Comprehensive Psychological Testing
What is Comprehensive Psychological Testing?
Comprehensive psychological testing helps provide greater insight into your child’s symptoms and experiences through various tests designed to look at their learning style, emotional experiences, and more. A comprehensive evaluation is an in-depth look at what might be contributing to your child’s difficulties and a more accurate understanding of how they learn. Testing can help identify specific academic, behavioral, and/or emotional diagnoses and guide families to the most appropriate and helpful treatment recommendations.
These evaluations often inform family members, schools, and other community spaces in ways to better support the success of your child. Testing can also help your child develop greater self-confidence and self-efficacy by highlighting personal strengths and providing insight into how they learn and navigate the world. Testing helps capture a child’s strengths and vulnerabilities and then provides a holistic understanding of how to best support that individual in all areas of functioning.
What kinds of things might a comprehensive assessment look at?
Our testing process begins with an initial (parent-only) intake session to better understand your reason for pursuing testing and any specific goals or questions you might have. The clinician working with your child will want to learn from you how they can help your child experience a positive and comfortable testing experience. The specific assessment measurements used are partially based on this initial discussion with our clinical psychologist conducting your child’s testing. These may include assessments that bring to light:
- Attention challenges
- Intellectual functioning
- Information processing
- Executive functioning
- Academic achievement
- Psychological functioning
- Learning disabilities including:
- Dyslexia
- Dysgraphia
- Dyscalculia
- Language processing disorder
- Nonverbal learning disabilities
- Visual perceptual disabilities
Why might I choose to have my child tested?
- I need a formal psychological evaluation to provide to their school
- I want to identify more accurately my child’s mental health, social-emotional, or learning-related diagnoses
- There is confusion around what my child’s symptoms might mean
- I want to see what supports and accommodations my child may be able to access at their school
- I need documentation from a licensed clinical psychologist specific to my child’s functioning
Admissions and Advanced Academic Testing
In addition to comprehensive testing, our clinical psychologists also offer cognitive assessments to support the admission process for both private schools and advanced academic programs within the public school setting. Our assessments are administered individually by a clinical psychologist who will help your child feel comfortable so they can have a positive experience and perform well. Your child will be given a cognitive test that will measure his/her current functioning in verbal comprehension, visual spatial skills, working memory, fluid reasoning, and processing speed. We currently administer the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) for children ages 3-6 or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V) for children ages 6-16, both standardized intelligence tests.
What to Expect
Step 1: Contact our office to make an appointment for comprehensive psychological testing with one of our clinical psychologists, Dr. Nour Salem, PsyD or Dr. Christine Gonzales, PhD.
Step 2: Dr. Salem or Dr. Gonzales will reach out to confirm dates for the testing sessions with your child, schedule the parent intake session, and answer any initial questions about the testing process.
Step 3: Meet with Dr. Salem or Dr. Gonzales for the parent intake session and clinical interview to discuss your child’s needs. During this step, you may also be asked to complete several parent-report measures and you may need to sign a release so we can connect with your child’s teacher.
Step 4: Testing appointments with your child are typically scheduled in four-hour blocks across two different days. Occasionally a third testing session may be needed depending on the complexity of the case or the pace of the test-taker.
Step 5: Meet with Dr. Salem or Dr. Gonzales to review the assessment results, discuss recommendations, and receive the formal written report.
