The Pediatric Division at Reflect specializes in the evidence-based assessment and treatment of children and adults with academic, learning, and other neurocognitive differences that affect academic, social, emotional and behavioral functioning.
Why, you may ask, is an educational or neuropsychological assessment important for my child? How will it help them?
Two main reasons for assessment are:
- Accurate diagnosis.
- Creating a customized plan of action knowing your child’s strengths and weaknesses.
An educational assessment or a neuropsychological evaluation helps you better understanding your child’s functioning in areas such as attention, organization, planning, memory, as well as emotional and behavioral functioning. This information will help you and your child’s teacher, therapist, and physician provide treatments and interventions for your child that will meet his or her unique needs.
Testing can also help you understand why your child is having problems in school. He or she may be having difficulty reading because of an attention problem, an auditory processing problem, a language disorder, or because of a reading disability (i.e., dyslexia). Testing also helps to guide the design of the unique intervention for your child by building upon his or her strengths, while minimizing their weaknesses. The results identify what skills to work on, as well as which strategies to use to help your child most effectively.
Testing can also help detect the effects of developmental neurological and medical problems, such as epilepsy, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, or a genetic disorder. Testing may be done to obtain a baseline against which to measure the outcome of treatment or the child’s development over time.
Most importantly, testing provides a better understanding of the child’s behavior and learning in school, at home, and in the community. The evaluation can guide teachers, therapists, and you to better help your child achieve his or her potential. https://theaacn.org/pediatric-neuropsychology/
Pediatric Neuropsychological Assessment Information Sheet
Pediatric neuropsychologists can identify issues in these areas:
- · Sensory and motor skills
- · Attention and focus (ADHD)
- · Language skills
- · Working memory
- · Visual-spatial processing
- · Executive functioning skills
- · Academic skills, such as reading or math
- · Autism Spectrum Disorder
They use their knowledge of brain development when assessing the test results. From there, they can make a diagnosis and explain not just the areas of weakness, but what’s causing it. In some cases, that might be multiple challenges or conditions.
For example, if your child is struggling with reading, there are many possible reasons. It may be an attention problem. It may be a reading fluency issue or auditory processing disorder . There are other possibilities, too. And testing may reveal that your child has more than one issue that’s causing his trouble with reading.
The Evaluation Process
The evaluation process can take anywhere from 5 to 12 hours. You and your child will need to meet with the specialist several times. Here’s what to expect at these meetings.
Initial visit: The neuropsychologist will take a detailed case history. You may be asked to fill out questionnaires about your child’s development and behavior. From there, the specialist will decide on the appropriate tests to give your child.
Testing: Your child will return for anywhere from two to four sessions of testing. A session can last from 90 minutes to three hours. The specialist will determine the session length that’s right for your child.
Review and diagnosis: Once the neuropsychologist has reviewed the test results, you’ll meet again. If your child is a teen, he’ll likely be part of this discussion. The specialist will describe what the tests show and how they explain what you’re seeing in your child’s learning or behavior. If your child has one or more learning and thinking differences, the specialist will identify them.
The neuropsychologist also might suggest types of help for your child or come up with a treatment plan. In her report, she may recommend that your child get specific supports and services at school. Some neuropsychologists also provide more specialized therapy in their offices or at a hospital.
You might also get a referral to other types of professionals. These might include a psychologist, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, reading specialist or health care provider who can prescribe medication.
Working With Schools
Once you have the test results, the IEP or 504 plan team at school will meet to discuss them. Often, they will have done their own evaluation as well. A clinical diagnosis isn’t the same as the identification of learning disabilities that a school makes.
The school will have the specialist’s report. But it’s a good idea to have the neuropsychologist be part of the conversation. That can happen over the phone or in person. She can help make sure that the school’s treatment plan addresses all of your child’s issues.
Let’s say your child’s diagnosis is dyslexia . The school might include special reading instruction in his IEP. But your child may need other supports or services to help with particular problems. Maybe he has trouble with phonological awareness. The specialist might recommend that he work with a speech-language therapist.
Those types of details can be lost or minimized in a long report. Having the specialist there means that she can answer the team’s questions and explain key details in the report.
Your Role in the Process
Finding a good pediatric neuropsychologist is the first step. But depending on where you live, you may not have easy access to one.
Talking with friends and other parents is one of the best ways to find one in your area. Your pediatrician may be able to refer you to one, as well. You can also ask the guidance counselor at your child’s school. It’s best to choose an expert who is familiar with your school district.
Getting a private evaluation can be quite expensive. In some cases, the school will pay to send a child to a neuropsychologist for certain testing. But if you seek a private evaluation for your child, you’ll need to pay for it yourself (insurance may cover part of it).
You may also need to advocate to get some of the specialist’s recommendations into your child’s IEP. The more you know about the process, the better prepared you’ll be. Learn about the differences between private and school evaluations. And find out what you can do if your child is denied services.
Key Takeaways
- A pediatric neuropsychologist may find that your child has more than one issue.
- This expert should be part of the school meeting where your child’s learning and thinking differences are discussed.
- This professional will develop a plan for supports and services to help your child’s issues.
The Pediatric Division at Reflect is lead by Dr. Philip Levin. Dr. Levin is a licensed Clinical Neuropsychologist specializing in the neuropsychological and psychoeducational assessment of children and adolescents, including, but not limited to, the assessment of neurodevelopmental disorders and their impact on education, socialization, and emotional development. He provides specialized assessments on the cognitive and behavioral impacts of diagnoses such as: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Specific Learning Disorders, Intellectual Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and Bipolar Disorders. His goal is to empower families with the information they need to advocate for their children’s special needs both at home and at school.
Dr. Levin has 30+ years of experience in the assessment of children and adolescents. He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1995 Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. In 1997 Dr. Levin became the inaugural Post Doctoral Resident of UCLA’s Pediatric Neuropsychological Fellowship in Community Mental at The Help Group, and in 2000, Dr. Levin was named the Program Director of The HELP Group/UCLA Neuropsychology Program. Dr. Levin is Voluntary Clinical Faculty at UCLA’s Medical Psychology Assessment Center (MPAC). He has also held adjunct faculty positions in graduate psychology programs at USC and Loyola Marymount University, and has presented at national meetings of the American Psychological Association and the International Neuropsychological Society, as well as locally for parent and teacher organizations throughout Southern California.
