Clarity changes everything.

A psychological evaluation is the broadest assessment we offer. It’s the right starting point when you need a comprehensive picture rather than answers to a single question, when your child has complex, overlapping, or hard-to-name concerns that haven’t been fully explained by previous assessments or treatment.

A comprehensive psychological evaluation typically includes cognitive and intellectual assessment, emotional and behavioral measures, clinical interviews with parents and the child, review of records, and integration of findings into a cohesive diagnostic picture with treatment recommendations.

ADHD is one of the most common, and most misunderstood, diagnoses in children and teens. A thorough evaluation goes well beyond a rating scale and a 20-minute appointment. We assess attention across multiple settings, rule out overlapping conditions like anxiety and learning disabilities that can mimic ADHD, and evaluate executive functioning in depth, because two children with the same ADHD diagnosis can have very different profiles requiring very different support.

Our evaluation includes cognitive testing, continuous performance tasks, parent and teacher rating forms, clinical interview, and a detailed report with school accommodation recommendations where indicated. We evaluate both children and adults, see our Adult Evaluations page for adult ADHD testing.

Autism looks different in every child, and it can look very different from the outdated picture many people carry. Girls, highly verbal children, and children who have developed strong masking strategies are frequently missed or misdiagnosed. Our autism evaluations use the ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule), the most rigorously validated autism assessment instrument available, alongside cognitive assessment, adaptive behavior measures, developmental history, and clinical observation.

We evaluate children as young as 18 months through adolescence. We also see families who received an autism diagnosis elsewhere but want a second opinion, or whose child has a diagnosis that no longer seems to fit as they’ve grown. For adult autism evaluation, see our Adult Evaluations page.

When a child is working hard but still struggling to read, write, or do math at the level expected for their age and intelligence, a learning evaluation finds out why. We assess reading fluency, decoding, phonological processing, written expression, math calculation, processing speed, and working memory, the full picture of how a child takes in and uses academic information.

A learning evaluation is often what families need after a school evaluation has come back inconclusive or has identified a problem without fully explaining it. Our reports include specific, practical recommendations for school accommodations, tutoring approaches, and classroom supports, not just diagnostic labels. We evaluate for dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, auditory and visual processing disorders, nonverbal learning disability, and other specific learning disabilities.

Gifted testing at CCFC is about more than getting into a program. Understanding your child’s intellectual profile, their strengths, their processing style, where they’re advanced and where they’re typical, helps parents and teachers provide the right level of challenge and support. Boredom and underchallenge in gifted children is real, and its effects on motivation and behavior are often misread as something else entirely.

We use the most current Wechsler intelligence scales and provide documentation for HISD gifted program eligibility, private school admission, and other placement decisions. We also evaluate twice-exceptional (2e) children, those who are gifted and also have a learning difference or ADHD, and our evaluations are designed to capture the full complexity of that profile.

Sometimes families come to us with a stack of prior evaluations and a child who still doesn’t quite fit any of the diagnoses they’ve been given. Or a child whose diagnosis made sense at age 7 but doesn’t seem to explain things as well at 14. Diagnostic clarification evaluations take a fresh, comprehensive look with current instruments and integrate everything we know about your child into a cohesive picture.

This evaluation is also useful when a child has overlapping presentations, anxiety and autism, ADHD and a learning disability, giftedness and emotional dysregulation, and the existing diagnostic picture isn’t guiding treatment effectively.

Pre-adoption is exciting and nerve-wracking. There’s a lot of paperwork, a lot of decisions, and a lot of feeling like you’re under a microscope. We’ve guided many families through this and we know how to make it feel less stressful, while still meeting the rigorous documentation requirements your agency needs.

Most adoption agencies, domestic and international, require a psychological evaluation of prospective adoptive parents as part of the home study process. Requirements vary by country and by agency, sometimes by the unique needs of the child you’re hoping to adopt. We have experience providing reports to several countries and adjust our process accordingly.

The evaluation includes thorough interviews with both prospective parents, psychological and readiness testing, and discussion of your knowledge about the developmental and emotional adjustments adopted children may experience at different ages. Total assessment time is 3–4 hours, spread over 1–2 days. Your written report is delivered in 2–3 weeks.

Post-adoption support: Once your child is home, we’re available to help with attachment, transitions, and any adjustment concerns that come up, for your child, for you, and for your whole family.

Kindergarten readiness testing helps families make informed decisions about school entry timing, program placement, and early support needs. We assess cognitive development, language skills, pre-academic readiness, fine motor skills, and social-emotional development, giving you a complete picture of where your child is and what, if anything, they might benefit from before starting school.

This evaluation is useful for families considering whether to hold a child back a year (redshirting), whether early intervention services are warranted, or whether a child is ready for a specific school’s academic program.

College Board, ACT, and most standardized testing programs require current psychoeducational documentation to grant accommodations such as extended time, separate testing rooms, or use of assistive technology. Our evaluations are written to meet the documentation standards required by these organizations and include the specific clinical information needed to support an accommodations request.

We also offer accommodations evaluations for adults, for graduate school entrance exams, professional licensing exams, and workplace accommodations. See our Adult Evaluations page.