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The Oates Group PLLC
425 South Sharon Amity Road, Suite C
Charlotte NC 28211
Psychological Assessment
The purpose of psychoeducational assessment is to identify and quantify an individual’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses in order to develop a strategy to maximize future performance. Psychoeducational assessment focuses mainly on improving academic performance; it combines information gathered from a clinical interview, behavioral observations, and standardized testing to develop a plan to help a student succeed in school. Naming and quantifying an individual’s strengths and weakness helps create strategies to circumvent potential inhibitors and design environmental accommodations, all with the expressed purpose of maximizing academic potential.
The process of assessment involves four to six hours of face-to-face contact with the examiner who conducts the interviews, evaluates the behavioral observations and administers the tests according to standardized procedure. For psychoeducational assessment two main types of tests are utilized, those that measure cognitive abilities and those that estimate academic achievement. Cognitive abilities include different modes of problem-solving, recollecting and processing information and thus reflect more generalized brain functions whereas academic achievement is divided into the familiar domains of reading, math, oral/written expression, and specific academic knowledge content areas. Combining results from both types of tests makes it possible to determine whether an individual is functioning academically as well as one might predict given his or her cognitive abilities. All the tests are norm-referenced, meaning that an individual’s results are compared to a large sample of same-aged peers; the scores obtained provide a precise estimate of how well you do compared to others in your age group.
The clinical interview includes three elements: understanding and defining the presenting complaint, gathering relevant history related to the presenting complaint and conducting a mental status exam. An overview of past academic functioning and medical/genetic history are usually relevant features included in the initial interview. At the conclusion of the first hour, a working diagnosis to inform the selection of tests and behavioral measures is developed. The behavioral checklists are distributed to the parents, teachers and individual being assessed and are compiled and scored by the examiner prior to the testing sessions. Testing sessions are conducted in two-hour increments, usually on mornings or early afternoons over the course of two or more days. Under special circumstances when time is more limited, the testing can be completed in a single day. After the tests are scored and the behavioral data is compiled and summarized, the examiner will present the results in a feedback session lasting between 60 and 90 minutes. A report will be completed within two weeks of the final feedback session and submitted to the educational institution and other treatment providers specified on the completed Release of Information form.