Learning begins when a child is born and develops into an active learner in the classroom. For some children school can be a source of frustration and stress that oftentimes extends into the home environment.

A psychoeducational evaluation can help identify cognitive strengths contributing to school success, as well as possible difficulties that may be impeding your child’s academic growth.

Is your child creative, intelligent, possess a large vocabulary, a quick or critical thinker? Does your child exhibit other characteristics of giftedness such as anxiety, perfectionism, difficulties socially? While each child’s gifted traits are unique, an evaluation can help determine if enrichment and gifted services in the school setting may be beneficial for your child.

Does your child display a wide range of emotions and behaviors that are sometimes unpredictable and perplexing? Have they been moody, irritable, or withdrawn for a prolonged period of time? Identifying underlying emotionality and behavioral triggers through a comprehensive psychological evaluation may better help you and your child understand their needs.

An evaluation can provide recommendations and/or accommodations that may assist your child in regulating their emotions and behaviors in a more productive manner.

Child development refers to the sequence of physical, language, thought and emotional changes that occur in a child from birth to the beginning of adulthood. One’s development is strongly influenced by genetic factors, environmental factors, and the child’s learning capacity. Children develop skills, some simultaneously, at their own pace; however, some developmental skills may emerge earlier than others. If your child is not meeting the milestones for his or her age, or if you think there could be a problem with your child’s development (i.e., questioning whether your child’s motor or language skills will catch up with other children their age, or are they exhibiting behaviors that you are worried they may not outgrow) a developmental evaluation can help determine if early intervention may be warranted.

Is your child always on the go or do they move between activities quickly? Do they struggle to maintain attention and focus or display poor impulse control? Can they remember something one minute, and then forget the very next? Constant movement and activity are common in young children, and parents may normalize such behaviors. But have you ever wondered if your child’s behaviors are more than what may be typical? Executive functioning difficulties, memory impairments, and dysregulation can negatively impact your child’s functioning both at home and at school. Assessing major areas of higher-level brain functioning including memory, attention, impulse control, planning, and organization, can determine how to best support areas of needed support in the classroom setting.

As your child enters the world of post-secondary education are you worried about what may come next when they go to college? Has your child received support/services and accommodations throughout their academic career? He/she may still require continued support on high-stakes tests that impact their future? The need for accommodations does not end when a child graduates from high school. With proper evaluation and identification of your child’s underlying needs, determination of need for accommodations on standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, GRE, LSAT, and MCAT may be necessary.