When your child is struggling in school with reading or working out math problems or your college student is having difficulties keeping up, and the school doesn’t seem to have the answers, where can you find help?
The Learning Assessment Clinic, a program of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, provides academic assessments for students in elementary school through young adulthood who have learning challenges. Two clinical psychologists who specialize in learning differences conduct these assessments: Rachel Hundley, Ph.D., the director of the Learning Assessment Clinic, and Caitlin Stone, Ph.D.
Hundley and Stone do first-time assessments, repeat assessments, and consultations. They provide a comprehensive intake interview, a full day of testing, and a follow-up feedback meeting with parents and/or students. The clinic team also prepares a detailed written report that summarizes background history and assessment results and provides student-specific recommendations for school and community-based services.
The consultation service includes a review of previous evaluations, a written report, and a feedback session to discuss their interpretation and make recommendations.
Rachel Hundley, Ph.D.
“I love helping families find answers for why school feels so hard for their child and what they can do about it,” Hundley said. “As a parent, it can sometimes be difficult to know how your child’s learning and potential frustration around that compares to others their age.”
Any student who is experiencing learning challenges could be a good candidate for assessment. Hundley and Stone see students who attend public school, private school, and are homeschooled. The focus is on understanding learning challenges, and patients have included individuals with learning disorders, ADHD, intellectual disability, and autism. The clinic sees first-graders through those hoping to enter graduate or medical school (second semester of first grade through age 25).
The Learning Assessment Clinic, located at the Village at Vanderbilt, 1500 21st Ave S, Nashville, TN 37212, is open one day a week, and the team sees about 40-45 individuals a year from across the Southeast.
Parents and students often use these reports to communicate with teachers and schools and other intervention providers (e.g., tutors or therapists) about Individualized Education Programs or Section 504 plans for accommodations, supports, and treatment planning. Parents have also used these assessments to document the need for accommodations for standardized testing, such as the ACT or SAT, or for college courses.
Parents and students have shared that they appreciate learning more about their unique set of strengths and challenges.
Caitlin Stone, Ph.D.
“I enjoy and value getting to know parents as they provide background history about their child’s unique set of strengths and challenges,” said Stone. “As clinical psychologists, we can really take a broad view of each patient’s profile, including both learning and social-emotional skills.”
The clinic is private pay and does not take commercial insurance or TennCare, as academically oriented assessments are not a covered expense. The team does sometimes have schools or outside organizations (such as Wounded Warriors) pay as an “independent educational evaluation.” Full evaluations are currently $2,000, and consultations are $500 (which can be applied to a full assessment if this is recommended).
Hundley said their evaluations collect and synthesize information to understand:
- What are an individual’s strengths and challenges related to learning?
- Do those issues meet the criteria for a learning disorder or other diagnosis?
- How can each student be supported to grow and succeed to the best of their ability in a learning environment?
“A LAC evaluation enriches a parent’s understanding of their child and helps them develop a roadmap for next steps,” she added. “Our recommendations include interventions and accommodations that may be available through the school as well as the community supports that are worth considering.”
Hundley pointed out that children who have dyslexia today live in a very different world from those who were identified 30 years ago, saying research has developed so much evidence-based information on best practices in reading instruction as well as new technologies.
“It has been exciting to celebrate our students’ progress!” Hundley said. “One student, who was born prematurely at 25 weeks, was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD in our clinic when he was 7 years old. Over time, we’ve seen him overcome many challenges, including learning to read. We recently completed an updated evaluation to identify the supports that will be helpful to him at the college he’s attending next year.”
