Health and Psychology

I have three offices but the primary place where I do psychological and neuropsychological testing, (unless I'm working on contract for another company at their location), is in my Glendale office.  I have access to well over 300 psychological tests, rating scales and measurements.  Some of these are online.  Some of these are portable.  Some of these require a lot of equipment and special testing condiions.

In my Santa Clarita office I use a single room with a portable table for testing.  I have access to equipment that will fit in the trunk of my car and have access to the office over a four hour window on Sundays.  For conditions where I'm just not exactly sure what the best instrument is, or if the equipment will be difficult for me to transport, then I'm going to suggest the Glendale office.  If the testing is laptop based, and there is no problem with gaining internet access, I can either bring my own wifi or use what is available I can test in Valencia.

My Glendale office has 900 square feet of space with multiple test locations in three rooms.  There are portable tables of different heights.  Stand alone desks and chairs with and without wheels.  There's a specific set up for ADD/ADHD testing using a separate monitor for measuring attention down to the millisecond.  I can create specific measures to show people how they would perform in a specific environment.  I can change the lighting, the temperature, the noise level, and can measure performance on tests to document how helpful that condition is in improving performance.

I can usually tell on the initial phone call if I can test outside of Glendale to answer the referral question.  Here's an example:  a person called for test accommodations with extended time.  The person had problems understanding me on the phone.  I had to repeat instructions several times and on occasion they misunderstood, and it wasn't a poor phone connection.  So I had them come to Glendale.  I created a specific sample test of the type they were trying to get accommodations for.  I had them do a timed reading and vocabulary test.  Reading vocabulary was low, comprehension was low, timed reading speed was low.  So those things can be accommodated.  I had them take the practice test-two sample paragraphs online with 9 questions.  They could take as much time as needed to complete the test.  They took 45 minutes.  Their score was 44%.  So I could show them that it wasn't a matter of getting extended time.  The person was missing content.  So in reviewing the test data it seemed that psychological factors were impairing comprehension. That was true in reading samples, comprehension, reading rate, and in the sample questions.    We had a discussion about what was obviously going on, and referred the person out for therapy and tutoring.  

All children for GIFTED testing need to come to Glendale for assessment.  In the case of very young children, the parent may need to watch the assessment to be able to see the child isn't ready for the rigors of a GATE program and will be upset by the process.  In addition I have the WPPSI-IV, the WISC-IV (updating to WiSC-V in the fall when it's released, the Stanford-Binet-V, and several non-verbal tests to assess intellect to choose from, as well as multiple achievement tests depending on the district requirements.  The parent can watch the child being tested in a non-intrusive manner and see what's happening to them as they are assessed.  I simply can't do that in Culver City or in Santa Clarita, the space doesn't permit it.

In addition, because there are multiple rooms in Glendale, I have the ability to have a psychological assistant assist with transcribing the personal history, inputting scores, working on a parent questionnaire at the same time I'm testing a child, or assisting with technical computer set up, that makes the process of testing and report generation much easier.  As a result we can usually produce a 6-10 page psychological report in a week.  We can produce an accommodations or immigration report within 2 weeks.  We can often produce simple computer scored reports on the same day.

Neuropsychological testing requires multiple instruments.  This can be done with single instruments like the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery, or with multiple instruments like parts of the Halstead Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery or the Boston Neuropsychological Test Battery with additions of multiple other tests, questionnaires and rating scales.  For complex assessment in some cases, we are able to assist with determining etiology.  

I realize that Glendale is far for some people to travel, but the advantages in the assessment process are worth the drive.  In simple cases it's possible to test people in the convenience of their home, office, or in Santa Clarita or Culver City.  If you're interested in an assessment feel free to contact us.