PHOTO CREDIT: Werner Pfennig
On Episode 321…
This episode features three psychologists from Rebecca School in New York City who discuss how psychological assessments can better reflect the true abilities of neurodivergent children when viewed through a DIRFloortime® lens. They explain that traditional testing often measures a child’s ability to tolerate unfamiliar environments, demands, and sensory challenges rather than accurately capturing their cognitive strengths. Our discussion challenges long-standing assessment practices and offers a more respectful, relationship-based alternative.
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This Episode’s Guest
Ava Needle is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist with degrees from Columbia University who works with neurodivergent individuals at Rebecca School.
Lyndsey Gillespie is a 4th year PsyD candidate at Touro University in Manhattan and completed her dissertation on program evaluation.
Dr. Christine Moyle is a Licensed Psychologist with degrees in clinical child psychology and is a clinical supervisor at Rebecca School. Her main role is at Ridge Psychological where she does evaluations and therapy for mostly neurodivergent children and adolescents.
The Problem with Traditional Testing
I introduced our topic this episode by discussing how many Autistic children are assessed in unfamiliar clinical settings by people they have never met, often under significant pressure to complete structured tasks. I shared my own experiences with my son’s repeated assessments that described my child as “difficult to assess,” despite knowing that these reports reflected the testing environment more than the my son’s true abilities. Such conclusions often underestimate children’s potential because they fail to account for regulation, comfort, and relationship, my guests pointed out.
Accommodating the Child, Not Changing the Test
Rather than altering standardized assessments themselves, the Rebecca School team explains that they adapt the testing environment so children can fully access the tasks. This may include allowing children to sit on swings, therapy balls, beanbags, or the floor, using sensory supports, scheduling additional breaks, or spreading testing over multiple sessions. These accommodations preserve the integrity of the assessment while reducing unnecessary barriers that interfere with performance.
Regulation Comes Before Assessment
Central to their approach is Functional Emotional Developmental Capacity (FEDC) 1, where they consider the child’s regulation and sense of safety. Before expecting a child to demonstrate cognitive abilities, they focus on supporting the child to feel calm, comfortable, and connected. Music, preferred sensory activities, familiar people, movement, and flexible scheduling all become part of preparing a child to participate successfully in testing.
Building Relationships Before Asking for Performance
The team emphasizes that meaningful assessment depends upon first establishing engagement and shared attention (FEDC 2). If a child cannot comfortably engage with the examiner, the test results cannot accurately reflect their abilities, Dr. Moyle emphasizes. Rather than forcing participation, they pause testing when necessary and gather additional information through classroom observations, parent interviews, teacher input, and repeated opportunities to interact with the child over time.
Looking Beyond the Numbers
The team pointed out that assessment scores represent only a snapshot of one moment in one setting. IQ scores and standardized test results should never be viewed as predictions of a child’s future potential or limitations. Instead, they are only one piece of a much larger developmental picture that must include the child’s relationships, interests, daily functioning, learning style, and capacity for continued growth.
Writing Reports That Reflect the Whole Child
Rather than focusing primarily on deficits, the Rebecca School team intentionally writes strength-based reports that describe who the child is as a learner and person. They carefully document qualitative observations, explaining thoughtful responses that standardized scoring may not fully capture. This allows families and professionals to understand not only what a child struggled with during testing, but also the many ways they demonstrated competence, creativity, curiosity, and understanding.
Moving Beyond the Medical Model
We talked about how many traditional assessment practices remain rooted in deficit-based and ableist perspectives. Lyndsey advocates for a neurodiversity-affirming approach that recognizes Autistic development as nonlinear and highly individualized. Instead of asking how a child compares to a predetermined developmental pathway, we should be asking how to understand that child’s unique profile of strengths, challenges, and learning needs.
Understanding Patterns Instead of Labels
We covered how cognitive testing becomes most useful when it identifies patterns rather than simply generating an overall score. Looking at strengths and differences across areas such as verbal reasoning, visual-spatial skills, processing speed, and executive functioning helps professionals better understand how a child learns and what kinds of supports will be most effective in daily life.
Recognizing Biases Within Standardized Tests
Ava and Lyndsey pointed out many limitations of standardized assessments, including cultural bias, educational experiences, language demands, and rigid scoring criteria. Children often provide logical, meaningful answers that nevertheless receive no credit because they do not match the exact response required by the scoring manual. These examples illustrate why qualitative interpretation is essential alongside numerical scores.
Using Assessment to Guide Support
Rather than viewing assessment as simply assigning diagnoses or scores, it is described as a roadmap for supporting the child. By identifying how a child learns best, professionals can recommend classroom accommodations, therapeutic supports, preferred learning methods, environmental modifications, and ways to build upon the child’s interests and strengths. The goal is to create practical recommendations that improve everyday participation at home, school, and in the community.
Collaboration Across Disciplines
DIRFloortime® emphasizes close collaboration among psychologists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, teachers, and families. Assessment findings become part of an interdisciplinary plan in which each professional contributes to supporting the child’s development through play, meaningful activities, and relationship-based learning rather than isolated skill training.
Partnering with Families Throughout the Process
Parents are viewed as essential members of the assessment team. They talked about the significant time they spend learning from families before testing begins, observing children in natural settings, consulting with teachers, and maintaining ongoing communication throughout the evaluation process. Their goal is for assessments to become collaborative experiences that help families feel understood, respected, and hopeful rather than discouraged or judged.
Making Psychological Assessments More Human
We concluded with practical suggestions for clinicians who may not have access to specialized environments like Rebecca School. Small adjustments, Dr. Moyle shares, such as modifying lighting, offering sensory tools, allowing movement, using exercise balls, scheduling multiple shorter sessions, and observing children in familiar settings can make assessments significantly more meaningful. Lyndsey encourages psychologists to approach every evaluation with flexibility, curiosity, and humility so that assessments truly reflect the whole child rather than simply measuring their ability to cope with an unfamiliar testing situation.
This episode’s PRACTICE TIP:
Let’s check in with the environment our kids are in when we think they are lacking in ability.
For example: The next time your child struggles with a task, pause before asking, “Can they do this?” Instead ask, “What might they need to feel safe, regulated, and understood enough to show me what they can do?”
Thank you to Ava, Lindsey, and Christine for this valuable discussion. If you found this episode helpful and informative, please consider sharing it on social media!
Until next time, here’s to choosing play and experiencing joy every day!
