What is a Psychoeducational Evaluation?

A psychoeducational evaluation is an assessment of your child’s cognitive abilities and academic achievement levels. It can provide specific information about your child’s attentional functioning, executive functioning, and/or social-emotional functioning. A complete evaluation report with a licensed psychologist will yield detailed information about your child’s learning profile and their strengths and weaknesses.

The cognitive portion of the psychoeducational evaluation will look at your child’s verbal learning skills, nonverbal learning skills, visual motor skills, visual spatial skills, working memory, and processing speed. The academic achievement portion of the evaluation will evaluate your child’s academic skills in the areas of reading, writing and math.

The psychological evaluation may also include an examination of your child’s executive functioning (their ability to initiate tasks, organization skills, and complete tasks in a timely manner), attentional functioning (can they sustain their attention, are they hyperactive, and do they have impulse control), and social-emotional functioning (are they displaying signs of anxiety, depression, or difficulty with social interactions).

The assessment tools are school based standardized measures that provide valid and reliable information about your child’s current functioning. The tests yield standard scores and percentiles which determine if your child’s performance is in the Below Average, Average, or Above Average range compared to peers of the same age and/or grade.

A Complete Psychoeducational Evaluation can include:

• Cognitive Assessment
• Academic Assessments
• Working Memory Assessments
• Processing Speed Assessments
• Social-Emotional Assessments
• Emotional Behavioral Assessments
• Attention Assessment
• Executive Functioning Assessment
• Consultation with the school

Why would my child need a Pychoeducational Evaluation?

If your child is struggling in school academically or socially, a complete psychoeducational evaluation can help determine the specific areas of your child’s difficulties. The assessment tools can help establish if the difficulties are a result of a Specific Learning Disability, attentional difficulties, executive functioning difficulties, or social-emotional difficulties.

If your child has difficulty with reading, math, and/or writing, a psychoeducational evaluation looks closely at each of these academic areas. Using a variety of assessment tools, we can determine the exact nature of your child’s reading difficulties. The evaluation can establish if the reading struggles are a result of comprehension difficulties, reading fluency deficits, or phonological processing weaknesses.

The testing can also pinpoint the exact areas of mathematical difficulties or why your child struggles with writing. It may be possible that your child does not have a specific learning disability but rather struggles in school because of attentional, social-emotional or executive functioning difficulties.

A comprehensive assessment will yield detailed information about your child’s strengths and weaknesses. Using this knowledge, the clinician will generate recommendations that can help your child both in school and at home. The clinician may also make a diagnosis based on the data that could include a Specific Learning Disability, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Depression, and/or Anxiety.

What is included in the Pyschoeducational Evaluation?

A comprehensive evaluation will include an intake session with the parents, 2 or 3 in person testing sessions with the child evaluated, and a feedback session with the parents. It can take 2 to 3 weeks for the report to be written and then the clinician will share the report with the parents before the feedback session. At times, the clinician may want to contact the child’s teacher and/or school psychologist in order to get a more comprehensive picture of the child’s functioning at school.

Where will the Pyschoeducational Evaluation be Conducted?

In order to maintain the reliability and validity of the assessment tools, a majority of the evaluation needs to be in person. This also assures that the results of these tools are performed under standardized conditions and will provide accurate information on how your child is currently functioning.

A majority of the evaluation will take place in our office in Franklin, MA. The testing sessions will be in person while the intake and feedback sessions can be telehealth.

How much will the Psychoeducational Evaluation cost?

There are two options open to you to pay for a complete psychoeducational evaluation. First is a self pay model where a complete psycho-evaluation will cost $3,000, which will be split into 2 payments. A shorter evaluation (i.e. Attentional evaluation) will cost $1,500 also split into 2 payments.

A second method is to use your Health Insurance to cover the costs associated with testing. Currently we are accepting Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, UnitedHealthCare and UMR insurance plans. Typically this will require authorization from your insurer after an initial intake to evaluate the medical necessity of the testing.

The Takeaway

When your child acts or thinks differently than you expect, it can be difficult to understand. A psychoeducational evaluation administered by a mental health professional can provide specific information about your child’s academic functioning, executive functioning, and social-emotional functioning. A complete report will offer detailed information about your child’s learning profile, and their strengths and weaknesses.

Psychoeducational testing can you gain a better understanding of your child’s behavior. After testing, the clinician will share the report with you and help you understand what the feedback means for future treatment and intervention.

If a psychoeducational evaluation is of interest to you, please contact us today by calling (413) 343-4357 or request an appointment online.

We are here to support your child’s learning and life journey!

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