Counseling for Young Adults

Our counselors help young adults in their early 20’s navigate life transitions, setbacks, and relationship challenges.

Young adults are in transition in their 20’s. Your 20’s can be scary, lonely, overwhelming, and absolutely amazing. You are finding your footing in life, one step at a time. The pressures of career demands, finding a life mate, money concerns, adulting - navigating real life is hard, stressful work. The Mind Spot is here to help your walk through this journey.

How We Help Young Adults

If you are a young adult and feel like you could use a roadmap to better - please contact our office and let our staff find the right counselor fit for you. We are open and ready to help you find your voice, to help you thrive, and to create a roadmap for your future. It’s time to work on you.

Think you can’t afford it? We offer sliding scale rates. Let’s work together to find a fee that works with your budget.

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Common Counseling Topics for Young Adults:

  • Feeling lonely, alone, isolated

  • Internal struggles

  • Life direction

  • Changing jobs/careers

  • Sexual orientation/gender identity

  • Relationships/breakups

  • Addiction/Abuse

  • Depression

  • Anxiety

  • Eating Disorders

 
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Do you need help? Signs to look for:

  • Mood swings

  • Social isolation

  • Non-communicative with others

  • Excessive worrying and lack of care

  • Impulsive behavior such as shopping sprees, trips, sudden serious relationships

  • Can’t keep a job

  • Changes in appetite or sudden weight loss or gain

  • Signs of self harm

  • Acting out sexually

Counseling for Young Adults

Book your spot with us today!

Your spot for a healthy mind

Let’s talk!

Psychoeducational evaluations & Neuro-cognitive evaluations provided by Dr. Shannon Ackal

Shannon Ackal,

M.Ed, Ph.D, LP

 


We're delighted to welcome Clinical Neuropsychologist Dr. Shannon Ackal to The Mind Spot team. With seven years of experience in private practice and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Child Neuropsychology Program at Texas Children’s Hospital, Dr. Ackal brings invaluable expertise to our practice.

 
 

Psychoeducational Evaluations

Let us help you find the answers

As parents, we try to help our children as much as possible. Despite our best efforts, we may still see them struggling in some areas and it’s hard when we don’t fully understand why.

These struggles may occur at different times in a child’s development. During the preschool and elementary years, you may observe behavioral difficulties, struggles with acquiring basic academic concepts, difficulty understanding directions or difficulty with social interactions. In middle school, children may start to show difficulty with sustained focus, planning, organization, time management and task follow through. For others, the challenges may arise when the child is older in terms of reading comprehension, completing tests in the allotted time period, or attending to tasks. Older students are also more at-risk for experiencing mood disorders and heightened stress, which affects functioning across environments. 

How a Psychoeducational Evaluation Can Help

Psychoeducational evaluations play a vital role in identifying and understanding a student’s unique profile of strengths and weaknesses, thereby allowing us to target specific needs with tailored interventions. An evaluation offers an individualized process that uses a variety of assessment tools to develop a thorough understanding of your child’s cognitive, academic, and social-emotional profile.

Our goal is to provide you with answers to the “why” behind your child’s current struggles. We aim to provide a high quality experience that can provide meaningful, practical recommendations for you and your child.

The results of a psychoeducational evaluation can help you understand the learning style of your child. Assessments can also identify if your child struggles with problems like ADHD, anxiety and/or a learning disability. Understanding your child’s strengths, weaknesses, skills and abilities are extremely important to ensure that they are adequately challenged and/or gain access to the support they need to reach academic and social-emotional success.

How Do You Know If Your Child Needs to Be Tested?

Students are often referred for an assessment by their school, psychologist, or physician based on concerns related to learning, motivation or underachievement.

Every child is different in terms of their needs and abilities, but here are some signs that your child may need a psychoeducational evaluation:

  • If your child consistently studies hard but his/her grades don’t reflect the effort he/she is putting in.

  • If your child is clearly intelligent, but because of procrastination or poor planning/executive functioning skills, they struggle with turning in homework or assignments on time.

  • If your child’s teacher offers feedback that your child is easily distracted or has difficulty focusing in class.

  • If your child presents with any behavioral or emotional problems that are significantly impacting their functioning.

  • If your child’s achievement in one or two subjects consistently lags behind that of their same-age peers, despite strong performance in other subjects.

  • If there has been a recent change in functioning that is significantly impacting your child’s overall well-being and academic achievement.

The Process for Psychoeducational Evaluations

We know that psychoeducational evaluations are a big investment for your child and we are here to offer help and guidance every step along the way with this process.

Our evaluations involve these steps:

  1. Initial Parent Interview

  2. Planning/Selection of Tests

  3. Administration of Tests

  4. Test Scoring and Data Interpretation

  5. Report Writing

  6. Feedback Session

What to Expect at your Evaluation

All evaluations will have 3 appointments, which include a one-hour parent interview, 3–6 hours of testing (Reevaluation and Evaluations for College Testing Accommodations are approximately 3 hours, the Comprehensive Evaluation is approximately 6 hours of testing including breaks, lunch, etc.), and a one-hour feedback session. The final report will be available at the feedback session, which will be scheduled two weeks after the evaluation date.

Preparing for the Evaluation

It is helpful to prepare your child beforehand for the testing so they have an idea of what to expect. It is good practice to let your child know that many children undergo testing to see how best they learn. Ensure your child is well-rested and hydrated for testing day. Make sure your child eats a good breakfast the morning of the evaluation and avoids foods with a high sugar content. We will provide lunch, snacks, and water on the day of the test.

Insurance and Payment

Unfortunately, most insurance plans do not cover psychoeducational evaluations, but always check with your individual plan. We do not accept insurance, but we will provide superbills as needed so a client can submit for reimbursement.

How to Start the Evaluation Process

  • Contact The Mind Spot, via phone or email

  • Our team will walk you through the process and the steps to get started

  • Our team will help determine which type of evaluation is right for you or your child

 

Psychoeducational Evaluations Offered

Psychoeducational testing typically involves a comprehensive assessment of a student’s cognitive, academic, and social-emotional functioning. Evaluations involve administering various standardized tests, along with gathering historical information from parents, obtaining behavioral insights directly from the client, and utilizing parent and teacher rating scales. Your child’s scores on all the measures given are then compared to other students of the same age/grade level. 

Comprehensive Psychoeducational Evaluations

Our comprehensive evaluation helps to identify a student’s strengths, weaknesses, unique learning style, any potential learning disabilities, attentional challenges, or social/emotional needs.

Who is this for? 

This evaluation is highly recommended for all clients who have not been evaluated previously. Testing results will help answer diagnostic questions related to the presence of a learning disability (including dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia), ADHD, language disorders, as well as mood and behavioral disorders. 

This battery of tests will measure:

    • Intellectual Ability (IQ)

    • Visual-Motor Integration Skills

    • Attention Skills and Executive Functioning

    • Verbal and Nonverbal Short and Long-Term Memory

    • Language Processing

    • Fluency Skills

    • Academic Achievement in the Areas of Reading, Mathematics, and Writing

    • Emotional/Behavioral/Social Functioning

Neuro-Cognitive Evaluations

There are some specific instances in which a briefer, non-comprehensive evaluation may best suit a client’s needs. The battery of tests on these evaluations are tailored to the specific referral needs, but generally include measures of intelligence, attention skills, memory/executive functioning and emotional/behavorial/social functioning.

Some examples are:

Reevaluations

Once children have been diagnosed with learning differences, it is standard practice for schools to require a complete reevaluation within 3-5 years. Most often, for children who have an existing individualized education plan, schools require that for their 3-year revaluation, the student completes a full psychoeducational evaluation. However, in some cases where the presence of a learning disability has been previously ruled out, a briefer evaluation that does not include comprehensive academic testing may be sufficient. 

Evaluations for College Testing Accommodations

The briefer, non-comprehensive evaluation may also be appropriate for high school students requesting accommodations for college entrance exams (ACT, SAT, PSAT), who do not have a history of learning disabilities. It is quite common for high schools to provide accommodations for students with learning concerns. However, when it comes to standardized tests like those administered by the College Board, additional documentation may be required to ensure that the accommodations are appropriate and fair. 

Intelligence Testing/School Admissions

Our briefer, non-comprehensive evaluation may also be most appropriate for clients requesting IQ testing for private school admissions.