• It’s a process for better understanding our behaviors, thoughts, feelings, strengths, and challenge areas. Psychological evaluations are different than psychotherapy, which may be a longer-term process. Evaluations take a look at where you are right now, including information from your past, and setting goals for your future. It first involves having a discussion to clarify what you want to know (or what someone else might want to know, for example, a school or work setting). Once we have decided what questions we want to answer, various tests are selected.
• You may want to know your strengths and weaknesses or the extent of your intellectual giftedness. Or you may want to find out if your memory problems are different from what is typical for someone your age. There may be some issues with concentration, attention, focusing, distraction, or retaining information. An evaluation can help clarify whether these difficulties are stress-related or emotional, or might be simpler information-processing problems that could be helped by accommodations at school or at work.

• The ADHD-Specific Testing happens in our office and takes about 2 to 4 hours. This includes the interactive tests, surveys to be completed by the client and/or parent, and the clinical interview.
• The Comprehensive Cognitive Evaluation takes about 4 to 6 hours of in-person testing. This includes the interactive tests, surveys to be completed by the client and/or parent, and the clinical interview.
• The Specific Learning Disorder Evaluation takes approximately 4 to 5 hours of in-person testing. This includes the interactive tests, surveys to be completed by the client and/or parent, and the clinical interview.
• The Psychological Evaluation takes approximately 4 to 6 hours of in-person testing. This includes the interactive tests, surveys to be completed by the client and/or parent, and the clinical interview.
• The Neuropsychological Evaluation takes approximately 6 to 9 hours of in-person testing for kids/teens, and approximately 8 to 10 hours for adults. Due to the time commitment, the Neuropsychological evaluation will typically be completed across 2 or 3 different days (as needed). This estimate includes the interactive tests, surveys to be completed by the client and/or parent, and the clinical interview.
• Besides the in-person testing, if you give me permission, I may contact outside people such as a doctor or other family member to get more information. Once I have collected all data, I will take about 1 to 2 weeks to write the report. I will call you when it’s completed to schedule our 1-hour feedback session. 

Here is when ADHD testing can be helpful:

It is common for other psychological difficulties (such as ADHD, Autism, Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, Anxiety, OCD) to cause academic difficulties. This evaluation is only intended to identify a Specific Learning Disability. If you believe these other factors may be involved, or if the results of testing do not provide an answer for the academic difficulties, we can discuss expanding the evaluation to explore those other areas.

This kind of academic achievement testing may be the right assessment for you if:

• You or your child experience persistent difficulties learning in one or more core academic areas (Reading, Math, Writing).
• You need to get a second opinion after school-based testing or another provider’s testing.
• You hope that appropriate accommodations or targeted interventions can help you bridge a gap in learning and performing to the best of your ability.
• You need updated scores to determine whether academic abilities have improved or declined after previous testing.

It is common for psychological or mental health concerns, such as depression or anxiety, to look like cognitive difficulties. Because the scope of this evaluation is limited to cognitive functioning, this may not be the right fit for those with active and significant mental health difficulties. A Psychological or Neuropsychological Evaluation (elsewhere on this page) may be better in these cases. We can discuss any of these concerns before we start.   

The comprehensive cognitive evaluation may be the right assessment for you if:

• You have concerns about ADHD-like difficulties but have more uncertainty about whether this diagnosis actually applies to you.
• You have other cognitive problems, such as expressing yourself or understanding people, that don’t seem related to ADHD.
• Your cognitive difficulties seem complex, inconsistent, or difficult to understand.
• You want to learn more about your areas of strength and weakness to deepen your self-understanding, guide your path in work or school, or identify growth areas to practice new strategies.

A psychological evaluation may be the right assessment for you if:

• You keep getting different diagnoses and nobody seems to agree on the issue.
• You have tried various treatments but nothing seems to work.
• You’re suddenly or recently experiencing new mental health issues and want to understand what might be going on.
• You’ve experienced symptoms for a very long time but have never had a clear answer for what’s behind them.
• A therapist, doctor, or psychiatrist has expressed concerns about the accuracy of your diagnosis and wants to clarify before moving forward.

A neuropsychological evaluation may be the right assessment for you if:

• You have BOTH cognitive and psychological difficulties, and you want all of these areas investigated (rather than focusing on just one side or the other).
• You or a doctor/therapist/psychiatrist are uncertain whether a problem is rooted in cognitive or psychological origins (i.e., ADHD vs Anxiety/OCD).
• Your doctor/therapist/psychiatrist has recommended a full neuropsychological evaluation to guide treatment.
• You believe you may have experienced a decline in one or more cognitive abilities following some incident (i.e., a TBI, a seizure, a stroke, etc.).
• You have a history of different diagnoses and nothing seems to fit.

1. First, we will ask you to complete a Pre-Evaluation Questionnaire.
2. Second, we will hold a free consultation call (usually 15 to 30 minutes) to review your goals, needs, questions, and concerns. This is where we will agree on the appropriate assessment package, make any tweaks necessary to meet your goals, agree on fees/billing, and schedule the first appointment.
3. On the day of testing, we will meet at our Greenwood Village office to begin. Depending on the type of assessment, you will complete a variety of interactive tests, fill out surveys, and then we will have a clinical interview. The length of testing varies by test, though you can typically expect to be at the office for least 3 to 4 hours. When needed, we can split up testing across 2 or 3 days. You can find more specific time estimates under each evaluation above.
4. Depending on your history and goals, I may have you provide me with prior records to review or identify a source of collateral information (i.e., a teacher, close relative, doctor/therapist) who could provide me with additional information about your history and functioning.
5. Once all of the information is gathered, I will take approximately 1 to 2 weeks to integrate everything into the final report. When it is ready, I will call you to schedule our 1-hour feedback session (in-person or telehealth).
6. At the feedback session, I will provide you with a copy of the report and I will walk you through all of the findings, diagnostic results, and recommendations. At this point, our work together will be complete; however, if you later need additional services from me (i.e., a secondary feedback session, completing forms from an outside party) we can discuss an hourly rate for those additional services.

Don’t worry – you will complete a pre-evaluation questionnaire and then we will discuss it in detail during a pre-evaluation consultation call. We will make sure to decide on the right evaluation for you, and we will identify options to address any unexpected complications that could arise during testing.

Please feel free to contact me! While there are certain kinds of evaluations I do not provide, I am happy to discuss unique or customized evaluations suited to your goals. We may be able to tweak an existing package, or piece together a package specific to you.

No, not always. An evaluation helps us gather detailed data that can be used to diagnose, but sometimes the evaluation actually helps us realize that you may not meet criteria for a diagnosis. We will provide a diagnosis when the results clearly support it, and if you meet diagnostic criteria for it.

No, an evaluation/diagnosis cannot independently guarantee a certain medication, treatment, or accommodations. The report I provide will specify my recommendations for treatments and/or accommodations, but it is always up to the other parties (e.g., your prescribing physician, a school’s disability office) to determine how they will use the diagnosis and recommendations. Thus, I always recommend providing the full report to these parties, and we can discuss options if they need additional information from me.

No, we only accept private pay for evaluations. However, we may be able to provide a superbill that you can submit to your insurance provider for possible reimbursement.

• Generally, no. Our professional relationship starts when you sign consent forms and begin the evaluation, and it ends after I have provided you with the report and opportunity for a feedback session. In some cases, I may be able to provide supplemental services after the evaluation, such as completing an employer’s forms to request disability accommodations (as needed) for an additional fee.
• Additionally, I do provide therapy services; if it feels like I would be a good fit for your needs and you request to initiate therapy services with me, we can discuss this possibility.

I do not provide autism testing or forensic/court-related testing (e.g., child custody, mental competency, etc.).

• There is no special preparation required for the testing, though you may wish to bring a snack and drink. All necessary materials will be provided. 
• It is strongly recommended that you do your best to get plenty of rest the night before, and that you come prepared to answer questions and complete the tasks asked of you. You will be provided ahead of time with a list of dos and don’ts for the testing space.
• In general, you should continue to take your prescribed medication as directed and inform your evaluator in advance of medications you are taking and any changes recently made.

• Our approach to each evaluation is to acknowledge you as a whole person with a unique identity. Our services are meant to be inclusive and respectful of each person’s ethnicity, religion, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and physical or cognitive abilities.  We strive to provide neuroaffirming care and are open to any other feedback about the process that can improve your experience with the evaluation.
• Although services are currently only available in English at this time, we would be happy to provide you with referrals if your primary language is not English.