Samaritan Counseling Center is now offering psycho-educational assessment for children in the age range of 6-17 years. This type of assessment can be helpful when children are struggling in school and experiencing academic or behavioral difficulties. Such testing can help parents understand what factors might be interfering with their child’s academic achievement and what strategies or steps they can take to help improve their child’s performance. An assessment will examine a child’s general intellectual abilities, attention, memory, and learning capacities, as well as their behavioral and emotional functioning. This information can be used to identify specific learning disabilities or other cognitive or behavioral problems that are interfering with a child’s success in school or social life. Specific recommendations can then be provided for how to best address these issues.
We may be able to offer some guidance related to autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but we are not autism experts. If your questions are primarily autism-focused, then you might be better served if you seek services from TEIS or CDD.
Our services may be for your child if…
You have concerns related to:
- Learning
- Hyperactivity
- Inattention
- Anxiety
- Depression
Your child is between ages 6 and 16
Our services are not for your child if…
You’re looking for an initial autism diagnosis
Your concerns relate to a physical impairment (like speech/language, orthopedic impairment, traumatic brain injury, etc.)
You haven’t contacted your child’s school about assessment
You’re looking for medication and ongoing care* – this is a one-time assessment only. *Samaritan offers counseling services, but that is a separate service than this assessment.
How does the assessment process work; what steps are required?
The assessment process may vary somewhat depending on the child’s age and presenting concerns, but it generally will involve a three-visit sequence.
1) In an initial one-hour intake visit, the clinician will interview caregivers (and in some cases children, depending on their age and provider’s discretion), regarding their primary concerns, review medical and developmental history, and discuss past and current school functioning. Information regarding any past assessments can be requested via release forms signed to request school and/or medical records. Behavioral questionnaires may be given for parents (and children, depending on age) to complete and return during the testing visit. The child may need to be present for this initial intake and the provider will alert you if this is the case.
2) A testing visit is then scheduled. This will generally require a 3-5 hour visit with the child and parent, occasionally longer, again depending on the presenting concerns. This will often entail 1.5-2.5 hours of assessment, a lunch break, and a second 1.5-2.5 hour period of assessment. Following the testing visit, the clinician will score and evaluate the test results, integrate the findings, and develop a detailed summary report.
3) Once the report is complete, a feedback visit will be scheduled to review the findings/recommendations and address any remaining caregiver questions.
Assessment Fee and Payment Information:
Samaritan is committed to providing high-quality, accessible, affordable services. In order to fulfill this mission, we offer psychoeducational assessment services on a sliding scale fee basis, based on household income. The fee ranges between $200 and $2000, depending on income. See sliding scale chart HERE. This fee covers the entire assessment process which involves an average of 8-10 hours of work by a licensed health provider/psychologist. A non-refundable deposit (15% of the total sliding scale fee) will be assessed once the initial consultation with the provider has been scheduled and must be paid prior to the consultation meeting. Because our providers block off multiple hours of their professional time for your child’s assessment day, we require at least 24 hours notice of cancellation. If the minimum 24 hour notice is not given or the client does not show for their scheduled assessment day/time, a cancellation fee will be assessed (50% of the total sliding scale fee).
We don’t accept insurance for psychoeducational assessments because most plans don’t cover this service. However, we can provide a superbill, which is an itemized receipt you can submit to your insurance company if you’d like to check for possible out-of-network reimbursement.
We want to be transparent that reimbursement is not guaranteed, and many families find their plans do not cover these assessments. Each insurance plan is different, so we recommend contacting your insurer directly to ask.
We’re not able to contact insurance companies or appeal claims on your behalf, but we’re happy to provide the documentation needed for you to submit a claim, after the service has been rendered and the fee has been paid.
Please contact our Intake Coordinator at 901-729-3900, Ext 1 or complete our New Client Inquiry form at New Client Inquiry Form – Samaritan Counseling to learn more about this service.