Counselors use tests and other assessment tools for a wide variety of reasons. The counseling profession began in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The first professional counselors were vocational guidance counselors who specialized in administering various tests, including intelligence and aptitude tests. At Mansfield Counseling, we continue to use and interpret such tests up to the present day.
We provide extensive assessments for individuals ages 8+. These comprehensive evaluations often meet the documentation guidelines for most schools, major universities, employers, social security administration, or places that you would request accommodations.
These tools allow clinicians to measure and understand a client’s behavior to arrive at a diagnosis and treatment plan.
The causation of a person’s problems isn’t always straightforward. Assessments allow a counselor to understand the nature of the problem and figure out the best way to address it.
Our team at Mansfield Counseling are licensed professional counselors (LPC) and licensed clinical social workers (LCSW) who have experience providing accurate mental health assessments and evaluations for a wide array of areas. We are proficient in many testing instruments used to accurately diagnose mental health, developmental disabilities, and academic difficulties. Our therapists are continuously developing their professional skills and actively stay updated on new testing tools.
Some of the areas we focus on with testing include:
ADHD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder affects 3-7% of all school-age children in the United States. Untreated ADHD symptoms can negatively impact the child’s school performance, social and peer interactions, and have a lasting impact on their self-esteem. A variety of tests are used to identify if a client has difficulty with sustained attention and concentration that impairs academic, social, or occupational functioning.
Personality
Personality disorders are enduring patterns of inflexible and maladaptive thinking, acting, and feeling that contribute to significant impairments in interpersonal and occupational functioning. Assessments can help distinguish between mood disorders and more entrenched personality disorders that may contribute to problems.
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders consist of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, cyclothymia, and dysthymia. We use various tests and assessments to identify mood disorder and quantify the level of distress to monitor changes over time. Tests are often used along with a clinical interview to accurately identify specific learning disorders and track mood symptoms’ progress over time.
Intellectual Functioning
Intellectual assessments provide verbal comprehension, working memory, perceptual reasoning, processing speed, and Full-Scale IQ scores to determine overall IQ scores then identify any discrepancies between verbal and non-verbal abilities. Visual or auditory processing learning deficits can often be recognized and using IQ tests.
Memory
Memory assessments look for the ability to recall immediate and delayed auditory and visual skills. Tests are administered to help determine dementia, ADHD, auditory processing deficits, and visual processing deficits. Memory difficulties and deficiencies can be recognized using assessment tools for memory, such as the Wechsler Memory Scale.
Learning Disorders
Academic assessment tests include subtests for mathematics, reading abilities, spelling abilities, and comprehension abilities and assess whether the client’s abilities are deficient compared to peers and overall IQ abilities. Specific learning disorders such as dyslexia, disorders of written expression (dysgraphia), or mathematics disorder (dyscalculia) can be determined using these assessments. These comprehensive evaluations often meet the documentation guidelines for most schools and significant universities when you are seeking accommodations or other resources for your student.
Career Assessments
We offer Career Assessments to help teens and adults discover what college and career opportunities they may excel in. Our career assessments utilize protocols that evaluate someone’s’ natural abilities, strengths, and help give the client a better idea about their aptitudes. We then provide a detailed report provided with the areas of strengths and career choices that are most suited for their strengths and educational recommendations that are best suited for their strengths and interests.
Forensic
We have specific expertise in evaluating both adults and children involved with the legal system. Services include comprehensive mental health evaluations for adolescents and adults involved in the criminal, civil, and family law legal systems.
Presurgical Clearance and Evaluations
We offer comprehensive mental health evaluations for those considering surgery, including assessments such as the Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic (MBMD) and extensive interviews. We want to help bariatric surgery candidates to identify their strengths or places you may need more support after surgery, such as depression or mood swings, or lack of family support or triggers for past emotional eating.
If you don’t see the testing domain you are looking for, contact us. We have a library of assessment instruments that can be used for a wide array of diagnostic concerns. Call us at 214-952-2324 to discuss your specific needs, and we can craft a plan to answer your questions.