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Psychological Assessment
Understanding Your Child More Clearly
When a child, adolescent, or young adult is struggling at home, at school, socially, or emotionally, it isn’t always clear why. A psychological assessment can help identify a child’s strengths and challenges, clarify diagnoses when appropriate, and provide practical recommendations for moving forward.
Each assessment is individualized based on the client, the questions being asked, and the concerns of the family. Depending on the evaluation, information may be gathered through interviews, standardized testing, behavioral observation, questionnaires, and input from parents, teachers, or other professionals.
My goal is not simply to provide a diagnosis or test score. A useful evaluation should help families better understand their child and leave with clear, practical recommendations for supporting them at home, at school, and in treatment.
Individualized and Evidence-Based
Autism Spectrum Disorder
An autism evaluation looks carefully at a child’s social communication, relationships, behavior, interests, development, and everyday functioning.
A comprehensive assessment may include direct interaction and observation with the child, interviews with caregivers, standardized measures, developmental history, and information from teachers or other professionals when appropriate.
Families receive a comprehensive report explaining the findings, diagnostic impressions when appropriate, and individualized recommendations for treatment, school, and home.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
ADHD can affect much more than attention. Children may struggle with organization, impulse control, activity level, emotional regulation, completing tasks, or managing the demands of school and daily life.
Because these difficulties can overlap with anxiety, learning problems, sleep difficulties, and other concerns, a thoughtful ADHD evaluation considers the child across multiple settings rather than relying on a single questionnaire or test.
Evaluations typically include information from the child, caregivers, and teachers, along with standardized measures and other assessment methods as appropriate. Families receive clear findings and practical recommendations for next steps.
Cognitive and Learning Assessments
Cognitive and learning assessments can help identify a child’s pattern of strengths and weaknesses in areas such as reasoning, memory, processing, attention, reading, writing, and mathematics.
These evaluations may be helpful when a child is struggling academically, when a learning disability is suspected, or when families and schools need a clearer understanding of how a child learns best.
Assessment typically includes direct testing with the child as well as relevant information from caregivers, teachers, school records, and other sources. Recommendations are tailored to the child and may include strategies for home, school, and additional services or supports.
Diagnostic Clarification
Children and adolescents can sometimes experience symptoms that overlap across several conditions. Anxiety, depression, mood difficulties, trauma, ADHD, developmental differences, and other concerns can look similar or occur together.
A diagnostic evaluation can help clarify what may be contributing to a child’s difficulties and guide treatment planning when the clinical picture is complicated or when previous interventions have not provided enough answers.
The specific assessment process varies depending on the questions being asked and may include interviews, standardized measures, review of relevant records, behavioral observations, and psychological testing when appropriate.
What to Expect from an Assessment
1. Start with a secure inquiry. The Request Services button opens our SimplePractice form. Share a brief description of your concerns so I can review fit and availability.
2. If we're a good fit, we'll schedule an initial intake appointment to discuss your questions, gather background and history. We review developmental, medical, and school history and decide whether an assessment is appropriate.
3. If testing is appropriate, we'll design an assessment protocol specifically for you/your child and your needs. Administering the tests often takes several hours spread across several appointments.
4. Once all the data is collected and tests completed, I will score the results, analyze the data, and create a unique assessment report with summaries of the test results, diagnosis(es), and recommendations/resources.
5. Finally, we will meet for a feedback session where you will receive a written report, as well as a shareable, digital copy. Your report explains the findings and individualized recommendations for home, school, and treatment. This is the beginning, not the end, so I remain available for follow-up consultation down the road if needed.