Preschool Assessments

What types of things can we assess for in preschool children?

Specialized evaluation for preschool age children

Age range: 4 - 6 years

Types of areas that can be assessed:

• General intellectual abilities
• Attention
• Emerging executive functioning skills
• Emotional and behavioral regulation
• Language
• Learning and memory
• Fine motor skills
• Social
• Early academic skills
• Early phonemic awareness skills and pre-reading skills

We do not assess for sensory processing disorders such as sensory integration disorder, auditory processing disorder, or visual processing disorder.

Examples of situations that might prompt for a neuropsychological evaluation for a preschool age child:

• Prematurity
• Low birth weight
• Birth complications
• Prenatal substance exposure
• Congenital heart disease
• History of institutionalized care and/or foster care prior to adoption

How Neuropsychology Can Help

A neuropsychological evaluation can provide important information about your child’s patterns of strengths and weaknesses and provide insight into areas where your child may benefit from additional support. Having detailed information about these aspects of neurodevelopment can provide helpful guidance in terms of setting up accommodations, interventions, and enrichment opportunities for your child. Having this level of knowledge about your child’s unique learning profile can be helpful in getting started with early interventions and/or academic enrichment, and sets them up for success from a young age.

The Preschool Evaluation Process

The neuropsychological evaluation includes a careful review of concerns through clinical interview, history, standardized behavioral questionnaires, and data obtained through comprehensive cognitive assessment. With this information, we are able to provide objective data and perspective on test results and stated concerns.

Your child will work with one of our experienced team members, who will engage your child in a variety of activities such as building with blocks, doing puzzles, and assessing word knowledge in a fun and interactive way. We use stickers, movement breaks, and playtime as incentives to support your child’s engagement as needed throughout the testing process.

While your child is testing, parent(s)/caregiver(s) will meet with the neuropsychologist to discuss your child’s history and areas of concern. After the testing process is completed, parent(s)/caregiver(s) will meet again with the neuropsychologist for a feedback session to discuss testing data, diagnostic considerations, and helpful recommendations for next steps. You’ll receive a written report summarizing all test findings, diagnosis, and recommendations.