Assessment private practice / learning child assessment

[Carson_Tay]

I'm currently in my 2nd year of a post-doc in neuropsychology. I was hoping to learn how to do testing with younger individuals but the rotation got taken out due to a supervisor leaving.
I have minimal child assessment experience (most of my experience is with 16yo and up) and i ultimately want to go into private practice.
Is it possible to learn to do a child cognitive assessment (ADHD, LD, etc.) once out of training (i.e., CE, Workshops, etc.), or will I need to find another post-doc if I still want to get that experience?
Is being able to conduct cognitive assessments of adolescents/children necessary for private practice assessment work?

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[WisNeuro]

I'm currently in my 2nd year of a post-doc in neuropsychology. I was hoping to learn child assessment but the rotation got taken out due to a supervisor leaving.
I have minimal child assessment experience and want to go into private practice.
Is it possible to learn child assessment once out of training or will i need to find another post-doc if i still want to get that experience?
Is child assessment necessary for private practice assessment work?

Do you plan on doing child assessments in private practice? if so, yes. Unless you are ok with greatly increasing your liability risk.

 

[R. Matey]

I don't know what's meant by 'child assessment', but I imagine you could pick up some supervision in a child-focused clinic.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Do you have any experience with pediatric neuropsych up to this point? If not, I would say that you'd want at least another full postdoc focused solely or primarily on that to be approaching competence. Even if it's "just" psychoeducational assessments you're wanting to do, and you've done a fair number of those with adults already, I would say you'll still want some type of supervision arrangement for the first year or so.

Working with kiddos is a different world. Hence the creation of separate board certification in pediatric neuropsych.

 

[ClinicalABA]

All depends on what you mean by "child cognitive assessment." You can ethically learn to and actually administer cognitive tests for children (e.g., WPPSI/WISC, Stanford Binet, Bayley) outside of formal pre- or post-doc training. I did/do. Not all testing (including cognitive) is "pure" neuropsych, in the sense of looking to identify the type and/or consequences of brain damage (and I know that's not ALL you guys do). I use a variety of norm-referenced cognitive tests (and language tests, sometimes even motor skills tests), as well as criterion-referenced social-communication batteries (ADOS-2; VBMAPP) for purposes of differential diagnosis of developmental delays. I sometimes even use some basic "neuropsych" tests (e.g., NEPPSY subscales), though rarely as I now focus on children under 2.5 years old. I've also done cognitive testing as part of educational evals. We have 4 psychologists in our testing practice. O ly one identifies as a "neuropsychologist" with appropriate post-doctoralmtrqining 5o do so. Two others focused on diagnosis and testing (ASD and educational testing) during pre- and post-doc. The other (me!) did adult outpatient and behavioral school consult during pre-doc and didn't even do a formal post-doc (but got postdoctoral supervision in an autism private school and adult residential programs). Of the tests I now regularly administer (ADOS-2; Bayley-4 cognitive, language, and motor; WPPSI-IV; CASL-2), I only had formal training on the ADOS-2 before coming to my current agency. I did have a background in educational testing, with extensive experience in ABA and behavioral assessment as well as OBM and management, which made it worth it to hire me and give me extensive supervised experience (on their dime!) In the specific instruments I would need to use.

And, as a point of clarification- there really is no supported (either by the research or by insurance companies!) cognitive or neuropsych testing for ADHD.

 

[borne_before]

Do you have any interest in childhood assessment? Knowledge of the state's Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Division? Any idea on how to get a school to follow recs?

If the answer is "no" to any of the above, I'd focus on adult land.

 

[PsyDr]

Something to consider for PP in pediatrics: Your record keeping requirements does not end in retirement. If you retire at 65, and your last evaluation is a 3 year old, you (or your estate) have to maintain those records well into your 80s.