Assessment
Dr. Lewis possesses specialized training and expertise in conducting psychoeducational, neuropsychological, and psychological assessments on children and adolescents. Psychoeducational assessments are designed to evaluate a child’s intellectual abilities and level of academic achievement, and are often the first step in identifying the existence of a learning disability or need for classroom accommodations. A neuropsychological evaluation is comprehensive in that it measures brain functions such as attention, concentration, executive functioning, language, memory, visuospatial processing, sensorimotor functioning, and social perception as well as intellectual and academic functioning. Since neuropsychological conditions such as learning disabilities often co-occur with socioemotional, behavioral, and psychological challenges, Dr. Lewis routinely screens for issues in these areas as well as part of her neuropsychological evaluations. Psychological evaluations examine how variables related to personality development as well as social, emotional, and behavioral functioning impact a child.
Through the assessment process, Dr. Lewis ultimately seeks to help answer questions about what a child’s needs are, and how to address them most appropriately so that they achieve success in their personal, academic, and social lives. As a result, Dr. Lewis’s assessments are individualized, comprehensive, and focused on enhancing understanding about a child’s unique profile so that targeted recommendations that best support a child’s intellectual, academic, behavioral, social, and emotional growth can be formulated.
Examples of questions that may be answered through assessment include:
- Why is my child not achieving in school?
- What are my child’s intellectual strengths and weaknesses?
- Does my child have attention deficits?
- Are there social, cognitive, and/or emotional issues that are impacting or interfering with my child’s functioning?
- Does my child have a learning difference or specific learning disability?
- Would my child benefit from special accommodations or classifications to gain access to resources and improve his or her level of academic functioning?
- Would my child benefit from a different learning environment?
- Does my child need additional services such as occupational therapy or specialized tutoring to remediate underlying neuropsychological deficits?
- How could my child benefit from psychotherapy or consultation with a psychiatrist?
The length and cost of testing varies depending on the nature of the testing battery. Please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Lewis at (443) 249-3162 if you have additional questions about her assessment services or if you would like to schedule an appointment.
Parent Consultation
Dr. Lewis also works with parents who seek consultation after their child has already been tested, perhaps by a Child Study Team at their child’s school, in order to help understand the results of testing, discuss recommendations, and to determine whether additional assessment is needed.
Classroom Observations
Given that children spend the majority of their time in the school setting, it is often helpful to observe them within that environment. Classroom observations can yield important information about a child’s academic, behavioral, emotional, and interpersonal functioning. Observations can occur as part of a comprehensive assessment or as a stand-alone behavioral assessment.
