Psychological Testing

Phoenix Outdoor employs a full time Ph.D psychologist to conduct in-depth psychological testing as an optional service. For an additional fee, these integrated tests provide a comprehensive assessment of your child's psychological, cognitive, and behavioral functioning. Testing is often a requirement for therapeutic boarding schools and is an excellent means to augment the clinical observations made by the therapists.

Testing can identify the correlation between how a student learns and his or her behavioral issues. A student's difficulty with learning issues can lead to behavioral problems with the reverse also being true. Often, psychological issues can impair how well a student may score on traditional IQ and achievement tests. If the child has psychological issues that continue to worsen, he will continue to do poorly in school. Students that have a difficult time learning, and whose learning issues goes unrecognized, may continue to act out due to frustration and lack of achievement.

Comprehensive testing is also a valuable tool in the treatment process. The testing data is used to confirm and broaden the observations of the therapists, as well as uncover issues that may have been overlooked. This greatly accelerates the therapist's understanding of a student's underlying issues leading to a more in-depth understanding and increasing the therapist's effectiveness. In addition, each assessment helps to identify a student's motivations and uncovers any attempts to misdirect the therapist by telling them what they want to hear vs. the reality of the situation.

An in-depth assessment can also be an essential element in considering the student's placement after Phoenix. By choosing a placement that specifically addresses the unique needs of the student, parents can continue to provide their student with the appropriate help and support needed to continue the process of developing tools needed for a healthy and successful life. In addition, many aftercare programs require psychological testing prior to admission.

Each assessment includes the following tests:

• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (WISC-IV) /Wechsler Adut
• Intelligence Scale-III(WAIS-III)
• Woodcock-Johnson-III Tests of Achievement (WR-III)
• The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory- Adolescent (MMPI-A)
• The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI)
• The Rorschach Inkblot Test
• The Sentence Completion Test

Additional tests may also be utilized when needed. In the event a student may have recently participated in some part of the tests that Phoenix conducts, tests can be modified in order to take recent test results into account. Testing usually occurs after a student has been at Phoenix Outdoor for approximately two to three weeks. The psychologist will meet with your student for approximately five hours. Once testing has been completed, the psychologist will call you and any referral source within two business days to give you feedback about the testing results. A detailed written report will also be prepared and will be sent within two weeks of completing the testing.