My Specialties & Services 

Types of Assessments

ADHD

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  1. When should you consider and ADHD Evaluation?

Attention difficulties can arise for a number of reasons. Sometimes, medical problems (or side effects from medications) can result in attention difficulties. Sometimes, other challenges, like learning disabilities, anxiety or depression, can result in behavior or characteristics that look similar to symptoms of ADHD. And sometimes ADHD can co-occur with other concerns. It is very important to get a correct diagnosis, so your challenges can be addressed effectively. Many professionals are not trained in depth enough to sort of all of the potential factors that could be at play when someone experiences challenges with attention. Our providers have in-depth training and experience in helping you answer these questions.

In order to rule out a medical reason for your attention difficulties, it is helpful to have a recent medical exam (well child visit with a pediatrician for children, or a physical with your primary care doctor). This can rule out concerns such as hearing or vision problems, sleep disturbances, and other health issues that may be affecting your ability to be attentive.

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a serious condition that affects almost 10% of the population. It also can be difficult to diagnose, as it often goes hand in hand with other challenges that can look very similar to ADHD. Individuals with ADHD can experience symptoms with inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity that can negatively impact school, work, and social relationships. At Psychological Associates of the Triangle, our professionals have extensive experience in supporting children, adolescents, and adults with ADHD. Our assessments can determine whether your experiences are truly the result of ADHD and, if so, provide you with recommendations specific to your unique patterns of strengths and weaknesses. Accurate diagnosis is essential for effective treatment.

  1. Differential Diagnosis

Our goal is to help you find answers to your concerns and one important way to do this is to make sure you get an accurate diagnosis. This is essential in helping you get the right treatment and interventions going forward. Many conditions can mimic the symptoms of ADHD, including depression, anxiety, slow processing speed, dyslexia and working memory deficits. Our professionals will assess for other conditions as a part of your comprehensive evaluation to help tease apart what is causing your difficulties. 

  1. Benefits of an ADHD Evaluation

Having an accurate diagnosis has a multitude of benefits. Individuals with ADHD that are properly diagnosed and treated may find they are seeing improved grades, improved access to educational accommodations and services, and improved learning and study habits. It also gives you a better understanding of how your brain works and allows you to work on developing coping strategies that specifically address your challenges and lead to great control and self-esteem in life.

  1. Accommodations for Individuals with ADHD

Many people are unaware that certain educational services and accommodations are available to individuals with ADHD in both school and college settings. Services and accommodations may include modified testing environments, additional time during exams, or preferential seating. Additionally, individuals whose condition is documented through a comprehensive psychological evaluation are often eligible for extended time on standardized tests, such as the SAT, ACT, and GRE. Gaining access to such services and accommodations can be critical to meeting students’ educational needs and preserving self-esteem and general academic success.

 

Learning Disabilities

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If you are concerned about the possibility of dyslexia or another learning disorder, we can help. Learning disabilities, which include dyslexia, affect approximately 10% of people. Learning disabilities are specific areas of weakness that negatively affect a person’s academic skill development and functioning, despite the person having at least average intellectual abilities. A person can be quite bright and yet struggle in specific areas of their education. Many students who struggle in school have undiagnosed learning disabilities.

Dr. Strackany has extensive expertise in helping children, adolescents and adults identify learning disabilities and is qualified to distinguish learning disabilities from the many other conditions that can affect academic performance (ADHD, depression and anxiety, to name a few). An accurate diagnosis is crucial to effective intervention. 

As with all of our evaluations, our assessment reports will provide you with recommendations specific to your or your child’s unique pattern of strength and weaknesses.

It is important to be aware that children and college students with dyslexia or another learning disability are likely eligible for educational services and accommodations through special education or Section 504. Gaining access to such services and accommodations can be critical to a student’s academic success and preserving their self-esteem, which is often deeply affected when a learning disability is present.

We evaluate dyslexia based on the recommendations by the Internal Dyslexia Association and renowned dyslexia expert, Sally Shaywitz, MD. An evaluation for dyslexia can be conducted with anyone ages 5 and up (including adults) and (depending on age) includes:

  • Review of developmental, medical, behavioral and family history
  • Review of report cards, teacher feedback, and results from standardized testing.

Standardized measures used in these evaluations cover these areas:

  • Cognitive abilities and processing (auditory and visual processing, and visual motor integration)
  • Academic achievement in reading, writing and math
  • Specific evaluation of reading and writing skills (including phonological processing)
  • Rapid automatic naming abilities
  • Single word decoding of both real and nonsense words
  • Oral and silent reading in context to evaluate rate, fluency, comprehension and accuracy
  • Reading comprehension
  • Orthographic processing (e.g. spelling)
  • Written expression
  • Oral language skills

Anxiety

Kindergarten Readiness

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In North Carolina, the cutoff to start Kindergarten is that your student needs to be 5 by August 31. If your child’s birthday falls any later than this date, you have the option to submit a special application, which must include a Kindergarten Readiness assessment.

Your school district will require you to submit a portfolio of some of your child’s work, letters of recommendation, and testing scores from an IQ and achievement test. These tests are not offered through school districts and have to be obtained privately. Your child’s scores will need to be at the 98th percentile or higher in reading OR math on the achievement test. 

If Kindergarten Readiness is something you are considering, please reach out and schedule a 15 minute free consultation to see if this is the right step for you.

 

Giftedness

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Giftedness evaluations allow us to determine if your bright child falls within the range of what is considered “gifted” and provides you with individualized recommendations for their needs.

Having a gifted child can be as challenging as having a child with a learning disability. Finding an appropriately challenging educational environment is essential and understanding the different ways in which gifted children learn is also key in ensuring their success. We are here to get you started on this path.

 Our assessments for giftedness include:

  • Review of developmental, medical, behavioral and family history
  • Review of educational reports, teacher feedback and, if available, results from any previous standardized testing
  • Assessment of cognitive abilities using comprehensive, standardized measures (including verbal and nonverbal abilities working memory, and processing speed)
  • Assessment of academic achievement in the areas of reading, writing and math.
  • Review work samples that may be indicative of your child’s unique gifts and talents. This could include previous written work, artwork, audio or video recordings of musical or theatrical talents, etc.

Further evaluation in additional areas may also be indicated if we suspect learning, emotional, behavioral or attention problems from testing.

Depression

Twice Exceptional

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Definition

A twice-exceptional individual is someone who possesses an outstanding gift or talent in intellectual abilities, academics, music, or the arts and is highly capable of high performance, but who has another condition or disability (e.g. ADHD, dyslexia, Autism Spectrum Disorder) that weakens his/her performance in another area or areas. Twice-exceptional individuals often have unique academic, emotional, and/or behavioral needs. A comprehensive psychological evaluation can help determine the strengths and weaknesses or a 2e individual and can identify recommendations to help them capitalize on their strengths and overcome their challenges.

Testing

In addition to cognitive and academic assessment measures, we also use the following when assessing an individual for twice-exceptionalism:

  • Clinical interview
  • Standardized tests for auditory and visual attention
  • A more in depth look at achievement in areas of suspected difficulty
  • Standardized tests of memory and learning
  • Behavior checklists for parents, teachers and students
  • Psychological and projective measures as warranted.

If you have any additional questions, please reach out and we would be happy to speak with you.

Intellectual Disabilities

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Assessing for intellectual ability and disability can help figure out what may be causing challenges you or your child may be experiencing. As with other assessment areas discussed on this page, identify the reason behind why you/your child may be struggling is essential in figuring out how to set realistic expectations, obtain appropriate accomodations in educational settings and in general develop a roadmap for the future.

Educational Evaluations

My Approach

Children develop at different rates and speeds. We would love to have a clear path of knowing which milestones should be reached at which time, but in reality this can be confusing. Is a particular concern an actual problem or is it just a small delay that is simply part of idiosyncratic development? Maybe you have always noted that you seem to process information differently than others or wonder if your challenges completing projects aren’t just a personality thing, but have an actual underlying cause you could resolve.

Psychological evaluations can help parents or individuals understand their child or themselves on a deeper level. It can help answer whether your challenges are simply based in a unique learning or personality style, or whether there may be more that explains the learning challenges, emotional struggles, social difficulties or behavioral problems you are noticing. Getting a better understanding of what is actually going on can help tremendously in knowing where to go from here. It can help you or your child find new steps towards success. 

We offer psychological, neuropsychological and psycho-educational evaluations for children and adults ranging in age from preschool to adulthood. We are here to help individuals who are struggling to reach their full potential academically, professionally or interpersonally. 

What is a Psychological Evaluation?

Psychological evaluations or assessments typically involve the use of a series of standardized tests that help us gain a deeper understanding about the strengths or challenges of each individual we evaluate. Evaluations may be requested by parents or educators, who are noticing challenges in a child or struggle with behavioral concerns and are looking for answers. Evaluations may also be requested by another professional such as a medical provider, pediatricians, therapist, occupational or physical therapist. You may have noticed challenges in your own life and wondered what is causing you to struggle and be seeking an evaluation on your own. At times it can also be helpful to seek a re-evaluation to assess whether certain interventions have improved a condition.

What types of things can be assessed?

A comprehensive evaluation can target one or more of the following:

  • Intelligence and general cognitive abilities
  • Academic achievement skills (reading, writing and math)
  • Executive function skills (organization, planning, inhibition, and flexibility)
  • Attention 
  • Learning and memory
  • Language and communication
  • visual -spatial skills
  • Motor Coordination
  • Behavioral and emotional functioning
  • Adaptive functioning
  • Social Skills

Each evaluation will be tailored to your particular situation and concerns. A comprehensive evaluation may include all of these areas, but many assessments will be more limited based on your needs. Dr. Strackany will work closely with you during the initial consultation to identify what assessment makes the most sense for you to meet your unique needs. 

 

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Consultations

A consultation may be a good first step for you if you are not sure what you need. Maybe you know something is not quite as it should be, but you can’t pinpoint what area is giving you the most difficulty. Maybe you see your child struggling, but are unsure if this is just a phase or something more? It can be difficult to differentiate between a real problem and a bump in the road. Sometimes it is difficult to know what is “normal variation” in development, and what is a true delay. If you or your child needed an evaluation, what areas should be assessed to answer your questions?

Another common reason for seeking a consultation is needing some clarity and help in interfacing with school or college staff to make sure you, your child or teen are able to get access to the appropriate accommodations needed to help succeed academically.

We can advise you effectively on which path makes sense to take forward, what testing is indicated given what is going on, and we can help effectively advocate for additional help for academic difficulties. We have expertise, training and background in working with individuals in academic settings and helping schools and colleges recognize these needs and offer appropriate recommendations.

It may be difficult to get away for an in-person consultation meeting. For your convenience, Psychological Associates of the Triangle offers evaluation consultations through a convenient, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform that you can access from your computer, phone or tablet.

Should you decide to move forward with a comprehensive evaluation, your initial consultation fee can be applied toward the total cost of the assessment. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. We look forward to speaking to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

How should I prepare my child for testing?

It can be helpful to prepare your child for their assessment and to explain why they are coming into the office and what they can expect while they are there. At our testing appointment, we will explain that every person’s brain works differently and the purpose of the many different activities we will be doing during out testing sessions is to help us understand better how their particular brain works. There will be activities that will be easy for them and some that may be a bit tricky, but all of us helps us learn more about their brain. We try to minimize the use of the word “testing” to reduce anxiety the child may be feeling about the process. You can remind your child that you have met with the provider and trust them, and that they can ask questions any time they like. Explain to your child the schedule (they will be working on activities for a few hours and then will be back another time). Please avoid giving specific timelines, as these can vary and some children become very focused on the time they have been told.

Do not try to practice things with your child to improve their performance. We want to get an accurate snap shot of where your child is at. There is nothing you can do to optimize your child’s performance outside of ensuring they get a good night’s sleep and have a good breakfast before coming to the office.

    Any more tips for testing day?

    • Make sure your child takes their usual medication on the testing day unless otherwise discussed with the psychologist
    • Your child can bring a water bottle and preferred snacks. We will also have some snacks available at the office.
    • Please do not bring any electronic devices for your child to play with. We will provide some activities for your child to engage in during breaks, if necessary.

    What is a Good Faith Estimate?

    You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate that will explain how much your medical care will cost you.

    Under the law, healthcare providers must give patients who do not have insurance or who are not using insurance a Good Faith Estimate of the bill for the medical items or services.

    • You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment and hospital fees. This will not include the related physician and other professional services that may be billed separately.
      • Your healthcare provider must give you a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least one (1) business day before your scheduled services. You may also ask your health care provider for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.
      • If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.
      • Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate for your records.

    For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, you may visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or you may call 1-800-985-3059.

    Contact Me

    Ask a question or book an appointment below. For emergencies call 911 or visit your nearest hospital

    (234) 301-3513

    1234 Divi St. #1000, San Francisco, CA 95123

    info@divitherapy.com