What is a Psychological or Psychoeducational Evaluation?

Psychological evaluations assess issues that impact daily functioning such as trauma, anxiety, depression, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Psychoeducational evaluations typically assess issues that impact functioning in the academic or work setting (e.g., ADHD, Dyslexia, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Behavior Problems). Some of these issues are explained below:

PTSD

PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is an anxiety problem that develops in some people after extremely traumatic events, such as combat, crime, accident, death of a loved one, or natural disaster. People with PTSD may re-live the event through intrusive thoughts, memories, flashbacks, and nightmares. They may avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma. They may have anxious feelings they didn’t have before that are so intense their lives are disrupted. In children, re-experiencing the trauma may occur through repeated play that has trauma-related themes instead of through memories, and distressing dreams may have more general content rather than of the traumatic event itself.

For more information, visit www.apa.org/topics

ADHD

ADHD, or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, is a behavioral condition that makes focusing on everyday requests and routines challenging. People with ADHD typically have trouble getting organized, staying focused, making realistic plans and thinking before acting. They may be fidgety, noisy and unable to adapt to changing situations. Children with ADHD can be hyperactive, inattentive, defiant, socially inept, or aggressive.

For more information, visit www.apa.org/topics

Dyslexia

Dyslexia, or Reading Disorder, is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. Difficulties include poor word recognition, spelling, reading, and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from phonological processing deficits that are often unexpected given a person’s cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction.  Phonological processing refers to the ability to identify individual sounds and how those sounds combine to make up words. Research indicates that phonological processing skills are critical to reading mastery.

For more information, visit:

http://www.cognitive-aptitude-assessment-software.com/

http://store.readingsuccesslabstore.com/

www.interdys.org

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Health care providers think of autism as a “spectrum” disorder, a group of disorders with similar features. One person may have mild symptoms, while another may have serious symptoms. But they both have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Diagnostic categories of ASD previously included the following:

• Autistic Disorder (also called “classic” autism)
• Asperger’s Disorder (also called “high functioning” autism)
• Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD NOS or atypical autism)

However, with the release of the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), the name of this spectrum of disorders will change to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), with specified severity levels of Mild (Requiring Support), Moderate (Requiring Substantial Support), or Severe (Requiring Very Substantial Support).

The main signs and symptoms of autism are usually observed by 18 months of age and involve problems in the following areas:

• Communication- both verbal (spoken) and non-verbal (unspoken, such as pointing, eye contact, and smiling)
• Social- such as sharing emotions, understanding how others think and feel, and holding a conversation
• Routines or repetitive behaviors (also called stereotyped behaviors)- such as repeating words or actions, obsessively following routines or schedules, and playing in repetitive ways.

For more information, visit www.nichd.nih.gov

A psychological or psychoeducational evaluation by a qualified mental health professional such as a clinical psychologist is conducted to determine the existence of these and other conditions, and to provide recommendations for treatment options at school, work, and home.

For more information about these and other disorders, please contact us.