Frequently Asked Questions

Please call (407) 677-4001 or (407) 414-8751. We have found that matching our providers’ availability, and office space, with your schedule works best by phone. We do not schedule via email, nor do we have an online scheduler. Our office Manager, Lewis Jones, will be happy to help you.

So sorry, at this time, we do not have providers available to do therapy or counseling.

Yes, for testing/assessment/evaluation only.

We typically see school age students, but can work with those as young as four and as old as 30. The young adults we see have educational referral issues, usually regarding college or professional licensure exams. We rarely see adults for mood/behavior/personality issues.

We offer several options, please see website pages offering “EXPLANATIONS”. If you are still uncertain, our office manager, Lewis, will be glad to listen to your concerns and recommend. Our “Comprehensive Evaluation” is designed to focus on the referral issues that concern you and typically includes IQ, achievement, attention (if needed) and cognitive processing strengths/weaknesses.

First, check to make sure that the evaluator has the needed degree/training. Then ask exactly what is included in the evaluation, to include names of tests. If you believe that your student needs formal accommodations at school, they need a formal diagnosis (ask the evaluator if they use DSM-5 or ICD-10 diagnosis codes). If there is a diagnosis, ask if the evaluator will write a formal Section 504 Plan for accommodations. We have found that some offices will only do the IQ test and claim that this is “comprehensive”.

No, this is not required in our office. We can do this for an additional charge if you wish. We find that when parents complete all paperwork thoroughly ahead of time, it is not needed, so we try to save you the additional charge. If your child has a complex medical and/or educational history, we would appreciate you creating a Word document summarizing the history and forwarding it with your other documents.

Students already stabilized on medication should stick to their routine and stay on them for the evaluation. If scheduled for a comprehensive evaluation, and your doctor concurs, you may bring them on medication on the first test date and not on medication on the second test date.

Yes, this is required legally in the state of Florida. If biological parents are no longer together, the parent who is registering should send the form to the absent parent electronically and obtain a signature to be sent to this office. Ethically and legally, this office needs to ensure that both parents consent for their student to be evaluated in a psychologist’s office. If legally separated or divorced, please send a copy of the pertinent page of the parent agreement regarding custody showing which parent has medical/educational decision-making power for the student. If adopted, or you have guardianship, please submit that document.

We value clarity in communication, so give you documents with our office policy, financial agreements, expectations about timelines, etc. ahead of time.

After you submit a deposit and determine the day/time for the appointment(s), Lewis, our office manager, will inform you of your evaluator’s name. You will then receive a confirmation email: WELCOME AND REGISTRATION FORMS. This email will have a document (the last attachment) named WELCOME LETTER. In that document will be your demographic information, your day/time/costs of appointment(s), and your provider’s name, phone number, and email address. If you are making the appointment without the other parent being involved at the time, we recommend that you forward a copy of the welcome email with the registration forms (with office policies), welcome letter, and questionnaires to them. They then will also be appropriately informed and may choose to complete the documents independently for submission. Although we typically only request that one parent complete the online ASEBA, you may request another form be sent for the other parent to complete. On occasion, grandparents have also completed forms and questionnaires.

A feedback session in our office is when the evaluator and parent (or adult client) meet to go over the results of the comprehensive testing and have an opportunity to ask questions. The IQ testing has a feedback session on the same day as the testing, then the written report is mailed to you. The academic testing results are available in the form of a printout of scores on the day of testing; if you need a written report, it is 5 to 7 business days, and an additional charge. If you wish for a feedback session following an academic test, there will be an additional charge. The comprehensive evaluation feedback session is approximately two to three weeks after the last day of testing. At that time, you will receive a printed report in a presentation folder and a finalized invoice sufficient for submission to insurance. If there is an allowable diagnosis code, the insurance company may reimburse to you.

Yes, for select feedback sessions, but ideally not for testing. We have done so during COVID or for families living outside of Florida, but that is the exception. Face-to-face testing is preferred.

As you may imagine, very young children often are uncomfortable being “dropped off” at a new location. Please plan to stay. This allows your student the comfort of checking in with you on “breaks” but also gives the evaluator time away. These are very short 5-minute “breaks”. If our evaluator needs to use the restroom and no parent is there to supervise, the child would be left alone in a strange building, which is not preferable or ethical. If your student is at least 16 years old, then dropping them off will likely work out fine.

Yes, this is required both ethically and legally. A biological parent or a legal guardian must accompany the student at the beginning of the first testing appointment. If your child is age 16+, the parent may leave after the rapport-building session (usually 15 minutes to ½ hour). The student may be accompanied by a relative or family friend on subsequent appointments. If you drop off, please give us the contact information for anyone arriving later or picking up.

No, the report belongs to you, the parent, or the adult client. This office warehouses the report for a minimum of seven years, but we do not release it to anyone else unless you instruct us, in writing, to do so.

It is possible that there may not be a diagnosis. Be assured that even if there is not, you will receive a report that describes your child in such a way that you, teachers, and tutors will have insight into how they learn (if learning is the issue of concern), or how to modify behavior management (if behavior is the issue of concern), or other specific information to assist you.

On the academic testing, you are given a computer printout of results that day; if a written report is needed, it will take 5 to 7 business days, at additional cost. This is the same timeline for an IQ report with no additional cost. For the Comprehensive reports, it takes 2 to 3 weeks before the feedback session is scheduled. Although we prefer to do these sessions in the office, we can do them by Zoom.

Depending on provider availability, we offer weekdays, weekends, and some holidays.

We prefer to see children under 10 years of age at the beginning of the day, 9:00 or 9:30 start times; older students do well at the 1:00 pm appointment time. We do not test in the late afternoon or evening.

Some families are attempting to gain a report to obtain accommodations for SAT/ACT or school placement. Often these institutions demand that they receive the finalized report at least one month prior to the test/placement. It often takes two to three weeks to obtain an evaluation date in this office from the time of your call/deposit, then allow 2 to 3 weeks after the last testing session to obtain the final report. Then allow at least a week to submit to the institution prior to the need. In summary, when you call, allow at least two months prior to your deadline.

Dr. Eppes is a Doctor of Psychology and licensed both at the Doctorate level as a Psychologist, and also is licensed as a School Psychologist. She additionally has training in neuropsychology. All other providers are licensed at the Master’s or Specialist’s levels as School Psychologists. Some are also Certified School Psychologists through the Florida Department of Education and some are employed by local school systems during the work week. All of us have been School Psychologists for public school systems and/or have been classroom teachers so understand how to write reports for schools.