Evaluation for Young Children
Diagnostic and Developmental Evaluation for Young Children (Ages 0-8)
Do you have a child who is especially tricky to figure out? They might have a lot of tantrums, be set in their ways, or have different behavior at home and at school.
Maybe your child has already tried therapy, and therapy just hasn’t helped.
Maybe you’re not sure if your child needs therapy, or if they might be having developmental delays.
Or something stressful or scary might have happened in your family, and you’re wondering if they have been affected by their experience.
An evaluation can help untangle all the factors that affect how your child behaves and feels — their development, mental health, relationships, and experiences— so you can move forward with a clearer understanding of your child and how to support them.
At the end of an evaluation, you’ll walk away with a detailed report, and a list of recommendations tailored to your child and family. We’ll talk about what support services your child might benefit from, parenting strategies that can be helpful with your child, and any other resources (e.g., parenting books, children’s books, social media accounts) that might speak to your family’s specific challenges.
Please note that while I do routinely screen for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), I do not provide formal ASD testing. If concern for ASD is raised during your child's assessment, I will refer you to another clinic for an autism evaluation.
Would you like to take the next step? For a free 20-minute consultation call with Dr. Julian, reach out here:
What to expect in an evaluation?
I will send you paperwork to complete before the first appointment. The first appointment will be for parents only, and you will be asked a lot of questions about your child’s history, symptoms, and development. Next, I’ll send you a few extra questionnaires, tailored to the specific issues that your child is struggling with. Typically, I will ask you to complete questionnaires about your child’s overall mental health, specific types of mental health symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression, attention problems), and their development (e.g., language skills, social skills, daily living skills, and motor skills).
The next appointment will be together with your child. You and your child will be asked to play together at home, while I watch by video. I’ll guide you through a few different activities to do together, and if your child is verbal, I’ll spend some time talking with your child, too.
If your child is in school or daycare, I’ll interview their teacher(s) about how your child is doing in their care, and I’ll send some questionnaires to the teacher(s) as well. If your child has worked with another therapist recently, I will interview them, too.
Some families may have an additional parent interview or child play session (e.g., with a sibling or another caregiver) if needed.
Once all the information is gathered, we’ll schedule a feedback session. In this session, we’ll talk about how to understand your child’s feelings and behavior in the context of their development, relationships, mental health, and past experiences. We’ll talk about any diagnoses that your child has, and why other diagnoses may not fit. We’ll talk about parenting strategies, support services, and other resources that are a good fit for your family’s specific situation.
At this time, you will be given a comprehensive written report that contains all of the information that was gathered through interviews, observations, and questionnaires. This report will also include a thorough list of recommendations. You are welcome to share this report with your child’s school, medical team, other mental health providers, or anyone else involved in your child’s care.
After the evaluation, you may continue on in therapy with me or another therapist, or you might find that an assessment is all your family needs right now.
For an idea of the estimated cost of a comprehensive evaluation, please see the Good Faith Estimate.