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Dr. Marianne Findler is a clinical psychologist/neuropsychologist who is licensed in New York and has a private practice in Manhattan. She is on the voluntary faculty at Weill Cornell-New York-Presbyterian Medical Center.
Dr. Findler’s practice focuses on:
While separate services, each practice informs the other as the psychological and cognitive aspects of our functioning are intertwined.
As a therapist, Dr. Findler seeks to help individuals bring meaning, words and expression to their experiences that resist easy understanding. She works collaboratively in effort to create a language for unexamined feelings and to create a space and time for their exploration, reflection and examination. The goal of therapy is to achieve a richer and more satisfying life, and better understand the obstacles that impede an individual from reaching his/her full potential. Therapy is an opportunity to reset and allow for positive emotions and expectations of oneself and one’s future to develop; more specifically, to recapture feelings of love, happiness, curiosity, excitement and pride.
With children, Dr. Findler seeks to identify and ameliorate maladaptive patterns of family, peer and/or teacher interactions that lead to avoidance, defiance, withdrawal and poor self esteem. She values having a working relationship with parents to strengthen communication between family members. Dr. Findler believes in the importance of children developing emotional resilience that enables them to cope with disappointments and frustrations, increasing their ability to be receptive to educative and socializing influences, and engaging in making compromises and problem solving.
As a neuropsychologist, Dr. Findler provides individualized assessments to obtain objective and reliable measures of diverse aspects of behavior to understand each person’s unique neurocognitive profile. This process serves to highlight strengths as well as clarify whether there are any learning/cognitive and/or psychological issues that would benefit from remediation or intervention of some kind.
As a forensic psychologist, Dr. Findler provides consultations and diagnostic services to assist in determining the effects of brain injuries and disease of the central nervous system on an individual’s functioning and capacities. Her work includes expert witness testimony and evaluating the testimony of other experts.
Dr. Findler attended the University of Rochester where she earned her B.A. in psychology (and French literature) that laid the groundwork for her burgeoning interest in cognitive, developmental and clinical psychology, and neuroscience. She completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the New School for Social Research and her two-year predoctoral internship at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital with a specialization in neuropsychology. Dr. Findler was a postdoctoral fellow at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine where she received specialized training in traumatic brain injury. Her past training with the pediatric population includes Children’s Anxiety and Depression Clinic at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital Center.
Subsequent to her training, Dr. Findler was a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell-New York-Presbyterian Hospital (until the fall of 2011). She ran the Neuropsychology Service for the inpatient and outpatient psychiatry units, as well as engaged in teaching and supervising residents and psychology interns. Dr. Findler participated in several research studies that included bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease, generalized anxiety disorder, and neurovascular stenting procedures. Currently, Dr. Findler maintains her affiliation at Weill Cornell-New York-Presbyterian Medical Center.
For the treatment of diverse conditions, including anxiety, mood disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), right hemisphere disorders (e.g., nonverbal learning disorder, Asperger’s and autism spectrum disorders) that often emerge in the context of family and relationship difficulties, academic and professional struggles.
Across the lifespan: children (age 5 and up), adolescents and adults
For: individuals, couples, families, and groups
Include: Comprehensive Neuropsychological, Educational (Psychodiagnostic), and Psychological Assessment
Across the lifespan: children (age 5 and up), adolescents and adults
To evaluate:
The purpose of a neuropsychological evaluation is to understand the relationship between a person’s brain functioning and his/her behavior through a standardized and individually tailored process of assessment. Such evaluations seek to identify and integrate the neurocognitive and psychological issues that disrupt optimal functioning. This service may be requested to help diagnose or gain a greater understanding of the impact of acquired, genetic, neurologic or developmental disorders, injuries, and/or ongoing physiological influences (such as sleep disturbance and drugs).
The evaluation includes a thorough review of background information and relevant records, current information from those close to and familiar with the individual when available, testing of discrete areas of cognitive functioning (including attention and concentration, executive function, memory, language, visuospatial processing, and other skills), assessment of achievement (academic) skills, and assessment of social/emotional functioning. The quantitative data is closely examined in the context of the individual’s history combined with a qualitative analysis of how the individual approaches and solves problems.
The results reveal an integrated picture of the individual to clarify strengths and challenges that affect functioning. Comprehensive treatment recommendations are provided to address areas of relative weakness in effort to improve abilities at school, work and home.
A student’s intellectual, educational and cognitive abilities are assessed in depth to understand strengths and weaknesses that are affecting learning and school performance. Specific achievement skills are examined (that include reading, spelling, written language, and mathematics) to determine whether a student meets criteria for special education services due to a learning disability. Comprehensive educational recommendations are provided that include the need for accommodations (such as extended time) for school work and standardized tests (such as SAT, GRE, MCAT and others, as well as licensing exams and certificates for social work and other specializations), teaching strategies, learning strategies, and targeted interventions that depend on the nature of the identified areas of weakness.
Psychological testing is performed to better understand how an individual thinks, feels, and relates to the world. This evaluation is based on the integration of diverse data that includes scores, response content and themes, style and process of responses, and the interpersonal interaction. The goal is to generate a meaningful description of personality functioning to provide diagnostic clarification, determine the best form of treatment, guide the process of therapy, and help elucidate the areas that merit focus. Some measures of psychological functioning are incorporated in other evaluations because emotional and adaptive difficulties impact cognitive abilities.
Forensic consultations involve specialized forensic services tailored to assess psychological and cognitive factors resulting from an injury or condition in children, adolescents and adults. Dr. Findler works with defense and plaintiff attorneys, governmental agencies, insurance companies, businesses and educational agencies to provide evaluation and consultation.
Services are in the following areas:
Professional Consultations regarding work performance and relationships within the work environment to provide a clinical opinion; includes a review of records and information obtained from interviews and/or observation.
Diagnostic Consultation to render a diagnostic opinion; includes a review of records and past evaluations, and information obtained from interviews and/or observation.
Treatment Consultation to provide suggestions regarding treatment methods and interventions; includes a review of records and past evaluations, observation if needed and consultation with treating therapist(s).
There are subtle and overt indications of a child who has a learning disability or difficulty who would benefit from getting a “cognitive check up”. Parents and/or teachers may observe resistance to completing school work or homework, and hear complaints of hating school or hating to read. The child’s academic performance is frequently below expectation of parent’s and teachers’ assessment of his/her intellectual potential. There may be behaviors that are not consistent with a child’s chronological age or circumstance. The symptoms of having an attentional disorder (ADHD) may be perceived as the child being unmotivated, willfully disengaged and lazy (a red flag term). Difficulties in learning can lead to anxiety, frustration, discouragement and low self esteem as well as create conflict between parents and children.
The possible negative effects of not examining how a child learns and problem solves are significant in terms of social adjustment, academic achievement and sense of self. An evaluation of the whole child provides a learning experience for all involved to better understand the child’s cognitive and emotional functioning in order to address where help is needed to shore up areas of weakness as well as to encourage areas of strength. Children need acknowledgement of where they shine to promote ongoing mastery and pride in these skills. While parents may be apprehensive about the process, the children are often relieved at getting attention for their difficulties and welcome the opportunity to understand their struggles.
In truth, it is never too late to undergo an evaluation if there has been a history of some of the signs discussed above as well as some longstanding concerns or questions. Some individuals wonder at the discrepancies in their abilities or do not understand the difference between their intellect, often corroborated by others, and their professional accomplishments. An evaluation provides a unique learning experience of a person’s cognitive and emotional functioning. The findings may explain some of an individual’s past and current challenges as well as suggest ways to work on areas of difficulty and strategies to enhance areas of interest and competence.
With both children and adults, there may be acute conditions that arise as a result of a medical or specific neurological disease or injury that requires an examination to assess for any disruptions in functioning.
An evaluation is a process, though a time limited one, which is determined by each individual’s needs and guided by a specific referral question(s). The initial step is the clinical interview to obtain past developmental, social, academic, medical and psychiatric history that is the context for the quantitative information that follows. The patient is interviewed and with his/her permission family members, teachers, and others on the treatment team may also be involved in providing their observations. The subsequent testing includes examination of academic abilities, discrete areas of cognitive functioning, and emotional or adaptive functioning. The final meeting is the feedback session to go over the findings, address all questions and to receive recommendations for “what next”, which may include accommodations in academic or work settings, options for treatment, interventions, targeted programs and resources that provide support. Dr. Findler will generate a written report with detailed information that documents the results of the evaluation to be used as a reference and shared with others at the discretion of the individual.
Most of the evaluation is interactive with Dr. Findler with the exception of a few tasks on the computer and questionnaires for the individual and others who are familiar with him/her. The duration and number of sessions varies because the evaluation is tailored to the individual’s needs and schedule with the goal of attaining valid results that reflect optimal performance.
Dr. Findler does not participate in any insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. She will assist in applying for preauthorization of services when required and will provide documentation that can be submitted for reimbursement from out-of-network benefits or a Health Savings Account. Payment will be expected at the time of service because Dr. Findler does not bill insurance companies directly.