PSCYHOEducational Evaluations & Testing

Children, Teens, Young Adults

ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia,
Learning Disabilities, Depression, Anxiety, & More

The Why

Every child develops at his or her own pace. We often expect development to be a straight line. Yet for many kids, development is uneven. These children shine in many areas, and need a lot of support in other areas. Uneven development is most frustrating when a child can't yet meet expectations in some area that is important to them, like school, home life, or friendships.

Educational evaluations offer insight about your child's specific learning profile. You'll discover your child's unique strengths as well as their vulnerabilities. You'll learn how your child thinks and processes information, why they have trouble with some tasks, and what they need to be successful.

An evaluation is a thread in the rope of understanding and supporting your child’s profile. The results will help to inform the team of adults who support your child so that his or her learning needs can be met.

Assessment results can inform educational planning including 504 and IEP plans, medication treatment, counseling treatment, and more.

The What

The battery of tests varies depending upon the nature of the need and referral. It may include:

• Cognitive skills, such as intellectual, logical thinking, language, and memory

• Academic skills, such as reading, writing, and math

• Attention and executive functioning skills

• Emotional-social-behavioral

• Visual/motor coordination, auditory processing, and other areas related to learning

• Neuropsychological assessments

The How

Our evaluations are guided by the questions you have about your child.

The first step in an evaluation is a parent consultation, where we discuss the concerns you have about your child. Based on the information you provide and the questions you want answered, a specific plan is designed for your child's evaluation.

The next steps

The next step is testing, this is a session during which your child completes many different kinds of tasks. These interactive tasks are designed to find out the unique ways that your child thinks, processes, and learns.

The day of testing is a lot like a day of school. Your child will be asked to do many different activities, depending on your child's age and your questions.

Test day activities might include:     

• Hands-on tasks like drawing, looking at pictures, solving puzzles, and building

• Verbal activities like listening, answering questions, and sharing what she knows

• Problem-solving tasks like discovering a pattern, or figuring out how two things are alike

• Learning and memory activities like retelling a story or learning a list of words

• Giving me his perspective by telling me about school, talking about his family and friends, sharing his favorite activities and what he is good at, and filling out paper-and-pencil questionnaires

• Technology activities like completing a test on an iPad or computer

• Academic tasks like reading, writing, and math problems

• If he or she is a young child, we might play together with using specific toys designed to assess play skills and social skills