Sulma Rowland

Psychological Evaluations 

Psychological assessment can be invaluable for people seeking clarity on how their brain works and what that means in navigating the world. If you're seeking an evaluation for you or your child, that typically means that something isn't working right now. You might be just barely keeping on top of obligations at home, struggling at work, or experiencing changes in mood that you want to learn more about. Your child might have a hard time keeping up with instruction, find it hard to make friendships that stick, or are having difficulty focusing that impacts them across the board. Psychological evaluation is a collaborative experience, where information is collected from a variety of sources in order to develop a fuller picture of you or your child. This information includes interviews, observations, reviews of pertinent records available, and standardized assessments. Assessments are chosen based on the areas of concern you identify, in order to better understand strengths, identify available resources, and home in on areas of difficulty in order to tailor recommendations to support lifelong learning and thriving. Psychological evaluations are available to children as young as 5 years and young adults up to age 24. 

What Areas Do Psychological Evaluations Target? 

During your initial consultation, we will develop an initial understanding or “working hypothesis” about how you or your child functions in the world and I will build a battery of assessments to test and further develop that hypothesis. Depending on what concerns have been identified during the consultation and initial clinical interview, different areas of functioning will be assessed, including: 

Cognition 

A youth’s cognitive functioning reflects their potential to learn, and is closely tied to how they may perform in school. Batteries that measure cognitive functioning ask youth to perform a number of tasks that measure their ability to solve problems in a variety of scenarios. Your youth’s profile of strengths and weaknesses may reflect the ways that they face problems at school, home, in their relationships, and other settings. If looking for accommodations and modifications through a formal plan in school, a cognitive assessment is frequently requested. It may be a good idea to assess cognitive functioning even when this doesn’t appear to be the area of concern. Children with a neurodevelopmental condition such as Autism or ADHD may also have underlying cognitive weaknesses, and can demonstrate a greater split in the difference between cognitive abilities than neurotypical children.

Academics 

If your or your child are attending school, whether it be elementary school or graduate school, it can be important to measure academic skills in reading, writing, and math. Academic testing breaks apart these areas into discrete skills so that you can get a fuller picture of where you are excelling, and where you might need more support. If you are looking for more support for your child in school, academic testing can be crucial in identifying whether they might be eligible for a formal education plan such as a Section 504 Plan or Individualized Education Program (IEP). If you are looking into higher education, academic testing included in a comprehensive evaluation can be useful in identifying appropriate accommodations for standardized testing like the SAT, GRE, or MCAT. 

Executive Functioning

Executive functioning is often likened to the conductor of an orchestra. These higher order skills direct your cognitive resources to solve problems and accomplish tasks. Many people with attentional difficulties, social/emotional concerns, and developmental disabilities may have deficits in executive functioning, also known as executive dysfunction. If adults often say of your child that they are smart but are not showing it in the classroom or on certain demands, this could be a sign that there is possible executive dysfunction. Assessing executive functioning can include performing a number of discrete tasks along with obtaining ratings from those who work closely with you or your child across a number of settings.

Memory and Attention

Memory and attention are closely aligned with executive functioning, and many people have deficits in these areas. Memory has many different components, from remembering information for a short period of time (Short Term Memory) to using that information to solve problems (Working Memory) to storing and retrieving information to be used later (Long Term Memory). Similarly, attention can be broken down to sustaining attention on an activity for a sufficient amount of time, shifting your focus to a new activity when appropriate, and selecting which information is important to focus on in the moment. If you are forgetful in your daily activities, follow some but not all directions, seem to learn information easily one day but forget it the next, or have been diagnosed with ADHD in the past,  it will be important to get a comprehensive look at memory and attention.

Adaptive Skills

Adaptive skills can also be known as activities of daily living. These are the skills we all need in order to live our lives independently. From being able to travel within our communities to understanding the rules of school and home, keeping ourselves fed, clean and safe, and making and keeping relationships, when someone is having difficulty with these skills it can have an impact on both their lives and the people around them. There can be a variety of reasons why someone is not performing these skills consistently, and we may need to consider assessment in this area. If there is a concern about a youth being on the spectrum or having an Intellectual Disability, it is crucial to assess their adaptive skills. Most of the time this involves getting ratings of these skills from adults who work closely with them across a number of settings.

Social-Emotional 

Understanding how you experience and manage your feelings can be an important part of the evaluation process. If you have difficulty making friendships, have big "oversized" reactions to seemingly small provocations, or are displaying signs of anxiety, understanding the way that you think, feel, and perceive the world can be key in accurate diagnosis and identifying effective treatments. Social/emotional assessments include obtaining ratings from you and important others in your life, as well as through what are called “projective” tasks, often ambiguous activities that allow the subject to project their thoughts and feelings onto the materials. If you're bringing your child in for assessment, it’s important to assess social/emotional functioning, even if you don’t think this is an area of concern. Mental health concerns can often arise in youth as a result of living in a world that hasn’t been built to accommodate them, and understanding their social/emotional functioning along with their cognitive profile, academic achievement, and skills in other domains will provide a fuller, more holistic view of your child in order to identify targeted, effective treatments.

What Are the Next Steps? 

If you are interested in a psychological evaluation, either for yourself or your child, the first step is reaching out for a free phone consultation. At that time you will learn more about the way I conduct evaluations, I can learn more about your concerns, and together we can decide whether to proceed. Evaluations are expensive and time consuming, so it's important to understand why you're seeking assessment at this time, and what you hope to gain from the process. The more areas of concern are identified, or questions you have about your or your child's development, the more testing will need to be completed which will affect the total cost of the evaluation. Payment options will be explored at the initial consultation, and should you choose to use your out-of-network benefits I can help you seek reimbursement for 40-70% of the total fee.