Comprehensive Psychological Evaluation
CPE Clinic, LLC provides comprehensive evaluations for children and students of all ages. Spending roughly 15 hours on each evaluation, our providers, led by Dr. Shannon Senefeld, use up-to-date, standard measures to develop a detailed profile of learning strengths and weaknesses. Our goal is to understand how your child learns best and gain insight into how he processes information and handles tasks compared to other children of the same age.
Dr. Senefeld carefully reviews your child’s skills and abilities in many domains, including intellectual functioning and reasoning abilities, learning and memory, visual processing, listening comprehension and verbal expression, language, and executive skills like planning, organizing, and managing time and materials, attention, and concentration. These are the skills and abilities that are at the core of all aspects of academic achievement. Academic tests are administered to assess academic strengths and weaknesses. Dr. Senefeld carefully observes the approach to each task and any patterns of performance to see if a learning disability is affecting your child’s ability to demonstrate what they know. During our evaluation process, we also consider how your child is doing emotionally and how they are interacting with family members, friends, and classmates.
How long does a comprehensive evaluation take?
Ultimately, this depends on the individual being evaluated. Typically, a full comprehensive evaluation will involve approximately 3-6 hours of face-to-face time with the doctor and the person being evaluated. The evaluation typically will include testing of intellectual and cognitive functioning, language development, all areas of academic achievement, memory skills, attention, concentration, and planning, as well as a review of how a child thinks and feels. Additional measures may be added including neuropsychological measures according to each individual child’s needs. Evaluation is usually scheduled over one to two days depending on the age of the child and the evaluation methods required. We understand that this is a long time for children to be out of school, so we make every effort to work with their schedules and frequently schedule on weekends and during school breaks.
How do you give the results of an evaluation?
We meet with you to review the results and the evaluation to discuss your child’s profile of strengths and weaknesses. This is also when we discuss treatment options and help you choose the plan of treatment that can enable your child to be as productive as possible at school. We can consult with your child’s school to make sure that teachers understand the results of the evaluation and the school can determine what services they will provide. In addition, we provide you with a comprehensive written report. This clearly written, user-friendly report includes relevant information about your child’s background and diagnosis, as well as the results of all testing and our recommendations. We can often have the completed written report within a week. In special situations (upon a parent’s or school’s request), we can generate written reports more quickly.
Our clinicians are well versed in assessing for Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be difficult to diagnose because there is no standard medical test for a straightforward diagnosis. However, at CPE Clinic, our clinicians are well versed in assessing for autism. Diagnosing ASD involves assessing multiple aspects of development. An accurate diagnosis is critical to ensuring appropriate follow-up and services. A comprehensive autism evaluation often includes:
- A clinical interview with one of our licensed doctoral level clinicians that includes a comprehensive history (medical, educational, social, etc.)
- Direct observation with our clinicians
- Behavioral, emotional and social assessment tools
- ASD-specific assessment tools depending on age and functionality (E.g., Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Childhood Autism Rating Scale-Second Edition, Social Communication Questionnaire, Social Responsiveness Scale-Second Edition, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Second Edition)
- Assessment of cognitive functioning including strengths and weaknesses
- Assessment of speech and language, sensory-related issues, fine motors skills, and adaptive functioning
- Assessment of executive functioning, learning and memory
Why choose CPE Clinic, LLC?
Our providers offer expertise, experience, and access that is hard to find anywhere else. You will only work with doctoral level clinicians during all aspects of the evaluation! Dr. Shannon Senefeld, who oversees CPE Clinic’s psychological evaluation, has extensive experience conducting psychological evaluations of all types. Dr. Senefeld is familiar with the schools and the services offered in the area and takes the time to work with families to access the resources they need to guarantee their children’s success. A Diplomate in School Neuropsychology with the American Board of School Neuropsychology and a Credentialed National Register Health Service Psychologist, Dr. Senefeld’s expertise in evaluations is invaluable.
Will my insurance cover psychological testing?
Questions regarding coverage for psychological testing should be directed to your specific insurance company and your specific insurance plan. CPE Clinic, LLC is an out-of-network provider for all commercial insurances, so you should ask if you have out-of-network coverage for the following procedure codes: 90791 (intake – 1 hour), 96131 (Psytest addlhour – 7 hours), 96136 (testadm first 30 min – .5 hours), and 96137 (testadm Addl30 min – 6.5 hours). Families pay for the evaluation at the time of the testing, and then submit forms provided by CPE Clinic, LLC to their insurance company for reimbursement.
How do I learn more?
Contact Dr. Senefeld at dr.senefeld@cpeclinic.com to learn more about comprehensive evaluations and schedule today!