Here are some questions people commonly ask about the Diagnostic and Counseling Center and its services:

• Why would I seek an independent assessment if my child receives free testing at school?
• How can the Diagnostic & Counseling Center (DCC) help homeschooled children?
• I’ve heard that students can be both gifted and learning disabled. What does that mean?
• Can the DCC diagnose learning disabilities?
• My child is very bright but is underachieving in school. Could you give me some ideas for what to do?
• Does the DCC test preschoolers?
• Do students need to be academically gifted?
• Do students need to be CTY participants?
• Do students have to come to Baltimore?
• Are the DCC’s services covered by insurance?
• What battery of tests do you use in the psycho-educational evaluation?
• What is the purpose of the Intake Form and fee?
• How long does it typically take to schedule an appointment with the DCC?
• Can the DCC help me make a school choice for my child?

Although it is perfectly reasonable to avail yourself of free testing through your child’s school, there are some reasons why an independent assessment may be a better choice for you.

• An objective and comprehensive report. The recommendations that follow testing by the school may not be completely objective or comprehensive. Because the school may be required to respond to the results of an assessment, the recommendations may be influenced by the services available in the school.

• Credentials of examiner. When your child is tested by the school system, you will not have control over who tests your child. The examiner may have excellent credentials and be very experienced, or neither may be true. When selecting someone independently for such services, you will be able to select someone that you feel is qualified to do the testing and who can give you good recommendations.

• Optimal Testing Conditions. When a child is tested in school, you are not guaranteed that the testing conditions will be optimal. For example, the examiner may be hurried because she has many other students to test that day.

• Ownership of results. When the school tests your child, you may have difficulty getting access to all the test results. Instead, you may be given only a summary of the results.

To protect your child and receive the best testing results possible, discuss the above issues with your school officials. Don’t be afraid to ask questions; your child’s well-being is at stake. A bad testing situation and report can be worse than none at all. Be sure you are comfortable with whatever choice you make; choosing someone to test your child’s cognitive abilities and academic levels is as important as choosing a pediatrician.

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Parents who are homeschooling their child often need good, reliable information about their child’s academic abilities and progress. This information is necessary to develop an appropriate education plan and to document a student’s academic progress. The Diagnostic and Counseling Center offers a nationwide testing service that provides parents with information about their child’s present skill levels and potential for academic success.

You can assess your child’s current skill or achievement level in reading, written language, and mathematics through the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress (STEP). The STEP is a series of tests in specific subject areas that determine the content and skills a young person already knows and those he or she is ready to learn.

You can also obtain information about your child’s aptitude in verbal and mathematical areas through the School and College Ability Test (SCAT). This test of verbal and mathematical reasoning yields important information for making decisions concerning the appropriate level and pace of instruction for your child. In addition, this test is used by CTY to determine eligibility for our summer and distance learning programs for elementary school students.

The SCAT and STEP are nationally normed tests for elementary through high school students. Students who take these tests through the DCC can receive a basic report with standard scores and percentiles or an individualized report including recommendations.

Parents who are homeschooling their children may also wish to avail themselves of our other services, including educational counseling, psycho-educational testing, and academic and career guidance.

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Contrary to many people’s view of what it means to be gifted or learning disabled, the two “conditions” can occur together -- and with greater frequency than one might expect. When a child is unhappy or underachieving in school, it may be the result of an undiagnosed learning disability. A learning disability in a child who is also intellectually gifted can be very frustrating and confusing to the child, the parents, and educators. Here are some “signs” to look for as a screening for students who may need to be professionally tested:

• widely different test scores from one administration of a test to the next

• very different test scores on one test versus another (e.g., ability versus achievement)

• unexplained differences between standardized test scores and actual classroom performance

• exceptional verbal reasoning ability, but great difficulty organizing thoughts in written form

• exceptional mathematical reasoning ability, but difficulty doing computations or memorizing number facts

• clear signs of being academically gifted, but easily distracted, poor listening skills, very disorganized, and often impulsive

There are many different types of learning disabilities with all degrees of severity. Some problems are so mild that they go undetected for years until the student begins experiencing serious difficulty in school. Gifted children, in particular, are often able to compensate for weaknesses for a period of time by relying on their strengths.

In general, if a child is performing inconsistently, there is conflicting information about his/her learning potential, or there is a discrepancy between suspected ability and actual achievement, it is generally best to seek help from someone professionally trained to diagnose both exceptional abilities and/or a learning disability.

It is important to identify a learning disability as soon as possible so that the appropriate remediation and programming can be started. The earlier the problem is diagnosed, the easier it is to deal with and the greater the possibility of academic success for the child. Left unattended, a learning disability will only get worse. It will not go away and children do not outgrow it. And, if a child struggles with a learning problem throughout grade school, his/her self-esteem and motivation may all begin to deteriorate. By the time a child with a learning disability is identified in late adolescence, the problem is usually much more complex and difficult to work with because it is no longer just an academic problem. It is also a social, emotional, and family problem.

• Gifted Children with Learning Disabilities: A Review of the Issues, a journal article by the co-directors of the DCC

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Yes. In particular, we have a great deal of expertise with gifted children who have learning disabilities. We do not, however, provide services for students who have severe developmental disabilities or serious psychiatric disorders.

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There are many reasons for unhappiness or underachievement in school. For example, highly able (gifted) children are often inappropriately placed in educational programs where they are under-challenged and frustrated. Certain temperament and/or family interaction patterns can set the stage for negative academic attitudes and behavior. A mismatch between a child’s learning style (especially if it is a strong preference that is inflexible) and the classroom situation can also result in academic underachievement. Finally, sometimes underachievement is the result of an undiagnosed learning disability. To sort out the reason for your child’s underachievement, you may want to consider testing and an educational consultation through the DCC.

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No. Our expertise is in working with talented and gifted students, but our services are open to all students.

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No. The DCC serves a wide population of students.

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Most of the DCC’s services are available without traveling to Baltimore:

• Ability and achievement testing is available through nationwide testing centers.
• Academic and career guidance is available by mail.
• Educational consultations may be conducted by phone.

Psycho-educational testing is the only service for which students must come to the DCC.

Please note that when parents are interested in an assessment to rule out a learning disability or attention problem, a psycho-educational evaluation (and therefore a trip to Baltimore) is necessary.

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A portion of psycho-educational testing may be covered by insurance. Check with your insurance company to see if they cover psychological testing. The DCC’s other services are not covered by insurance.

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We do not use a fixed battery in our assessments; the tests we select are based on the reason for referral and the questions that need to be answered. An assessment battery, however, will typically include the following:

• an intelligence (IQ) test
• measures of cognitive processing, including memory, visual processing, auditory processing, grapho-motor functioning, and executive functioning
• tests of achievement in reading, math, and written language
• social-emotional and behavior screening measures
• interviews with the parents and the child

Some of the tests that we use in the DCC include:

• Wechsler Intelligence Scales: the WISC-IV, WPPSI-III, and WAIS-III
• Children’s Memory Scale and Wechsler Memory Scale
• Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability – III
• Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration
• Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude – 4
• Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing
• Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement – III
• Gray Oral Reading Test – 4
• Gray Silent Reading Test
• Nelson-Denny Reading Test
• KeyMath – Revised
• Test of Written Language – 3
• Writing Process Test
• Conners’ Parent and Teacher Rating Scales – Revised
• Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function
• Children’s Depression Inventory
• Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale
• Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory
  

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We request that all parents interested in ability or achievement testing, educational consultations, and/or psycho-educational evaluations complete our four-page intake form. Our staff psychologists carefully review and discuss the information on the form to determine, first of all, if the Diagnostic and Counseling Center is able to answer the questions that a parent has.  In cases where it is determined that the DCC is not the right place to meet the needs of a particular child, one of our staff members will contact the parents to explain why. When our staff psychologists determine that the DCC’s services are appropriate for a child, the intake information is used to make a plan for the assessment or consultation.

The Intake Fee is a nonrefundable processing fee that covers the time that our psychologists devote to reviewing the intake information.

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