The results of a psychological evaluation give a wide variety of findings. A comprehensive evaluation can give information on personality concerns, academic strengths and weaknessses, substance abuse problems (or predilictions), current stressors, possible family dynamic concerns, and potential future difficulties. Once a family member has this information, it is much easier to decide on the right type of treatment: residential treatment, family therapy, substance abuse treatment, etc.

Various neuropsychological and psychological test measures are designed to gather information about an individual from a specific aspect of their functioning such as their thinking and problem-solving, concentration and focus, impulse control, emotional distress, coping skills, behavioral problems, interpersonal relationships, and substance use, etc. This testing is most useful when there are multiple points of data, which come from multiple test measures, as well as multiple historical perspectives from the individuals in that person’s life (i.e., parents, self, current therapist, etc.). Thus, the varied tests given in a standard testing battery are designed to work together to provide information about the individual from each of these perspectives. The various tests are as reliable as other medical tests one may be given by a medical provider (i.e., blood tests, MRI, urinalysis, physical movement, etc.) and are used to clarify symptoms and make meaningful diagnoses. As with medical issues, the data gathered from various tests are only meaningful when viewed in the context of what has been occurring in the life of the individual who is being assessed. Thus, historical information is always gathered from the parents, the individual, and current mental healthcare providers as part of the evaluation process. For this reason, the results are not likely to provide information that is a complete surprise to the individual or the parents. Rather, the results tend to confirm and clarify the experiences of the individual and those who are close to that person, while also providing needed detail to plan for the type of treatment and support that are most likely to be successful.

Therapy is an ongoing relationship between a therapist and a client. The therapist guides a client through supportive processes designed to help with change, healing, etc. Therapy can be done by a pychologist (PhD or PsyD) or a family therapist or social worker (MA, LCSW, etc). For the most part (depending on your state), psychological tests are administered by a psychologist, and are one-time events. The psychologist meets with the individual, administers testing, gathers and interprets the data, provides verbal feedback to the parents and appropriate mental health providers, and creates/distributes a written report. The testing psychologist does not meet with the client for therapy once testing is completed.

Tests and assessments are two separate but related parts of a psychological evaluation. Psychologists use both types of tools to help them arrive at a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Testing involves the use of formal tests such as questionnaires or checklists. These tests have been standardized so that test-takers are evaluated in a similar way, no matter where they live or who administers the test (called "norm-referenced tests"). A norm-referenced test of a child's spelling abilities, for example, may rank that child's ability compared to other children of similar age or grade level. A psychological assessment can include numerous components such as norm-referenced psychological tests, informal tests and surveys, interview information, school or medical records, medical evaluation and observational data. For example, one assessment technique is a clinical interview. When a psychologist speaks to a client about his or her worries or history, they're able to observe how the client thinks, reasons and interacts with others. Together, testing and assessment allows a psychologist to see the full picture of a person's strengths and limitations. The final result is written up as a psychological evaluation.

Clear Path offers a large variety of psychological tests to get the most well-rounded picture. Testing includes behavioral, executive functioning, personality, emotional, achievement, IQ, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, trauma, aptitude, learning disabilities, dexterity, reaction time, memory, and others. Because tests are changed or updated regularly, we don't list all of our current tests online. If you have a special request or questions about specific tests we are currently using, please contact us directly at admin@clearpathpsychological.com.

Tests can be done in two ways - some can be done by the student ahead of time, others require the presence of a psychologist. For the tests that require in-person administration, Dr. Adams spends anywhere from 4 to 9+ hours with each individual he tests. If the student is agitated, or testing is otherwise difficult, testing may take longer. Dr. Adams is careful to take whatever time is necessary to complete the testing.

The completion of the overall evaluation process is dependent on the timeliness of Dr. Adams receiving all relevant sources of information, which includes in-person testing data with the individual, pretesting forms completed by the individual prior to the in-person testing, parent testing forms, previous testing and/or treatment results, and information gathered from the current therapist. If all of these pieces fall into place in an average time frame, it usually takes days to 10 to 12 days to gather all the testing data, interpret the findings, and create preliminary findings. Around 12 to 15 days from the in-person testing Dr. Adams will schedule a conference call with the parents to review the testing results, and then within 5 to 7 days afterward, a written report should be completed and distributed to the parents and other appropriate individuals. However, extra testing or special circumstances may take more time.

We only need one person to fill out the following: Financial Consent to Administer HIPAA For these: BRIEF Conners Parent History . . . we suggest that if you have differing opinions, it's fine for each of you to fill them out separately. If your opinions are largely the same, then only one copy is sufficient. Because families differ, we generally don't give blanket recommendations on this portion. We simply recommend that you fill in whenever feels most comprehensive in terms of the picture we can gain of your child. However, if parents are divorced or separated we generally ask that each parent fill out all of the forms separately, as there usually is a difference in the perspectives of the parents. For the parent history, if the parents decide to each add their own details, you can use the same form with each parent filling in their information separately. Alternatively, each can complete separate forms. Again, it is whatever makes the most sense for you and your family.

At a minimum, please include your current wilderness/residential therapist and your educational consultant (if you have one). Beyond that, you can include any other professionals with whom you'd like to share the information (like your home therapist, school, or anyone else who might need a copy.)

Generally, we recommend that parents rate their child based on the last time he/she was in the home or when they were observing behavior regularly. In this case, it would be in the month before he left home. In this particular case, we recommend that since this child's behavior showed a significant change in his last 2 months home, it may be good for these parents to do one rating of the month before he left and another rating 3 or 4 months before he left (before his behavior change) so we can compare the two.

Both. It would be good for you to describe the child's behavior before wilderness treatment (or what led her to go there), as well as any changes since her time there. This will give us a good sense of how behaviors have changed or remained similar.

Yes, if you do not have access to a scanner or fax machine, you can simply take a photograph of your paperwork with your phone and email the image as a jpeg file. While this is often sufficient, the image quality can vary greatly between phones. Therefore, if we receive your images and are unable to read them easily, we may ask you to resend them. However, there are also several phone apps available that allow you to use your phone camera to scan and create pdf documents which can then be emailed to yourself or others. We recommend both the TurboScan app and the Tiny Scanner app, both of which have free and paid versions available.

Psychological evaluations differ greatly in their purpose and scope. For that reason, we do not publish a price list online. We ask that you e-mail us for a no-obligation phone consultation where we can gather necessary information about your child (or other individual to be tested) and we can give you a no obligation cost quote. You can contact us at admin@clearpathpsychological.com to set up a phone consultation.

It depends on your insurance. Our experience is that most insurance companies will cover some of the testing though they vary in how much they will cover. They vary because they each have different ideas of how many hours they believe the testing should take. Our goal in the testing is to be thorough. For testing done in wilderness settings: Because testing in the wilderness always requires travel to the student and testing in unique conditions, the cost is higher. However, within most major metropolitan areas the cost is comparable to testing completed at home. Additionally, because of the location of the testing, it is usually considered out of network. We have found though that the benefits of completing the testing in the wilderness are substantial, as the student is usually much more cooperative due to where they are and their process of opening up in their initial weeks in wilderness treatment. You would need to check with your insurance company regarding what they will cover. We provide an insurance coded invoice after the testing has been completed that will have the necessary CPT codes and ICD-10 codes. You can submit this to your insurance company for reimbursement and they will determine how much they are willing to cover.

We typically require payment upfront, and currently do not offer any payment plans. The invoicing process is simple and straightforward with the invoice emailed directly to the parents with a link to a secure website where the payment may be completed with a credit card or electronic check. If there are unique circumstances and/or a hardship consideration, we invite you to contact our offices directly at admin@clearpathpsychological.com to talk to us about options.