Report Interpretation

Abstract

Assessment findings provide an accurate understanding of a youth and inform intervention plans. They have explanatory value that endures over many years, and they often become a benchmark against which later development is evaluated. This valuable information is summarized in the psychological assessment report. The primary goal of the test report is to convey psychological assessment findings in direct, easily accessible language that facilitates good comprehension on the part of parents and other adults charged with caring for a child or adolescent. For optimal care, it is critical that the test report become a working, much-used document, and that information contained in it be integrated into ongoing treatment plans. To be able to use psychological test results in this thorough manner, primary care providers must have a good understanding of the purpose and quality of each psychological test report section. Toward that end, each section is discussed below. The structure of psychological test reports varies somewhat across psychologists and specific types of assessments, but the components discussed below, in some form, make up the great majority of psychological test reports.