EVALUATIONS AND SCREENINGS

 

Private Child Evaluations

What to expect at an evaluation:

Westchester Therapy Solutions provides comprehensive child evaluations that will answer your questions about your child’s functioning and development. A written evaluation will document your child’s starting point to allow parents to reflect back after their child’s progress. A full OT, PT, and/or Speech and Language evaluation is recommended if a parent wants to present their child’s scores to their local school district, or if a parent wants answers as to why their child is having difficulty in an area of function. The standardized testing used depends on your child’s age and functional ability. We take pride in our holistic evaluations and ensure parents understand results of the tests by reviewing our findings with you.

Understanding Child Evaluations

We offer standardized, comprehensive occupational therapy physical therapy, speech & language, and feeding evaluations. Standardized assessments are used to determine strengths and areas of weakness. The resulting scores provide you with a clear, objective view of your child’s capabilities. Your therapist will review the findings with you to ensure your understanding of all areas of your child’s functioning. You will receive a comprehensive report which will indicate if your child can benefit from therapy services or if your child does not need intervention at this time. If therapy is not indicated at this time, you will be referred to the right professional to best manage your concerns.

 

Private Child Screenings

What to expect at a screening:

Westchester Therapy Solutions also offers comprehensive private screenings if you are not sure whether or not your child would benefit from therapy. We have highly-trained therapists that can identify your child’s areas of need. Our therapists provide appropriate recommendations without needing a full evaluation. Standardized Assessments, while useful, are not always necessary in determining a child’s developmental status and the potential need for services.

During a screening, our speech therapists will analyze a child’s functional areas by assessing their communication including pre-linguistic behavior, the use and understanding of language, and the development of sounds and speech including articulation and fluency. Occupational therapists examine a child’s sensory systems to determine if they’re struggling with sensory modulation or sensory discrimination. We also have physical therapists look at a child’s physical development (gross motor) and determine if a child’s low muscle tone is interfering with play or participation in age-appropriate activities.

Parent’s prefer our cost-effective screenings to determine what is the best path forward with their child’s development. We help guide parents with their decisions to pursue private therapy, Early Intervention (EI), preschool services (CPSE), or school-based services (CSE).

 

School District Child Evaluations

What to expect from school district child evaluations:

WTS provides pediatric OT, PT and Speech/Language evaluations for our school district partners. Our evaluations follow school-based criteria that identifies measurable delays in academic functioning. Physical therapy evaluations assess whether a child is safe in their school environment and whether they can successfully navigate or maneuver through that environment. Occupational therapy evaluations assess a child’s fine motor dexterity, handwriting skills, tool use, ability to engage in perceptual motor activities (i.e. puzzles, manipulatives), spatial planning ability and how a child successfully spatially navigates the environment. Our Speech and Language evaluations assess a child’s understanding, use of language to communicate, ability to socialize (pragmatics), use of vocabulary, length of utterances, ability to follow directions, clear articulation, engagement in oral motor skills, and producing language intelligibly.

Standardized assessments are utilized to provide the school district and parents with scores that indicate a child’s ability to function within the school environment. The findings are taken into consideration with the teacher’s report and criteria for service. The evaluation presents an objective view of whether or not therapy is indicated academically.

“Our therapists use a variety of assessments, specific to their discipline to uncover a child’s strengths and areas of need.”

Westchester Therapy Solutions serves families throughout Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam Counties and the Bronx and works with school districts within Westchester County. If you believe your child may need an evaluation or screening for pediatric physical therapy, occupational therapy, and/or speech and language therapy services, please contact Westchester Therapy Solutions today.