Neuropsychological Evaluations

An Academic or Educational Evaluation (sometimes referred to as “achievement testing”) assesses school-based skills pertaining to reading, writing, and mathematics. It screens for various learning differences, such as giftedness, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. An Academic evaluation is sometimes conducted concurrently with a school’s IEP Testing, which determines the appropriateness of an Individualized Educational Plan and relevant accommodations. Specifically, this type of evaluation yields various scores to compare a student’s functioning to same-age peers (i.e., age equivalency, grade equivalency, percentile rank), however, it is arguably more important to “compare a student to him or herself.” For instance, comparing one’s reading skills to math skills; comparing various subskills within reading (or math) to each other; and, comparing present-day performance with any previous performance, yields extremely helpful insights into one’s learning style, and is instrumental in tailoring recommendations. Additionally, academic evaluations are most useful in corroborating neuropsychological and social-emotional findings and can lend diagnostic value to assessments for ADHD, nonverbal learning disorder (NLD), and other concerns.