Assessment Protocols
School-age Child Assessment Protocol:
1.Review of Medical Records, including pre-natal and birth history, developmental milestones, hospitalization history, most recent physical, current diagnoses and medications, and previous assessment reports (if any).
2.Review of School Records, including what schools child attended, whether child received any special education, tutoring, or therapy, if so - review of tri-annual assessments by the school district and IEPs.
3.Clinical interview with the child, including a complete mental status exam.
4.Clinical interview with the parents (can use Structured Developmental History Interview from BASC).
5.Observational play session with the parents (it is usually good for observing communication styles to ask the parent to teach the child a game and vice versa).
6.Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC): Parent Rating Scale, Teacher Rating Scale, Self Rating Scale (for children over 8 y.o.), and School Observation Schedule (if school observation is considered necessary) for emotional functioning and behavior.
7.Lateral Dominance Exam to establish dominance.
8.Reitan-Klove Sensory-Perceptual Exam to screen for sensory and motor problems.
9.Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV for cognitive functioning evaluation.
10.Wide-Range Achievement Test 3 for age-appropriate knowledge.
11.If deficits are observed on screening instruments or specific diagnoses need to be ruled out, the following instruments can be used:
b.If Attention Deficit Disorder is suspected, add Child Trails A & B.
c.If Language Disorder is suspected, use Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Animal Naming Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test.
d.If visuospatial or motor coordination deficit is suspected, use Beery Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration.
e.If emotional or relational disturbance is suspected, use Projective Drawings (HTP, kinetic family drawing, person in the rain) and Child Apperception Test or Thematic Apperception Test (depending on the child), MMPI-A can be used for relatively high-functioning adolescents.
f.If psychosis is suspected, use Rorschach.
1.Review of Medical Records, including pre-natal and birth history, developmental milestones, hospitalization history, most recent physical, current diagnoses and medications, and previous assessment reports (if any).
2.Clinical interview with the Client, including a complete mental status exam.
3.Clinical interview with collateral sources, if any.
4.One objective and one projective psychodiagnostic measure: e.g. Rorschach or Tematic Apperception Test and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory or Beck Depresion/Anxiety inventories. Projective drawings and Incomplete Sentences may be considered here. For cross-cultural assessment you can use TAT, projective drawings and incomplete sentences if you are VERY familiar with the culture, you can also use symptom-based questionnaires as a guide, without referring to normative data.
5.Lateral Dominance Exam to establish dominance.
6.Reitan-Klove Sensory-Perceptual Exam to screen for sensory and motor problems.
7.Trails A and B. For cross-cultural assessment you can use Color Trails.
8.Finger Tapping Test for motor speed and control.
9.Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test and Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure Test for verbal and non-verbal memory, respectively. For cross-cultural assessment you can use Complex Figure and parts of Weschsler Memory Scale, for qualitative analysis.
10.Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV for cognitive functioning evaluation. For cross-cultural assessment you can use Raven's Progresive Matrices and parts of WAIS-IV for qualitative analysis.
11.If deficits are observed on screening instruments or specific diagnoses need to be ruled out, the following instruments can be used:
b.If Attention Deficit Disorder is suspected, add Stroop and/or cancellation tasks.
c.If Language Disorder is suspected, use Boston Naming Test, Animal Naming Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test. You can use Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination for more in-depth analysis.
[back]Geriatric Assessment Protocol:
1.Review of Medical Records, including pre-natal and birth history, developmental milestones, hospitalization history, most recent physical, current diagnoses and medications, and previous assessment reports (if any).
2.Clinical interview with the Client, including a complete mental status exam.
3.Clinical interview with collateral sources, if any.
4. Beck Depresion/Anxiety inventories or Geriatric Depression Scale as a minimum. Rorschach, MMPI, Projective drawings and Incomplete Sentences may be considered here. For cross-cultural assessment you can use TAT, projective drawings and incomplete sentences if you are VERY familiar with the culture, you can also use symptom-based questionnaires as a guide, without referring to normative data.
5.Lateral Dominance Exam to establish dominance.
6.Reitan-Klove Sensory-Perceptual Exam to screen for sensory and motor problems.
7.Trails A and B. For cross-cultural assessment you can use Color Trails.
8.Finger Tapping Test for motor speed and control.
9.Cognistat (short, for lower-functioning Clients) or Repeatable Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (more complete, for higher-functioning Clients) to screen memory, attention, concentration and visual-spatial functioning.
10.Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices for cognitive functioning evaluation.
11.If deficits are observed on screening instruments or specific diagnoses need to be ruled out, the following instruments can be used:
b.If attention problems are suspected, add Stroop and/or cancellation tasks.
c.If aphasia is suspected, use Boston Naming Test, Animal Naming Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test. You can use Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination for more in-depth analysis.
d.If mild memory problems are suspected, use Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test and Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure Test for verbal and non-verbal memory, respectively. For cross-cultural assessment you can use Complex Figure and parts of Weschsler Memory Scale, for qualitative analysis.
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