Taking your child to a psychological evaluation can sometimes feel scary for parents. For many other tasks or activities you take them to, you know pretty much what to expect. But if you’ve never had a child attend an evaluation or happened to have completed one yourself at any point, this may feel like completely unknown territory. To help familiarize you with what occurs in a typical evaluation, please review the general format of psychoeducational evaluations, gifted testing, or private school admissions testing, depending on your needs. But to prepare your child for any of these psychological assessments, try out the following tips!

How to prepare my child for a psychological assessment

1. Avoid using the word “test.”

Now I know I just used a variation of the word “test” more than a few times above, but I absolutely avoid this when speaking with children because it can incite some anxiety! For example, if your child is having challenges in school, and tests specifically, the idea of going to take another test can be daunting or overwhelming. This may cause significant stress that can impact their performance during the psychological evaluation. This applies too for children that have a tendency toward perfectionism or anxiety in general. They may wonder how they can study for the “test,” or feel unprepared, which, again, can impact their performance. Here’s some inside information. When meeting with children for a psychological assessment or IQ testing, we often introduce them to the tasks as “different things we’ll be doing today.” We let them know that some of it will be easy and some of it hard and that trying their best is all we ask. Feel free to use any of this wording as well if your child asks more questions!

2. Frame it to them as something you know won’t worry them or something they may even enjoy (without lying, of course!)

Essentially, a child psychological assessment is a doctor’s appointment involving activities! So if your child doesn’t mind going to the doctor or enjoys different types of activities (especially the learning kind), you can use either of those descriptions to explain it to them. Sometimes when doing the different psychological assessment tasks with children, they find it fun! There are puzzles, drawings, “playing” with blocks, story-telling, and some “silly” questions; plus, some kids like the overall challenge of the tasks. You can let them know any of this if you think it may be helpful to ease their concerns.

3. Stay away from online IQ tests or preparation sites.

This is probably the biggest one of them all! It is very important that children are not prepared via any form of “practice tests” prior to psychoeducational/gifted evaluations because this impacts the accuracy of the results in two possible ways. One, it can inflate their results, leading to a higher estimation of their abilities. While we typically love our kids to score the highest possible and want them to do the best on everything, getting higher “scores” on their psychoeducational assessment can interfere with the psychologist’s ability to understand what the child truly needs help with. It could also result in recommending a class placement that is too advanced for them, which can lead to a lot more challenges in school down the road! Two, it may tire them or lead them to feel too familiar with the tasks. So when they actually do the real IQ test, for example, they may not put forth their full effort. This can result in a lower estimation of their abilities, which we wouldn’t want either! So the bottom line: please, don’t waste your money or time on any preparation materials. We want our results to be the most accurate reflection of your child’s strengths and challenges, in order to give the best possible recommendations tailored just for them.

4. Do your typical school day/test routine!

Ensure that your child gets a good night’s rest and has a decent breakfast. You may also want to pack a lunch or snack for them in the case that you’re doing a full psychoeducational evaluation, since it can last up to four hours. We just want to make sure that they are alert and able to attend to the tasks at hand! And don’t worry; they’ll be given plenty of breaks as needed. In general, keep the bedtime/morning routine as normal as possible. You may also choose to let your child know in advance whether or not they will be going to school after the appointment, so they know what to expect.  

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Just remember, children are super adaptable, more than we even realize sometimes! A psychological evaluation is not unlike any task they’ve done before and they probably won’t even remember this down the line! So, as the parent, take a deep breath! We know that this process can feel intimidating as you await results, so make sure that you are taking good care of yourself too. For more information on child psychological assessments, check out our main page or contact us with any questions.