Why Is An Evaluation Necessary?
Parents, teachers or pediatricians sometimes have questions or concerns about a child’s behavior. Some of these might include:
- Why can’t Jacob pay attention in school, when at home he can sit in front of his videogames for hours and stay perfectly focused?
- Chelsea is obviously very smart, so why is she struggling academically?
- Andre has a really hard time when there is a change in his daily schedule, and all he talks about is trains!
- When I tell Jared things like “Go to your room, change your clothes, come downstairs, have a snack and then start your homework”, he ends up going to his room and then forgets everything else!
- Ever since her mother and I separated, Jaime has been having nightmares and spending more and more time in her room by herself…
Many times, a comprehensive evaluation with the experts at Neurobehavioral Consultants can help answer these questions, AND provide parents and teachers with strategies and solutions to help improve behaviors and overall functioning.
Types of Child Evaluations
PsychoEducational Assessment:
This type of assessment can identify a child’s intellectual strengths and needs as they relate to his/her academic (school-based) skills and areas of need. The results of the evaluation may be able to help determine how the child learns, and the most effective ways to teach him/her. PsychoEducational Evaluations are NOT covered by health insurance. Please contact us to discuss the fees.
Cognitive Assessment:
This type of assessment can identify a child’s intellectual strengths and needs. For instance, it can identify his/her verbal problem-solving skills, nonverbal problem-solving skills, and overall intellectual potential. Many private schools require recent cognitive testing when determining whether they will grant admission to a new student.
Neuropsychological Assessment:
This is a comprehensive evaluation that not only includes a cognitive assessment (above), but also examines the child’s overall ability to process information. We look at attention, memory, executive functioning, language processing/comprehension, social perception, etc. Learn more in FAQ.
ADHD Assessment:
When there are concerns that a child may having difficulty paying attention in school and/or elsewhere, has trouble staying still, has difficulty remembering information, and/or behaves impulsively (“acts without thinking it through”), an assessment to determine whether these behaviors may be caused by a condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may be very helpful. This may also include one of our experts spending time observing in the child’s classroom.
Clinical Psychological Assessment:
This type of evaluation includes a cognitive assessment (above) and a brief neuropsychological screening, but explores in-depth a child’s emotional and behavioral functioning. This assessment looks at the possibility of depression, anxiety or other mood conditions, ADHD, self-concept and self-esteem, trauma, social development, and family issues.
Autism Spectrum Assessment:
Through a combination of data collection instruments, a comprehensive family interview, performance assessments and classroom observation, the experts at NCSS can help a family determine if a child may be functioning on the autism spectrum, and if so, provide the family and school with practical skills and interventions to support the child.
Educational Assessment:
This specialized evaluation focuses on academic skills—reading, written language, and mathematics. This is sometimes accompanied by a cognitive assessment, depending on the reason for referral. Educational assessments are not covered by health insurance.
The Evaluation Process (for children/adolescents)
- The process begins with a parent or pediatrician contacting Neurobehavioral Consultants, by phone (401-831-NCSS) or via our contact page.
- You will be contacted by phone by our offices within 24 hours, and will speak personally with one of our clinicians. Your child’s first appointment will be scheduled.
- Prior to coming to the first appointment, you will receive via US Mail an Intake packet. The packet contains consent forms and data collection forms—a group for the parent to complete, and a group for the child’s teacher to complete. Older children may also receive 1-2 data collection forms to complete themselves.
- Parents and child attend the first appointment, which is usually a 45-minute interview. Please bring all your Intake paperwork to this appointment.
- The first assessment session, on a different day, is with Dr. Brusini or another psychologist. This appointment usually takes about 3 hours.
- A second, shorter assessment session follows on a different day. The majority of this 2-hour session is is either with Dr. Brusini or a psychometrist. A third testing session may be needed, depending on the referral question.
- Once all paperwork has been received by our office, your child’s psychological evaluation report is written. We will contact you to set up an appointment to review the report with us. During that meeting, we will explain what the testing results mean, what issues we explored, what we ruled-out, and if appropriate, any final diagnoses. Strategies, recommendations, and solutions are reviewed with you at that meeting, and we provide you with copies of the report to share with your child’s school and pediatrician.