Problem: Neurological Testing
Darren visited his mother, Joyce, over Mother's Day weekend. He lives over a thousand miles away and hasn't seen her for over a year. He was sitting on the back porch with her and noticed a slight tremor in her right hand. "Mom, are you cold?". He also noticed she got up slowly from her chair and shuffled cautiously from the glider to the back door. Later that evening, Darren had a chance to talk to his father about this. "Dad, have you noticed mom's hands shake sometimes and she is walking so slowly now?". His dad said he had, in fact, noticed some changes in his wife. "We were going to talk to you about this today. She went to see her doctor this week and he has referred her to a neurologist for testing".
a) What testing do you think the neurologist will perform?
b) What questions do you think will be important to ask at this visit?
c) What do you think Joyce's diagnosis is and why? Defend your answer.