Comprehensive Evaluations for Your Child’s Bright Future

We believe that outside-the-box thinkers move our world forward. We celebrate the people in our world who live and learn differently, who forge their own paths, and who teach us by bringing their unique perspective to the world. We want to empower your child to live their best life and achieve their full potential.

Here are a couple of highlights that set us apart:

• Quality and Timeliness: When your child is struggling, we understand how important it is to get the right support in a timely manner. Our extensive training and experience in pediatric neuropsychology and our investment in the latest technology allow us to provide the highest quality evaluations efficiently and effectively. We strive to keep our waitlist under 2 months. Evaluations (including interviews, testing, and feedback) are completed in one day, and reports are available the next week so you can start taking the next steps immediately.
• Experienced and Connected: Our team of neuropsychologists has the highest level of training in pediatric neuropsychology, with specific expertise in dyslexia, ADHD, and gifted children. Together, they have established relationships with tutors, coaches, and therapists in the Twin Cities area to facilitate the next steps for interventions and accommodations.
• Whole-Child Approach: Because of our neuropsychologists’ specialized training and experience, they have a deep understanding of neurodiversity and other relevant factors that may be affecting your child. They will listen to your concerns with the utmost care and compassion and provide an evaluation uniquely tailored to your child.  
• Positive and Strengths-Based Approach: We believe a neuropsychological evaluation can help provide a deeper understanding of the root cause of struggles and identify an individual’s strengths. With a clear understanding of each person’s unique brilliance and challenges, we open doors to personal growth and lifelong success.
• Data-Driven: Our evaluation method minimizes personal bias and provides high validity through standardized data collection. Our use of the latest technology allows our neuropsychologists to monitor scores and develop recommendations in real time.

Curious about the principles that fuels our team and decisions? Learn About Our Core Values and Mission

It’s never too late to get an evaluation to gain clarity on your child’s strengths and challenges. Getting a diagnostic evaluation before your child graduates from high school is always helpful to ensure they have the support needed to thrive when they are off living on their own.

We love to see young children so we can catch any challenges early, and get the support in place to help their success in school and life. We see kids for evaluations starting at age 4 (see our Evaluations for Preschoolers). There are many benefits to getting an evaluation at any age, but especially when a child is showing early signs of struggles, as research highlights the importance of early intervention. If your gut is telling you something is off, like at home, at preschool, or with peers, it can be helpful to learn early how to best support your child. A neuropsychological evaluation can help you understand your child’s specific strengths and challenges and offer comprehensive recommendations to set your child up for success from an early age.

The following factors could put your child at greater risk for learning disorders, ADHD, and/or social/emotional or behavioral challenges:

• Major medical conditions (e.g., epilepsy, congenital heart disease)
• Family history of ADHD or learning differences
• Premature birth
• Low birth weight
• Birth complications
• Prenatal substance exposure
• Genetic disorders
• History of institutionalized care and/or foster care prior to adoption

Our evaluations are comprehensive, and our neuropsychologists are well-versed in assessing a wide variety of diagnoses, such as:

• Dyslexia
• Dysgraphia
• Dyscalculia
• ADHD
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Social and/or behavioral disorders

If you are concerned that your child may also have autism, please notify our team when scheduling your evaluation, and we can include an additional screening. If the results are clear, we can diagnose or rule out autism. We will refer you to a specialist if the results are more subtle.

A neuropsychological evaluation is more comprehensive than a school evaluation and includes various aspects of cognitive function, including IQ, attention, executive function and academic performance. It can also assess social, emotional and behavioral concerns as well as incorporate any medical and family history factors that school evaluations typically cannot address.

School evaluations can identify if a child is struggling but they do not address the underlying cause. School psychologists cannot diagnose specific disorders such as ADHD or dyslexia.

Our goal is to provide information that explains the diagnosis, what types of support may be needed, and what you can do to help. Generally, there are three categories of recommendations:

• At School – we can provide specific recommendations for academic accommodations and support to enhance learning. If an IEP or 504 Plan is indicated, the neuropsychologist will explain that process to you and provide written recommendations the school can use.
• Outside of School – we may suggest therapy, medication consultations, tutoring, coaching, or referrals to other specialists like physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, or neurologists. 
• At Home – we may suggest strategies for helping children succeed during homework time, how to manage big emotions, how to support social skills, and other relevant tools.

We do not prescribe medication or provide therapy, but we have a strong local referral network to help connect you with relevant providers.

Some children struggling in school or other aspects of life might not meet the necessary criteria to receive a clinical diagnosis. Even if there isn’t a diagnosis, parents often appreciate the information they learn about their child. An evaluation provides valuable insights into your child’s cognitive strengths and challenges, along with a set of supports and next steps that are uniquely tailored to your child.

Our evaluation includes tasks like working with blocks, answering verbal questions, working with an iPad, and using pencil and paper. We use standardized tests to assess intelligence, verbal skills, visual spatial skills, learning, memory, attention, and executive skills such as planning and organizing, regulating emotions and behavior, starting and following through on tasks. 

We also assess reading, writing, and math abilities, along with social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. All evaluations include parent and teacher questionnaires and a parent meeting with the neuropsychologist.

If your child has been evaluated previously, those documents are helpful for the neuropsychologists to review ahead of time. Please upload any prior evaluation documents to the client portal when completing your initial paperwork.

We believe it’s important to provide a comprehensive evaluation for each child. Unfortunately, insurance companies set very specific requirements about how much time can be spent on portions of an evaluation, which often greatly limits the ability to be comprehensive. Minnesota Neuropsychology is an out-of-network provider, which means we do not bill or accept payment from insurance directly. By not accepting insurance, we can focus on providing the best possible service to our clients with the most up-to-date tools, research, and thorough and personalized evaluations.

Some insurance plans offer partial reimbursement for neuropsychological evaluation services. If your insurance does provide partial reimbursement, we provide a “superbill,” which is the document insurance requires for out-of-network reimbursement. Please be aware that insurance reimbursement varies by provider and plan, and not all offer reimbursement.

Please read our Fees & Payments web page for important details.

Children are naturally curious and may have questions about their upcoming evaluation. To help put your child at ease, we suggest explaining that the appointment is similar to a day at school. They will work together with one of our friendly staff to complete  various activities, including building with blocks, doing puzzles, and playing memory games. They will do some reading, writing, and math tasks too. These activities will help us learn what tasks are easy for your child, what might be harder for them, and how their teachers and parents can provide the best support for their learning and development. 

Children should be reassured that they cannot study for these tasks and are only expected to do their best. Acknowledging their effort with a small reward or treat following the evaluation can be helpful too.

Children should maintain their regular routines, including getting a good night’s sleep, eating breakfast and taking any prescribed medications as usual.