The Psychological Evaluation Process: What to Expect
Each referral question is unique and we try develop an individualized test battery (a series of psychological tests) for each person to help answer that question. Sometimes, you or a referring physician, school, or therapist may want to know if you or your child has ADHD, an intellectual delay, a mood concern, autism spectrum disorder, or a learning disability of some kind.
After our initial interview, we will develop, with your input, a test battery aimed at answering that referral question. As part of the actual assessment, and depending on age, we will generally want to assess cognitive functioning, personality structure, and emotional regulation abilities.
We will complete testing at our office and we may ask you take home various measures to complete and return. While at our office, you will likely be asked to complete tests on computers or play brain games with our psychologists or examiners.
In general, a psychological evaluation is completed over the course of two to three visits but this time frame may vary depending on the complexity of the referral question. Once testing is finished, we will provide you with a report of the results and recommendations.
We understand that this process can be intimidating and at times difficult. However, we encourage all of our patients to view the psychological evaluation process mostly as an opportunity to learn about themselves.
