Evaluation and Reporting

We provide information accessibly and in a timely manner from the beginning to the end of an evaluation. We want people to know up front what will and will not be involved in the evaluation and, later, what we have found and what it means in practical terms. We have found that, when clients and their families really understand the purposes and processes of evaluation, and when we provide evaluation findings and recommendations promptly and usefully, everyoneʼs commitment to optimizing learning increases.

Psychoeducational and Pediatric Neuropsychological Evaluation

Psychoeducational Evaluation involves collection and integration of information from a variety of sources. We work to understand the specifics of the current problem, clarify when it began and how it developed. Collecting a thorough history is an important part of any evaluation. Information about pre-natal and birth history, early development, as well as a personʼs medical and educational history, and family history can be useful to understanding the current situation. We want to know about the person's current health status and life stresses as well.

As part of a psycho-educational evaluation, we conduct interviews with:

• The client being assessed and
• Parents or caregivers if the client is a minor.

Also, we frequently speak with others who know the person well:

• Current or past teachers and other school staff
• Other professionals, including a Family Physician or Paediatrician, occupational therapist, or tutor to given a few examples.

Where appropriate, we spend time observing a school-aged person in the classroom.

Where formal testing is required, selection of tests depends on the nature of problems, and also upon what, if any, testing has previously been conducted (for example, through the school or in another psychologistʼs office). Psychological tests fall into broad categories, including:

• Cognitive tests (or tests of general intelligence, with analysis of relative strengths and weaknesses among verbal and non-verbal areas);
• Tests of current academic achievement (tests of various aspects of reading, spelling and writing, paper and pencil math or math reasoning, oral language skill);
• Neuropsychological tests (which look at specific types of functioning known to be linked to particular brain structures or pathways—for example, tests of executive functioning, tests of visual-motor integration);
• Emotional tests (to screen for or investigate mood or anxiety, for example);
• Adaptive functioning tests (to look at development of everyday life skills such as communicating and socializing, getting dressed or doing chores, enjoying recreational activities);
• Various rating scales for collection of specific types of information from the client in evaluation, as well as from collateral informants.

Feedback:

After collecting and integrating all of the information, we provide verbal feedback of our findings to the person weʼve been working with, his or her family, or both. A feedback meeting is an interactive process of discussion meanings of what weʼve found and havenʼt found, and a time for developing plans for intervention collaboratively.

Reporting:

Following the feedback meeting, we turn to completing and filing our final report on the evaluation. The written report is usually a central product of evaluation, and the thing toward which weʼve been working during our time together. The report summarizes the referral questions of the evaluation, sources of information, background, observations, and findings, as well as recommendations to direct action and intervention going forward. We aim to produce useful, understandable, comprehensive reports.

We provide the original report to the client (or to their guardian) and, if authorized by the client or their guardian, copies may be distributed to the clientʼs school, for action by classroom teachers, resource teachers, and others, or to college or university disabilities staff, to medical doctors, and other professionals.

We aim for fourteen day written reporting. In other words, we aim to have the written report finalized and in the hands of those who need it, within fourteen days of the verbal feedback meeting. (As mentioned, fees must be paid in full before we can release the report.)

Pediatric Neuropsychological Evaluation:

Pediatric neuropsychological assessment is similar in some ways to psychoeducational evaluation but neuropsychological evaluation may be an important part of meeting the needs of children and teens with neurological conditions or medical conditions impacting cognitive and other functions. Conditions such as genetic disorder, seizure disorders, tumour, stroke, and traumatic brain injury , etc.

Like psychoeducational assessment, pediatric neuropsychological assessment focuses on learning and thinking, but may use additional, specialized tools to assess specific points of interplay between brain function and behaviour, social skills, and personality functioning.