How to Choose a Psychologist for Your Child's Psychoeducational Testing
After talking to your child’s teacher or observing your child’s struggles with schoolwork, you’ve decided it’s time to seek a psychological assessment or psychoeducational evaluation. But, now you need to find the right psychologist to complete the assessment. You might find this overwhelming or scary, especially when you’re worried about how your child might experience the testing or what the results may show.
I’ve conducted hundreds of psychological evaluations with children in my work, and the most important thing I can tell you about your search for a psychologist is to find someone who your child will feel safe and comfortable with. This means choosing a warm, friendly psychologist who genuinely cares about your child and their well-being. During a psychoeducational assessment, your child will be spending up to eight hours in testing with the psychologist. If they feel nervous or uncomfortable with the testing activities or the psychologist, the results may be invalid and not a true reflection of your child’s capabilities.
It’s also essential that the psychologist you choose is flexible with their testing approach, adjusting it to what the child needs from moment to moment. For example, I always start an evaluation by getting to know your child, talking about their interests and friends, rather than jumping straight into the testing. If drawing a picture or doing a silly dance gets them ready for the testing, then that’s what we do. Of course, we also take breaks between tests to stretch, do some jumping jacks or have a quick snack. These are a few of the ways I ensure children are engaged and able to do their best in what could feel like a stressful situation for them.
Want to know the best approach for researching and hiring a psychologist? Here are the five steps I recommend for choosing a psychologist for your child’s psychological testing or psychoeducational evaluation.
Step 1: Get clear on why your child might benefit from the psychoeducational evaluation.
Teachers and tutors might recommend a psychoeducational assessment if your child struggles with schoolwork. Usually, you’ll see that your child is performing below the standard level of their peers, scoring low on tests, or having a hard time with reading, writing or math.
Some other signs you may see are that your child fights with you to do their homework or nighttime reading — especially if you see this in one subject over another. Some tutors I work with say they see children work for hours on math but run away the minute they pull a book out. Children usually choose activities they’re good at and avoid those they’re not. You may also notice that your child is overly nervous or stressed about exams or learning new things, maybe even to the point where they don’t want to go to school.
A psychoeducational evaluation can help you understand why your child isn’t performing well. We want to uncover the root cause of your child's low academic scores, school anxiety, and avoiding schoolwork. Perhaps they have a reading disability or math disorder that’s getting in the way of their learning. Everyone learns differently, so it’s important to see how your child learns and how they can be helped to learn in a way that’s right for them.
This doesn’t mean that they will struggle forever. A psychoeducational evaluation can be an opening for them to succeed by understanding how your child learns and how we can help them through one-on-one targeted interventions, support from a special education teacher or accommodations to help them learn in a way that’s right for them. For example, I might recommend a multisensory approach to learning to read rather than basic phonics. Or a method to help them visualize images to help them with math skills rather than memorizing math facts. In my psychoeducational evaluation reports, I always provide multiple resources, strategies and recommendations tailored to your child’s strengths and challenges.
Learning doesn’t have to be so hard. If we can uncover how your child learns, we can set them up for success.
Step 2: Based on your intentions for the assessment, determine what type of evaluation your child needs: Psychological or Psychoeducational?
There are two types of psychological testing you might consider for your child: (1) a psychoeducational evaluation or (2) a psychological assessment.
I recommend a psychoeducational evaluation if there are any concerns with your child’s learning — if they are struggling with reading, writing or math, or if their teachers have ever noticed a learning issue. This evaluation entails clinical interviews with the parents, teachers and child, along with 5-8 hours of one-on-one testing with the child. The parents, teachers, and child (if age appropriate) will also complete rating scales pertaining to social and emotional development.
Once the testing is completed, you will receive a detailed, thorough report (usually about 30-40 pages) with recommendations for interventions. I would recommend his type of assessment if there are any concerns with the child’s learning or if they are in elementary or early middle school. We want to ensure we don’t miss an undiagnosed learning disability, which could potentially make school much harder for them in the future. If we can assess and intervene at a younger age, your child will be more likely to succeed and learn alongside their peers. The longer your child is left undiagnosed and untreated, the larger the gap between them and their peers becomes, and it is harder to catch up. This can also affect your child’s confidence and cause major issues later.
The second type of evaluation is called a psychological evaluation. With this evaluation, the parents, teachers (and child if they are age-appropriate) would meet with a psychologist and fill out rating scales to determine if they have met the criteria for any psychological issue such as ADHD, anxiety, depression, etc. This is based on clinical interviews with the parents, teachers and child, along with the clinical rating scales completed by the parents, teacher and child.
Once this evaluation is completed, you will receive a detailed report (usually about 20 pages) with detailed recommendations for interventions. I would recommend this for an older child or adult not concerned with learning issues. A psychological evaluation can be good for children who struggle with anxiety and need to apply for testing accommodations at school, such as extra time, so they can use their coping strategies during exams to decrease their anxiety. This evaluation would also be important if someone is in college or older and wants to apply for accommodations on standardized tests such as the GRE, LSAT or MCAT. These boards often need data to approve accommodations, so someone would need this evaluation to apply for accommodations on these exams to perform up to their true potential.
Step 3: Develop a list of psychologists you want to interview to learn more about their assessment approach.
While psychological evaluations may be conducted virtually, you’ll need to find a psychologist in your area for an in-person psychoeducational assessment. Create a list of 3-5 psychologists you’d like to interview. Ask your child’s school or tutor for recommendations. You can also research them online at Psychology Today, ZocDoc or Google.
Be sure to search specifically for psychologists with a PsyD or PhD in their credentials, as many schools and testing boards won’t accept evaluations from practitioners without doctorate degrees. You’ll also want to search for psychologists specializing in testing, including psychological and psychoeducational evaluations, who are board-certified to practice in your state (especially if you are doing a virtual psychological evaluation).
Step 4: Research the psychologists and schedule consult calls.
Once you’ve got your list of psychologists, I recommend scheduling consult calls to learn more about their style, approach and availability. Most psychologists now offer the ability to book free consult calls on their websites or by contacting their offices. During the consult call, be sure to get answers to the following questions:
1.) What is their availability for scheduling your child’s psychoeducational evaluation?
You don’t want to wait six months on a psychologist’s waitlist to complete your child’s psychoeducational evaluation. That’s a long time in lost learning during the school year. You’ll want to find a psychologist who can complete the testing as soon as possible.
2.) How long does the psychoeducational evaluation take (from testing to receiving the report)?
Again, it’s very important to be mindful of the time frame in assessments because the child typically needs help in school, and you want them to reap the benefits of the evaluation as soon as possible. Some psychologists take 1-2 months from conducting the testing to delivering the report because they are testing so many children, and it takes time to write the reports.
In my practice, I purposely keep my caseload smaller so I can complete the testing and report within about two weeks. This allows me to provide a more in-depth, personal and faster level of care, rather than acting as a testing mill churning each evaluation out slowly over time.
3.) What types of tests do they use in their psychoeducational evaluations?
Look for a psychologist who will administer cognitive, academic and social/emotional tests. This combination of tests is the most thorough assessment. A psychoeducational evaluation that doesn’t include all these testing components isn’t going to capture the full picture of the child’s functioning. Also, ensure they’re giving the full battery of the tests — not abbreviated versions — because, again, you will miss important information.
4.) What is their approach to working with your child during a psychoeducational evaluation?
During your consult call, get a feel for the psychologist’s personality. Ask them how they explain the psychological evaluation to a child. Hear in their voice if they’re warm and friendly, using a soft tone that would make a child feel comfortable. Do they seem to genuinely enjoy children and love hearing their stories and interests?
Another good question to ask about the testing is what they do if a child appears distracted or tired. You should expect them to share strategies, including taking movement breaks, providing reinforcers, using fidget toys, or rescheduling for another day if necessary.
For your child's comfort and accurate testing results, it’s essential that the psychologist eases your child’s stress or worry about the testing. You want to choose a psychologist who is smiling and actively engaged in getting to know your child to make them as comfortable as possible.
Step 5: Schedule the assessment and prepare your child.
The final step is to schedule the psychoeducational evaluation with the psychologist and prepare your child for the testing.
The best time of day to schedule an assessment is the morning. Most children are more alert and awake in the morning — and it’s when they’re usually at school learning. In my practice, I like to start the assessments around 8:30 or 9 a.m. If losing a morning or day of school is a huge problem, you might also see if scheduling the testing for the weekend or during a school break is possible. Try to schedule the psychoeducational evaluation at the first sign of struggle during the school year to ensure they get the help they need as soon as possible.
Before the assessment, tell your child that they are going to play games and do fun activities with the psychologist. Most psychologists will play blocks, look at pictures and play games on an iPad as part of the testing. Make your description of the day fun and light, so the child isn’t nervous. A lot of the games I use in testing are really fun!
Be sure to ask the psychologist what else they recommend to make the evaluation comfortable for your child. When I prepare a family for an evaluation, I always tell parents to bring water, a snack and the child’s favorite toy to show me. Having them show me their favorite toy is a great icebreaker, giving us an easy way to start our conversation and work together. Water and snack breaks are a good time for me to build more connection with them by asking questions about their friends, favorite activities or sports — allowing them to feel more relaxed about the testing.
Want 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.
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