Services
What to Expect: Psychological Assessments
The Purpose of an Assessment
An assessment may be indicated for your child when there is question about the presence of possible mental health diagnoses and/or when information is needed about your child’s current skill levels cognitively, academically, or adaptively. In addition, through examination of the results, specific recommendations will be provided that will be directly related to your child’s unique configuration of strengths and weaknesses. This information can be shared with your child’s therapist, school staff, and/or other professionals working with him or her to provide the best care possible across settings. At times, the results of the evaluation may also be helpful in securing your child additional supports in the school system or in gaining access to increased clinical services.
Included in the Assessment
A comprehensive assessment is generally conducted by obtaining this information from multiple sources, including parent feedback, teacher feedback, and a direct evaluation of a child’s behavioral, emotional and/or cognitive and academic abilities or aptitudes. For children, direct evaluation may include a series of tasks designed to assess different skill areas or psychological functioning; however, the format of your child’s assessment will be designed based on the best individualized fit for your child. Tools that are often used as part of a psychological evaluation include a diagnostic interview, an intelligence test, a standardized test of academic abilities, neuropsychological batteries, assessments of developmental delays, and/or behavior or symptom rating scales, although many other measures may also be included. Behavioral observations are a critical part of the evaluation and may be conducted in the clinic and/or school setting. Finally, if your child has previously been evaluated or has any relevant medical or educational records, it will be helpful to provide these to the individual conducting the assessment for review and reference when completing the psychological report.
Scheduling the Assessment
If an evaluation is needed, it will often be recommended at the initial appointment, although sometimes a child is well into therapy before it is decided that an assessment is warranted. When this decision is made, your therapist will complete a testing request form and submit it to the Director of Assessment. This form will provide information about the current presenting concerns, the reason for the assessment, the possible diagnoses that are being evaluated, and any other relevant details. The Director of Assessment will review this information, recommend possible test measures, and assign a staff member or team to conduct the face-to-face evaluation. The assessment team consists of both licensed psychologists as well as post-doctoral psychology residents; however, all evaluations are supervised closely by the Director of Assessment. The testing request form will then be provided to an insurance specialist at Keystone who will contact your insurance company to obtain information on coverage and to request authorization. Please note, at times, insurance may require additional paperwork to be completed, which may extend the time that it takes to obtain authorization. Once insurance authorizes coverage, a receptionist will then call you to schedule your child’s assessment appointments. Please note that this entire process may take some time (often between two to four weeks or more, depending on the paperwork required).
Testing appointments are schedule in two-hour blocks. Generally, one test battery is completed within this time span, thus an extensive evaluation may require several different two-hour sessions. The reason testing sessions are configured in this manner is because children tend to perform to their optimal ability during briefer work periods and their focus and effort often tends to wane after approximately two hours. Additionally, please note that available testing appointments are pre-set in staff calendars and only a certain number of openings are available per week at predetermined days and times. Because of the limited number of available testing slots, assessment appointments are often booked weeks to months in advance as they become filled very quickly, thus please note that it may be between one and three months before your child will be seen for his or her first testing appointment.
Assessment Sessions
During assessment sessions, the evaluator will greet you and your child in the lobby and will take him or her to one of the session rooms to begin the assessment. Unless otherwise discussed with the evaluator prior to the session, you will be asked to remain in the lobby area or you are welcome to leave the clinic for the duration of the appointment. At times, such as for very young children or during certain evaluations, a parent may be asked to remain in the room during testing; however, the parent is typically not present so as to reduce distractions and to maintain standardization procedures. Although the method in which the assessment is conducted varies by individual, generally, subtests are interspersed with frequent breaks and high levels of reinforcement to promote your child’s optimal performance. Finally, the evaluator may provide you with some behavior rating scales or questionnaires for you and any other caregivers and/or your child’s teachers to complete. It is extremely important that these measures be completed as soon as possible, as the psychological report cannot be completed without these critical pieces of information.
Feedback Session
Once the final assessment session is complete, if all rating scales have been returned, a feedback session will be scheduled. Typically, this session is scheduled approximately four weeks from the last testing session, as the evaluator must score measures, interpret results, and compose a psychological report, which may be quite lengthy at times. This session is usually conducted with just the parent or caregivers without the child present. During this appointment, the evaluator will review the results of the assessment, explain the implications of the findings, and provide a series of recommendations. Please feel free to ask any questions or express any concerns during this session—we recognize that it can be overwhelming to be provided with so much information at once! You will be provided with a copy of the psychological evaluation during this session. If you are interested in sharing the report with any other individuals, it is yours to do so as you see fit.