What to Expect
Assessment Day (Comprehensive Assessment)
- Your day will begin at 8:45am with a tour of the clinic and an overview of the day’s schedule with your Clinical Care Coordinator. Throughout the day, you will have exclusive use of the family room, where you will be able to observe your child’s entire assessment over closed circuit video. Your visit will typically end around 4:00pm.
- During the morning, your child will work with a team of clinicians: a learning specialist and neurodevelopmentalist. The learning specialist (who has a Master’s degree or higher in education, teaching, or psychology) has a background in education and will do academic tasks with your child. The neurodevelopmentalist is either a licensed pediatrician or licensed psychologist and will pull from an array of neuro-psychological assessments to determine your child’s strengths and weaknesses across eight neurodevelopmental constructs. Breaks will be provided as needed.
- Your family will have a lunch break while your child’s team conferences, shares their observations with each other, and determines your child’s Learning Profile. Success in Mind is located within a vibrant campus and offers four family-friendly restaurants on-site.
- In the afternoon, your family will begin the process of demystification. This is when one or both of the clinicians will discuss your child’s strengths, affinities, and weaknesses with you and your child in an effort to provide a deeper understanding of how your child learns. Some preliminary recommendations will also be offered.
“I learned about how my brain works. Now I know why some things are easy for me and some things are hard.”
Report and Implementation Support
The process of demystification does not end after the assessment. You will receive a detailed report, including a Learning Plan specific to your child’s unique Learning Profile that will include specific recommendations that can be used at home and at school. Shortly after you’ve reviewed the report, you will have the opportunity to meet or talk with one of our clinicians to discuss any outstanding questions and to finalize the plan for implementing the recommendations. A call with your child’s teacher(s) can also be scheduled to answer any questions that they may have and to support you in advocating for your child.
Example schedule
We hope you and your child will have the opportunity to follow your typical morning routine before coming to the assessment.
| 8:45 - 9:00 | orientation, hearing, and vision screening |
| 9:00 - 10:30 | meet with learning specialist |
| 10:30 - 10:45 | break |
| 10:45 -12:30 | meet with neurodevelopmentalist |
| 12:30 - 2:30 | lunch |
| 2:30 - 3:30 | demystification |
Our office is located in downtown Durham, NC, approximately 20 minutes from the RDU airport.
Questions? Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about the appointment day.
