Psychological Testing & Assessment
We are not a checklist practice
Unfortunately, the art of comprehensive psychological testing seems to be disappearing and replaced with symptom checklists. At Alliance Psychology, we view comprehensive, performance-based, depth-oriented testing as a core function for psychologists. We provide comprehensive psychological evaluations for children, teens, and adults that can answer a variety of diagnostic or conceptual questions. This involves using research-based instruments with statistically-normed data that produce valid and reliable results.
Why comprehensive?
We are interested in a holistic understanding of individuals. This may include assessing intellectual, neurodevelopmental, academic, emotional, and personality functioning & putting these pieces together. By integrating the findings, testing can provide a robust conceptualization of an individual’s functioning and treatment needs.
When is testing recommended?
Testing is often recommended to provide diagnostic clarity and/or to inform therapeutic needs. It takes place over multiple sessions and includes a clinical interview, parent/self-rated objective measures, direct observation and performance-based testing, projective measures, and clinical feedback. The product of testing is comprehensive feedback and a report describing the results.
Some examples of questions that testing can answer include:
Do I have a mood disorder and if so, is it unipolar or bipolar?
Does my child have autism spectrum disorder?
Why can’t I focus on work?
What is it that makes me attracted to unavailable partners?
What’s underneath my teen acting out?
Does my child have a learning disorder?
Do I have a personality disorder?
What are my unique strengths and how can I bolster them?
Is the cause of my problems AD/HD?
We have exhausted every service option and my child is not improving. Why?
And so much more…
