Clinical Services

Types of Assessments

A common approach to evaluations is “diagnosis-driven”, meaning that a specific diagnosis, such as ADHD or dyslexia, is the only aspect being considered. The BNS approach to assessment is to provide a holistic approach to understanding your child, which may yield a diagnosis (e.g. ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities, anxiety, etc.) but it will certainly include insights into overall profile.

Here are descriptions of the broad categories of evaluations we offer:

Neurodevelopmental

(early childhood)

Geared toward the youngest of our community (18+ mos.), Dr. Hutchison’s approach to working with youngsters is to understand their individual strengths and opportunities for growth while recognizing the wide range of what is typical for early development. These evaluations can address questions related to language, cognitive, behavioral, emotional, or social functioning.

Neurocognitive

(preschool through adulthood)

Focused on school-aged children and adolescents as well as college-aged young adults, this type of assessment examines intellectual functioning and comprehensive academic (i.e. psychoeducational) skills while screening for other cognitive functions that could impede school performance, such as attention, language skills, visual processing, executive functions, and emotional factors.

Neuropsychological

(elementary school-aged through adulthood)

This is the most comprehensive evaluation of brain-behavior functioning that thoroughly evaluates intelligence, scholastic achievement, processing, oral language skills, visual spatial awareness and integration, learning and memory, attention-concentration, executive functions, motor abilities, and social-emotional functioning.

Additional Offerings

Independent Evaluations for school districts to inform a student’s learning needs
Standardized intelligence and academic testing batteries for school admission requirements or scholarship applications
Evaluations to assess for specific academic accommodations, such as extended time
Specialized evaluations for disability services in Pennsylvania or New Jersey