CLINICAL ASSESSMENT SERVICES FOR ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDERS

 Staff:

Ernest J. Bordini, Ph.D., Executive Director,

Licensed Psychologist, Adult, Adolescent and Child Forensic and Clinical Neuropsychological Assessment.

Unlike many "Managed Care" "evaluations" which run the risk of misdiagnosis due to screening only for the most obvious complaint, Clinical Psychology Associates of North Central Florida. (CPANCF) is dedicated to providing thorough and detailed assessments by doctoral level providers with extensive training in psychological testing.

Consumers should beware of individuals with little or no psychological testing training who try to avoid psychology licensing laws by referring to their assessments as anything but a psychological or neuropsychological assessment. Ask if the individual is a licensed psychologist or licensed school psychologist.

CPANCF has more than a 30 year history of experience providing neuropsychological assessment of ADHD, Learning Disability and a variety of pediatric neuropsychological or neurological conditions including head trauma, effects of anoxia, neurodevelopmental disorders, Aspergers Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorders, as well as neurologic and psychiatric conditions.  We have experience in providing IME plaintiff and defense evaluations and forensic neuropsychological assessment.

Our modern main office is conveniently located accross from the Community Playhouse in the Millhopper Shopping Section of Gainesville.  We also have a branch office in Ocala, Florida.

Main Office: 

CPANCF  2121 NW 40th Terr. Suite B Gainesville, FL 32605

Phone:                                          

(352) 336-2888

Ocala Office:

3620 NE 8th Place Suite 3 Ocala, FL 34470

Phone:

(352) 629-1100

Assessment is tailored to the individual needs of the patient and to consider common co-existing disorders, and issues such as learning disability, depression, and social and motor skill difficulties.

Testing may involve assessment of general ability by an IQ test, parent and/or teacher ratings, measurement of visual and auditory attention and learning, and other neurodevelopmental functions associated with planning, impulse control, and cognitive flexibility.

Learning Disabilities often co-occur or complicate the diagnosis and treatment. Assessment is available from simple screening to comprehensive assessment of visual and auditory processing, learning, reading, writing, arithmetic, and language ability.

Education is provided through groups and by referral to the local chapter of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder. We provide educational seminars to groups, teachers, and other interested parties.

Parent Training  Depending on enrollment, we offer a structured 10-12 week parent program based on that developed by Dr. Russell Barkley for children with attention and oppositional behavior. is designed to help improve parent-child relationships, improve child self-esteem, and improve child compliance. Parent groups start throughout the year.  We were the first in the Gainesville area to offer this group as well as that described below.

Group Therapy services are offered to children and adolescents with ADHD or Nonverbal Learning Disorders. This involves use of cognitive behavioral techniques and role-playing over the course of 15-20 small group sessions. Groups focus on social skills, working cooperatively, problem solving, anger management, identification of nonverbal cues, anger management, and coping with teasing. Our structured program for children is entering it’s 8th year. This approach employs cognitive-behavioral mediation of behavior, role play, videotape feedback in small child and adolescent groups with narrow age ranges. Call our office for current group availability.

Individual Therapy is provided as needed by clinical psychologists experienced in the treatment and management of ADHD and related disorders.  We have providers experiences working with families, marital issues, children and adolescents.

Referral is made for beneficial medication when appropriate. Consultation to family practitioners, pediatricians, neurologists, and psychiatrists is provided.

Nonverbal Learning Disabilities often co-exist or are confused for ADHD. These children have good verbal skills but seem to miss the nonverbal cues and nonverbal relationships that are often essential for subtle social communication.

CITY OF GAINESVILLE EAP

City of Gainesville Employees and their families are eligible for 3 free visits. Though testing is not a covered service by the City of Gainesville EAP, some of the testing may be covered by your insurance depending on out-of-network benefits.   Generally, learning disabilityassessment is not typically covered by Blue Cross or other policies.

PAYMENT

Payment is due at time of service.  Upon request, we will give you needed information so that you may file your own insurance. Effective Dec. 1, 2011 our contract and those of other psychologists with BCBS were unilaterally terminated by BCBS.  We will see BCBS patients on an out-of-network basis after that.

MASTERCARD AND VISA ACCEPTED

HELPFUL READINGS AND ARTICLES

Syndrome of Nonverbal Learning...

• This book is edited by one of the premier authors about nonverbal Learning disorder.

The source for nonverbal learning...

• This is a good workbook for Nonverbal LD

VISIT OUR CPANCF.COM ARTICLES AND TIPS ARCHIVES FOR MORE ARTICLES

BELOW ARE SOME SAMPLE ARTICLES

• Evaluation Risks in Testing of ADHD - False Negative and False Providers
  
  by Ernest J. Bordini, Ph.D.
  
  Several articles in professional journals indicate that as in all diagnostic endeavors, psychological test data must be understood in the larger clinical context to avoid misdiagnosis.
  
  The general theme of the articles is that while ADHD children, as a group, have been repeatedly demonstrated to perform poorer on measures of attention and distractibility, there are a number of children with legitimate ADHD diagnoses who may not score poorly on a particular test (false negative error).
  
  This underscores the long held clinical maxim that there is no single test for ADHD, and that the disorder is best assessed by a multimodal multimethod approach.
  
  Furthermore, in clinical settings caution must be used in interpreting test indices of attention as a specific marker of ADHD since other child psychiatric, developmental, and neurological conditions may produce false positives. This is simply a matter that if ADHD is all you test for, then a variety of children will be mis-labeled because the possibility of other conditions is not considered.
  
  Clinical psychologist (and other psychologists) receive comprehensive training in test construction, psychometric theory and interpretation. They are bound by the American Psychological Association Standards of Psychological and Educational Testing. It is recommended that you ensure a licensed psychologist is responsible for the psychological testing of your child.
  
  In Florida it is a violation of Chapter 490 for any individual to perform psychological testing without a psychology license. Beware that some individuals try to circumvent the law by avoiding the label of “psychological report, psychological testing, psychoeducational, or neuropsychological testing”. This is usually clear since the tests may be labeled in a manner that does not use psychological or its permutations.
  
  If you requested “psychological testing” and services were not performed or supervised by a licensed psychologist, a complaint can be made to the Department of Business and Professional regulation.
  
  References:
  
  Kristin Matier-Sharma, et al., Differential Diagnosis of ADHD: Are Objective Measures of Attention, Impulsivity, and Activity Level Helpful? Child Neuropsychology, 1995, Vol 1, No 2, pp 118-127.
  
  Anastopoulos et al, The WISC-III Freedom from Distractibility Factor: It's utility in Identifying Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Psychological Assessment, 1994 Vol 6, No 4. 368-371
  
  Silverstein, et al., Multiple Sources of Attentional Dysfunction in Adults with Tourette's Syndrome: Comparison with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder. Neuropsychology, 1995, Vol 9, No. 2, 157-164

Concerns Arise about Testing Accommodations for ADHD Students: Article Review/Recap

By Ernest J. Bordini, Ph.D.

Two articles by Bridget Murray in the May 1997 American Psychological Association Monitor discussed concerns about potential abuses regarding test accommodations for college students with ADHD.

Most colleges consider accommodations such as tutoring, extra time on tests, and oral examinations when necessary. However, waiving degree requirements is usually met with more resistance.

There have been trends towards more students taking nonstandard SATs, as well as Law School and Medical School entrance examinations. Educators are becoming concerned that students may be exaggerating or falsifying histories and documentation to gain unfair advantage on entrance examinations. These abuses are serious threats to accommodations of students who legitimately need such accommodations.

The APA Monitor article noted that Russell Barkley finds that some ADHD students encounter significant difficulties in college. Thes students may have difficulty organizing work, remembering due dates, are distracted by classroom noises, and diversions outside classroom windows.

Guidelines have been proposed to help minimize abuses and ensure that individuals who legitimately require accommodations will be identified.

1. Drs. Murphy and Barkley were noted to agree that ADHD evaluations should be conducted by licensed mental health professionals such as psychiatrists, neurologists, or clinical or educational psychologists.

2. Other problems such as neurological or mental disorders which may produce ADHD-like symptoms should be ruled out, including depression, stress, alcohol and drug problems. Though no specific test can rule in or out ADHD by itself, evaluations should include assessment for mood and anxiety disorders. Concerns that evaluation not confuse general cognitive limitations with ADHD were raised, since individuals pushing their intellectual limits may inaccurately attribute their difficulties to the disorder.

3. It was recommended that past history of ADHD be well documented, including review of past school, academic, and/or testing records True ADHD is a developmental disorder and should not appear suddenly in college.

4. Assessment was felt to be necessary for significant debilitating symptoms. At least 5 of the 14 DSM-IV ADHD symptoms were felt to be necessary for current diagnosis. Indications that the disorder caused difficulties in completing work, fidgeting, distractibility, and interfered with school and/or work performance, emotional adjustment, social and daily adjustment were felt to be important current indicators of the disorder.

CPANCF DOMAINS - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

For confidentiality reasons patient inquiries are to be directed to our voice line: (352) 336-2888.

Offices in Gainesville and Ocala