What is a psychological assessment?
A psychological assessment uses validated test measures to learn about a person’s cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social functioning. Test measures can include interviews, questionnaires, and interactive tests. A psychologist integrates the test results with behavioral observations and background history to develop a deeper understanding of a person and how best to help them. An evaluation gives more than just a diagnosis. After all, two people with the same diagnosis can have vastly different experiences. Knowing a person’s individual strengths and weaknesses and what is most likely to help them makes all the difference.
My goal is to provide a deeper understanding about why you or your child are struggling and give clear guidance on how to help. A psychological assessment will not be a miracle solution – but it will be a road map to guide you.
How do I know if an assessment is the next right step?
An assessment is helpful if you need a thorough profile of your or your child’s thinking skills and social-emotional development to pinpoint why a specific difficulty is happening and how to help.
If your child is struggling, but she has help and things are getting better, you might not need an evaluation. For example, if your child has trouble reading, and services at school are helping, an evaluation is not necessary. Similarly, if you are experiencing an emotional challenge, and you are getting therapy and making steady gains, an evaluation isn’t necessary.
You might consider an assessment if you don’t know what is wrong, you’re not sure how to help, or you’re not seeing progress in the treatments you’ve tried. You will find an assessment helpful if:
Your child has problems with learning, attention, anxiety, mood, or social interactions that do not seem to be getting better.
You are not sure if your child is getting the right services at school.
Your therapist or medical doctor need more information about what’s going on.
You have tried everything, and you just don’t know what to do.
The problem is affecting your child’s self-esteem, friendships, mood, or family life.
You thought your child would grow out of the issue, but it doesn’t seem to be just a phase.
Your child is doing “okay” for now, but you’re worried about what lies ahead.
You overcame much in your life without a diagnosis, but now that you’re an adult, you want to know why you had to work so much harder.
Many children with developmental issues also benefit from regular re-evaluations to see what kind of progress they have made and how their needs have changed.
What happens during an assessment?
The first step is a consultation, where we discuss your concerns. Based on the information you provide and the questions you want answered, a specific plan is designed for the assessment. Click here to see a list of common questions that can be answered with an assessment.
The next step is testing, which occurs over two or three 2-hour appointments during which you or your child complete many different kinds of tasks. These interactive tasks are designed to find out the unique ways that you or your child think, experience, and learn.
During the testing sessions, you or your child will be asked to do many different activities based on age and guiding questions. Test day activities might include:
Hands-on activities like drawing, looking at pictures, solving puzzles, and building with blocks
Verbal tasks like listening, answering questions, and sharing what you know
Problem-solving exercises 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 their perspective by telling me about school, talking about their family and friends, sharing favorite activities and what they are good at, and answering questionnaires
Academic tasks like reading, writing, and math problems
Playing together with specific toys designed to assess social skills
Telling stories about people in a picture
Learn more about my process here. Click on the Contact Me button to get started.
See what individuals are saying
“Thank you for the report and your encouraging words. I have read over everything carefully and it has been enlightening to finally get some answers.”
-E.
“Hi Susannah, I wanted to thank you for my report, it was so thorough and really clarified a lot of things. I’ve been doing a lot of research and reading books about adult autism and things are starting to feel manageable. It was a difficult but wonderful experience and I’m so glad you were the one to help me.”
-J.