Elena Ostroy, Ph.D., ABN

09/09/2026

NYC parents: unsure whether to request a school district evaluation or a private neuropsychological evaluation for your child? Our latest blog breaks down the differences, timelines, costs, and what each evaluation can — and can’t — provide so you can make an informed decision. Read the full guide: https://wix.to/tRKB0lj

Navigating the NYC educational system is notoriously complex, particularly when your child is struggling. Whether your child attends a local Brooklyn public school or a private school in the city, seeing them struggle with focus, reading, or behavioral challenges is stressful.When seeking help for a...

06/24/2026

College-bound teen with an IEP or 504 plan? Prepare them for success with practical steps, rights info, and tips for advocating in higher ed. Read our guide to ease the transition and boost confidence: https://wix.to/an4bfln

Key takeaways: start early, understand disability services, gather documentation, and coach self-advocacy. Share with a parent who needs this.

As my own kids reach the end of their high school journey and prepare to head off to college this fall, the concept of the "college transition" has been front and center in my mind. It is a milestone filled with excitement, anticipation, and, let’s be honest, a fair amount of anxiety for any paren...

02/25/2026

Students with learning, psychological, or developmental differences can perform at their best when testing conditions are fair. Our latest blog explains how neuropsychological evaluations document the need for accommodations on high-stakes exams like the SAT, LSAT, and MCAT — and what that process looks like. Read more: https://wix.to/XlYNpSt

Students with learning, psychological, or developmental differences often have the ability to succeed on standardized tests—but the standard testing format may not accurately reflect their true skills. Testing accommodations exist to create a level playing field. As a neuropsychologist, one of my ...

09/24/2025

Some very positive medical news for a change

Huntington’s disease, a devastating degenerative illness that runs in families, has been treated successfully for the first time in a breakthrough gene therapy trial

09/06/2025

New blog post on recognizing and understanding features of more subtle autism presentations:

Like many of my colleagues, I have seen a recent spike in requests for autism evaluations for teens and adults. In the past, autism was mainly associated with children who displayed easily recognizable traits - struggling to communicate with others, showing clearly unusual and repetitive behaviors,....

10/27/2023

Wanted to share an article I was recently interviewed for by a local journalist. Glad to see dyscalculia/math LD getting some much needed attention:

“It leads to misdiagnoses and neglect,” he said. “It comes down to educating the educators. We need a bipartisan effort that crosses the party lines. Every

05/15/2023

New blog post on the diagnosis of nonverbal learning disability (NVLD)

Although the concept of NVLD (nonverbal learning disabilities) has been around since for decades, it is still not fully understood. The DSM-5, the psychiatric diagnostic manual commonly used in the US, does not include the NVLD diagnosis and there is still ongoing debate over the definition of NVLD....

10/19/2022

My new blog post discusses the challenges of identifying and supporting twice exceptional (2E) Kids

Evaluations of twice exceptional (2e) children, intellectually gifted children with learning disabilities

04/18/2022

One of the few much needed studies to systematically review neuropsychological functioning in gifted children. Compared to typically developing peers, gifted children have many cognitive strengths, yet on many other measures of cognitive functioning, no discernible difference is identified between gifted and typical kids. Just like typically developing children, intellectually gifted kids can have learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders, like ADHD requiring accurate diagnosis and treatment. Yet identifying LD and ADHD among these children remains more challenging precisely because of their cognitive strengths relative to typically developing children:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-neuropsychological-society/article/neuropsychological-profile-of-intellectually-gifted-children-a-systematic-review/E4DE226BAA7ED66B762945EE5C9568BF