School Age Assessments (5-18 years)

Academic Testing:

            This involves the administration of tests in the areas of Reading, Oral Language, Math, and Written Language.  These are areas that we typically associate as "school skills."

            This information provides an overview of the childs academic progress and is helpful in determining specific areas of strength or need.  These tests provide useful information for planning instruction and remediation.

            The information gathered from these tests can be used in conjunction with cognitive, neuropsychological tests, and various social-emotional assessments.  This kind of comprehensive evaluation can help determine if a child has a learning disability, or social-emotional problem that might explain delays in development or difficulties in school.

Language:

            This includes the administration of tests that measure the childs expressive vocabulary and receptive vocabulary.  In addition, testing can be done to measure expressive and receptive relationships, concepts and directions, semantic relationships, word relationships, and the ability to form, assemble, and recall sentences.

Cognitive:

            This involves the administration of an intelligence (IQ) test.  These test results provide general information on a childs level of intellectual functioning and specific information on both verbal and non-verbal abilities.  This type of information is often predictive of either success or difficulty with learning and academic tasks.

Neuropsychological:

            Neuropsychological testing involves the administration of tests that are designed to provide information on how a child perceives and processes information in the following domains:  Language, Memory, Attention, Sensori-Motor, and Visuo-Spatial (note: testing is conducted only in those areas where there is a suspected difficulty).

            This type of information is extremely useful in the diagnosis of a Learning Disability (e.g., Dyslexia or Non-Verbal Learning Disorder) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and in designing instruction that is sensitive to the unique learning strengths and weaknesses of the child.

Phonological Processing:

            Phonological processing assesses phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid naming.  These tests measure awareness of and access to the sound structure of language, the phonological coding of information, and the ability to retrieve information from long-term or permanent memory.  A deficit in one or more of these kinds of phonological processing abilities is viewed as the most common cause of learning disabilities.

Behavioral/Social/Emotional:

            This type of assessment involves gathering information on a childs social, emotional, and behavioral functioning.  Depending on the nature of the childs difficulties, any number of techniques may be used, including the following:  1) standardized behavior rating scales; 2) observations of the child in the home and/or at school; 3) clinical interviews with the parents, teachers, and child; 4) projective tasks (e.g., drawings, story telling, and play sessions).

Articulation Testing:

            This testing involves assessment of consonant sounds and clusters in the initial, medial, and/or final position.