Assessment and Evaluation

The purpose of an evaluation is to gather all of the pieces of the puzzle and make sense of them. Every individual is different, and although standardized assessments are used in many cases, they are used as one data point in the puzzle. Evaluations are conducted to connect the dots across multiple data points. This may be through direct assessment, direct intervention and support, review of information available, professional development, collaboration or advocacy.

Assessment in education

I work directly with children and families, schools, districts, or agencies to complete evaluations for students who may be gifted, who may have a disability and may require special education services, and/or who may require an FBA and/or BIP. I can help to educationally diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, both from a medical model and educational model. I can also serve as a provider for an Independent Education Evaluation (IEE). I work with adults in college or in the work force to determine if there accommodations needed.

When working directly with families, I do not accept insurance. I do accept HSA/FSA credit cards. I also can provide a statement to submit for out of network benefits, but I cannot guarantee reimbursement.

As I currently work full time during the day, all evaluations or services will occur after my normal work hours. I conduct evaluations after normal school hours, in my office or in local public libraries if you cannot travel to my office. This means students do not miss time from their classes to complete evaluations. I not travel to families' homes to conduct evaluations.

When travel is possible, I will travel across Colorado, and have conducted evaluations in areas such as Lamar, Grand Junction, Fort Collins, and Alamosa.

I may also contract with other professionals, which will be made clear at the beginning of the evaluation process. Contractors have their own availability, and may or may not be willing to travel.

Do you have a need not mentioned here? Contact Georginia with your need and she can help determine if she can help your family, school, district, business, or agency. When emailing or leaving a voicemail, please provide as much detail as possible as to needs, timelines, location, and the best way to contact you.

Psychoeducational, psychological, and diagnostic assessments

Most evaluations are educationally based and often provide information for schools for educational purposes. Evaluations can be completed for toddlers, preschoolers, elementary, middle, and high schoolers, and adults. Special education, independent education evaluations, giftedness, Section 504, or general accommodations are a few reasons these evaluations are completed.

Georginia can work with individuals birth through adulthood to conduct cognitive assessments. Depending on the age and/or developmental level of the individual as well as the the reason for the assessment, a variety of informal, interview, or standardized assessments can be utilized to estimate cognitive ability. This can be to determine the existence of a Cognitive (Intellectual) Disability, Giftedness, baseline before treatment (e.g. chemo), effects of treatment, effects of a Traumatic Brain Injury/Concussion, etc.

Schools may require current academic achievement using standardized measures. Georginia can work with preschoolers (for pre-academic/school readiness/giftedness/early access) through college students to determine current academic achievement.

These comprehensive assessments often combine cognitive and academic assessments, as well as adaptive, social-emotional and executive functioning assessments to gather a picture of the individual as a whole. Social history (background information usually provided by parents) is often included in these types of assessments as well. These are typically diagnostic in nature, but may not result in a diagnosis.

An evaluation for Dyslexia includes assessments involving cognitive abilities, reading, writing, and sometimes even math, language abilities, and visual perceptual abilities. These assessments all help to rule out other causes of reading difficulties and determine exactly which parts of reading and/or writing are impacted. Georginia can assess students as young as 4 to screen for possible risk factors, as well as students in elementary, middle, high school or college, and adults in the work force in need of accommodations. Georginia is a member of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and on the referral list for the Rocky Mountain Branch of the IDA.

School districts usually complete an evaluation, but parents may not agree with all or part of the evaluation results. If this happens, parents have the right to request an IEE. School districts then have to decide if the evaluation completed was sufficient or to agree to the request. If the district believes their evaluation is sufficient, they will begin due process. If they agree to the IEE, they will provide you information on how to obtain this evaluation. I can provide an IEE for cognitive, academic, adaptive, and social-emotional assessments. This assessment would be provided free of charge to you. You must provide my information to the school before assessments are conducted.

Public, private, and virtual schools and districts may require help with assessments for students who may be considered gifted or who are seeking early entrance into school. Georginia's early childhood experience will be beneficial to helping your team determine gifted and/or early access eligibility. Parents may also be seeking a cognitive (IQ) evaluation to apply to different schools. Georginia can provide these assessments!

Georginia's experience spans the spectrum of Autism Spectrum Disorders from severely impacted to those who have developed a myriad of skills to be able to function relatively well and/or mask their difficulties. She has evaluated the cognitive, academic, social-emotional development, and executive functioning for students who are completely nonverbal to highly verbal who appear to mask their symptoms. She can assess for Autism to help determine the educational eligibility, as well as the medical diagnosis. Georginia currently is focusing these assessments on birth to 21 years.

Georginia's experience collecting data to determine the function of behavior, analyzing the data, and developing behavior plans individually and as part of a team to reduce problem behavior and teach replacement behaviors will help your students succeed.

Georginia can complete assessments covering early development with a focus on cognitive, social-emotional, adaptive, and pre-academic assessments for individuals birth through 5 years old. She is familiar with developmental milestones in communication and motor development as well as assessments that can screen these areas.