ABSTRACT

The evaluation of neurodevelopmental disorders requires consideration of multiple legal, strategic, and data-gathering factors. Diagnostic interviews lead to the selection of helpful questionnaires and the choices between an ever-growing arsenal of tests and measurements. Evaluations need to look beyond test scores and data, however, to ask how the scores were obtained. Clinicians must address the reliability and validity of their findings and ask whether the child may have produced non-credible findings secondary to non-test factors. Common errors in assessment can be avoided if acknowledged, and the outcome of the process should answer the questions originally asked by referral sources and caregivers.