Neuropsych Testing, ADHD, Neurodivergence & Self-Understanding with Dr. Kayleigh Hale
What does neuropsych testing actually reveal about your brain?
In this episode, I invite neuropsychologist Dr. Kayleigh Hale on to discuss how neuropsychological testing can help children, teens & adults. Whether you're a parent wondering if your child needs testing, a woman navigating a late ADHD diagnosis, or someone who's been masking without realizing it, this conversation will help you understand what testing can do and why it matters.
Dr. Kayleigh Hale is a neuropsychologist, licensed clinical psychologist, and the Director of Testing and Assessment at Hope+Wellness. She specializes in comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults, with a deep passion for neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based assessment. As a parent of neurodivergent children herself, she brings both professional expertise and personal understanding to her work, helping people understand their brains, find clarity, and come home to themselves.
In this conversation, we discuss:
what neuropsychological testing is and why it’s so important
how neuropsychological testing can help children, teens, and adults understand ADHD, anxiety, neurodivergence, and masking
masking, being high-functioning, and burnout
the role gender plays
how a strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming approach changes everything
testing as a means to self-understanding
when testing is a worthwhile investment
Dr. Kayleigh Hale: Research has shown that for women and for girls, they oftentimes experience what can look from an outsider like more subtle presentation. So for example, with ADHD, girls are more likely to have what's called the “inattentive subtype.” They're not the ones necessarily like causing the big behavioral ruckus in class. Instead, they're experiencing more struggles around focus, concentration, procrastination. And so because of this, teachers aren't picking up on it, maybe parents aren't quite seeing it. So these girls are having to work that much harder at home or that much harder in class to be able to focus and to remain engaged or to get the work done, to work through those executive functioning differences for a lot longer because they're not recognized, they're missed. Or for the girls that are more impulsive, they are shamed for it–and rather than being brought to the attention of a pediatrician or a clinician, this is more a child who is just not again, engaged and focused, and it's a behavioral problem. And so for girls, oftentimes, what will then happen is they develop perfectionism. They're overworking. Their end product might be just fine. They're getting the assignments done, they're getting the work project done, but they are working outside of office hours or on weekends or late nights or all nighters at school in order to do that.
Listen to the full conversation on the innercalling podcast here.
For those who prefer a visual experience, you can check out the conversation on YouTube here.
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