Learning Disability Evaluations

Thank you for considering having your child or adolescent tested for a potential learning problem. In this office I take great pains to have a complete and full evaluation rather than trying to single out a separate disorder. The type of testing that occurs includes ability testing through an IQ test, academic testing through revered tests like the Woodcock-Johnson, attentional testing by computer and rating scales, and other tests which look at specific learning problems. I have included a memory testing on many of the evaluations since school is basically a process of improving memory ability. This will help also in determining learning styles.

The types of information that are needed for a full evaluation include the following documents:

It is quite confusing to understand the whole process of an evaluation. In this office I take great pains to test clients on multiple occasions so that their behavior can be seen over time and in different situations. This protects you the consumer from having your child or adolescent tested on a particularly good or bad day for them. Also children especially in elementary school years get particularly tired during longer testing periods.

A full and complete evaluation for a learning disorder of any type usually runs anywhere from $900 to $1200. There are other evaluations done predominantly to look at ADHD in adolescents and adults. These evaluations come out to be a little less and run between $600 and $900.

Every individual who comes to this office receives a personalized set of tests because basically their needs are different from any other person. There are tests in common which are used on every evaluation. IQ testing, achievement testing, and attentional testing are done with practically everyone who walks in the door who complains about difficulties in learning.

As a result of the entire evaluation there shall be a report dictated and it shall be given to you at the last session which is a one hour long review session. This one hour long review session makes sure that you as a parent or as the actual consumer really knows what is in the report and can utilize the report in the future.

In this office I take a great of deal attention and time to doing learning disability evaluations. They are thought of as integral parts in how children can be encouraged and motivated to learn. If any accommodations are needed at the end of the report these accommodations are usually listed. Potential accommodations are quite broad in scope and cannot be outlined in such a simple document as this. However, it is important to understand that accommodations are never meant to handicap the client or student but instead are meant to make his/her learning experience more fruitful and without as much headache in general.

I sincerely appreciate your considering having your child tested in this office. I use absolutely no assistants in doing the testing. Practically all of the testing is done one-on-one between the client and myself. I have done this for over thirty years and I have evaluated thousands of individuals for a variety of school districts. Even older students who are preparing for the ACT, MCAT or the GRE have utilized this office to be tested and to potentially provide accommodations. I have worked very diligently to keep the number of accommodations down. The reason for this is that educators have enough work on their hands without some psychologist who is not in the school system making more work for them. Contact with the student’s teacher is usually done by way of a rating scale. If this rating scale is not brought up in the initial interview then please don’t hesitate to remind this psychologist about that.

Full evaluations usually take anywhere from three to five total meetings. A testing session may be anywhere from 1 to 2 ½ hours in duration. If a child is older such as being an adolescent longer test periods are utilized. If a student is coming from out of town then really it is likely that a half-day can knock out most of the evaluation.

Thanks again for considering the use of this office to evaluate your most precious asset in your life, your child.