As a Paracheck-Frazier Research Fellow, Dean was awarded a Ph.D. in school/child clinical psychology in 1978 by Arizona State University.
Since the 1980s, Dean maintained that, without a functional basis to test, the increase in scanning technology would result in decreased efficacy of neuropsychological assessment.
[3] His concerns were realized through the sophistication and geometric growth of radiological scanning techniques evidenced over the past 30 years.
Advances in computer driven scanning devices, including computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, produced microscopic views of central nervous system soft tissue that was not otherwise available.
The neuropsychological examination method enabled clinical definition and opinion on adaptive behavior in the context of a change in pathophysiology or processes, including brain damage.
[4] Despite more definitive knowledge concerning the anatomical integrity of the brain, individual differences of subjects limits specific prediction of behavioral, cognitive and emotional expression.
Dean predicted that the future of neuropsychological assessment depends on the level of continuing interest and investment in the identification and treatment of behavioral deficits in the academic and clinical settings.