Psychological Testing

Using state-of-the-art assessment instruments and procedures, Dr. Buchanan custom-designs psychological evaluations to address your specific issue or problem.

State-of-the-art assessment instruments and procedures are used in order to provide comprehensive psychological evaluations for all ages. Types of psychological testing include:

• Psychological Evaluations
• Psycho-educational Evaluations
• Neuropsychological Evaluations
• Forensic Evaluations
• Custody Evaluations
• Immigration Evaluations
• Pre-employment Testing
• Disability Evaluations
• Alcohol and Drug Evaluations
• Evaluation of the effects of medication to treat ADHD
• Independent Medical Evaluation (IME)

Issues and problems assessed include:

• Academic Accommodations
• Academic underachievement
• Adoption
• Anger
• Alcohol and Drug Abuse
• Anxiety and Panic
• Attention and Concentration
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD, ADHD) 
• Autism / Aspergers
• Best Interests of the Child
• Bipolar Disorder
• Brain damage
• Child Abuse
• Cognitive abilities / impairment
• Competency
• Conduct Disorder
• Custody
• Depression
• Developmental Disabilities
• Disability
• Dual Diagnoses
• Emotional Dysregulation
• Extended Time for Tests
  
• Fitness for Duty
• Gifted and Talented
• Head injury, Effects from
• IDEA / IEP / 504
• Immigration (Extreme Hardship and N-648)
  
• Intelligence
• Learning Disabilities (including Dyslexia)
• Mood Disorders
• Neuropsychological functioning
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
• Other Health Impaired (OHI)
• Out-of-control children and adolescents
• Parental Fitness
• Personality 
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Psychosis
• Residential Placement
• Special Education Services 
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Dr. Buchanan custom-designs psychological evaluations to address your specific issue or problem. Because of this, the time it takes to complete the evaluation varies widely. On the short end, he can do a brief evaluation to assess the effects of stimulant medication to treat ADHD in about an hour (provided he has a previous baseline assessing one’s attention off medication). On the long end, a neuropsychological evaluation may take 12 to 15 hours of testing, spread out over several sessions. The most typical evaluation takes about a full day of testing.

Usually during the week following testing Dr. Buchanan will sit down with you and go over the test results in detail. During this time he will provide a diagnosis if applicable and make recommendations as to how you can best address the particular issue or problem. Dr. Buchanan believes that the feedback session for the assessment results is often the most important and useful session he has with an individual or the family! Within the following few weeks he will also provide a detailed written report of the assessment results.

Psychological evaluation fees are based on the amount of time needed to perform the initial interview, administer the tests, score and interpret the results, provide oral feedback of the results and write a detailed report of the findings. The cost of the evaluation varies depending on what needs to be done and the amount of time it takes. Dr. Buchanan is also available for consultation with schools, attorneys, etc. For more information about fees, click here.

The typical psychological evaluation report is usually 12 to 15 pages long. Scores and documentation are included in the report. Most written reports will have the following sections (if applicable):

• Reason for Referral
• Background Information
• Family History
• Developmental History
• Medical History
• Educational History
• Work History
• Legal History
• Assessment Procedure
• Assessment Results
• Intelligence
• Academic functioning
• Attention and concentration / executive functioning
• Visual-Motor Integration
• Personality functioning
• Substance Abuse
• Summary and Impressions
• Diagnosis (DSM-5 / ICD-10)
• Recommendations

Neuropsychological evaluations typically have the same sections in the report as listed above but with a more specific neuropsychological focus. In addition, neuropsychological evaluations will most often include the following sections under Assessment Results:

• Memory Functioning
• Motor Functioning
• Executive Functioning

Below is a checklist for learning issues you may want to consider:

Learning Disabilities Checklist

Learning_Disabilities_Checklist_.pdf
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File Type:	pdf

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