Clinical aspects and issues in assessing premorbid IQ and cognitive function

Clinical approaches to estimation of preinjury IQ are and will continue to be important to neuropsychologists, especially those involved in the forensic arena. Forensic approaches require not only defensible and demonstrable theoretical and empirical bases; they also require face validity for procedures used for establishing putative preinjury mental functional status. Procedures found to be of value for such purposes include postinjury residual skill levels; predictions based on residual functional levels on abilities resistant to injury; and mental requisites of preinjury academic, vocational, and avocational activities. Ideally and fairly typically, it is possible to demonstrate good congruence among those procedures in fashion conductive to informed decision making by the courts.