If you have broad concerns about your child's academic performance, you should investigate whether your child would benefit from a Comprehensive Assessment.

 

The Comprehensive Assessment incorporates diagnostic testing that covers all four major areas of academic achievement: Reading , Math, Written Language and Oral Language.

 

The Comprehensive Assessment will enable you to determine if your child has a learning disability, to understand the relationship between your child's learning disability and your child's academic performance issues, and to develop an effective plan for addressing your child's academic performance issues. 

 

The Comprehensive Assessment is comprised of four standard phases (Initial Consultation, Information Gathering, Diagnostic Testing) and two optional phases (Student Debrief, School Conference).

 

The sections below provide detailed information about each phase.

 

1.  Initial Consultation

The Initial Consultation is a simple and effective way for you and Dr. Smith to determine if your child would be a good candidate for a Comprehensive Assessment.

This phase requires that you participate in a one half-hour telephone conference with Dr. Smith.  The phone conference is an opportunity for you to present information about your child's current academic struggles and your reasons for inquiring about an evaluation.  Dr. Smith will ask you clarifying questions about your child's educational and developmental history, previous interventions and evaluations, and your specific concerns.

A good candidate for a Comprehensive Assessment is a child who, despite being bright in a number of ways, is struggling to learn in school for reasons that are not well understood and whose parents would like additional information about the nature of the difficulties and how best to proceed.

In the event she determines that your child is not a good candidate for a Comprehensive Assessment, Dr. Smith will explain the reasons to you and will provide you with her recommendations concerning next steps.

2.  Information Gathering

The second phase of the program is Information Gathering.  You will be asked to complete and return a questionnaire.  In addition, Dr. Smith will request copies of your child's academic records and results of any previous evaluations.  Dr. Smith may also request that your child's teacher(s) complete a questionnaire and participate in an interview with her.

3.  Diagnostic Testing

The third phase of the program is Diagnostic Testing.  Your child will participate in six to eight hours of testing with Dr. Smith.  The testing typically takes place over two testing sessions with each session lasting three to four hours. 

During these sessions, Dr. Smith will administer three types of tests to your child:

Intelligence:  An intelligence test (typically the Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children-Fourth Edition, WISC-IV) is used to estimate your child's academic potential.  In other words, this type of test provides some indication of how well one might expect your child to achieve in school.

Achievement:  Achievement testing provides a measure of your child's current levels of academic accomplishment in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and mathematics (tests may include: Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement-Third Edition; Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition; Test of Written Language-Second Edition; Gray Oral Reading Tests-Fourth Edition, Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, etc.)

Cognitive Processing:  Although the intelligence and achievement tests yield information about how your child processes information, additional tests involving visual, auditory, motor, language, and memory skills/functions are important for determining why your child is underachieving and what type of intervention might be most appropriate.  These test may include the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning, the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (non-motor)-Revised, among others.  These tests are selected based on the presenting questions. 

Diagnostic testing sessions take place at the KinderMinds office in Bellevue .  During each testing session, your child will be given breaks, as needed.  Healthy snacks will be provided during the breaks.

4.  Parent Conference

At the time that you schedule your child's Comprehensive Assessment, you will also schedule a Parent Conference.  The Parent Conference will last approximately two hours and will take place within two weeks after your child's last testing session.

During the Parent Conference, Dr. Smith will review your child's diagnostic report with you.  The diagnostic report is a formal written document that summarizes the results of the Diagnostic Testing and provides Dr. Smith's recommendations for addressing your child's learning needs.  The plan will include recommendations for educational goals and teaching methods designed to remediate your child's learning difficulties as well as classroom accommodations that will enable your child to demonstrate his/her full potential at school.

Effective treatment of your child’s learning disability may require that you retain the services of a learning specialist trained in specific remedial methods.  If this is so, Dr. Smith will help you identify and retain a qualified specialist.

Following the Parent Conference, you will be asked to review your child's diagnostic report.  As a result of doing so, you many find that you have additional questions, concerns or feedback.  Dr. Smith will contact you during the week following the Parent Conference and will address any such issues at that time.

5.  Student Debrief (Optional)

The Student Debrief is an optional one hour conference that takes place after the parent conference.  When an older student is struggling in school, it is critical that he/she develop a clear understanding of his/her intellectual strengths as well as his/her academic weaknesses, the reasons for those challenges, and what he/she can do about overcoming them.  Often, bright students have developed a false belief that their struggles in school mean that they are "stupid" or "lazy", and these beliefs may begin to pervade their self-esteem.  The debrief is designed to be encouraging and empowering.

6.  School Conference (Optional)

If you opt for the School Conference, Dr. Smith will attend a 1-2 hour meeting with you at your child's school to discuss the results and implications of your child's testing with your child's teachers.