Subject:  2018 Review

Comment:   We chose Dr. Mandi White-Ajmani at Small Brooklyn Psychology for our son's evaluation because we liked that the evaluation was seen as a tool in the whole process of understanding our son. It was never about giving a "bad" label, it was about recognizing that we are all individuals with strengths and weaknesses and with awareness and work/help, we can flourish. This is what we were hoping to learn. What are his strengths. Why does he struggle with writing? Why does he struggle to keep focus at certain times and not at other times? What can we do to understand where he is really strong and support improvements in areas of difficulty? How do we work with the DoE system/class teachers to get the best outcome?We had tried a lot of other options, so went into the neuropsych eval for the suggestions of more. We feel happy that the suggestions we received are all about our son individually and not generic ideas. We have a diagnosis which isn’t a big deal and really helps plan actions for us, him and the school. Those actions are some strategies for managing thinking and some support with occupational therapy and executive functioning.I see this as “ scaffolding” for his learning but very specifically tailored to him. We also now have a psychologist who really knows him and can give us advice if we have questions down the line. Our son spent 2 days with Dr White-Ajmani and her assistant and LOVED them and it opened up a great dialogue for us with him on his “personal strategies” to help with writing and focus. We have a framework we are confident about and can navigate the school system with and we believe he will do well and flourish with some help in certain areas. It's totally worth the expense and I think in some cases it’s reimbursable by health insurance. We haven’t tried to get the $ back yet and I think it’s worth it either way. In fact I wish I had this when I was a kid :) I tell my son how lucky he is to have all this great healthcare and information.