Essential Guide for Parents on Choosing a Provider for a Child's Psychological Assessments

Introduction

Understanding the importance of psychological assessments for children is crucial. Reports are often shared with schools and other providers. They also are often referred back to many years later in order to assess progress and change over time. An assessment that is tailored to your child's needs is extremely valuable and important.

Who Should Conduct Psychological Assessments

• Licensed Clinical Psychologists: Trained professionals who specialize in psychology who provide therapy and comprehensive diagnostic psychological assessment. They usually work in private practice or community settings and provide comprehensive recommendations that are shared to access appropriate services. They have doctoral level education (e.g., Psy.D. or Ph.D. in Clincial Psychology) and specialize in child psychology if conducting assessments in that area.

• Licensed School Psychologists: Trained professionals who specialize in academics, learning, and behaviors in the school setting. They usually work in schools and can provide comprehensive recommendations focused on the academic setting. They have a doctoral level or masters level education (e.g., M.S., M.A., or Ph.D. in School Psychology). Most states require a Specialist in Education (Ed.S.) or Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (CAGS) certification in addition to the masters degree.

• Neuropsychologists: Experts in the relationship between brain function, emotions, and behavior whose evaluations are more often called neuropsychological assessments. They can provide diagnosis and recommendations more so focused on brain injuries and neurological conditions.

• Depending on State and Licensing Board Regulations as well as a mental health provider's training, evaluations limited in scope can be conducted by other professionals however these are not psychological assessments.

Types of Psychological Assessments

• Cognitive:

- Evaluate intellectual capabilities and cognitive functioning, including IQ tests.

• Behavioral:

- Focus on observing and/or integrating behaviors observed by others in multiple settings to identify patterns or issues.

• Developmental Assessments:

- Assess a child’s progress of developmental milestones and possible delays.

• Social-Emotional Assessments:

- Evaluate mood, anxiety, and other emotional challenges.

• Educational:

- Identify learning strengths and difficulties and academic potential in school settings.

• Comprehensive:

  - Most psychological assessments are comprehesive and include a review of previous history, interviews, observations, standardized testing, and examine multiple areas of functioning such as cogntive, academic, and social-emotional. This is important as it assesses your child in a more holistic way and leads to more accurate diagnosis and recommendations.

• Tailored Assessments:

    - Most psychological assessments are comprehesive and tailored for your child's individual needs. This can range from very brief testing for private school admission to comprehensive multi-day testing to assess complex social-emotional and learning needs.