FAQ: Covid policies

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It is really helpful to have all records uploaded with your intake paperwork on the client portal before the parent/adult meeting to plan our psychological testing. Records might include report cards, standardized testing, previous evaluations, school plans, disciplinary records, incident reports, attendance records and emails to/from the school. For public schools, records can be obtained by requesting a copy of the student's cumulative record.

You can let them know that they will be working with someone named Dr. Maybouer -- or “Dr. M” or “Dr. Sara” -- whatever fits for your family’s norms to address a helping adult. It’s helpful to clarify for younger kids that I am a “learning doctor,” not the kind who gives shots or physical exams! Explanations will vary depending on the age and maturity of your child; however, here is a general explanation:

“Dr. M is a learning doctor who helps kids understand what their brain is good at - and anything they may be having a hard time with - and then she helps families create a learning plan, if needed. Some of the evaluation is like school stuff, but a lot of it is like brainteasers or puzzles to see how you think through things, and some of it is just talking with you to learn about you. There is nothing wrong with you - everyone learns differently and has strengths and weakness [share some of your own]. We just want to figure out how to best help [gently name whatever general concern you have].”  
Please try not to explain testing as "games,” as some of the tasks are more like school and we don't want them to feel tricked or misled when they sit down with me and see math!  Also see below for some of how I explain testing to kids when they are with me.

Make sure your child has had a good night’s rest, eaten a hearty breakfast, and he or she has any glasses, hearing aids, communication devices, etc. If your child typically takes medication, make sure that they take their medication prior to the appointment , unless we plan otherwise if that is a referral question. If we are testing via telehealth, please make sure they are seated in a chair at a desk or table in a quiet, private location with good internet access and wearing headphones or ear buds, if possible. Their screen needs to remain on at all times.

Please minimize all distractions for them - no pets or siblings walking through their room, no TV or other electronic devices should be on, and they should be familiar with the devise they are using such as a laptop, Chromebook, or iPad - no assessments on cell phones, please. Unless we have previously discussed other arrangements, parents or other adult should remain nearby but do not need to remain in the room, as it usually makes them feel self-conscious or nervous.  

If we are using Telehealth, depending on age, we are finding better results in scheduling several Zoom appointments of an hour or so, versus a block of an entire morning, helps maintain attention and keeps motivation consistent. 

Total direct, 1:1 testing time typically takes between 2-6 hours, depending on the amount of testing that needs to be completed and the age of your child. In general, testing for young children takes less time than testing for older children and adolescents. 

One or two testing sessions may be scheduled, depending on your child’s age and number of tests/measures being given. Cognitive assessment takes really concerted, extended mental effort,  and Zoom fatigue is real!  Thinking skills are too taxed by the end of the full-time school day to have the requisite mental energy to give maximum effort, so very late afternoon or evening sessions are not offered. Most test sessions are scheduled around 10 am, 1 pm, or on a weekend. Very young children are typically scheduled in the morning or after their nap when they are “freshest.” 

After all rating scales are in and test sessions complete, we will schedule a feedback appointment to discuss the results of the evaluation, suggested recommendations, and —  together — create an action plan for your child. You will not receive a written copy of the report at the feedback meeting, as your suggestions for an action plan and goals for its use will be a key component of the final written document.  The final report will be emailed to you via the secure client portal within two weeks of our feedback meeting.

Evaluations completed by Dr. Maybouer are lengthy, specialized, multi-modal, and in-depth, therefore, assessment is not a quick process. If everything is turned in quickly, you can approximate it will be about six weeks  from initial intake to receipt of your final report (i.e., Week 1 = parent intake, Week 2 and/or 3 = testing, Week 4 = parent feedback, Week 6 = report mailed). The timeline  extends if rating scales take longer to get back.

The parent meeting - probably not. But some other type of child -centered feedback meeting - almost always, yes!  I am a big proponent of children receiving at least some kind of feedback about the work they did with me, typically after I review results alone with parents first. This allows parents to ask questions, feel open to express emotions, freely discuss their concerns, and process any major news about diagnoses and functioning. If parents feel emotionally able at that point, we can then open the meeting up to include the child or meet again on a different day to do so. 

In any case, I do advocate parents have follow up discussions with their child about the testing process. If a child is brought into a child psychologist for testing, then they are certainly aware that they have some kind of struggle – or at least that someone perceives them to be struggling. They invested hours of challenging cognitive work with me 1:1, so I believe in honoring that effort with some kind of feedback, even if it’s just a quick letter or note. Otherwise, children tend to catastrophize and assume the worst about themselves, even if there was nothing to worry about. 

I will often recommend having a second, separate meeting with older children and adolescents to attend with their parents. At this meeting, the focus is on providing positive feedback on the child’s performance and areas of strength rather than an extensive focus of weaknesses or diagnoses. This meeting is typically brief and takes around 30 minutes.

In the child feedback sessions, I do not discuss specific test scores or in terms of “IQ,” but very generally to help them understand a profile of their cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, how we can use their effort and what we learned to make a helpful plan. Depending on a discussion with the parent about their family comfort and referral question, we may or may not use diagnostic labels. I’m not a big fan of labels, but kids are smart and aware and hear much more than we probably know about, and they’ve typically already have heard of (if not Googled) ADHD, dyslexia, or autism. For most kids, it can be incredibly empowering to understand themselves better and “demystify” their struggles so that they can become advocates for their own needs. As I will talk about with parents, these are on-going conversations to have with your child over time, never just a once-and-done. 

I closely adhere to best practices for evaluation in psychology and education. However, eligibility for special education services is determined by an educational team (which includes you, the parent) as based on state and federal legal requirements. The team is supposed to consider outside evaluations, but they have no obligation to accept findings or recommendations. Further, it’s important to realize a clinical diagnosis is not the same as educational eligibility, and a school evaluation for services will involve a different system of requirements, of which psychological processing is just one.