Evaluations are conducted by licensed psychologists or by advanced doctoral students under direct supervision of a licensed psychologist on the university’s campus.
At the time your child’s appointment is scheduled, parent(s) will be mailed several questionnaires that should be completed prior to your appointment and turned in to us when you arrive. These may include a developmental history questionnaire, a behavior questionnaire, and might include a questionnaire for your child’s teacher(s) or another alternate caregiver who interacts with your child on a regular basis. Adult clients will follow a similar process with age-appropriate questionnaires sent to them to complete prior to the first appointment.
Day of Appointment
The clinician will interview the parent(s) about the child’s developmental and family history, functioning at home and in school/childcare, review any previous testing and intervention services, and recent events surrounding the reason for this evaluation. There may also be additional parent-report measures administered regarding the child’s communication skills, social-emotional skills, independent self-care and daily living skills, and/or atypical behaviors. Direct assessment of infants and children up to about three years of age often takes place with parents present in the room. Four to five year olds, and children of any age with significant developmental delays, may be evaluated separately or with parents in the room, depending on the child’s ability to separate from the parents and the level of the child’s communication skills. Typically, older children and adolescents will be evaluated separately from parents. Adult evaluations will follow a similar intake and interview process with appropriately chosen tests to follow.
Our clinicians use a variety of tests and observational measures depending on the age of the client and the presenting problem(s). Evaluation of a younger child will typically include assessment of general cognitive development, speech and language (expressive and receptive), fine and gross motor function, social interaction skills, and play skills. Assessments for school-aged children, adolescents, and adults generally include intellectual ability, attention, memory, academic skills, executive functions, social-emotional functioning, and fine motor function/handwriting.
Assessment
The assessment portion of the evaluation will start on the day of your first appointment. The parent interview and testing typically lasts between three and four hours on the first day. A second appointment is also needed to finish the necessary testing. The total testing time between the two appointments will run somewhere between five and seven hours total; on some occasions all of the testing can be scheduled and completed in a single visit. A parent feedback meeting is usually scheduled on a separate day at a mutually convenient time. This meeting is scheduled for one hour. At the time of the parent feedback meeting, the clinician will meet with the parent(s) to review the results of the evaluation, provide a diagnosis or diagnoses if appropriate, answer questions, and provide recommendations for interventions, school or classroom placement, relevant community services, medical follow-up, or other referral suggestions as appropriate. If services are available in the center to address the difficulties that have been identified, the clinician will also review those options with the parent(s) and/or client, if an adult. We also often provide informative handouts regarding your child’s diagnosis and/or specific issues, and will recommend a schedule for follow-up assessments to monitor your child’s progress and continuing needs over time. Adolescents, and school-age children upon request, are welcome to attend part of the feedback session if they choose, to hear a summary of the results and recommendations and have their questions answered.
Fee Structure
The fee structure can be found through the links that follows. Please note that the fees are higher if the client chooses to have an evaluation conducted by a licensed psychologist only. Fees are substantially less when conducted by a clinician who is supervised by a licensed psychologist, but this choice is completely up to the client.
*The KLASS Center clinic is a fee-for-service clinic, therefore, fees are charged for all services. We do not currently accept third party payment (insurance or TennCare), but we may be able to provide an invoice that may be submitted by the client for reimbursement. However, a sliding scale is available for families and individuals with limited income to reduce the cost; proof of income is required in these cases. Payment is expected at the time of service.