Psychological assessment may help you to better understand your child and the problems that s/he has been facing at home or school. This information helps plan effective treatment for your child by his/her physician, mental health provider, school, or parents.

The testing process varies from person to person, based on his/her needs. Some commonly tested areas include: learning, memory, attention and concentration, language skills, problem solving skills, academic skills, emotional functioning, and adaptive-behavioral functioning.

Testing sessions are scheduled on a unit basis. Testing appointments vary in length and typically are scheduled in increments of 1 unit (45 minutes), 2 units (90 minutes), or 3 units (135 minutes). Breaks, rest periods or multiple appointments will be provided to accommodate individual child and testing needs.

Psychological assessment involves a number of steps:

1. Initial interview with you and your child to gather all the needed information and to plan testing.

2. Testing with your child. You (and possibly your child's teacher) also will be asked to complete some paperwork.

3. Scoring and interpretation of tests.

4. Preparation of written evaluation report.

5. Feedback session in which assessment findings are reviewed with parents and children, individually. In many cases the feedback session is conducted with parents and child separately so that parents are able to speak candidly regarding the test findings and plan for care. In some cases, separate appointments may be scheduled for feedback with parents and child.

Psychotherapy is a partnership between you, your child, and your psychologist to find new ways of handling problems of daily living. There are many different methods your psychologist may use to address the concerns you have for your child and/or family presented in clinic. Our primary treatment approach is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The focus of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is on understanding the connection between our thinking, our emotions, and how we respond, interact or behave in our environment. There is an emphasis on identifying new ways of thinking about difficult and stressful events, as well as developing healthy coping tools/strategies for handing physical and emotional symptoms. CBT is goal oriented with the focus on effecting measurable change in an individual’s emotional, behavioral, or physical symptoms and thereby improving the quality of his/her life. We also utilize behavioral parent training/coaching, behavioral play therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, and family therapy techniques regularly when appropriate for your child.

With parents’ written permission we frequently collaborate with medical and educational providers in children’s lives when appropriate to provide the best, most comprehensive care. Brief consultations with other professionals are a part of standard assessment and therapy services in this clinic and are not billed. Participation in school staffings, out-of-office observations, IEP’s, or other medical/educational team meetings are considered an additional service and are billed accordingly.