Learning & Psychoeducational Evaluations

Academic difficulties can look very different from one child to another.

Parents or teachers may notice:

• Difficulty learning to read or reading accurately
• Slow, effortful, or hesitant reading
• Difficulty understanding what was read
• Persistent spelling difficulties
• Trouble organizing or expressing ideas in writing
• Writing that takes significantly longer than expected
• Difficulty learning math facts
• Trouble understanding mathematical concepts or solving problems
• Inconsistent academic performance
• Difficulty remembering previously learned information
• Slow work completion
• Avoidance or frustration with particular subjects
• A significant difference between what a child seems capable of and what they are producing at school

Some students struggle despite receiving intervention or extra help. Others maintain adequate grades by working significantly harder than their peers, relying heavily on parent support, or using strong reasoning abilities to compensate for underlying weaknesses.

A comprehensive evaluation can help determine what is happening beneath the academic performance you see on the surface.

Depending on your child's needs, evaluation may help identify:

Dyslexia & Reading Difficulties

Assessment can examine the different skills involved in reading, including word reading, decoding, phonological processing, reading fluency, and comprehension, to determine why reading may be difficult.

Dysgraphia & Written Language Difficulties

Writing difficulties can involve handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, written expression, organization, fluency, or the cognitive demands involved in translating ideas into written language. Evaluation helps identify where the breakdown is occurring rather than simply concluding that a child is "a weak writer."

Dyscalculia & Mathematics Difficulties

Assessment may explore calculation skills, math fluency, mathematical reasoning, problem solving, and underlying cognitive processes that may contribute to persistent difficulty with mathematics.

Gifted & Twice-Exceptional Learners

High cognitive ability does not protect a child from having ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, or another area of difficulty. In fact, strong reasoning abilities can sometimes allow children to compensate for weaknesses long enough for them to be overlooked. Evaluation can help identify both exceptional strengths and meaningful areas of need, providing a more accurate picture of a twice-exceptional learner.

School difficulties don't occur in isolation. For example, a student who takes hours to complete written assignments may struggle with written expression—or may know exactly what they want to say but become stuck trying to find the “perfect” wording. A child who appears inattentive during reading may have ADHD—or may disengage because decoding is unusually effortful.

The same behavior can have very different causes, and children can have more than one diagnosis. Our evaluations look beyond the difficulty we see on the surface to understand the why behind it and how different factors may be interacting. The goal isn't to force a child's difficulties into one category, but to develop an explanation that fits the whole pattern and leads to recommendations that address what is actually getting in the way.

Families who complete an evaluation at TLC have access to ongoing consultation with Dr. Savaiano at a reduced rate of $200 per hour, including support understanding and implementing recommendations and navigating educational needs.