100 Glenway St Suite i, Belmont, NC 28012
Services
The evaluation process begins with an initial 60-minute consultation (parent only for minors). During this session, we will gather relevant educational and/or developmental information to determine the assessment path that will best serve a client’s needs. Common evaluations include:
A psychoeducational evaluation explores a client’s aptitude and achievement through various measures of cognitive abilities, processing skills, and academic functioning. This includes interviews; standardized tests; and questionnaires completed by clients, parents, and teachers. All clients complete a screening of mental health symptoms and behaviors to look at the whole person when understanding their current functioning. A more thorough evaluation of socioemotional difficulties is completed when indicated. Findings from the psychoeducational evaluation may result in a diagnosis. All clients receive a comprehensive picture of their strengths and areas of challenge to inform next steps, which may include academic interventions (e.g., tutoring), pursuing school services (e.g., accommodations), and/or psychological interventions (e.g., therapy).
An ASD evaluation includes observations and assessments of a child’s development in several key areas. These include language and communication, social awareness and interaction, restricted interests, repetitive behaviors, and adaptive behavior. This is achieved through gathering information from the parent/caregiver and direct observation. Depending on the child, other areas of evaluation may include tests of intelligence, academic achievement, attention, and/or socioemotional functioning. This additional information can often help to better understand the child’s current levels of functioning and guide treatment and education decisions.
A psychological evaluation focuses on a client’s aptitude, cognitive processing, and/or socioemotional functioning depending on need. Client’s may choose this path if their primary concerns are mental health. Other times, academic testing has already been completed at a child’s school. Several assessment tools are available and tailored to fit a client’s needs, including standardized tests, clinical interviews, questionnaires, and projective measures.
An educational evaluation focuses on the person’s academic achievement to determine learning strengths and challenges. In addition to standardized tests of reading, writing, and math, academic processing skills may be explored, such as phonological processing and visual motor integration.
An intellectual evaluation includes a measure of a student’s cognitive abilities. This is commonly referred to as an IQ test. Areas assessed include verbal and fluid reasoning, visual spatial abilities, working memory, and processing speed. At times, an IQ test is required for school admission or consideration for other academic programs.
Common areas identified through the evaluation process include, but are not limited to:
ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. It is marked by inattention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity, with symptoms severe enough to interfere with a person’s functioning at home, school, or in social situations. Executive functioning weaknesses are also common in people with ADHD, and can include difficulties with planning, organization, working memory, time management, and organizing belongings.
A learning disorder is an information-processing problem that prevents a person from learning a skill and using it effectively. Often-times, the disorder appears as a gap between expected skills based on intelligence and age and academic performance. Common learning disorders affect a child’s abilities in reading, writing, and math.
Reading. A learning disorder in reading (commonly referred to as dyslexia) is usually based on an individual’s difficulty perceiving a spoken word as a combination of distinct sounds. This can make it difficult for them to understand how a letter or letters represent a sound and how a combination of letters make a word. The severity differs in each individual and can impact reading fluency, decoding, comprehension, recall and spelling, and can exist with other related disorders.
Writing. Writing requires complex visual, motor, and organizational skills. Dysgraphia is a specific disability that affects a person’s handwriting ability and fine motor skills. This can result in illegible handwriting, inconsistent spacing between words, weak spatial planning on the page, as well as trouble with spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Additionally, organizational challenges can contribute to trouble putting thoughts into writing making written work hard to understand.
Math. A learning disorder in math may cause problems with various skills including understanding how numbers work and relate to each other (number sense), calculating math problems, memorizing math facts, using math symbols, and understanding word problems.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder involving persistent challenges with social communication, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors. This impacts how a person perceives and socializes with others, causing challenges in social interaction and communication. Symptoms generally appear in the first two years of life, and the degree of impairment and abilities varies between individuals with ASD. For example, some people with ASD may have advanced vocabulary whereas others may be nonverbal. Some need assistance with daily tasks whereas others can live with little to no support. Individuals with ASD may also have comorbid conditions, such as anxiety, depression, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, or sensory processing issues. Early identification is ideal and can help children with ASD receive support and services to teach new skills and reduce symptoms that may be interfering with daily functioning and quality of life.
Social or emotional difficulties include disorders that impact a person’s thought processes, emotions, or judgments, or that result in maladaptive behaviors. Anxiety and depression are examples of socioemotional difficulties that can impact children in a variety of ways, contributing to feelings of nervousness or other physical symptoms (e.g., increased heart rate, headaches, stomachaches); feelings of sadness and hopelessness; irritability and mood changes; changes in appetite and sleep patterns; social withdrawal and low energy; and difficulty concentrating.
