An excerpt from NAP Network newsletter, Volume 1, Issue 1, May 1995

On May 20th, 1994 a group of psychometrists from various sites across the Midwest met in Rochester, MN to discuss the possibility of forming a professional organization. The sense of excitement at that first meeting was somewhat akin to what Robinson Crusoe must have felt when he first saw Friday’s footprints in the sand – “I’m not the only person out here. There are others just like me!” As one of the group commented, “It’s great to know I could tell a WAIS joke and everyone would understand it.”

The main focus of the first meeting was to try to identify as many psychometrists as possible across the country and to conduct an interest survey. Through various methods which included contacting ex-post docs, acquaintances and professional colleagues, we managed to compile a list of 220 psychometrists and the survey was sent out in September 1994. By our next meeting in Madison , WI, we had received 139  replies with still more to come. The overwhelming response (98.5%) was “YES – we are interested.” Our task then was to set about forming the association and on January 19, 1995 the National Association of Psychometrists (NAP) was formally incorporated in the State of Minnesota.

The work, however, had only just begun. Temporary Board members were elected from the members of the Planning Committee, sub-committees were formed and we set about writing a Mission Statement and By-laws, pursuing non-profit status, and discussing the myriad of other concerns involved in forming an organization of this type. Our third planning meeting took place in Marshfield, WI in February 1995. By this time the euphoria of that first meeting had somewhat diminished, but the enthusiasm was still there. We were becoming a cohesive group of colleagues and friends, not merely a diverse group of people who happened to belong to the same profession. In this mode we were able to accomplish more in one session.  Our fourth planning meeting is scheduled for late Spring 1995 in LaCrosse, WI. We will celebrate the anniversary of our first tentative steps as a professional organization, and look forward to giant stride in the future.

NAP has had growing national and international support from members, psychologists and neuropsychologists in nearly every US state as well as Canada.