A psychoeducational or neuropsychological evaluation looks at how a person learns, pays attention, remembers, solves problems, and manages emotions. It is used when there are questions about school performance, attention, learning differences, or changes in thinking. Each evaluation ends with a written report and a feedback session that explain the findings and what to do next.
Evaluations are available for people from preschool age through adulthood in Chappaqua and Hartsdale. This is one of the types of evaluation described on our testing and evaluations page.
Two Types of Evaluation
The two types of assessment are closely related and focus on different parts of learning and thinking. Our clinician often combines elements of both, depending on the question.
Psychoeducational Evaluations
Focus on how a person learns. They compare intellectual ability with academic skills such as reading, writing, and math to identify learning disabilities and describe learning strengths and challenges.
Neuropsychological Evaluations
Look more closely at how the brain supports thinking, including attention, memory, executive functioning, language, processing speed, and emotional regulation.
What Testing Can Help Identify
Together, these evaluations can help identify, or rule out, conditions and challenges such as:
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Executive functioning difficulties, such as trouble with organization, planning, and working memory
- Reading disorders (dyslexia)
- Disorders of written expression (dysgraphia)
- Mathematics disorders (dyscalculia)
- Nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD)
- Language and auditory processing disorders
- Visual-spatial or visual-motor integration difficulties
- Cognitive effects of medical conditions, concussions, or brain injuries
What an Evaluation Can Do
- Describe cognitive strengths and areas of difficulty, to show how you or your child learns and processes information
- Assess for ADHD, executive functioning difficulties, and specific learning disabilities
- Provide documentation to support requests for an IEP, a 504 plan, university disability services, or accommodations on standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, or LSAT
- Offer specific recommendations for school, work, and therapy
- Clarify what is behind concerns such as ongoing inattention, procrastination, difficulty at school or work, or academic anxiety
What an Evaluation Includes
Cognitive Testing
Verbal reasoning, fluid reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory.
Academic Achievement Testing
Reading decoding and comprehension, math calculation and problem-solving, and written expression.
Neuropsychological Processing Tests
Attention control, processing speed, fine motor skills, and several types of memory.
Executive Functioning Inventories
Organization, planning, initiation, and cognitive flexibility in daily life.
Social, Behavioral, and Emotional Screening
Anxiety, depression, or stress that can mimic or complicate learning difficulties.
Sharing Results and Putting Them to Use
An evaluation is most useful when its recommendations reach the people who can act on them. With your consent, PPG can help in several ways:
- Communication with other providers: Sharing information with speech therapists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, and others in your network.
- School and university consultation: Sharing results and working with educators, school psychologists, and college disability offices.
- Accommodation requests: Partnering with families to request accommodations, an IEP evaluation, or a 504 plan.
- Strategies for home, school, and work: Developing targeted plans for daily life.
Care That Connects Across Specialties
Testing is often one part of a broader plan. Our clinicians work across specialties, and with your consent your evaluator can coordinate with colleagues across the practice.
- Psychological Testing and Evaluations: All of our testing services.
- Autism Spectrum Testing: Evaluation for autism in children, teens, and adults.
- Cognitive and Admissions Testing: Cognitive assessment for school admissions and placement.
- ADHD & Neuro-Affirming Care: Support for attention and sensory differences.
- Child & Adolescent Therapy: Individual therapy for children and teens.
- Anxiety & OCD Therapy: Therapy for anxiety and rigid thinking.
- Adult Therapy: Individual therapy for adults.
