If you have just been told that an assessment is needed, or you are holding a finished report and are not sure where to begin, this is the place to start. Whether you are a parent looking at your child’s results or an adult reading your own, the guides here map out what an assessment involves and what the different professionals actually do, so the process feels less like a maze and more like a path you can follow. The people who did the assessment own the clinical decisions. What you will find here is plain-language orientation, so you can understand each step and ask good questions along the way.
What You’ll Find Here
Two guides get you oriented before anything else.
Start with the map of the whole process. It walks through an assessment in plain language, from the first referral to the meeting where the results are explained, so none of the stages catch you off guard.
Download the handout
A one-page overview you can print or save, free and with no sign-up. The color version is best for reading on screen or printing in color. The print-friendly version is designed for clean black-and-white printing.
Then, if you are not sure which kind of assessment was recommended, this guide explains what a psychiatric and a psychological assessment each do, and which professional leads each one, so you know who you are seeing and why.
How This Connects
Once the report is in hand, whether it is your child’s or your own, here is where to go next:
- Making sense of the scores: understanding assessment scores
- The tests behind the scores: assessment tests
- When a diagnosis is named: understanding a diagnosis
- Put the report into action: the worksheet library
- Looking at support and services: the what’s next hub
- Browse every guide: the full guide directory