In addition to therapy and comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations, we are also happy to work with you on an hourly basis in a consultation model. Consultation can be very helpful for clients and families who aren’t quite sure what their next steps should be and would like an experienced psychologist’s time to help them talk it through.
Consultation is designed to be 1-3 sessions to gather information from you, make general recommendations, and point you in the direction of the best kinds of help. It can be hard to know what’s worth worrying about, where to turn for help, and how to prioritize services. We use these sessions to get you started on the right path.
In one typical scenario, a family has a 7-year-old child with handwriting difficulties and a complex adoption story. They’ve heard multiple recommendations for help from friends, teachers, and well-meaning family members, but they don’t know whether any of this is necessary. And if so, which recommendations are the right ones? After an hour of consultation with one of our psychologists, the family leaves with a recommendation for a local, highly recommended occupational therapist. A full evaluation probably isn’t necessary at this point, but they know they can always do that later, if it seems warranted. They also know they can return to this psychologist for therapy when they feel the time is right to address some of the stress from their adoption experience.
In another scenario, a 30-year-old man comes to us for help with law school testing accommodations. He has never had accommodations before, but he has always struggled in school and felt he needed to work 2.5 times harder than his peers to achieve the same grades. He has a neuropsychological evaluation report from 8th grade that he and his parents never understood and that his school never acted on. Now, he needs to take the LSAT and is wondering whether he should request extra time on the test. In consultation with us, we review his old evaluation report with him, explain it in simple language, and learn that its ADHD diagnosis and related symptoms are still plaguing him today. We agree that updated neuropsychological testing is warranted; the psychologist explains the process and its benefits, and the man schedules the evaluation, looking forward to the helpful and practical information it will bring.
We may also use hourly consultation to do limited testing. Sometimes clients only need an intelligence test for an entrance exam, a personality test for an adoption application, or a bit of extra testing to round out an evaluation conducted elsewhere. In these cases, we’ll charge our hourly rate to gather needed information from you, administer and score the appropriate tests, and write an abbreviated report to describe our findings.
Lastly, we’re always happy to consult with schools and corporations or to provide training seminars and workshops. We also provide free community seminars and are available to speak to researchers and to journalists.