Five Signs Your Child Needs Psychological Testing
As an experienced school psychologist, I can confidently say that psychological testing can feel like a gift to many parents. A psychological evaluation allows you to understand your child’s unique set of strengths and weaknesses. The evaluation also identifies ways the school can provide support – either through classroom and testing accommodations or with specific behavioral strategies.
The summer is a great time to seek out a psychological evaluation for your child, because the school has a lot of data on how your child performed over the course of the entire school year. We can use this data to help define where your child most needs support and create a customized psychological evaluation based on those needs. The results of your child’s psychological evaluation can also be shared with the school over the summer, allowing them to put effective strategies into place for the following academic year. This will help ensure your child starts the year off on the right foot and feel more confident at the beginning of school, instead of waiting to fail and seeking support afterwards.
Read on to learn more about the five signs your child might need psychological testing, as well as how to identify which type of psychological testing might be best for your child.
What is Psychological Testing?
First, let’s start with a basic understanding of what we mean when we say psychological testing. Psychological testing is an evaluation to determine what is getting in the way of your child’s social or emotional functioning. More commonly, psychologists refer to testing as a psychological evaluation or a psychological assessment.
A psychologist will customize the evaluation to address the challenges your child seems to be facing. For example, suppose you are concerned that your child feels stressed, worries a lot, picks their nails, or has trouble sleeping. In that case, I would develop an appropriate evaluation tailored to anxiety. This doesn’t mean we won’t be able to uncover any other related issues that may arise. The key point is that testing is geared to the specific child — not one size fits all.
Another type of testing we may consider is a psychoeducational assessment. A psychoeducational assessment is more in-depth and includes psychological, cognitive and academic testing to identify any learning difficulties or disorders that may be getting in the way of your child’s academic functioning.
How Do You Know If Your Child Needs Psychological Testing?
You might want to consider a psychological evaluation if your child is struggling in any way. Perhaps they’re acting aggressively with siblings or do things impulsively without thinking. Maybe they seem overly stressed, don’t want to engage with peers or avoid school. In short, psychological testing might be a good option if you find yourself frequently thinking, “What am I missing?” or “What else can I do for my child?”
Here are five of the most common reasons that your child might need psychological testing.
1.) Your child is struggling academically.
Your child might benefit from psychological or psychoeducational testing if they are having trouble with schoolwork. If your child is in elementary school, your child’s teacher may have reported their struggles learning to read, write or perform math skills at the same level as their peers. At home, your child may refuse to do their reading or homework. Or they are having a very hard time with homework or needing a tutor to frequently review previously learned concepts.
For middle school or high school kids, inconsistent or low test scores may be a sign that they could use more support. Even if your child is performing well academically, you may be concerned if they are working extremely hard, pushing themselves to the point of exhaustion, staying up late at night or waking early in the morning to do their homework. This could be a sign that they are overcompensating for an underlying challenge.
A psychological evaluation or psychoeducational assessment can help uncover any learning issues or psychological issues, such as anxiety or ADHD, that could be preventing them from reaching their true academic potential.
2.) Your child regularly acts impulsively, is constantly moving or fidgeting, and may often be “in trouble” for not listening or following instructions.
These behaviors might be a sign that your child has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. ADHD is one of the most common psychological disorders affecting children, and psychological testing can confirm whether your child could benefit from support for their ADHD.
At home, you may observe that your child exhibits behaviors such as constant movement, fidgeting or running around when they should stay seated. They may act impulsively or seem to act without thinking, interrupt others, or speak as if they’re driven by a motor.
At school, your child’s teachers may report that your child spends more time chatting with peers when they should be listening to the lesson, or it takes them longer than others to unpack or pack up their backpack. Your child could also need the instructions repeated multiple times before starting a task. Your child could also constantly be “in trouble” for not listening or following along with the class expectations. Your child may blurt out answers or make comments while the teacher is talking, or they may ask to use the bathroom or go do errands for the teacher because they are having a hard time staying seated for so long. At younger ages, children with ADHD will frequently fidget, play with their shoes or try to touch other children.
If your child is experiencing any of these behaviors at home or at school, it’s important to get a psychological evaluation (recommended for older children without learning issues) or psychoeducational assessment (recommended for elementary and middle school children). This will allow you to confirm if they meet the criteria for an ADHD diagnosis, so they can get the help they need, such as a behavior intervention plan or accommodations at school.
3.) Your child is very shy and quiet. They frequently avoid playdates, parties or after-school activities. They might even experience headaches or stomachaches in the face of academic or social pressures.
Children experiencing anxiety may come off as being very shy or quiet. You may notice them picking their nails or fidgeting with their hands. They may have somatic complaints such as saying their stomach hurts or they may have headaches. Your child may also avoid social situations such as going to playdates, birthday parties, or afterschool activities or sports.
At school, your child’s teacher may express concerns about your child not engaging with peers as much as others. Your child may cry quietly at school, ask to go to the nurse, or spend time in the bathroom avoiding academic work. They often will not raise their hands out of fear of judgment or having the wrong answers. Your child may express their anxiety by saying that they’re “nervous'“ about a test or upcoming events. You may notice that your child won’t want to go on field trips or do new activities in the classroom out of fear of the unknown. The child may also be absent from school frequently due to somatic complaints. Socially, your child may seek out one or two friends to play with and may avoid unstructured social time such as recess — instead opting to draw or play more structured games.
Older children are most likely to experience test anxiety and panic attacks prior to, during or after exams. They know the information prior to exams, but they feel their mind “goes blank” during the test and are unable to concentrate or recall previously learned material. They may run out of time during the test because they are panicking and fear running out of time, rather than focusing on the material and actual exam questions.
With a psychological assessment, you’ll be armed with strategies that can help your child manage their anxiety and the ability to secure necessary accommodations at school.
4.) Your child seems angry or irritable most of the time. They frequently have angry outbursts at home and teachers report similar behavior at school.
There is always a root cause or underlying emotion to behavior issues. In my work as a psychologist working with children, I find that anger and irritability stem from anxiety, fear or sadness. You see your child’s angry outburst or behavior problem, but there is always a deeper emotion underneath that behavior. If we solely focus on the behavior, we are only putting out little fires instead of extinguishing the root of the problem. Or putting a bandaid on a wound that requires stitches.
A psychological evaluation can help us uncover the reasons for your child’s behavior. Then, we can work to treat the underlying issue — whether it’s anxiety, fear, impulsivity or another emotion or condition — and help alleviate the resulting behavior problems.
5.) Your child appears really sad, often lashing out at family members or displaying aggression with teachers or other students at school.
Children who feel sad or depressed don't have the tools to cope with these intense emotions, so they just act out for attention or relief from their sadness. If you or their teachers constantly give consequences or shame them for their behavior, the guilt can worsen their sadness and depression.
With a psychological evaluation, we can see that your child is struggling with signs of depression and formulate interventions and recommendations based on their symptoms. We can help them to learn to cope with their sadness, rather than act out. I also make recommendations for the school and teachers to handle the behavior in a way that can help the child to build confidence, such as giving them small “jobs'' around the classroom to make them feel helpful, praising their “good behavior” more often, or pairing them with a peer model to help. There are so many tools we can use if we take the time to fully understand the problem.
How Do You Know What’s Normal Behavior vs. Behavior That Means Your Child Needs Psychological Testing?
Let’s take a step back here to clarify what is normal behavior vs. behavior that could benefit from psychological testing. Emotions are an important and normal part of life, but constant, frequent experiences of the same negative emotions on a daily basis — and inability to cope with those emotions — is not normal, and it’s no way to live.
It’s normal for your child to feel nervous about a big final exam, but it’s not normal to feel anxious about every test you take. It’s normal for your child to feel angry when something disappointing happens, but it may be something to investigate further if your child is holding on to their anger or having a hard time moving on.
If your child is experiencing stress, anxiety, sadness, anger or impulsivity on a daily and regular basis, it would be very appropriate to seek out a psychological evaluation to best help your child cope and help you and their teachers with a home-based intervention plan, school-based intervention plan, school accommodations or extra support for academics.
What Type of Psychological Testing is Right for Your Child?
There are two types of evaluations we can consider for children: a psychological evaluation and a psychoeducational assessment. When you reach out schedule a consult call, we’ll discuss the current challenges your child is facing, and I’ll recommend the right approach to best help your child.
In general, if your child is middle school age or younger and/or has any indications of learning difficulties with reading, writing or math, I recommend a psychoeducational assessment. This will give us the full understanding of your child’s psychological and learning challenges, so we can ensure they are able to succeed at home and school. Psychoeducational assessments include 6-8 hours of one-on-one, in-person assessment using a variety of psychological and educational testing methods. Parents and teachers will also complete electronically-administered assessments to incorporate information from home and school settings.
If you aren’t seeing any learning difficulties and/or your child is high school age or older, I recommend a psychological assessment. I don’t believe in over-testing a child if there is no need. Psychological evaluations are conducted virtually via video conferencing and involve separate intake sessions with the parents and child followed by a set of selected rating scales for the parents, child and teachers to complete electronically.
Following both types of testing, you’ll receive a detailed report that includes diagnoses (if applicable), parenting strategies, and recommendations on how to further your child’s educational success (as necessary), including advocating for school-based supports such as an IEP, 504 plan or classroom and testing accommodations.
LEARN MORE ABOUT INSIGHT PSYCHOLOGY GROUP’S PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING SERVICESWant to See if Psychological Testing Could Help Your Child?
Insight Psychology Group offers virtual psychological evaluations for children & teens in Florida and New York and in-person psychoeducational assessments for children & teens from our offices in Boca Raton, Florida. Schedule a free consultation call to see if psychological testing might help your child.