THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2023 75 Chad C. Nelson, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Baltimore County, Maryland. He specializes in the evaluation of learning, attention, and emotional disorders in children, adolescents, and young adults. He can be reached at chad@drchadnelson.com. EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT Discovering and evaluating strengths and weaknesses in learning can help a child succeed. BY CHAD C. NELSON A PARENT’S GUIDE TO Psychoeducational Assessments ISTOCK.COM/ATLAS STUDIO I n 2013 I wrote an article for The Foreign Service Journal to inform parents about the process and benefits of psychoeducational evaluations. While the process of psychoeducational assesments remains similar 10 years later, there have been some changes. This article will once again discuss the psychoeducational evaluation, as well as the changes that have occurred and what is anticipated in the years ahead. Academic struggle can occur throughout a child’s education. For younger children, struggle may occur in acquiring early concepts of reading and mathematics; they may have difficulty with attending to and understanding directions, or difficulty with social interaction. For older students, difficulty may occur in the areas of reading Editor’s Note: Given that FS families move every few years, they are regularly looking at new school options and figuring out how to meet the learning needs of their children. Many parents find that at some point their child could benefit from psychoeducational testing to help determine the individual learning styles or accommodations needed to help the child succeed. A decade ago, we commissioned an article from Dr. Chad Nelson on what Foreign Service families need to know about psychoeducational evaluations. That article, published in The Foreign Service Journal December 2013 Education Supplement, turned out to be an excellent resource for families, both inside and outside the Foreign Service. It has been read online more than 50,000 times and remains one of the most-read FSJ articles every month. At the 10-year mark, we asked Dr. Nelson to revisit the article and offer an update on what’s changed, and what hasn’t, during the past decade. Here’s his response.
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