FAQs

“Digital screenings” are essentially questionnaires that you complete online about yourself or another person. They include questions about behavior, thoughts, and feelings. The questions vary based on the particular screening measure selected.

Please email inbal@illinois.edu, and indicate which screenings you would like to complete. If you’re not sure, we will happily try to help you decide.

• Adults (age 18 or older) can complete self-report attention and executive functioning digital screenings.
• Adult observers, parents/caregivers, and teachers can complete attention and executive functioning digital screenings for other adults or children.
• Adult teachers can complete dyslexia digital screenings for children in kindergarten through third grade.
• Children and youth (under 18 years of age) can not complete self-report versions of screenings at this time, though we may expand our options soon.

Additional information about our screening measures can be found on our screening services page.

We will send you an email with specific instructions about next steps, which briefly include:

• Reading our Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP)
• Completing and returning a brief Client Identification Form, along with a photograph of government-issued ID (adults and parents of minor children)
• Signing and returning a Consent Form
• Completing an Authorization Form (if needed)

Then, we will send you (or the person you choose to complete the screening) the digital screening. Screenings can be completed at any time within one week on the device of your choice.

After the screening has been completed, we review the results and prepare a brief report. We will send you instructions about how to access results online via “Health Box,” which is the University’s vehicle for communicating private information.

The COVID-19 pandemic does not change the process of completing digital screenings. However, the current climate should be considered when completing the screening and interpreting results. Many people may experience difficulties with attention and/or executive functioning as a result of the stress associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

When completing digital screenings and thinking about the frequency of various thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, please try to keep in mind which were true before the pandemic, and which may have only emerged since the influence of COVID-19.

We recommend visiting the Children and Adults with ADHD website. They offer support groups and a great deal of information about the interaction between features of ADHD and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have received many requests for digital screenings and will work as quickly as possible to send you access to results. Please be patient with us, and feel free to get in touch at any time to check on the status of results.

Please note that we will prepare the screening results for you after we have received all the completed requested screenings for one person. For example, if you completed a screening about yourself, and requested input from an observer, we will wait to prepare the results until we have received both completed screenings.

Parents may pursue academic assessments for a variety of reasons. Some examples include:

• Understanding how their child’s learning is progressing
• Obtaining as much information as possible about their child’s academic strengths and weaknesses
• Deciding whether to pursue supplemental instruction/tutoring
• Deciding whether to pursue more in-depth assessment/testing
• Knowing how their child’s performance compares to same-aged peers
• Closely monitoring their child’s learning because a sibling or other family member has an identified learning problem
• Finding out whether their child’s apparent boredom with the level of work they are being asked to complete at school is due to advanced academic skills
• Informing course selection

Students who participate in our targeted academic assessments will be administered 11 subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, Fourth Edition, standard battery.

Aspects of reading, math, and writing will be assessed. The 11 subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, Fourth Edition, are listed below:

• Letter-word identification
• Applied problems
• Spelling
• Passage comprehension
• Calculation
• Writing samples
• Word attack
• Oral reading
• Sentence reading fluency
• Math facts fluency
• Writing fluency

Yes; but please find out which form your child was administered previously (i.e., Form A, B, or C), and the date of your child’s previous assessment. We recommend waiting at least one year between assessments of the same form. If your child was administered a different form, there is not a recommended length of time between assessments.

We estimate that most assessments will be completed within 1 1/2 – 2 hours. However, some children will finish much faster than others. Younger children will likely be finished in less than one hour, while older or more advanced students may take longer.

After your child completes the assessment, the examiner will score the results and submit them to the clinical director for review. A brief report with your child’s results will be prepared and available for you to pick up within one week. Results will not be available at the time of the assessment.

Yes. Because INBAL will be offering behavioral health services, we are obligated to follow appropriate regulatory guidelines. Children who are 12 years of age or older must provide consent to both administration of the assessment and to having their parents receive the results.

Please refer to our informed consent form, authorization for release of health information, and notice of privacy policies (NPP) available under “Referral and intake” for additional information. When completing the authorization for release of health information, please enter your child’s information as the “client,” and include your own information in the “medical records release to” section.

No. Schools are not mandated to implement recommendations from external evaluations. The supplemental recommendations, when warranted, are intended to be helpful to a child’s caregivers and educators, but your child’s educators are the experts in teaching and instruction.

Absolutely! Many parents would like as much information as possible about their child’s learning and growth over the course of development. Sometimes there are concerns, but often there are no concerns, simply an interest in understanding the child. Some parents may seek out academic assessment when they suspect areas of strength.

Graduate students from the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign or the INBAL clinical staff psychometrist will be administering the academic assessments.

If you have significant concerns about your child’s ability to work with a male or female, please let us know. We will do our best to accommodate your requests, however, availability may be limited based on the particular students working with us at any given time.

Many parents explain the academic assessment as a “check-up” or wellness visit with a pediatrician. The assessment helps parents know that everything is going as it should be, or what they should do to help. People have “check-ups” at routine intervals, not because anything is “wrong” or because they are “sick.”

There will be a brief initial introduction with the examiner at the start of the session. Parents will be present. After having a chance to ask any questions, parents will wait in the waiting area while the child works with the graduate student or psychometrist. Children most often report that the academic assessment seems like school work. Please do not tell children that they will play games with the graduate student.

Most children enjoy spending individualized time with a caring adult who is interested in their experiences. Many children do enjoy academic assessments. However, if your child struggles with reading, math, or writing, they may not necessarily enjoy the tasks.

The graduate student or psychometrist will consult with you and your child about whether or not to proceed. You and/or your child is free to discontinue the assessment at any time. You will only be billed for the time spent providing service.

No. Caregivers must remain on-site throughout the entire appointment unless an exception is granted.