Psychological & Neuropsychological Testing
Big Picture Psychological Services specializes in evaluations for older teens and adults, through age 45.
These evaluations are thorough and personalized.
*You may have also heard these evaluations called “psych testing” or a “neuropsych assessment” or a “comprehensive evaluation.” They all refer to the same thing and these terms will be used interchangeably throughout this site.
Why get testing? When are evaluations helpful?
- You want to apply for accommodations at school, on standardized tests, or at work
- You’re feeling stuck or you’ve been in treatment, but nothing has worked
- You suspect you have undiagnosed ADHD or maybe neurodivergent/have autism
- You are applying to adopt a child internationally
Types of Testing NOT Offered at Big Picture Psych:
Forensic Evaluations, Court Ordered Evaluations, Custody Evaluations, Evaluations for a FOID card, or Fitness of Duty evaluations.
Accommodations
- In college or graduate/med/law school
- On standardized tests like the ACT/SAT, the GRE, or specialized tests like the LSAT or MCAT
- At work to have “reasonable accommodations”
These can be signs that you need clarification about a diagnosis or diagnoses that best explain your symptoms. An evaluation will also give you clear next steps to take.
Nothing is Working
- You’ve been in therapy, you’ve taken meds, but nothing seems to work.
- You have been to various treatment programs and have been left with more diagnoses than you came in with.
- Therapy was working for a bit or had worked in the past, but your hitting a wall and progress has slowed down.
These can be signs that you need clarification about a diagnosis or diagnoses that best explain your symptoms. An evaluation will also give you clear next steps to take.
Suspect ADHD or Neurodivergence/Autism
- TikTok videos have made you say: “This!”
- Other information on social media/the web about these diagnoses seem to perfectly explain your experience
- A doctor, teacher, parent, friend, therapist, etc. have said they think a certain diagnosis explains your experiences
Sharing information about mental health conditions is becoming increasingly popular and more common. It can be helpful to have access to more information, especially more personalized accounts from people that have these diagnoses. But, it is also exceedingly important to have a thorough evaluation to confirm or rule out a specific diagnosis. This way, you have a solid understanding of yourself and what to do next.
International Adoption
Some, not all countries require an evaluation when you apply to adopt a child from another country. These evaluations are more focused on highlighting strengths and positive attributes that would be an asset to you as a prospective parent(s).
Evaluations at Big Picture are high quality, comprehensive and personalized.
What does this mean? What does that mean?
- Big Picture Psych takes the time to get to know you.
- A lot of questions will be asked over the course of several appointments to make sure that your struggles are clearly understood. Important people in your life will also have the opportunity to provide further input. This helps Big Picture develop a customized course of action to make sure that your needs are fully addressed.
- The evaluation is thorough and in-depth.
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- All tests that could provide information about you and how you think are used to support conclusions. Yes, that includes a diagnosis, but that's just one part of the many results you will walk away with after an evaluation.
- The results are clear and personalized.
- Results are explained in ways that make sense given your particular struggles. Clear next steps are listed. And most important, you will feel relieved and validated.
Not sure if you need a comprehensive evaluation? Is an evaluation not in your budget at this time?
Scroll down to learn about an Evaluation Screener.
What to Expect for Testing
Before You Schedule
A $600 non-refundable deposit will be collected to schedule your first appointment.
In order to prioritize quality, only one evaluation is conducted at a time. The deposit holds your spot in the schedule over the next several weeks.
Contact Dr. Hover ahead of time to provide credit card information.
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Step 1. Intake Interview
During this 90-minute appointment, you will discuss your history and relevant experiences to help Dr. Hover understand how your symptoms developed and inform the tests that will be used in your testing battery. Please feel free to ask any questions or discuss any concerns you may have.
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Step 2. Test Administration
This phase is completed in one or multiple appointments, lasting between 1-4 hours at a time. A series of tests will be given ranging from answering questions about your experiences to solving problems. These tests are meant to be challenging and you need only try your best. Frequent breaks are built in and you are welcome to bring food/snacks and water.
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Step 3. Scoring and Writing
After all the tests are administered, they will be scored and interpreted along with the information gathered in the intake to best answer the question posed by testing. All of the tests are explained and all the scores are listed in the report. The report also includes an explanation of the diagnostic impressions as well as personalized recommendations to address your concerns.
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Step 4. Feedback Session
During this 60-90 minute session, Dr. Hover will review all the results and explain what everything means for you personally. If there are any updates that are relevant, you can discuss them at this time. The report will be finalized after this meeting and you will receive the report 3-5 business days later.
Evaluation Screener
- 1 appointment, 90 minutes
- Outside of the appointment, a brief chat with a trusted person that knows you well
- 1-3 Page Summary
- Cost: $900-1200
This appointment is the same as the first appointment of the comprehensive evaluation (i.e. the clinical interview). After talking with you and another trusted person like a parent or therapist, a summary is written up.
The summary includes
- Is a full evaluation is recommended or not?
- Outline of symptoms described
- Relevant background information that would inform test selection or that informed why an evaluation was not recommended
- Diagnoses being considered but not formally diagnosed
If you decide to do a full evaluation, then you will not need to repeat the first appointment and will start testing right away. * All costs spent on the screener will be deducted from the final total of a comprehensive evaluation.
*Testing appointments should be scheduled no later than 60 days after the summary is provided to maintain validity.
Benefits of a screener:
- Keep costs manageable if a comprehensive evaluation is not warranted
- Dip your toes in to see if it is worth investing time and money
- Familiarity with the process and the end result (i.e. the report) beforehand