Every evaluation is tailored to the individual’s unique needs, referral questions, and developmental level. While no two evaluations are exactly alike, most ADHD evaluations follow a similar process.
We begin by learning about your concerns, relevant history, and the questions you hope the evaluation will answer. The evaluation may then include clinical interviews, standardized tests, behavioral rating scales, and review of relevant records, with additional information gathered from parents, teachers, partners, or other important individuals when appropriate.
After the assessment, we thoughtfully integrate all sources of information to develop a comprehensive understanding of the individual, reach accurate diagnostic conclusions, and develop individualized recommendations. Finally, we meet with you to review the findings, answer your questions, and provide a comprehensive written report with practical recommendations for moving forward.
The length of an ADHD evaluation varies depending on the individual’s age, history, presenting concerns, and the complexity of the referral questions. Some evaluations can be completed in less time, while others require additional assessment to ensure the most accurate understanding of the individual’s needs.
Rather than following a one-size-fits-all approach, we tailor each evaluation to the questions being asked and the information needed to reach well-supported clinical conclusions. We’ll discuss the anticipated timeline with you during the scheduling process.
This is one of the most common questions we receive. An ADHD evaluation is often appropriate when attention, organization, impulsivity, or executive functioning concerns are the primary reason for seeking services. However, if significant learning difficulties, anxiety, depression, trauma, autism-related concerns, or other emotional or behavioral challenges are also present, a more comprehensive psychological, educational, or psychoeducational evaluation may provide a more complete understanding of how these concerns interact.
If you’re unsure which evaluation is the best fit, we’re happy to discuss your concerns and help you determine the most appropriate starting point.
Yes. We provide ADHD evaluations for children, teens, college students, and adults. Many adults seek an evaluation after recognizing lifelong patterns of attention or executive functioning difficulties, experiencing increased demands at work or home, or after a child or family member receives an ADHD diagnosis. College students often pursue evaluations to better understand academic challenges or to obtain documentation for disability support services when appropriate.
Our evaluation process is individualized to reflect each person’s stage of life, responsibilities, and referral questions.
Yes. When supported by the evaluation findings, our reports include documentation that may be used to support requests for accommodations and other services in educational or workplace settings. Recommendations are individualized and based on the specific ways the individual’s symptoms affect everyday functioning. Depending on the evaluation findings, recommendations may support eligibility for 504 Plans or Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), specialized academic interventions, classroom accommodations, executive functioning supports, therapy, college disability accommodations, workplace accommodations, and other evidence-based services designed to address the individual’s unique needs.
While schools, colleges, testing agencies, and employers each establish their own eligibility criteria, our reports are designed to provide clear, well-supported clinical documentation that can support requests for accommodations and other services when appropriate.
Calhoun Psychology is a self-pay practice for psychological assessment services. Our self-pay model allows evaluations to be individualized based on clinical needs rather than insurance requirements or predetermined testing limitations. This flexibility allows us to recommend the assessment approach that best addresses each individual’s unique referral questions rather than tailoring the evaluation to insurance coverage criteria.
If your evaluation is completed by one of our Licensed Psychologists, we can provide a superbill that you may submit to your insurance company to request possible out-of-network reimbursement. Because reimbursement policies vary widely by insurance plan, we recommend contacting your insurance provider directly to determine your specific out-of-network benefits.
To help make comprehensive psychological evaluations more accessible, we also offer reduced-fee evaluations completed by doctoral-level psychology interns and postdoctoral clinicians who are closely supervised by our Licensed Psychologists. While these clinicians receive extensive supervision and all evaluation findings are reviewed by a licensed psychologist, services provided by interns or postdoctoral clinicians are generally not eligible for out-of-network insurance reimbursement.
One of the primary goals of an evaluation is to ensure that the conclusions accurately reflect the individual’s unique strengths, challenges, and needs. Sometimes ADHD is the best explanation for the concerns that prompted the evaluation. Other times, the findings suggest that learning differences, anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, medical factors, or other conditions better explain—or contribute to—the difficulties being experienced. If that occurs, we’ll carefully explain how we reached our conclusions and provide recommendations based on the individual’s unique profile. Our goal is not simply to confirm a suspected diagnosis, but to provide an accurate understanding of the whole person so that the next steps are based on the best available information.
