Comprehensive Evaluations
Evaluations look at how your brain works, how you learn, and/or aspects of your social-emotional and behavioral functioning. They can be a helpful tool in determining mental and behavioral health diagnoses, bring clarity to complex challenges, and give insight into how a person is coping with stressors. Most importantly, evaluations provide recommendations for services and supports in the home, school, and community to help individuals grow. Evaluations can be used to inform a child’s educational programming in school, tailor therapeutic support in the community, or inform parenting practices in the home. Irwin Psychological Services offers comprehensive neuropsychological, psychological, psychoeducational, and independent educational evaluations.
Evaluations Offered:
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These assessments answer questions about how your brain works and how you learn. Nueropsychological evaluations are comprehensive and look at:
Cognitive Development
Social and Behavioral Development
Adaptive Functioning
Executive Functioning and Attention Regulation
Learning and Academic Skills
Common diagnoses evaluated for include:
Autism
ADHD
Learning Disorders
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Psychological evaluations examine how you view and interact with the world. These evaluations examine how your thoughts and feelings impact your behavior in daily life. They are often used to clarify diangoses and inform therapuetic treatment. Common diagnoses evlauted for include:
Mood and Anxiety Disorders
Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders
Oppositional Defiant Disorder and other behavioral diagnoses
Personality Disorders
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Educational evaluations explore how an individual learns and acquires academic skills. These evaluations are often used to identify what underlies a child’s learning difficulties in school and determine what supports may be needed to help a child succeed in the classroom. While educational evaluations often look at the presence or absence of a learning disorder, they also parse out how other diagnoses (e.g., ADHD, ASD, Mood and Anxiety Disorders, etc.) may be imapcting learning. Common diangoses evaluated for include:
Learning Disorders/Disabilities
Autism Spectrum Disorder
ADHD
Mood and Anxiety Disorders
Evaluation Process
Evaluations typically occur over three sessions.
Intake Session (60 Minutes, virtual):
During the intake appointment, clients will meet with Dr. Gray and share information regarding the client’s history, current concerns, and goals for the evaluation. This information is used to formulate an evaluation plan for the second appointment.
For individuals younger than 18-years-old, the intake appointment is typically completed with the child’s parents/guardians only.
Testing Session (2-4 hours, in-person):
The testing session is typically one week after the intake session. During this appointment, the client will complete different tasks and activities to further evaluate the client’s current concerns. Some activities are structured, goal-oriented, and may look like a puzzle or game, while other activities may seem like schoolwork.
In addition to the in-person testing appointment, it will be asked that rating scales be completed by the client, parents, and/or teachers. Dr. Gray may also consult with therapists or other service providers involved in the client’s care.
Feedback Session (60 Minutes, virtual):
The feedback session typically occurs two weeks after the testing appointment. During this appointment, Dr. Gray will review the results of the evaluation, relevant diagnoses, and recommendations for follow-up care. Next steps regarding therapeutic intervention, potential school support, and how to access other relevant resources are discussed. The feedback appointment is designed to allow clients and their families to ask questions and feel confident leaving the evaluation process. Following the feedback appointment, clients receive a written evaluation report that details the evaluation process, relevant diagnoses, and recommendations for follow-up care.
