How to Prepare Your Child for Cognitive Ability Testing
Here are some useful tips to help your child be prepared to participate actively in the assessment process and to ensure the testing process yields valuable results:
Sleep: You will want to ensure your child gets adequate sleep for the nights leading up to the testing session. You will want to avoid having your child participate in any activities that involve staying up late the night before the session (e.g., sleepovers, out-of-area trips).
Clothing: Have your child dress in comfortable clothes, ideally in layers to accommodate for different temperatures in the office.
Food: We recommend having your child eat a good breakfast on the morning of the testing session.
Medication: Your child should take all medication, as prescribed, on the day of the testing session.
Assistive devices: Please make sure your child comes to the appointment with their prescribed glasses / contacts, hearing aids, or other devices.
Illness: If your child is not feeling well the night before or morning of the testing session, please let Dr. Ralph know as soon as possible. Given the potential significant impact of illness on performance, it would be better to cancel and reschedule than proceed with testing and obtain inaccurate results. Details about our illness policy are available here
For parents: Parents will be required to stay on-site in the waiting area during the entire session. We recommend bringing necessary materials to keep you occupied. Please be aware we do not have guest Wi-Fi service available at this time, so you may consider bringing your personal hotspot device.
How should I explain testing to my child?
To prepare your child mentally for the session, you may consider explaining when and how long they will be in the office (generally 1 hour to 1.5 hrs). You can also explain that they will be working on different activities that help us figure out how they learn. Your child may be asked to work on a wide range of tasks, such as answering questions and solving puzzles.
Avoid telling them they will be playing games or having fun. We want them to try their best on the activities, so we can understand how their brain works. We also want them to have a realistic sense of what to expect during the session.