstract

FERREIRA, Jéssica Luchi; CORREA, Mônica Cola Cariello Brotas  and  OLIVEIRA, Luziene Dalmaschio Biasutti. Neuropsychological evaluation and professional guidance: Case study of a patient with Rasmussen encephalitis. Rev. psicopedag. [online]. 2022, vol.39, n.118, pp.111-124. ISSN 0103-8486.  https://doi.org/10.51207/2179-4057.20220009.

Neuropsychological evaluation is one of the branches of neuropsychology and aims to analyze the relationships between brain and behavior under normal and illness conditions. It also allows identifying powers and difficulties of the evaluated patient, contributing to assist in improving its functionality, adaptability and quality of life. One of the contributions still little explored is the use of neuropsychological assessment for professional guidance. In this case study we present a patient affected by Rasmussen encephalitis, rare chronic encephalopathy, which causes refractory epilepsy and progressive neurological and cognitive deterioration, resulting in the need for hemispherectomy. The objective is to monitor and correlate the result of neuropsychological evaluations performed before and after hemispherectomy with the professional guidance process of a 16-year-old adolescent. It is concluded that neuropsychological assessment is a fundamental strategy to complement professional guidance, as it makes a comparison between the investigation of the individual's abilities and skills and deficits and cognitive skills, guiding her in the process of professional choice. The joint performance of neuropsychological assessment and vocational guidance may favor the identification of the professional choice, especially benefiting the social integration of people with special needs, contributing to their social inclusion process.

Keywords : Neuropsychological Assessment; Hemispherectomy; Rasmussen's Encephalitis; Vocational Guidance.

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