An assessment can be used to diagnose common conditions such as Specific Learning Disorder, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or Depressive and Anxiety Disorders, and to identify giftedness.
Whether a diagnosis is appropriate or not, an assessment can help you and your child better understand their profile of strengths and areas of challenge so that they can be best supported at home and at school.
Psychoeducational ASsessment
A psychoeducational assessment is a thorough exploration of a child’s use of verbal and nonverbal reasoning, memory, processing speed, academic performance, and how they’re feeling and engaging socially, emotionally, and behaviourally.
In the full assessment process, you’ll be able to work with the assessor to ensure a tailored approach to your child’s unique strengths and challenges.
giftedness assessment
Some academic programs in Calgary, such as the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) Program, and the Westmount Charter School programs, require an intelligence test, administered by a Registered Psychologist. In this case, only the cognitive (intelligence) component of the assessment is required.
adult assessment
Assessment is not just for children! Often, we may get to adulthood using the survival strategies we’ve built over the course of our development, but we struggle with unanswered questions about our thinking, learning, and emotions. Assessment is a way to learn more about ourselves, and to potentially identify or diagnose conditions that may have been missed earlier in life.
Assessments at Upswing
Dr. Mike completes the assessments for Upswing, and he has over a decade of experience in this field.
He has both a Masters and Ph.D. in School/Applied Child Psychology from McGill University, and has conducted child, adolescent, and adult assessments within public schools, in inpatient mental health treatment programs, and in community practice settings, working with clients from all sorts of different backgrounds and with a wide variety of mental health and learning needs.
He has taught (and continues to teach) a variety of graduate level courses at the University of Calgary and City University on assessment and diagnosis, including Assessment in Counselling, Cognitive Assessment and Psychopathology and Psychopharmacology. He also supervises multiple provisional psychologists in assessment.
Click the “Book Consultation” button below to book a free intake consultation. Alternatively, click “Contact Us” if you’d like to send us a message and request more information!
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Hello! Mike here. In addition to my unique experience conducting and teaching assessments, I try to make this process as helpful and as meaningful as possible. My philosophy of assessment is to respect the unique strengths, qualities, and cultural backgrounds of each individual client.
Assessment can sometimes feel like a difficult experience, focusing only on what’s going “wrong.” I firmly believe that assessment should be strengths-based, providing the information you need while not losing sight of what’s going well!
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Every assessment begins with an intake consultation and questionnaire.
First, we’ll set up an in-person or virtual meeting so that I can learn more about your situation and the questions you are hoping to answer through assessment. This gives you a chance to ask me any questions you might have and make sure this is a good fit for you. This consultation takes about 30 minutes and is free of charge.
If you decide to proceed, you’ll be sent a secure online questionnaire to help me learn more about your/your child’s background, including medical, developmental, academic, social, emotional, and behavioural histories.
Then, we’ll discuss the next steps, and book times for a cognitive assessment (2 hours), academic assessment (2 hours), and any additional testing that may be needed. Sometimes I may have questionnaires for parents and/or teachers to fill out, but this would all be discussed first.
Once I have collected all the information I need, I work on interpreting and understanding the situation so we can answer the assessment questions. I prepare a report for you and we schedule a 2 hour meeting to go over the results.
At that meeting, we go through the report together. I schedule 2 hours for it so that there is plenty of time for any questions you might have. I also go over all the recommendations that I make in order to ensure they make sense and are a good fit for your/your child’s situation.
Once that meeting is done, I finalize the report and provide you with a signed copy.
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I charge a flat rate for assessments, based on the Psychologists’ Association of Alberta fee schedule and the cost of materials. Please note that these prices are all-inclusive - there is no GST on psychological services.
Full psychoeducational assessments for children and adults: Most psychoeducational assessments will cost $2,500 which includes a cognitive assessment, academic assessment, and social/emotional/behavioural assessment.
Giftedness assessments: Since a giftedness assessment only includes an intake meeting and history taking (roughly 1 hour), a cognitive assessment (roughly 2 hours) and the report and debrief (roughly 2 hours), the cost for a giftedness assessment is $1,250. If after conducting the assessment I find that your child does not meet the cutoff for gifted programs, I can provide you with a shortened report and debrief, in which case the total cost will be $850.
Adult ADHD assessments: Adult ADHD assessments involve some in-office testing, some interviewing about your experiences, and some standardized questionnaires for you and ideally people in your life to fill out. The cost for this process is $1,800. -
The quickest and easiest way to get things started is to hit the “Book Consultation” button above, and choosing the “New Client Consultation for Psychoeducational Assessment” option, and book a time directly.
I also schedule some assessments outside of normal appointment hours, so for a more flexible schedule, please feel free to fill out the form above by clicking “Contact Us”!