Inside an Evaluation With a Child Psychologist

Looking for a child psychologist in St. Louis? Searching between child therapists and child psychologists? Let’s walk you through what happens in a first assessment session with a child psychologist in St. Louis!

You might know what the difference is between a child therapist and a child psychologist. Or you may have a pretty good idea about what a child psychologist does, but maybe you’re still confused about what an evaluation/assessment really looks like when consulting with a child psychologist—we’re here to take you through the ins and outs.

When you think of evaluations, analysis, and research, our minds often think of labs or poking and prodding. Psychological assessments look a little different.

Image Credit: Gabrielle Henderson @gabriellefaithhenderson on UnSplash

Psychological assessments help pinpoint where difficulties lie in relation to struggling to concentrate, shifts in behaviors, and trouble learning.

Psychological assessments, provided by licensed child psychologists in St. Louis, help provide information and understanding surrounding a child’s learning, social, behavioral, and personality development. Results can help to narrow down goals and treatment plans specifically for a child’s educational and mental health needs.

(Learn more about child psychologists in St. Louis through our interview with Dr. Dan Weinstein and Dr. Kezia Jackson)

What is a psychological assessment? What does an assessment in child psychology really look like?

Child psychologists utilize a variety of assessments that include a structured series of interviews, standardized tests, and/or questionnaires to discover strengths and weaknesses. Each assessment or test is individualized to fit the needs or concern of a child.

When performing an assessment or test, a child psychologist is really looking to identify learning styles and social-emotional patterns of functioning while addressing intelligence, achievement, memory and attention, and behavioral, emotional, and social development.

Many different areas are addressed in psychological assessments, and child psychologists dig in to figure out what the diagnosis really is - be it anxiety related, an intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, or a learning disability.

The different areas addressed relate to development delays, intellectual gifts or disabilities, language/communication skills, nonverbal reasoning, absorption and processing of information, academic strengths, learning disabilities, executive functioning, and mental health concerns such as behavior management or anxiety—these assessments are well rounded to gain a deeper understanding of what’s going on.

Assessments are part 1, but as a parent, you want to know what to do NEXT.

Many, but not all, child psychologists in St. Louis provide individual therapy in addition to testing and diagnostic information. Typically, case loads are smaller to allow for child psychologists to see more patients for diagnostic testing. Other child psychologists in St. Louis just provide testing, or work in the schools, to help children get IEP’s and access the educational services that they need.

At Compassionate Counseling St. Louis, our anxiety therapists provide therapy and a diagnosis for treatment, but typically, schools won’t accept the diagnoses from a licensed clinical social worker or professional counselor for IEP creation. When that’s the case, we refer out for testing!

How important is an child psychology assessment for what’s going on, right now?

We want to know what’s going on with our kids, what they’re doing, and what to expect when taking them somewhere new. If your child is undergoing psychological assessment, you can expect to be a part of the process. Many times parents are the first to complete any assessment as you may fill out questionnaires regarding your child on your own in the beginning. Following, there may be interviews with you and your child so that you can help provide information while your child participates in testing sessions.

Seeking out a child psychologist for assessment and testing is a big step for helping your child. We want to make the process simple and easy for you. We have a robust referral network of child psychologists in St. Louis that we are happy to get you connected with.

Our intake coordinators are also happy to talk with you about whether we’d recommend child psychology or meeting with one of our other awesome therapists at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis.

Our favorite part of our job is connecting you with the best services for your child - even if that means referring you out.

Curious to hear more about Child Psychology in St. Louis, or wondering if you need anxiety therapy for your kid or teen? Compassionate Counseling St. Louis provides specialized anxiety and anger management therapy for kids, teens, and college students. We work in Clayton, MO and serve kids, teens, and college students throughout St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Ladue, University City, Town and Country, Webster Groves, Creve Coeur, Kirkwood, Richmond Heights, and Brentwood. You can set up your free phone screening to see if we’re a good fit for your needs right on our website.