Lori Anselmo, MA, CAGS, NCSP Lauren Schnare Mahoney, EdS, NCSP

 Assessment begins with the referral  Referral is a request for evaluation

 Parent  School Staff (i.e. STAT)  Outside provider (e.g. physician, therapist, early intervention)  Private School

“A student may be referred for an evaluation by a parent or any person in a caregiving or professional position concerned with the student’s development.”

 Why is the student being referred?  What are the concerns for the child?

 The referral question helps us answer other questions, such as…  What areas of functioning should be assessed?  What types of assessments should we use?  Based on the referral question, we generate the evaluation consent form  May include OT, PT, SLP  Usually includes Academic Achievement

 When discussing a referral with the school psychologist, whether it was a parent referral or not, we want to hear your concerns  Don’t hold back! You know your child better than anyone. Share what you know about him/her.

 Often includes cognitive assessment  May include:  Social/emotional/behavioral assessment  Attention and executive functioning assessment

 Observation  Record review  Interviews  Direct assessment  Rating scales  Work samples  Grades  Classroom based assessments  Standardized assessments such as MCAS  Private evaluations

 Cognition: the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.  Intelligence  Information Processing

 Working memory  Verbal reasoning/comprehension  Fluid reasoning  Visual processing  Processing speed  Long-term memory

 WISC-V  WAIS-IV  WPPSI-III  WJ-IV  SB-5  UNIT  TONI  KABC-II

 Brain functions that activate, organize, and manage other functions

 Impulse control  Shifting attention  Emotional control  Initiation  Working memory  Organizing materials  Planning  Self-monitoring

 DKEFS  NEPSY-2  BRIEF  BASC-2

 Emotional Well-Being  Social Skills  Externalizing and Internalizing Problems  Adaptive Behavior

 Rating Scales  BASC-2  SSIS  SCARED  Piers-Harris  Projectives  TAT  Roberts  Sentence Completion  Rorschach  Human Figure Drawings  Adaptive Behavior  Vineland-II

 Referral information  Record Review  Observation  Interviews  A wider battery may be chosen even when the concern is narrow  Patterns of strengths and weaknesses emerge  Give us a sense of where to delve deeper

 1-on-1, Interactive  During school day  May miss class – Coordinated with teachers

 Examiner introduces herself  Gives a developmentally appropriate explanation of the process  Confidentiality is discussed  A Key Point: The student is NOT expected to know every answer!

 We are trying to get best performance from students  To that end, we try to create a relaxed, friendly atmosphere  It is OK for examinees to ask questions  We look for signs of fatigue or distress and offer breaks or discontinue testing as needed  Developmentally appropriate reinforcers may be given

 Working with manipulatives (e.g. blocks, puzzles, tangrams)  Answering oral questions  Repeating information back to the examiner  Analyzing picture problems  Timed tasks  Completing rating scales  Projective measures

 Academic  Speech and Language  Occupational Therapy

 Reports sent two days in advance of eligibility meeting  Psychologists will offer to speak to parents about the report advance of meeting  Reporting on findings at meeting

 Disability classification and description  Accommodations and modifications  Related services  Service Delivery  Objectives  Placement

 Lori Anselmo ext 3050  Bethany Bressette ext 3052  Sally Martin ext 3043  Michael Pease ext 3053  Lauren Schnare Mahoney ext 4273  education/