Assessment
“The brain is a muscle that can move the world.”
- Stephen King
The purpose of assessment is to understand the client's strengths and struggles to identify more effective services and supports. Specifically, to understand what they've gone through, their current skill level, how their brain works, and how to best help them meet their individual goals. It is important to understand that the process of diagnosing is not the same as defining a diagnosis by symptoms. It involves an exhaustive process of understanding the interaction between the environment and biology pertaining to each client. The assessment process consists of three sessions: Intake, assessment, and feedback.
Intake
One component of the assessment is to understand the development of an individual's current level of skills and abilities. Therefore, when you schedule the intake session, you will receive a list of documents to bring to your testing appointment if you have them available. During the one-hour intake session, you will complete an interview with the clinician to better understand your past and current experiences and future goals. This allows the clinician to fully understand your current need for testing and the past experiences that may contribute to your current experiences.
Assessment
The assessment appointment may be scheduled for four to eight hours, depending on your individual needs. You are encouraged to bring snacks to your appointment and ask for breaks as needed during the appointment. Testing consists of additional interviews, observations, and task-based performance assessments. No invasive assessments such as X-Rays or MRIs are used during the assessment. You should bring glasses, hearing aids, and other support devices if you require them. On the day of the assessment, observer and take-home questionnaires will be sent home with you or emailed to you. These assessments must be completed before the final feedback session can be scheduled. It is essential that these take-home assessments are completed and returned no later than sixty days after the appointment. In the meantime, the clinician will score the in-person assessments and ensure no additional information is needed.
Behind the Scenes
While you complete your take-home assessments, the clinician will begin scoring the assessments, which can take one to two hours. After the return of your take-home assessments, the clinician will interpret the results and write the report. The process of interpreting the result and writing the report can take between four to six hours. Thus, when scheduling your feedback session, the clinician must also schedule time for four to six hours of report writing.
Feedback Session
During the one-hour feedback session, you will meet with the clinician to review your assessment results and recommendations. You may bring a support partner to this session if you choose to. The feedback session aims to work together to identify the supports you may need for your strengths and weaknesses to best address your reported symptoms. After the feedback session, you will be sent home with a report including your background information, pertinent information from any records received, case conceptualization, assessment results, and recommendations. You should share this report with your support team, which may include your doctor, therapist, or school. This report and the subsequent recommendations will ensure your treatment is tailored to your needs.
Click on a clinician below to access the necessary paperwork and schedule an intake appointment.
Efficiency
It is always more efficient if the client is able to bring records to their appointment. It reduces the amount of time that the clinician must spend waiting for records. Please bring the following items to your intake session if possible:
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Medical
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Referral from your Primary Care Physician (PCP)
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Medical/Developmental Records
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Previous Psychiatric/Psychological Evaluations
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Neurological Evaluations
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Speech Therapy Evaluations
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Physical and Occupational Therapy Evaluations
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History of mental health treatment
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Name of the clinician, name of the organization, length of time working with the clinician(s), the purpose for seeking therapy, the outcome of therapy
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School/Educational
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Early On Provider Documentation/Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)
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Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 Plan
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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team (MET) Records
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School Cumulative Records known as a CA-60 (If graduated less than 5 years ago)
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History of academic and behavioral interventions
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School Staff or Daycare Provider observations
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Other
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Any court-related situations or documents
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Preparing Your Child for Testing
It's common for children and adults to become nervous before participating in an assessment. Often, guardians are unsure how to explain the process to their child. It's important to not prepare for specific assessments through practice or videos as this will result in an inaccurate representation of their needs. Instead, it's beneficial to describe the purpose of an assessment as learning how they learn to find a way to make school easier for them and explore what can be changed at home. It is also important to involve them in the process by asking what they would like to know about their brain can motivate them to try their best and ensure that the assessment process is seen as beneficial to them.