Ecological validity of neuropsychological assessment in childhood traumatic brain injury

Empirical investigation of the degree to which testing predicts children's real-world functioning following traumatic brain injury (TBI) is sparse. Th is article reviews the research in neuropsychology, which offers only moder ate correlations between test scores and everyday functioning. This line of research is hindered by several methodological issues: difficulty translat ing performance on standardized testing into real-world capacities, measure ment of real-world functioning, developmental factors, and the influence of intervening variables in the natural environment. Ecologically valid asses sment may require multiple data sources. More research is needed to respond effectively to questions about children's everyday functioning after traum atic brain injury.