Initial Assessment
Prior to starting, students are assessed in order to develop a program that meets their individual needs. An initial assessment can range from one to two hours.  A more complete evaluation ranges from 6 to 8 hours.

With a full evaluation, there is a written report with the test scores and an explanation of the student’s strengths and weaknesses. There is a program prescribed that uses the
student’s strengths, interests and creativity. The student’s academic and processing
needs are specifically targeted for Educational Therapy.

Our testing can also provide the necessary documentation for extended time with tests including the SAT if the student has a deficit in processing speed.

"Because of your proficient testing procedures and supporting recommendations, our request for extended time for Freddy's SAT was granted. We are very grateful."
Nina Meyer

Processing Abilities

If there are indications of a Learning Disability, Dyslexia, or ADD based on parent or
teacher concerns, we assess the following areas:

• Cognitive Abilities (WISC/WAIS, Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities)
• Auditory Processing
• Visual Processing
• Language (comprehension, expression, following directions, verbal reasoning)
• Memory – long-term, short-term, retrieval fluency, working memory
• Attention - focused or selective, sustained, divided
• Fine motor
• Spatial reasoning
• Speed of processing information
• Cognitive Efficiency - a combination of holding information in memory and processing it quickly
• Executive Processes - planning, setting priorities, organizing thoughts, suppressing impulses, weighing the consequences of one's actions

Reading

If there is a reading difficulty we assess:

• Reading – phonics, sight vocabulary, fluency, comprehension (factual details, main idea, drawing an inference, sequencing, analogies,  relationships).
• Reading Vocabulary and reasoning (synonyms, antonyms, analogies).
• Phonemic awareness – an awareness of the number and order of sounds in a word. This is important for word attack skills and phonetic spelling.
• Symbol imagery – the ability to visualize and recall a sequence of letters. This is important for sight word recognition and spelling.
• Sound-blending
• Left/right discrimination
• Visual-Auditory Association - the ability to associate the written word with the spoken word.
• Verbal comprehension
• Story Recall

Math

If there is a math difficulty we assess according to grade level from the following:

• Logic development – a young child may not yet be developmentally ready to understand math. The child must be able to arrange a series from smallest to biggest (seriation) and to recognize a number as being the same regardless of what is being counted or whether it is spread out or close together (conservation)
• Numerical reasoning
• Math facts
• Computation – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers, fractions, decimals and percentages, solving algebraic equations
• Word problems – 1 and 2 step
• Error analysis – are errors due not knowing the math facts, not knowing the procedure, or a processing problem, (reversals, poor spatial organization, a sequencing difficulty, poor fine motor). These can be indicated by such errors as carrying the wrong number, poor setting up of a problem, misreading numbers because they are poorly formed, not remembering the sequence in long division.

Written Language

If there is a difficulty with written language we assess:

• Spelling
• Handwriting - manuscript and cursive
• Punctuation
• Paragraph development
• Outlining