Our Evaluations
The Kahane Center provides neuropsychological evaluations and psychoeducational evaluations for children ages 4-25. We use state-of-the-art, standardized measures to develop a detailed profile of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. Our goal is to gain insight and understanding about how your child learns best so that we can provide you with an effective roadmap to help your child succeed.
Neuropsychological evaluations
The purpose of a neuropsychological evaluation is to gain a comprehensive understanding of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. It includes a thorough assessment of areas including:
- Verbal and nonverbal reasoning
- Receptive and expressive language
- Visual-spatial skills
- Visual-motor integration
- Processing speed
- Attention
- Executive functioning
- Memory
- Academic functioning (i.e. reading, writing, math)
- Behavioral, social, emotional, and adaptive functioning
The neuropsychological evaluation at The Kahane Center includes an intake with the parent(s), approximately 10 hours of testing (completed over 2-3 days with your child), and a final feedback session with the neuropsychologist and Dr. Kahane. Following the feedback session, parents are provided with a comprehensive written report with the details of the test results, diagnostic impressions, and specific recommendations for all spheres of their child’s life (e.g., school, outside services, and home) based on the evaluation results.
Neuropsychological evaluation process
PARENT INTAKE - During this 60-minute in person or telehealth session, we discuss parent concerns, evaluation goals, and your child's developmental, medical, academic, and social-emotional history.
TESTING - Depending on your child’s age and stamina, testing typically ranges between 8-10 hours over 2-3 days at our center. Additional time may be scheduled on a case-by-case basis. The testing experience should be comfortable and enjoyable. Parents are encouraged to bring their child's favorite toys and snacks. Tests involve paper-and-pencil, manipulatives and computer-based activities.
PARENT FEEDBACK - During this 60-75-minute virtual session, we present your child's data and cognitive profile, using visual aids to facilitate our discussion about their strengths and barriers to success. A detailed plan of action for supporting your child's growth and success will be outlined.
FULL REPORT - Approximately 4-6 weeks following your parent feedback, you will receive a comprehensive report with highly detailed, individualized, and reader-friendly analyses and descriptions of your child's profile, infographics, and targeted recommendations for home, school, and outside services.
Additional support (optional)
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION - This 60-minute classroom observation is scheduled to better understand your child’s functioning at school. Children sometimes behave differently between settings (at home compared to school), and these differences may be integral to understanding your child’s presentation and diagnosis.
CHILD FEEDBACK - In addition to the parent feedback, this 45-60 minute session is aimed to empower the child with increased awareness of their individual strengths and weaknesses in order to help them engage in using their strengths to overcome their challenges and facilitate their growth.
SCHOOL FEEDBACK - This 60-minute virtual session allows us to work in partnership with your child's school to help implement strategies and recommendations. A detailed summary of your child's profile and learning style is shared. The goal for this meeting is to develop an action plan at school that enriches your child's strengths and also directly maps to the areas of challenge for which your child may need more support. Oftentimes, learning plans, accommodations, services (e.g., speech/language, occupational therapy), and behavior plans are discussed. Parents may wish to be a part of this school feedback as well.
EDUCATIONAL ADVOCACY AND IEP MEETINGS - Following the completion of the final report, you may request that the neuropsychologist attends your child’s educational planning meeting (e.g., 504 Plan, IEP). During this meeting, the neuropsychologist will provide a summary of the findings of the neuropsychological evaluation and help you to advocate for services based on the results of the evaluation.
Additional evaluations
PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL EVALUATION - A psychoeducational evaluation is less broad in scope than a neuropsychological evaluation and focuses mainly on cognitive and academic functioning, with brief assessments of psychosocial functioning as well. This evaluation involves approximately 4-5 hours of testing. It includes an initial consultation and final feedback session for the parents as well as a written report with the details of our findings and recommendations based on the evaluation.
SOCIAL COGNITION AND AUTISM EVALUATIONS - We have specialized training in the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2) and Autism Diagnostic Interview, Revised (ADI-R). We provide targeted autism diagnostic evaluations to help understand your child's presentation. In turn, this will inform your child’s cognitive, behavioral, developmental, and social-emotional goals.
TARGETED (ABBREVIATED) EVALUATIONS - When a full neuropsychological evaluation is not indicated, we provide targeted diagnostic evaluations. Following the intake appointment, the neuropsychologist will help guide you in your decision to pursue an abbreviated/targeted evaluation or a full neuropsychological evaluation.
Frequently asked questions
WHEN IS A NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION RECOMMENDED?
- When there are questions about a diagnosis (e.g., Is it anxiety, attention, or a combination of both?)
- When your child is not performing to their potential and you have questions about how to better support their learning and school performance
- When you have questions about your child's school placement
- When your child can camouflage or work hard to hold themselves together during the school day but is very stressed and easy to upset at home
- When your child is avoiding work and requires a lot of support from you or teachers to start or persist through schoolwork
- When your child expresses their thoughts well orally but has a much harder time translating those thoughts into writing
- When your child has difficulty keeping friendships but you are unsure what's contributing to their challenges
- When your child is not attaining their academic skills as quickly as their peers
- When you observe changes in your child’s behavior/mood
- To monitor your child’s progress if they have a congenital medical condition or after a medical event affecting brain function
DO YOU TAKE INSURANCE?
We are an out-of-network practice and therefore we provide statements that may be submitted to your insurance company for reimbursement. You may take the following CPT codes to your insurance to check for reimbursement before scheduling:
- 90791 - Testing intake
- 96136, 96137 - Testing administration
- 96130, 96131, 96132, 96133 - Testing evaluation
ON TESTING DAYS, WILL MY CHILD GET BREAKS? DO I NEED TO STAY FOR THE EVALUATION?
If your child is coming in for a full day of testing, appointments begin at 10 am and end around 3 pm. We will take a 45-60 minute lunch break at 12 pm. You are welcome to pick up your child and take them out for the lunch break, or they may bring lunch and eat it at the Center. We will also take shorter breaks throughout the day as needed depending on your child’s attention and stamina. Parents do not need to stay for the evaluation unless there are significant behavioral or psychiatric concerns.
“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. We are going to meet with someone who will help us to understand your strengths and weaknesses so that together we can make school and learning, (friendships, attention, etc.) more enjoyable and better for you.”
