FAQ

Psychological assessments are helpful in a variety of ways, such as:

• Provides us with an objective assessment of you / your child’s symptoms in order to accurately diagnose symptoms 

• Testing allows us to assess an individual’s strengths and areas of improvement to help develop appropriate treatment plans that can be shared with parents, patient, and treatment providers
• Testing allows us to develop meaningful school accommodations that can be used to help a child to reach their academic potential
• Provides us with data to help evaluate conditions that often have overlapping symptoms so that other causes for the same symptoms can be ruled out (e.g. anxiety, ADHD, etc) and an accurate diagnosis can be made
• Findings can help identify the need for and provide referrals to other specialists and treatments

 We are committed to not only helping individuals identify a diagnosis while taking the individual into account when creating a treatment plan to help them.

When testing is being considered or suggested to you it is often confusing which type of testing you / your child needs. The terms neuropsychological evaluation, psychoeducational assessment, and psychological evaluation are sometimes used interchangeably by mistake. Both neuropsych evaluations and psychological evaluations assess a person’s abilities in the areas of attention, learning, executive functioning, processing speed, memory, intelligence, mood and personality. One difference is that a neuropsychologist sometimes completes a neuropsych evaluation which is sometimes needed for evaluation of certain brain-based conditions or medical illnesses.  A psychoeducational assessment evaluates a person’s academic abilities including reading, writing, language, and math. During the initial consultation members of our team will be able to guide you to help determine which type of testing you / your child needs. 

Schools complete psychoeducational assessments (see above for description) but are not able to diagnose conditions. If you have concerns that your child may have difficulties with mood (anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD), autism, or an attention disorder (ADHD) schools will not be able to make this diagnosis and develop treatment plans for your child. Our staff works in collaboration with your child’s school district to share results of our testing and offer recommendations for school accommodations to help your child succeed in school.

Drs. Murphy and Naddeo offer a unique team-based approach to testing where in some cases multiple providers see your child in order to offer the most comprehensive assessment of their needs. Dr. Naddeo specializes in psychological, neuropsychological, and educational assessments, in addition to psychotherapy (“talk therapy”) and parent counseling. Dr. Murphy has a specialty in the assessment of ADHD with co-occurring disorders such as anxiety, executive functioning difficulties, and substance use. At the conclusion of testing a team conference is held and both providers discuss and determine the best treatment recommendations to offer you and your child.

For younger children, you may find it easier to explain the appointment is just like a doctor’s visit. To help avoid any stress we avoid the use of the word “tests”. It is often helpful to explain that our assessments are not like traditional academic testing but instead, are activities such as drawing symbols, using blocks, and answering questions to help them better understand how they think, learn and feel.

For older children, it is often helpful to explain that we will be assessing how they learn and think in order to help them do their best at school and at home. The goal of this assessment is to get an overview of how they learn as well as evaluate their strengths and potential areas of improvement.

Most psychological testing appointments are about 4 hours and depending on the needs of the person psychological testing is usually completed in 3 hour blocks over the course of 1-2 days. Academic and psychoeducational assessments take about 6 hours, split over 2 days. This can vary depending on the individual’s age, behavior, and observations made during the test itself.

Evaluation is broken down into 3-4 appointments.  

• The first appointment is a comprehensive consultation, we discuss the areas of concern, social/emotional and academic history. For patients under the age of 18 years, this appointment is with the parent(s) only. Unless this is specified, the parent(s) will attend the session without the patient.
• The second (and possibly third) appointment are testing session(s), beginning with getting the patient’s perspective on the problem/issue. 
  • Testing appointment days are usually 3 to 4.5 hours with breaks, as needed.
• The final appointment is a feedback session that is held with the patient and/or his or her parents. 
  • Depending on the assessment this can be two appointments – one with the patient and another with just the patient’s parent(s). These appointments usually take place between 2 and 3 weeks after testing to allow for outside data to be received from schools and others, and the finalization of the report with complete testing data and recommendations. 

There is no charge for the initial consultation.  We will typically do the consultation over the phone and will last approximately 1/2 hour.  During the call, we will ask you questions related to your symptoms or condition so we can get an understanding of what you’re experiencing and how we can best help you.

Most insurance companies cover comprehensive psychological assessments when they are for the purpose of determining mental health diagnosis and treatment planning. Academic testing /  psychoeducational assessments, however, are used for the exclusive purpose of identifying a learning disorder (e.g., dyslexia, dysgraphia, etc.) which is used for educational planning. Please be advised that insurance companies do not cover the cost of academic or psychoeducational testing. 

If you do not have insurance or your insurance plan does not cover the type of testing you need you can still in most cases receive reimbursement from insurance using out of network benefits or your HSA. Our office provides all of the information necessary for you to call your insurance and inquire about your coverage before testing begins. 

The cost of a comprehensive psychological evaluation depends on the time required and the complexity of the case. 

The following is a breakdown of the hours that are billed for in a typical psychological assessment: 

• 4 to 5 hours of one-on-one testing (psychologist and patient)
• 2 to 3 hours of scoring testing data, including behavioral observations gathered during the assessment (psychologist)
• 4 to 6 hours of interpreting the testing data, integrating this information so that it is specific to your/your child’s unique needs, and writing a comprehensive testing report (psychologist)