Child and Adolescent Services:

Child and Adolescent Neuropsychological Evaluations
A comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation for a child or adolescent is most helpful when it begins with the specific questions that parents, caregivers, and, when appropriate, the child or teenager want answered. We work collaboratively with families to understand concerns about learning, attention, executive functioning, memory, language, visual-spatial skills, emotional functioning, behavior, and development.

Understanding the Whole Child
Test scores are only one part of understanding a child. We interpret neuropsychological testing within the broader context of the child’s:

  • Developmental stage and history
  • Educational experiences and learning demands
  • Emotional regulation capabilities
  • Family background and values
  • Cultural and individual differences
  • Personal strengths and challenges
  • Social and emotional development

We also believe that children perform best when they feel comfortable, respected, and supported during testing. Creating a positive testing environment helps us understand a child’s abilities and day-to-day functioning as accurately as possible. Our approach is respectful, individualized, and strength-based. The goal is not simply to identify difficulties, but to understand how a child learns, recognize areas of strength, clarify barriers to success, and develop practical recommendations for home, school, and everyday life.

Why Learning Difficulties May Appear Later
Some learning and developmental difficulties may not become apparent until academic demands increase. A child may compensate successfully for years before a particular weakness begins to interfere with learning.

For example, difficulties may become more noticeable:

  • Later in elementary school, when the amount and complexity of reading and writing increase
  • In middle or high school, when mathematics increasingly involves geometry, diagrams, and visual-spatial reasoning
  • In high school, when students are expected to manage more complex assignments, schedules, and long-term projects independently
  • In high school or college, when successful learning requires greater independence, executive functioning, organization, time management, and strategic study skills

For this reason, questions about ADHD, learning disabilities, executive functioning, developmental differences, or other learning concerns may arise at different stages of childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood.

When new concerns emerge, we help families identify the questions that need to be answered and determine how a comprehensive psychological or neuropsychological evaluation can provide greater clarity about strengths, challenges, and appropriate next steps.

Evaluations generate the best information if you and, if possible, your child or adolescent are actively involved in formulating the questions to be answered. We believe that it is important to understand a child in the context of expectable developmental changes, culture, and family values. It is further important to help a child feel supported and comfortable in the testing environment, so that the child’s behavior and functioning is most accurately understood. We provide a respectful, strength-based perspective that honors each child’s individuality.
Sometimes, learning and developmental difficulties do not become apparent until later in life. For example, some learning problems may not be apparent until critical times, such when volume of writing increases later in elementary school, when geometry and diagrams become more prominent in high school, or when greater learning independence and strategic study skills are needed, such as in high school or college. When your questions arise, our practice will be here to help you formulate and address your concerns.
Some of the issues we provide evaluations for include: