What to Expect

1. Intake Appointment: This initial meeting primarily involves parents and psychologist meeting together to review your or your child’s history and the current concerns. The background reviewed includes developmental, social, academic and family history, daily behaviors at home and school, previous evaluations or interventions and the outcomes of those interventions, and more. Often, you will be sent home with checklists for you as parents to complete, as well as those for teachers to complete, that gather standardized observations of attention, behavioral and emotional functioning. If there is documentation relevant to your concerns (e.g., IEP, previous evaluation, adjust treatment documents, teacher email comments or report cards), feel free to bring these to your first appointment. Please note, these appointments are for evaluation purposes only and do not constitute a therapeutic relationship.

2. Testing Sessions: Testing usually takes place over a series of appointments during which test measures are administered. The length and number of test sessions are dependent on the psychologists schedule, and yours or your child’s age and attention span.

3. Interpretive Feedback Meeting: The final meeting takes place approximately two to three weeks after all data (tests administered, checklists) have been received by the psychologist. This meeting serves primarily to review the test findings and conclusions that are indicated with parents or young adults, as well as strategies for intervening when areas of need are identified. For teens, it is often useful to have them join the feedback session to receive an “age appropriate” version of the result so that they can begin to understand their own strengths and struggles, as well as increase receptivity to interventions or strategies recommended by the psychologist.