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n assessment at the LRC begins when parents fill in and return the LRC Application Package which includes detailed questions about the child and family. This is followed by a Parent’s Intake Meeting with a LRC professional, during which we review all information provided on the child and consider the questions and concerns posed by parents and schools.
At this time, families are strongly urged to provide us with additional information, such as, work samples, videos, school reports or copies of former assessments. Parents are an important part of the evaluation process. All the information they provide and their thoughts are important to the team’s understanding of the child.
After the Intake Meeting, parents are later provided with a written summary of this meeting and a proposed Evaluation Plan for their child including what type of testing needs to be done. The evaluation process is a series of steps that are needed to determine the child’s strengths, weaknesses and scholastic performance. The LRC uses a multi-disciplinary approach, in which staff works together whenever needed, in providing the child’s evaluation. As the Evaluation Plan is individualized for each child, some children are seen for a single primary concern, while others may present with multiple or complex needs, which require several assessments.
This Evaluation Plan will be discussed with parents, as it relates to needs, priorities, timing, and cost and agreed upon. Our assessment staff work closely together; thus, as children are seen and assessments are completed, staff may also discuss with parents changing the plan to drop, postpone or add assessments, depending on a child’s performance.
Our assessments can include measures of cognition, language, memory, academic skills, personal self-care skills, sensory integration and motor development, as well as social and emotional development or other special needs. We use testing materials that are up-to-date according to international standards, and our assessment staff is professionally qualified to use them.
Each assessment culminates in a parent conference and, usually a report, which includes a discussion of the assessment results and detailed recommendations relevant to the initial questions parents have asked. All parents are urged to attend this meeting and take the opportunity to both understand the assessment results and recommendations and to pose any additional questions.