Psychological testing in Virginia

Who we are and what we value

I started this practice with a simple mantra: a good evaluation matters.  My background and training didn’t teach me how to craft a good evaluation, but over the years I simply listened to my clients.  Thousands of clients.  I also listened to their parents, teachers, spouses and friends about what was good and meaningful and helpful in this process.  And I leaned into this. Our practice is the culmination of decades of clinical experience and—I’d argue more importantly—decades of listening to our clients, their stories, and their needs.  Our goal is to walk alongside our families and provide them with an evaluation that is not just good but excellent.  Because a good evaluation matters, but an excellent evaluation matters even more.

Understanding is more important than diagnosis.  Plenty of different professionals and practices diagnose—whether that’s ADHD, a learning disability, autism, etc. And when you move forward with an evaluation, that’s typically a question on the table.  What we believe though, is that a diagnosis is less important than understanding.  Let me explain.  A diagnosis is a yes/no decision.  For example, does a client have ADHD or not?  Does a client have a learning disability or not?  But understanding runs so much deeper.  What specific symptoms are making life so hard?  How is your brain different than others?  How have you managed to not only get by but do well for so many years but not anymore?  Why have some of your bad habits stuck for years if they weren’t really working for you?  At our practice, we value deep understanding because we know that this equips us for the most important part—what we do next and how to press forward.

Strengths are vital.  We all are more than our struggles.  And what we’ve learned over the years is just how crucial strengths are to understanding our clients, their stories, and their path forward.  A big reason many people get a late diagnosis, a misdiagnosis, or are simply misunderstood is because their strengths are not considered in the process.  These are people who may have more subtle presentations, are high-achieving, or who have suddenly hit a wall at school or in life.  Some strengths can be personality-based.  Just think about a person who is conscientious, who wants to do the right thing, who wants to do their job well.  Strengths can also be value-based, like a student who loves school and soaks up any and all kinds of knowledge like a sponge.  These strengths can off-set very real symptoms of anxiety, ADHD, and more, and this is why—for all of our evaluations—we consider a person’s strengths, how they fit into their story as a whole, and how we can leverage them to press forward.

A report that you can actually understand.  I’ve trained a number of psychologists, and what’s clear about graduate school programs across the country is this: they do not teach psychologists how to write a good report.  They teach how to write about tests and numbers but not about people.  This is baked into the culture, and this is why we’ve heard too many times “We got testing done, but we don’t really know what it means.”  It might have a diagnosis, it might have tests and numbers, but it’s written in a way that’s inaccessible to most adults.  It’s written in a way that doesn’t provide clarity or insight.

We press against this by focusing on our client, their strengths and struggles, and their story.  And we press against this by focusing on writing well and tweaking and re-tweaking our writing.  Are numbers and tests part of this?  Yes, but these do not overshadow the person.  In the end, know that all of our psychologists have had extensive training in writing and communicating results in a way that is accessible and—ultimately—insightful.

A psychologist is part of the process from the very first call.  Yes, when you contact us—whether that’s by email or for a 20-minute initial phone call—you’re not talking with a receptionist.  You’re talking with a licensed psychologist who has completed hundreds of evaluations.  Why does this matter?  Because it’s important for us to ask clarifying questions and to understand the backstory so we can point you in the right direction (whether that’s an evaluation with us or not).  We built our practice and reputation not by selling a product but by listening to our clients, considering their needs, and guiding them on the best path forward.

What is psychological testing?

Psychological testing is simply this: figuring out why a person is struggling in school and/or at home. That’s it. Yes, this typically involves a lot of detective work like interviewing parents, teachers, a partner or friend, getting a thorough developmental history, considering social and emotional functioning, direct testing with a client, sometimes an observation, and it might involve a formal diagnosis of some kind. But in the end, it simply answers the question, “Why is life hard or stuck right now?”

How is this different than a psycho-educational evaluation or neuropsychological evaluation? There is a lot of jargon here, so let me try to make this as painless as possible. A psycho-educational evaluation focuses primarily on school performance; however, in my opinion it’s really not that different than a psychological evaluation. After all, both should answer the question about why school or life is hard.  And a neuropsychological evaluation seeks to answer this same question, but it goes a bit further and links a student’s struggles to specific brain functioning.

So, what do we offer? In our practice, we offer psychological testing or psycho-educational testing. We don’t really care which one you call it. What we care about is answering why you or your child is struggling. But, even more than this, our job is to answer it thoroughly, answer it in a way that makes sense to the people that matter, and answer it in a way that sets the stage for growth. Ultimately, we value this process and making the testing experience personal for our clients and their families. After all, testing shouldn’t be a transaction, it should be a relationship. And relationships should never be rushed–from the first phone call to the interview, from testing sessions to reviewing results. Want to get in touch or have questions?  Contact us here.