Assessment Services
The CPSD offers psychological and psychoeducational assessments (children, adolescents, and adults), and career assessments (adults), to provide diagnosis and treatment recommendations. Clients seek assessment for a variety of issues, such as problems meeting the demands of school and/or work, difficulty concentrating, memory problems, or unexplained changes in daily functioning. Often, clients come with a specific question, such as “Do I have a learning disability?”, “Does my child have Autism Spectrum Disorder?”, or “What career fields are right for me?”
Psychological assessment can be particularly helpful in clarifying underlying reasons for current difficulties, and what to do about them, as well as identifying individual strengths. You can learn more about how psychological assessment may help you from the American Psychological Association: Understanding Psychological Assessment.
Individual career assessments are offered for assistance with changing careers, determining occupational interest, and life planning. Assessment activities may include aptitude and interest tests and surveys, as well as discussions about your past education and job history and your future goals. Career testing is often combined with counseling. Self-exploration helps to identify careers suited to your personal interests, personality and skills. Our therapists may work in cooperation with VCU’s Career Center, which can provide additional resources that insure comprehensive service for VCU students.
The CPSD welcomes referrals for psychological and psychoeducational assessments from individuals, mental health professionals, schools, physicians, and parents. As a training clinic, we provide a closely supervised comprehensive assessment battery for each client that covers a wide range of functioning. Typically, our evaluations include measures of intellectual ability, academic achievement, personality, emotional functioning, and behavior. For school-age clients, information from teachers or other caregivers is also an important part of the process. The exact composition of each assessment battery is based on clinical need.
Following the assessment, you will be provided with a written report of integrated findings and recommendations. Because we believe in the value of a carefully considered, well-written report, this intensively supervised process usually takes four to six weeks to complete following the assessment.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders - ADHD Clinic - for children and adolescents.
Assessment and therapy address different needs. Assessments are a time-limited process, designed to efficiently gather a large amount of information to render a diagnosis and treatment recommendations. The goal of therapy, on the other hand, is to provide treatment over a longer period of time. It is not necessary to complete an assessment before beginning therapy, though sometimes we may suggest this as a first step, to help us better understand your strengths and challenges, or to clarify appropriate treatment goals.