All students at DCTC have access to no-cost mental health care as well as assessments for ADHD, ASD, Math Learning Disabilities, and Dyslexia. The assessment process can take some time but, typically, does not have a waiting list like most of the community-based providers.

How It Starts

To get started, schedule a 30-minute intake appointment with Beth Pitchford via her Bookings link. This appointment can be in-person or via telehealth. In this appointment, you’ll share with Beth the reasons you’re curious about if you have ADHD/ASD/Dyscalculia/Dyslexia. She’ll explain the process and give you A LOT of paperwork to fill out. One of the most important documents is a questionnaire to be completed by someone who was an adult and knew you well when you were very young.

Early childhood developmental information is extremely important, especially for ADHD and autism evaluations. If you don’t have anyone in your life from that time, at your next appointment answer early childhood questions with as much detail as you can. Things to think about ahead of time: what was your favorite thing to do when you were little? Did you have friends? How did you get those friends? If you had a favorite toy, why was it your favorite? What did you do with your toys? What kind of games did you play by yourself? What kind of games did you play with other kids your age? What would upset you when you were little?

After the developmental history interview, Beth will take time to read, score, and compile the information to determine whether there is enough information to confirm or disprove a specific diagnosis. If the answer isn’t clear, Beth will contact you for further assessment. This may be for more questions, more screeners (paperwork), or an IQ test. It is important to know that IQ tests do not tell you how smart you are. Beth is looking for specific patterns in the results that are associated with specific diagnoses. IQ tests infamously are bad at reflecting the actual abilities of women, people of color, multilingual individuals, and neurodivergent individuals. But…the information can show us patterns and that’s all we really want.

Sometimes, the answer isn’t clear. Beth will still write you a report and make suggestions of how clearer answers could be found. Sometimes that may mean a referral to a community-based psychological assessment and sometimes regularly scheduled sessions with Beth will provide the opportunity for things you didn’t think were relevant to come to light.

It’s important that you finish the assessment process feeling heard, seen, and understood. If you get a diagnosis, it’s important that you understand how you meet the criteria for that diagnosis, know some of the strengths of that diagnosis, and where you may need specific support because of that diagnosis.

Questions about assessments? Email Beth!

TL;DR

1. Intake (30 minutes)
2. Paperwork (varies, at least an hour)
3. Assessment interview with Beth (1 hour)
4. Beth looks at all the info and either
   1. Writes a report or
   2. Contacts you for more information through
      1. IQ test
      2. Adaptive behavior information
      3. Other assessments

5. Ultimate result: you will get a written report with diagnostic information and how you fir or do not fit that criteria.

Your Time Commitment Breakdown for Assessments

Initial intake: 30 minutes

Paperwork: it varies – at least an hour for most people

Interview session: one hour

IQ test: 1 hour

Adaptive behavior assessment: 2 hours

Dyslexia test: full assessment is 4 hours; may only do specific subtests depending on identified difficulties; start with screeners

Dyscalculia test: 1.5 hours