APPROACH
It’s our approach to answering your questions that sets us apart from the status quo in psychological, psychoeducational and neurodevelopmental evaluation. Building a profile of a child’s uniqueness should not be determined by the simplest of efforts.
Building a profile of a child’s uniqueness should not be determined by the simplest of efforts. It should not be limited by parameters set forth by the medical model’s reliance on diagnosis or marginalized by a systematized process in which only the most severe cases are recognized and serviced.
Rather, building a profile of your child’s strengths and weaknesses should be a comprehensive endeavor that leaves no stone uncovered and provides clues about how to help a child or teen with their social, emotional, behavioral or academic problems. It should focuses more directly upon specific strategies by associating performance problems with specific potential cognitive causes, or underlying or co-occurring emotional, behavioral or social issues. This method has the greatest potential to help you as a parent understand why your child thinks and behaves the way they do–and help them to succeed.
Providing Information Sets Us Apart
PROCESS
Initial Consultation
The process for evaluation begins with an initial consultation with parents only. This session is a review of developmental history, current concerns, educational history and current levels of general functioning. Information is gathered prior to this appointment from parents and teachers. The initial parent meeting is typically 1 -1/2 hours.
Comprehensive Evaluation
The evaluation takes place on a one-one basis with your child and Dr. Marchman. Typical sessions can extend from 6-8 hours therefore the evaluation is broken up over 2-separate days and into 2-separate sessions that are equally divided by time.
Extended Assessment
There are occasions when additional testing must be conducted that extends beyond the typical time required to complete the comprehensive evaluation. This possibility will always be discussed with you regarding your options.
Follow-Up Session
A follow-up session takes place sometime after the completion of the comprehensive evaluation. This is a parents-only meeting to discuss the evaluation results and prioritize recommendations and strategies. Graphic representations are used to highlight key findings.
Written Report
The evaluation process concludes with a written report detailing in narrative and through visual representations your child’s unique profile of strengths and weaknesses. You are provided with a PDF copy of your report that is made available to you on your own safe and secure client portal.
FRAMEWORK
We use a neurodevelopmental framework that serves as an organizing structure to help parents and educators understand a child’s profile. The framework is based on a synthesis of research from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, child and adolescent development, and related fields about how the brain functions and how these functions affect social ability, emotional and behavioral regulation, and learning and performance at any point in a child’s development. It also serves as an effective system for richly describing, organizing, and addressing strengths and weaknesses.
Our evaluation considers the “whole child, including family, school, and the community. Assessments are always individualized, based on the needs of the child, and address the concerns that led to the referral. An evaluation may look at:
- Intelligence: These tests look for developmental delays, intellectual gifts and/or disabilities, language and communication skills, nonverbal reasoning skills, and speed at absorbing and processing new information.
- Achievement: By measuring mastery of reading, mathematics, and writing, psychological and educational tests can identify academic strengths and pinpoint such learning disabilities as dyslexia. For children with special needs, the psychological assessment can help develop a Special Education Individualized Educational Plan (IEP).
- Memory and attention: Neuropsychological testing is often used to identify attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This set of tests can also measure memory skills, reasoning abilities, and executive functioning, like planning and organizational skills.
- Behavioral, emotional and social development: Social-emotional and personality evaluation tools examine depression, anxiety, or social deficits that may contribute to difficulties at home or school. If there are mental health concerns, the assessment provides direction for behavioral management strategies to be used at home or school. It can also provide therapists with information for treatment planning, including whether or not medication is appropriate.
PSW MODEL
In addition to a framework within which to understand a child, we follow a Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses Model as a method for identifying unique learning profiles. The PSW Model is an approach to neurodevelopmental evaluation in which cognitive (thinking) data is analyzed for dual discrepancies.
These “signs” are observed by documenting students’ academic “behavior,” such as writing a paper with vibrant vocabulary (strength) and extremely poor spelling (weakness). The strength would be related to the child’s excellent verbal reasoning and language skills, and the weaknesses would be because of poor phonological awareness ability.
There must be a concordance between cognitive, academic and behavioral strengths. There must also be a concordance between cognitive, academic and behavioral weaknesses. Conclusions about a child’s functioning are based upon what we know about brain function. In other words, we seek to link academic disabilities with cognitive areas where the child shows a weakness.
