Assessment and Diagnosis
Our assessment service is provided by experienced diagnosticians. We offer a range of services that include the collection of background information, standardized diagnostic interviewing and a review of collateral information to support this expert assessment.
General Diagnostic Assessment
Our general diagnostic consult helps to clarify your mental health struggles and provides a summary of important treatment recommendations.
Intensive ADHD Assessment
Our ADHD assessment aims to clarify the reasons you are struggling with attention and concentration using a standardized diagnostic procedure.
Psycho-Educational Assessment
Our psycho-educational assessment helps clarify problems with learning and provides important suggestions for related accommodations.
Assessments for a Variety of Needs
We offer different types of assessment based on your diagnostic, treatment and clinical documentation needs. A general diagnostic consult is suggested if you are seeking clarification of a diagnosis and recommendations for your next steps in treatment. More comprehensive assessments are needed if you are experiencing multiple mental health concerns, and if you are questioning the presence of ADHD and/or a learning disorder.
Standardized Intake and Diagnostic Interview
When we complete a diagnostic assessment we need to learn about your psychosocial background, the severity of your symptoms and your medical and psychiatric history. We do this by completing an intake assessment and asking you to complete a number of self-report measures. We then use a standardized diagnostic interview to assess your current symptoms and level of impairment to determine the presence of any diagnosable mental health conditions.
The Assessment and Diagnosis Process
The purpose of our diagnostic service is to assess for the presence of different mental health conditions using standardized diagnostic tools and self-report psychometric measures. This service will be most helpful when you are seeking clarification around your mental health concerns and clear treatment recommendations for school and/or work related accommodations.
A typical diagnostic assessment involves the following:
- Clinical intake interview with a Registered Psychologist and/or Registered Psychologist Under Supervised Practice, Ph.D. student or Psychology Resident (all working under the supervision of a registered psychologist).
- The Registered Psychologist completing and/or supervising the clinical interview makes the final determination with respect to assessing whether a diagnosis is appropriate or not.
- The diagnostic interview includes a full screen for a variety of mood, anxiety & personality related concerns, as well as ADHD or learning problems if needed.
- Completion and review of self-report symptom questionnaires
- 60-minute feedback session with a clinical psychologist and the assessor
- Brief letter or consult report with diagnostic results and follow-up treatment recommendations
- The face-to-face portion of the standard assessment will take approximately 3.5 hours.
When it makes sense to determine whether the presence of ADHD or a learning disability might be complicating and/or interacting with other mental health symptoms, we can also add cognitive testing and achievement testing for the completion of a more intensive assessment.
This type of service is usually covered for clients with extended health care benefits; however, we recommend that you follow-up with your insurance company to confirm this. Some insurance providers will request a predetermination letter prior to paying for services, which we are able to provide.
Frequently Asked Questions: Diagnostic Assessment
We understand that undertaking a psychological assessment can feel overwhelming. See below for the most frequently asked questions.
Most insurance providers will cover our services. As policies can vary, please check with your provider.
If you are experiencing multiple symptoms, or if you are wondering if you have ADHD or a learning disorder, then a full assessment is warranted.
We can complete a general diagnostic assessment for you if you are over the age of 65 years. If you require cognitive testing, however, we may redirect you to a neuropsychologist to investigate age-related changes in cognition as this is not an area of specialty within our clinic.
With the exception of autism, we can complete a general diagnostic assessment. It is possible that our recommendations may include ruling out other explanations for your symptoms (e.g. substance use).
Current prices for all our clinical services, including this assessment are listed on our Current Fees page.
