Psychological Testing Services in Calabasas, CA

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

What Is A Comprehensive Evaluation?

Many times, we find that individuals struggle at school and/or home, and we are not sure exactly why. Teachers might say that they are struggling to pay attention, while the child might say they just don’t understand a concept. Maybe its underlying anxiety that can cause one to struggle. If you are not sure where to begin, a comprehensive evaluation is the best place to start. Here we look at all areas of functioning using neuropsychological tools to really dive in and fully understand a person’s abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and tailor a plan to help you or your child move forward. 

Most of our families do go with the comprehensive evaluations, and it is what we are best known for. Even if you believe your child has ADHD, we know that many times, anxiety or learning disorders can mimic ADHD. So, we have found the best way to really understand what is going on with a child, and to really be able to tailor a plan for them, we do need to understand their whole functioning. 

What Do We Evaluate For?

Cognitive Functioning: This helps us understand how you or your child understand concepts and best learns. Are you a visual learner, auditory or verbal learner. How can we uses your strengths to help you do better at work or at school?

Attention/Executive Functioning: Do you struggle to pay attention, keep yourself on task, and keep yourself organized. We will do a full evaluation on your attention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and executive functioning skills to learn more about you. You can learn more about ADHD here.

Memory: How are you able to learn and retain information? Do you have good short-term memory? Long term memory? Are you able to use your short-term memory in an effective way at home, work or school (aka: working memory)? We will get a better understanding how you learn and recall information to better help you as you learn.

Learning Disabilities:  Do you struggle with reading, writing or math in school. We will fully investigate your skills and understand what areas you are striving in and what areas you can use some help in. Learn more about learning disorders here.

Fine Motor Skills:  Do you struggle with handwriting, tying shoelaces, or buttoning buttons? We will look at your visual motor integration skills to see if this is an area of concern that is causing you or your child some difficulties and will refer you to an occupational therapist for further evaluations.

Language Skills:  We will screen for you or your child’s ability to process language, understand what is spoken to you, and orally express yourself. If you struggle in any of these areas, we will refer you to a speech and language pathologist for further evaluations.

Emotional Screening: We will screen for major emotional difficulties like anxiety, depression and more. Learn more about emotional testing here.

Autism: If you are concerned about autism, we can add autism testing to our comprehensive evaluation at an additional charge. Learn more about autism 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.

What Makes Us Different and our Reports Helpful ?

Deep Dive Into Learning Differences: We go beyond simply identifying a learning disability like dyslexia. We meticulously break down the specific underlying challenges, such as phonological awareness, rapid naming, and orthographic processing. This granular analysis allows for highly targeted interventions and accommodations.

Nuance in Social-Emotional Considerations:We recognize the interplay between learning differences, social anxiety, and potential neurodiversity. You don't rush to label, instead recommending a stepped approach that prioritizes addressing social emotional needs first, with the understanding that some difficulties might be better explained by neurodiversity.

Emphasis on Multifaceted Interventions: We recommend a holistic approach that encompasses educational therapy, therapeutic support, lifestyle modifications, and educational accommodations. We understand that addressing learning and social-emotional challenges requires a multi-pronged strategy.

Practical and Actionable Recommendations:We provide specific examples of interventions, accommodations, and therapeutic techniques. This practicality makes our reports immediately useful for parents, educators, and therapists.

Sensitivity to Parent and Teacher Observations:We value the insights of parents and teachers, incorporating their observations into your analysis and recommendations. This collaborative approach ensures that interventions are tailored to the child's unique needs within their specific environments.

Focus on Empowerment and Positive Reinforcement:We emphasize the importance of patience, understanding, and positive reinforcement. We believe in empowering children by focusing on their strengths and celebrating their progress.