A neuropsychological assessment is a collaborative process between Dr. Tucker, parents, teachers, and your child.

Parent Intake Meeting: An assessment begins with a clinical interview with parents to get a thorough understanding of your child’s development and current functioning.  This time will also be used to personalize the questions for the assessment and discuss how to best prepare your child for the evaluation. 

Background: Dr. Tucker will speak with other important people in your child’s life; these may include teachers, tutors, or therapists.  Dr. Tucker will review past report cards, previous testing, and other helpful documents.  Additionally, Dr. Tucker will distribute standardized rating forms to teachers and parents to gather measurable feedback on your child’s functioning at home and school. 

Observation: In some cases Dr. Tucker may wish to observe your child in the school setting to see how they function in the classroom and engage socially.  Observations occur before Dr. Tucker meets your child, thus the observation does not draw any undue attention. 

Child Testing Sessions: Depending on the age and readiness of your child, Dr. Tucker will typically schedule three to four mornings of one-to-one testing.  During this time, a number of activities are completed that help us understand your child’s cognitive abilities, language, attention, executive functioning, memory, visual-motor processing, academics, social skills, emotional functioning, and behavior.

Comprehensive Written Report: Following information gathering and direct testing, Dr. Tucker will synthesize all of the information and provide a detailed analysis of your child’s learning profile and diagnosis (if applicable) along with specific recommendations. 

Parent Feedback: Dr. Tucker first meets with parents to go over the results in detail and discuss recommendations for support, accommodations, and modifications.  During this time, Dr. Tucker works with parents to make a specific plan for how to best support the child and disseminate results to other important parties.

Child Feedback Meeting: Dr. Tucker meets with your child for their own child feedback meeting to help them appreciate their strengths, understand their areas of challenge, and empower them through learning tools that will help them.  Through the feedback and entire evaluation process, Dr. Tucker emphasizes a growth mindset.  Better understanding their unique learning profile is a first step in learning to self-advocate as well as building strength and resilience.  At the end of the meeting, Dr. Tucker provides your child with a personalized letter, highlighting the evaluation findings in a developmentally appropriate way.

School Meetings: Dr. Tucker is also available to meet with school staff to share the results of the evaluation and collaborate on an effective, practical plan to support your child.  Dr. Tucker also follows-up with educational therapists, tutors and therapists to share the evaluation findings and to connect your child’s team. 

Follow-Up: Dr. Tucker continues to be part of your child’s team after the assessment.  She remains available and dedicated to supporting further questions from your child or family, whether that’s a week later or five years later.  Dr. Tucker is always happy to hear from a past patient!