DR. SIEGEL ISN'T ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS 1-1-2022
AlanSiegelPhD@gmail.com
1) PSYCHOLOGICAL, NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL EVALUATION OF CHILDREN AND ADULTS FOR ATTENTION, LEARNING, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS (AGES 10-30)
2) TREATMENT PLANNING FOR ADHD, LD, PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
3) CONSULTATION, TRAINING, AND POSTGRADUATE CONTINUING EDUCATION
4)CONSULTATION ON CHOOSING SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, AND GRADUATE SCHOOLS WITH CONSIDERATION OF LEARNING DISABILITIES, ADHD, OR PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES.
What disorders does Dr. Siegel specialize in evaluating? Alan Siegel, Ph.D. has been helping children, families and adults for over 45 years and specializes in comprehensive evaluation of the following issues and conditions:
Learning Disabilities and Neuropsychological Disorders of all kinds including: reading, math, writing, academic fluency (speed), processing disorders including auditory and visual processing and learning and memory, receptive and expressive language processing disorders, developmental motor coordination, dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Attention and Executive Function Disorders including: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); Inattentive, Hyperactive-Impulsive, and Combined Types.
Psychological Disorders including: Depression, Bipolar Disorders, Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, Adjustment Reactions, substance abuse disorders, personality disorders, and psychosis.
Developmental and Social Communication Disorders including high functioning Autism (Asperger's)
*PROCEDURES AND REPORT STRUCTURE FOR DR. SIEGEL’S EVALUATIONS
What procedures and tests do I use for my comprehensive evaluation? Every evaluation I conduct includes:
1) HISTORY AND BACKGROUND: History, developmental and background interview with parents or with an adult patient combined with a review of all prior records.
2) RECORD REVIEW: A review of all academic, medical and psychological testing and reports, including school records, standardized test scores (SSAT, SAT, ACT, GRE, etc.), relevant medical records, and prior neuropsychological, psychoeducational, occupational therapy, or other evaluations or important records or reports.
3) COGNITIVE AND IQ TESTING: Cognitive testing is a crucial building block to an evaluation and reveals cognitive strengths and weaknesses with respect to verbal reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, auditory working memory and visual-motor performance speed. Cognitive testing almost always includes an IQ tests such as the Wechler IQ tests including: the WISC-V or WAIS-IV.
4) ACADEMIC TESTING: A comprehensive evaluation of academic achievement (reading, writing, math, academic fluency) is necessary to determine if a learning disorder is present. More specialized tests are administered to learn more about weaknesses and strengths. Examples of achievement tests I frequently use are WIAT-III, Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT-5) and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA-3).
5) ATTENTION AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING TESTS AND CHECKLISTS: are used to make a thorough assessment of attention and executive functioning and to rule out attention disorders and describe strengths and weaknesses in executive functioning. Examples of attention tests I frequently use include: the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA-Ch), Delis Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS), NEPSY-II Attention and Executive Function tests, as well as the Conners Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS) and the Conners C3 (Teacher, Paent and Self-Report versions).
6 ) SENSORIMOTOR AND VISUAL-MOTOR TESTING: are used to assess strengths and weaknesses and possible impairments in fine motor and graphomotor (pencil and paper) performance, speed and precision. To assess these issues, I frequent use the Beery Buktenika VMI drawing test, the Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT), the NEPSY-II Senorimotor tests, writing tests from the WIAT-III and some visual-motor performance and academic fluency tests from the WISC-V, WAIS-IV, as well as the Grooved Pegboard and writing samples.
7) VISUAL PROCESSING, VISUAL LEARNING AND VISUAL MEMORY TESTING: is used to determine if there is a visual processing disorder in taking in and learning new visual information and with visual learning, visual-spatial awareness, abstract visual perception, and visual memory. Tests to explore these issues include the NEPSY-II Memory and Learning and Visual subtests, the Wechsler Memory Scales (WMS-IV) the Rey Complex Figure Test, the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL) and subtests from the WISC-V and WAIS-IV.
8) AUDITORY PROCESSING, AUDITORY LEARNING, LANGUAGE PROCESSING, PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING, AND VERBAL MEMORY TESTING: It is important to differentiate auditory processing problems from ADHD, determine whether a language processing disorder is present and to determine whether phonological processing issues are contributing to learning difficulties or a language based learning disability. To assess these issues, I frequently use the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT-C or CVLT3), the NEPSY-II Memory and Learning subtests, the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-IV) and the TOMAL.
9) PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL FUNCTIONING: Behavioral disorders such as ADHD and psychological disorders such as Major Depression, Dysthymia, Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety, Panic Disorder, personality disorders, and Substance Abuse disorders are quite common. Many children and adults with learning and attention disorders also have mild to moderate anxiety or depression, which complicates accurate assessment. Therefore, it is always important to assess the impact of psychological issues as part of a comprehensive evaluation. In addition to in-depth interviews of children, adults, and parents, I administer a wide variety of psychological tests including the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI-2), the Millon Adolescent and Preadolescent Clinical Inventories, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Multidimensional Anxiety Scales for Children, the MMPI-2-RF and MMPI-A-RF, the Burns Anxiety Inventory the Rorschach Inkblot test,, and a number of other behavior, attention and psychological tests and rating scales.
10) SUMMARY OF ALL IMPORTANT RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The summary is the most important part of my reports. I analyze and synthesize the most crucial results, demonstrate how I arrived at my conclusions, make diagnoses and identify disabilities where needed, describe the strengths and weaknesses, learning style, multiple diagnoses where applicable, and convey the results in accessible language that will be helpful to the child or adult and their family and to guide other professionals and future evaluators.
11) DIAGNOSES AND DISABILITY STATUS: This is a brief section certifying any disability status that may be relevant now and in the future to secure academic accommodations in public and private schools, for standardized tests or for graduate entrance or professional license exams. This may also be relevant in documenting a disability status for an SST or IEP meeting. This section gives a concise summary of the basis for necessary academic, vocational, and test accommodations.
12) RECOMMENDATIONS: I provide extensive and very specific recommendations for the present and the future. These include detailed recommendations for classroom accommodations, recommendations for parenting and case management, special education services such as educational therapists or occupational therapists, the possible need for medication evaluations for ADHD, anxiety or depression, specific assistive technology equipment or services, psychological or behavioral therapies, social skills training and enhancement, strategies for enhancing memory and learning, guidance on selecting academic programs, school, colleges and graduate schools, community resources and relevant books and internet resources for further research.
13) RESOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: I personalize a list of resources for each evaluation and encourage parents and patients to empower themselves through research including books, websites, community resources and medical, psychological, and special education resources in the community.
*BENEFITS OF COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATIONS:
What are some of the uses and potential benefits of a comprehensive evaluation combining psychological, psychoeducational, and neuropsychological assessment techniques?
A comprehensive evaluation is crucial for:
Accurate and thorough evaluation of ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Sensorimotor Problems, Developmental Disorders and Psychological Disorders including multiple or overlapping conditions.
Establishing a detailed treatment plan that may include many specific and detailed recommendations designed to improve academic success and treat and alleviate problems with attention, developmental and psychological challenges including multiple issues.
Obtaining standard testing accommodations, such as extra time or the use of a computer on tests such as the SSAT, ISEE, PSAT, SAT, ACT, GRE, LSAT, GMAT, MCAT, USMLE.
Obtaining classroom accommodations and securing a 504 Plan or Individual Education Plan (IEP) for students who need extra time, course notes, preferential seating, etc., in public or private schools or colleges or graduate schools.
Selecting private and public schools and colleges that are a good match for individuals with learning, attention or psychological challenges, and provide the highest level of support.
Helping parents, children and adults understand their strengths and weaknesses and their learning style so they can develop self-advocacy strategies using their strengths to compensate for their weaknesses.
Clarifying whether multiple conditions may be present such as ADHD and a learning disability or anxiety and understanding how multiple “comorbid” issues can be addressed as part of integrated treatment plan.
Establishing clear and detailed evidence of disabilities that will serve as baseline measurements to determine if progress is being and to determine the effectiveness of current treatment strategies.
Diagnosing learning disabilities in writing, math, reading, difficulties with auditory and visual processing and visual-motor performance.
Definitive diagnosis of attention and executive function deficits such as ADHD; including the Inattentive Type, the Hyperactive/Impulsive Type and the Combined Type of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Diagnosing psychological disorders such as depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), social phobias and other phobias, Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Acute Stress Disorder
Diagnosis of social skills deficits including nonverbal learning disorders (NVLD or NLD) and Asperger’s Disorder.
Evaluating the psychological impact of learning and attention disorders including avoidance, anxiety, lowered self-esteem, irritability and other emotional consequences.
Complex cases where more than one disorder is present such as learning, attention, and psychological disorders,
Cases where prior evaluations have been inconclusive or some important issues were not fully assessed.
Situations where an independent medical evaluation or expert testimony is needed in a legal case.
