Psychoeducational Evaluations/IEE's

Psychoeducational Evaluations

What We Do

San Diego BrainWorks performs comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations assessing for Reading, Writing, and/or Math Disorders (Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and/or Dyscalculia). These comprehensive evaluations typically include aspects of neuropsychological testing in order to gain a complete understanding of the client and to aid in diagnostic specificity.

San Diego Brainworks uses a comprehensive battery of tests to determine if your child has a specific learning disorder and/or other cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Test results are combined with an in-depth interview with parents, classroom observation, input from teachers, therapists, tutors, doctors, and others familiar with you or your child’s medical and academic situation, so that we can make tailored individualized recommendations.

We conduct evaluations for public and private school settings as well as Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE's).

How This Can Help You

Evaluations typically include measures designed to assess a child’s intellectual capability, or IQ, academic skills, cognitive/neuropsychological functioning (visual/verbal memory, attention, executive functioning, motor), social and emotional skills, and speech and language skills.

Results help us determine the underlying processes that impact a child’s performance in school and other contexts. When a child starts school, a learning disorder can be difficult to distinguish from behavioral and emotional problems, especially if a child becomes frustrated when trying to complete assignments. Therefore, our evaluations help parents and professionals better understand behavioral, emotional, and social challenges that may arise as a result of underlying challenges that present in academic settings.

Research

Research indicates that as many as 30 percent of children have a learning disorder, which can impact performance in reading, math, writing, and/or nonverbal skills. Learning disorders often occur in children who have normal or higher-than normal intelligence but may have difficulty receiving, effectively using, processing, storing, or responding to information (verbally and visually).

Some Children With A Learning Disorder May Have Difficulty With:

Distinguishing letters or numbers
Rhyming and manipulating sounds
Writing sentences and spelling
Language Skills
Sounding out words while reading
Progressing in reading, writing, and/or math compared to peers
Excessive time spent on homework and academic activities

Testing Accommodations

High Stakes Testing

What Are High Stakes Exams

High stakes exams are standardized tests including the ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, MCAT, and LSAT used primarily to help make decisions about admissions to specific programs such as college, medical school, business school, or law school.

Testing Accommodations

Students may be eligible for accommodations under the Americans with Disability Act Amendment Act (ADAAA) when an individual has a disability that is associated with significant functional limitations that interferes with their functioning and ability to take tests. For example, students may be found eligible for extended time of tests or an environment with reduced distraction, multiple breaks, etc when the an attentional disorder, learning disability, or anxiety disorder is present (and/or when a documented history of the disorder is also available). These types of evaluations can be lengthy and it is imperative that family members bring in documentation of previous testing, academic records, and transcripts beginning in grade school that demonstrate presence and history of the disorder. San Diego BrainWorks will direct you as to what documents you will need for the evaluation.

In many cases, a recent and comprehensive evaluation is required as part of the application process to help determine a person’s eligibility for accommodations. San Diego BrainWorks can assist you in this process by providing the necessary testing information. It is important to keep in mind that neither a diagnosis of a disability, previous history of receiving classroom accommodations, nor recommendations for testing accommodations automatically lead to testing accommodations, as it must be associated with functional limitations. Neuropsychological testing should be completed approximately 6 months to 1 year prior to taking the high stakes exam.

How To Get Extended Study Time

What San Diego BrainWorks must be provided with

What We'll Need

School Records sent directly to San Diego BrainWorks
- You will likely need to give the school(s) a written release to do this.
- Tip: Start this procedure as early as possible and obtain as many sources as possible.
- Records should span the length of your academic career, from grade school through college.

Test reports and letters which document learning problems in your past:
- This documentation should include letters from doctors, teachers, school officials, even relatives and parents, attesting to your learning problems (signed and dated).

Personal written statement detailing the learning problems you have had throughout your past:
- This statement can be emailed to San Diego BrainWorks as soon as the first appointment is made.
- Please explain why you need accommodations if you have not had them in the past.
- What struggles did you go through?
- Did you get informal accommodations from teachers (like extra time on tests), or did someone help you a lot with homework (parent, tutor, grandma)?
- Include your medical and developmental (childhood) history, which is also required.

Extra resources for more information about testing requirements:

ACT: actstudent.org/regist/disab/

LSAT: lsac.org/jd/lsat/accommodated-testing

MCAT: aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/accommodations/application/

San Diego BrainWorks

Psychology, Neuropsychology & Therapy Services

Specializing in Comprehensive Psychoeducational/IEE, Learning Disorder, ADHD & Autism Evaluations, Neuropsychological Assessments, EHRMS Assessments, Psychological Testing, & Therapy.