Bilingual pediatric assessment
Examining how Spanish–English bilingual evaluations are conducted and how practice can become more consistent, valid, and responsive.
Research
Clinical questions, collaborative answers.
My research grows from the questions that emerge in clinical care—particularly around pediatric epilepsy, bilingual assessment, and communication across complex systems.
Current directions
From better measurement
to better decisions.
Neuropsychology in epilepsy care
Studying cognitive and psychosocial outcomes in pediatric epilepsy and the role of neuropsychology in surgical planning.
Interdisciplinary communication
Investigating how neuropsychologists and neurosurgical teams share findings—and how communication can better support decisions.
Research support
Warshaw Fellow Research Grant
Emory School of Medicine & Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Allies in Research Accelerator Grant
Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium
Scholarship
Publications
Alfonso, D., Allen, A., & Bearden, D. J. Catamenial Epilepsy in the Teenage Brain: Insights into Neurodevelopmental Impact.
Journal of Pediatric Neuropsychology
Ellison, R. L., VanLandingham, H. B., Tam, J. W., Rynar, L., & Alfonso, D. Cancer.
In Neuropsychology of Women: Considerations for Clinical Care & Research, Springer · Book chapter
Alfonso, D., Ailion, A., Seeman, N., Davalbhakta, E., & Bearden, D. J. Effects of physical activity on cognition and psychosocial functioning in pediatric epilepsy: A systematic review.
Epilepsy & Behavior Reports
Alfonso, D., & Gerst, E. Psychoeducation as Intervention in Complex Concussion Cases: Profile of an Adolescent Patient.
Journal of Pediatric Neuropsychology
Bearden, D. J., Ehrenberg, A., Harrington, R., et al. The Voice Inside Your Head: Intracranial Examination of High Frequency Activity and Phase Amplitude Coupling During Natural Language.
Neurobiology of Language · Preprint
VanLandingham, H., Ellison, R. L., Turchmanovych-Hienkel, N., Alfonso, D., et al. Neuropsychological assessment, intervention, and best practices for women with cancer: A scoping review of current standards.
The Clinical Neuropsychologist
Rodriguez, V. J., Liu, Q., Alfonso, D., et al. Empirically derived patterns of symptoms in adult patients with ADHD: An unsupervised machine learning approach.
Applied Neuropsychology: Adult
Brooks, J., Guilfoyle, J., Alfonso, D., et al. Differentiating performance on the Conners Continuous Performance Test (CPT-3) as a function of comorbid psychopathology in an adult ADHD clinical sample.
Journal of Attention Disorders
Alfonso, D., Basurto, K. S., Guilfoyle, J., et al. The Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences on ADHD Symptom Reporting, Psychological Symptoms, and Cognitive Performance Among Adult Neuropsychological Referrals.
Journal of Attention Disorders
Rodriguez, V. J., Alfonso, D., VanLandingham, H., et al. Prevalence of neurodevelopmental delays in infants with perinatal HIV infection in comparison with HIV exposure in rural South Africa.
AIDS
Awada, S. R., Shelleby, E. C., Alfonso, D., & Keane, J. Differential Mechanisms Linking Early Childhood Violence Exposure and Social/Environmental Deprivation to Adolescent Conduct Problems.
Journal of Family Violence
Suarez, L. G., Leonard, K. A., Alfonso, D., & Vazquez, A. Through the Survivor’s Lens: A Photovoice Inquiry of Child Sex Trafficking.
Journal of Human Trafficking
Ogg, J., Shelleby, E. C., Santuzzi, A., et al. Examining Daily Parent Involvement in Caregivers of Children with ADHD Using Electronic Diaries.
Journal of School Psychology
Selected
Presentations & invited talks
Bilingualism in Neuropsychology Evaluations for Pediatric Neurosurgery: Case Series on Linguistic Considerations and Best Practices.
American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology · Oral conference presentation · Chair
Behind the Rank List: When ‘Fit’ Means Different Things to Different People.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta · Invited talk
Morbidity & Mortality Conference: Patient Safety & Crisis Preparedness.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta · Invited talk
Bilingualism in Pediatric Neuropsychology.
Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago · Scholarly Projects, Department of Psychiatry
Bridging the Language Gap: Supervising & Supporting Bilingual Neuropsychology Trainees.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta · Advanced Neuropsychology Seminar
Communicating Neuropsychological Results to Neurosurgical Teams: Are We on the Same Wavelength?
Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium · Epilepsy Surgery Special Interest Group
Neuropsychological Evaluations of Bilingual (Spanish/English) Pediatric Patients with Case Study.
International Neuropsychological Society · Poster presentation
Neurodevelopmental Profile of a Pediatric Patient with Catamenial Epilepsy.
International Neuropsychological Society · Poster presentation
Approaches to Bilingual Testing.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta · Advanced Neuropsychology Seminar
Pre-Surgical Epilepsy in Bilingual (Spanish/English) Patients.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta · Neuropsychology Student Seminar
For citation metrics and the latest additions, visit my academic profiles.