Evaluations
I conduct thorough neuropsychological and educational evaluations for children and adolescents to help determine strengths and weaknesses, and overall cognitive profile; and to make recommendations for appropriate academic environment and necessary accommodations and support.
Determining strengths and weaknesses, and overall cognitive profile
It is important to know how your child learns best. Is she stronger in verbal skills than perceptual skills? Does she excel in all subjects except math, causing her immense frustration and confusing her teachers who don’t know how to help? Is your child's inability to read fluently rooted in a learning disability or in sadness and lack of energy? He doesn’t pay attention, but is that because he has ADHD or because his father was just remarried and he's distracted by his own thoughts and emotions?
Determining the source of difficulties and overall strengths and weaknesses can help formulate recommendations for school and home. The ultimate goals are to 1) understand children and 2) identify their strong skills and use those strengths to help children overcome academic and/or emotional struggles.
Making recommendations for appropriate academic environment and necessary accommodations and support
I will make recommendations for school and home so that parents and teachers can better understand how to help children in ways that incorporate their unique learning styles and/or emotional needs. I will generate recommendations for
the appropriate academic environment and supports, including in-school services such as occupational or speech therapy
classroom supports such as helping adolescents break long-term assignments into parts or behavior-modification programs for younger children
testing accommodations on in-class and standardized tests (SATs, ERBs) such as extra time or the use of a keyboard
Recommendations for home are widely varied. Some examples include tips for parents to help their children learn to study more efficiently, referrals for tutoring, or recommendations for families on how to respond to power struggles.
Assessment of the following areas:
Intelligence: verbal and perceptual analysis and reasoning; holding things in mind and manipulating them (i.e. working memory); and processing speed (i.e. small-motor speed)
Memory and Learning: memory for information that you hear and for pictures or figures; ability to learn with repetition, and to learn with and without context; ability to develop own strategies to remember details
Executive Functioning/Attention: initiating tasks, shifting between thoughts or activities, inhibiting impulses, planning and organizing materials and time
Academic Skills: speed in reading, accessing rote math facts, and writing; reading comprehension; un-timed math conceptual knowledge and skills; writing quality, including handwriting and spelling
Social/Emotional Functioning: quality of friendships and self-esteem; response to stressors and novel situations; worldview; emotional well-being
