Psychological Testing Services in Calabasas, CA

We provide comprehensive psychological assessments for children, adolescents and adults utilizing neuropsychological tests

What Is Psychological Testing?

Psychological testing has many names: neuropsychological, psychoeducational, psychological, educational, evaluation, assessment, and testing. Many times, these names are interchangeable. To learn more about the differences click here. However, a good psychological assessment is a comprehensive and collaborative process that helps answer many questions you may have about yourself and your child. Through these “testing” sessions we learn about a person’s strengths and weaknesses in cognitive, emotional, academic, and behavioral domains. We utilize background information, personalized objective tests, and observations to really understand the questions you have, understand each person’s skills, and help create a roadmap to help you or your child moving forward.

What Do We Evaluate For?

ADHD: Do you or your child struggle with paying attention, concentrating, sitting still, cleaning your room, staying organized, overfocuisng on certain items, or getting assignments in on time? Problems with inattention, hyperactivity and executive functioning skills can affect a child or adults life in many different areas, and a full evaluation can help lay the foundation for what you need moving forward. To learn more about ADHD testing, look here.

Learning Disabilities:  Does your child have difficulties with reading or dyslexia, writing or dysgraphia, and math or dyscalculia? Have they struggled to maintain good grades or do well on tests despite their hard work? Do they give up easily on certain subjects over others? If so, a full assessment may be helpful to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses and how to accommodate your child’s weaknesses in the best way. To learn more about learning disorder testing, look here.

Standardized Testing Accommodations: Do you need extra time or other accommodations for the SAT’s, college board exams, MCATS, GRE’s, LSATS and more? Do you have a history of difficulties you need to get extra time or accommodations for during these tests? A full psychological evaluation is needed to qualify. To learn more about standardized accommodations testing, look here.

Emotional Testing: Do you or your child have questions about emotional struggles you may have had throughout your life? Do you struggle with anxiety, depression, trauma or other emotional concerns that have never been fully evaluated? Are you concerned your child’s emotional difficulties are affecting their social, academic or emotional life? Has therapy stalled? If so, a fresh look at what may be going on may be helpful. To learn more about emotional or psychological testing, look here.

Gifted and 2E testing: Are you or your child gifted? Trying to get into a specialized private school where gifted testing is needed? Or maybe trying to get into Mensa? Do you have some challenges alongside your gifted abilities that may be affecting you?  To learn more about gifted and 2E testing, look here.

Autism: Are you or someone who works with your child concerned that your child may be exhibiting signs of autism? Does your child struggle in social situations, struggle to make eye contact, or struggle to understand what others may be thinking or feeling? Does your child have a history of difficulties with certain tastes, smells, or sounds? Does your child struggle with repetitive movements or tends to repeat certain phrases? Does your child have a history of struggling with pretend play, or have intense interests in certain subjects or activities? If you have any of these concerns, an autism evaluation to understand your child’s strengths and differences can be helpful to make sure your child receives the support they need to reach their full potential. To learn more about autism testing, look here.

Kindergarten Readiness: Are you concerned if your little one is ready for Kindergarten? An evaluation can help answer any questions you may have. To learn more about kindergarten readiness testing, look here.

Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE): Do you disagree with an evaluation or IEP you received at your school and would like an unbiased 3rd party assessor? IEE’s are assessments that are paid for by your local school district. If you are interested in an IEE, please contact us and we will be happy to walk you through the process. To learn more about the IEE process, look here.

How Long Does Testing Take?

While testing may only take a few hours with your child, we will be communicating with you, your child, teachers, therapists, psychiatrists, and other service providers for your child (with your permission).  We will take time to prepare and analyze a customized evaluation for your child and their needs. Based on test results, interview insights and findings, you will receive a comprehensive report summarizing and explaining our findings, and providing individualized recommendations for strategic school accommodations and home-support strategies that will strengthen your child’s development. 

On average the full evaluation will take 1-2 weeks of testing (5-6 hours of person to person testing broken down between 1-3 sessions) and a final feedback where the results will be discussed with you 2-3 weeks after the assessment is completed.

MindWorks believes in COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATIONS. This means that we rarely will only assess 1 area of an individual’s functioning. Many times, a child comes in with a set of difficulties, but once we start looking at the test results, we find many other areas that are affected as well, or an underlining area of difficulties that is the true cause of the seen difficulties. As a result, we will only complete full evaluations that look at and screen every area of one’s functioning. (*Note, kindergarten readiness and gifted testing are an exception).

What Is Included In Each Evaluation?

Initial Intake: After our initial consultation, a comprehensive intake will be conducted with the individual (and parent, if needed) to fully understand individual’s needs. These initial series of questionnaires will help create the testing battery that will later be used for the series of one-on-one tests. Contact with doctors, teachers, schools, therapists and psychiatrists (with your permission) are also utilized to help understand the “full picture” of the patient.

Full Review: A full review of psychological, educational and past testing records is conducted.

Observations: An observation of the child at school may be conducted from time to time.

One-on-One Tests: The individual will meet one-on-one with a psychologist in person. During the "testing" appointments, we use the testing battery created in intake to administer a variety of questions, puzzles, word games, pictures and drawings, and stories, as well as some school-like tasks, such as reading and math, to investigate how the student thinks and feels in different settings. Many of our sessions may range from one to four hours, with several short breaks, depending on the individual's energy level. Tests will examine one’s:

• General cognitive and mental strengths and weaknesses including a full IQ test.

• Academic skills in reading, writing, math, oral language and fine motor skills.

• ADHD concerns and full executive functioning skills.

• Memory skills.

• Emotional and behavioral concerns

• Autism/neurodevelopmental skills (if requested)

Evaluation and Interpretation: After the testing and evaluation is complete, the Dr. Salanga will score, interpret, and integrate the information into a comprehensive written report. The report will include background information, test scores, psychologist interpretations, tailored recommendations to better help the individual, and referrals to any needed specialists.

Report and Feedback Discussion: After testing, evaluation, and reports are complete, the Dr. Salanga will meet one-on-one with the individual and/or parent to discuss the report and answer any questions. This feedback may also be given to other professions such as the teacher if desired, and many times Dr. Salanga will meet briefly with the child to go over their strengths and weaknesses as well. A copy of the full report will be given after the feedback appointment is complete.