Utah County Psychological Assessment

DHS/DSPD Competency Evaluations

2011-08-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

We have a contract with the state of Utah to do competency evaluations for the Department of Human Services and the Department of Services for People with Disabilities.

Feel free to send a few referrals our way.

Independent Medical/Psychological/Neuropsychological Evaluations

2011-08-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Recently started doing some independent psychological - neuropsychological evaluations for insurance companies and Workman's Compensation. Contact me for rates if you are interested in having this type of evaluation done.

Traveling Psychologist

2009-08-17T22:21:00.001-07:00

I enjoy traveling to various locations in the state of Utah to do psychological evaluations. If you work for DCFS, JJS, or DSPD, I am willing to drive to other parts of the state in order to do the testing. Generally, I ask that you have at least 2 kids to test if I have to drive more than 2 hours.

My other hobby is photography, so it is nice to see new places.

New Contacts - Learning Disorder Testing

2009-08-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

I was recently contacted by an administrator at Mountainville Academy in Alpine, Utah to help out with psychological testing for learning disorders. I will do the IQ testing (WISC-IV) and academic achievement testing (WIAT-II). I look forward to working with them.

I was also contacted by Shelly Hatch with the Dyslexia Center of Utah to do similar testing. I appreciate the opportunity to work with them.

DSPD Evaluations

2009-07-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

I appreciated the referrals from DSPD last month. Now that the state of Utah has cut the budget for DSPD, and families are responsible to cover the cost of the requalification/recertification testing, I am still willing to do it for the rate of $297. Contact me at houstonryan@hotmail.com for more information.

Fitness for Duty - Return to Work Evaluations

2009-05-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

At Comprehensive Psychological Services and the Alpine Center for Behavioral Health, our licensed psychologists perform psychological evaluations to determine fitness for duty, and to determine if a person is able to return to work after leave or dismissal. These evaluations generally include cognitive screenings (such as an IQ test), a personality inventory, and a detailed clinical interview and collateral interviews as necessary.

Contact us at 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake) or 801-756-3664 (Utah County) to see if we can fulfill your testing needs.

Our licensed psychologists are willing to travel to various regions of the state if necessary in order to complete the testing.

Substance Abuse Evaluations Screenings

2009-05-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

At Comprehensive Psychological Services and the Alpine Center for Behavioral Health, we conduct substance abuse evaluations to determine the severity of a person's drug use.

Generally the evaluation covers a detailed clinical interview, a SASSI-3 or SASSI-A-2, and a detailed substance abuse questionnaire. A report is written and provided to the referral source.

Contact us at 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake) or 801-756-3664 (Utah County) to set up an appointment.

JJS Psychological Evaluations

2009-05-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

At Comprehensive Psychological Services and the Alpine Center for Behavioral Health, we have a contract with the state of Utah to perform psychological evaluations for youth in Juvenile Justice Services Custody. These evaluations generally include an IQ test, academic testing, a personality inventory, behavior checklists (for parents/caregivers/staff/teachers/youth), and a detailed clinical interview and collateral interviews as necessary.

Contact us at 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake) or 801-756-3664 (Utah County) to see if we can fulfill your testing needs. Our licensed psychologists are willing to travel to rural regions of the state if necessary in order to complete the testing.

You can fax the PSA to 801-483-1610

Forensic Evaluations

2009-05-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

At Comprehensive Psychological Services and the Alpine Center for Behavioral Health our licensed psychologists conduct a wide-variety of forensic evaluations. We are trained in competency issues, testing for mitigating circumstances, and differential diagnoses. Forensic evaluations are not covered by insurance, and we generally bill $120 per hour for these services (though the rate is negotiable on a case-by-case basis).

Generally, a good forensic evaluation includes a review of police reports and other available collateral information, collateral interviews with people familiar with the client and/or case, a personality inventory such as the MMPI-2 or PAI (Personality Assessment Inventory), a test of cognitive functioning/IQ test such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV), and occasionally some neuropsychological tests of executive functioning and/or memory. If competency issues are involved, there are also tests that can help the examiner evaluate a person's competency to stand trial.

For more information, call us at 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake) or 801-756-3664 (Utah County)

Learning Disorder Disability Evaluations

2009-05-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

At Comprehensive Psychological Services and the Alpine Center for Behavioral Health we conduct cognitive testing to determine if your child has a Learning Disorder in math, writing, reading, expressive language, or slower processing speeds.

Generally, such testing is not covered by insurance, but we can do a full/complete evaluation for around $600--and a screening for around $350 (e.g., you know your child does okay in math and writing, but you think he/she might have dyslexia--in these cases, we would skip all of the math and writing portions of the tests and the testing would take significantly less of the examiner's time to complete).

This testing includes all, or some, of the following (on a case-by-case basis)

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition
Child Behavior Checklist
Teacher Report Form
Youth Self-Report
IVA/TOVA Computerized Continuous Performance Tests
Conners 3 - Parent

For more information, call us at 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake) or 801-756-3664 (Utah County)

Dementia - Alzheimer's Disease Screenings

2009-05-21T09:51:00.001-07:00

At Comprehensive Psychological Services and the Alpine Center for Behavioral Health we conduct screenings to determine if a person has a dementia or Alzheimer's Disease. Sometimes, such screenings are covered by insurance and you are only responsible for the co-pays. Generally, our dementia screenings include all, or some, of the following (on a case-by-case basis)

Clinical Interview/Collateral Interviews
Behavioral Observations
Mini-mental status exam/other status exams
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Fourth Edition
Wechsler Memory Scales - Fourth Edition
Other Neuropsychological tests as deemed necessary (i.e., Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test, Booklet Category Test, Comprehensive Trail-Making Tests, etc.)

For more information, call us at 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake) or 801-756-3664 (Utah County)

Autism/Asperger's Evaluations

2009-05-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

At Comprehensive Psychological Services and the Alpine Center for Behavioral Health we conduct screenings to determine if your child has an Autism Spectrum Disorder like Autism or Asperger's Disorder. Often, such screenings are covered by insurance and you are only responsible for the co-pays. Generally, our austism spectrum disorder screenings include all, or some, of the following (on a case-by-case basis)

Gilliam Austism Rating Scale
Gilliam Asperger's Disorder Scale
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition
Detailed Clinical Interview
Behavioral Observations
Developmental Checklists

For more information, call us at 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake)
or
801-756-3664 (Utah County)

ADHD Screening

2009-05-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

At Comprehensive Psychological Services and the Alpine Center for Behavioral Health we conduct screenings to determine if your child has ADHD or ADD. Often, such screenings are covered by insurance and you are only responsible for the co-pays.

Generally, our ADHD screenings include all, or some, of the following (on a case-by-case basis)

IVA Computerized Continuous Performance Test
TOVA Computerized Continuous Performance Test
Conners 3-Parent form
Child Behavior Checklist
Teacher Report Form
Youth Self-Report
Behavioral Observations
Clinical/Collateral Interviews

For more information, call us at 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake)

801-756-3664 (Utah County)

Bariatric Surgery - Pre-surgical Psychological Evaluations

2009-05-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

At Comprehensive Psychological Services and at the Alpine Center for Behavioral Health, we conduct pre-surgical psychological evaluations for those slated to undergo bariatric surgery.

Generally, these evaluations involve a detailed clinical interview, an MMPI-2, and filling out a psycho-social history form. The information is scored, interpreted, and a report is sent to the referring physician/surgeon.

We do these for a reasonable cost.

Call 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake)
or
801-756-3664 (American Fork/Utah County)

for more information.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Disability Evaluations

2009-05-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

We recently met with a renowned physician in the Salt Lake area who works with MS patients. His clinic has a need for psychologists who do MS disability evaluations. Often, those with MS eventually develop cognitive deficits which can cause difficulties at work--sometimes to the point that they can no longer work and must go on disability.

At our clinics (Salt Lake and American Fork), we can conduct these evaluations for approximately $500-600. Occasionally, some insurances will cover this type of evaluation, but often the patient has to pay out of pocket. This evaluation would generally include:

Full WAIS-IV (IQ/Cognitive Abilities)
IVA Continuous Performance Test (Attention)
Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test, and/or The Booklet Category Test, and/or The Comprehensive Trail-making Test (Executive Functioning/Planning/Cognitive Flexibility)
California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (Verbal Memory/Recall Memory/Cued Memory/Recognition Memory)
Selected Subscales from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (Episodic Memory/Memory for Stories-Details)
Other tests if deemed necessary
Detailed Report that can be submitted to disability reviewers

If baseline IQ testing is needed for documentation in future disability claims, this can be done for $150-$200. The benefit of having IQ testing completed right after being diagnosed with MS is that it will assist the patient later on if/when the patient deteriorates to the point of requiring disability. For example, if a person has a high IQ of 125 (95th percentile) when he/she is first diagnosed with MS, but never has this tested or documented, then if/when his/her IQ decreases a full standard deviation, say to 110 (75th percentile), there is documentation that this represents a substantial deterioration of cognitive abilities. However, if the baseline testing is never done, an IQ score as low as 90 (25th percentile) would still be considered average and the patient may not qualify for disability services because there is no proof that the cognitive abilities have declined.

Contact us at the following numbers and ask for Dr. Ryan Houston (Licensed Psychologist). If Dr. Houston is over-booked, we also have other psychologists that can perform the evaluations.

Salt Lake Office: 801-483-1600

American Fork Office: 801-756-3664

Sanpete County - Psychological Evaluations

2009-05-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

I appreciated the referral from Lamont Felt and Craig Perry with the Division of Services for People with Disabilities (DSPD) to complete a psychological evaluation at the Sanpete County Jail. It was especially convenient as I was already going to Moroni to do an evaluation at Lighthouse Academy.

I am willing to travel in order to complete evaluations--especially if I am able to do 2 in the same general location. I sometimes refer to myself as an "itinerant psychologist."

Division of Services for People with Disabilities

2009-02-17T13:33:00.000-08:00

I would like to thank Melody Morgan with DSPD for being gracious enough to forward an email to DSPD caseworkers/supervisors so they are aware that Comprehensive Psychological Services is a contracted provider for DSPD psychological evaluations. Melody was extremely helpful on the phone and eager to help out.

Also, Doug Maughan, who runs the DSPD services in Utah County, has been very helpful and offered to have us come to his supervisors' meeting on March 3rd to let them know who we are and what services we offer.

It is nice to work with helpful, competent employees who do what they can to get the word out.

Thank You DCFS

2009-01-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all the DCFS caseworkers who continue to send us referrals at the Salt Lake Office of Comprehensive Psychological Services. We appreciate the opportunity to do psychological evaluations on children in state's custody as well as the parental fitness evaluations we have been referred.

If you have contacts in Utah County, let them know that Dr. Houston and Dr. Szykula also provide services through the Alpine Center in American Fork, Utah. We are Medicaid Enhancement Contract providers.

Our phone number is 801-756-3664. Call today for an appointment.

Egg Donor Psychological Evaluations

2008-11-19T11:22:00.000-08:00

An egg donor psychological evaluation can be conducted by Dr. Ryan Houston under the supervision of Steven A. Szykula, Ph.D. in American Fork or Salt Lake City, Utah.

The evaluation entails a thorough clinical interview that explores psychosocial aspects of a potential donor's life and filling out a questionnaire that covers additional requisite information. The potential donor will also take the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--Second Edition (MMPI-2) which is a nearly 600 item psychological self-report test. In some cases, the examiner may also request to speak to the potential donor's family/friends for collateral information regarding her reported history. The psychological evaluation will take approximately 3-4 hours of interview and test-taking time. The cost for the evaluation is $400.

Call 801-483-1600 (Salt Lake) or 801-756-3664 (American Fork) for more information.

Calling all Utah County DCFS caseworkers. :)

2008-11-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

The Alpine Center for Behavioral Health has been operating for over 20 years in American Fork Utah. It was purchased by Comprehensive Psychological Services (CPS) some years ago. CPS and the Alpine Center have contracts with the state of Utah to provide Medicaid Enhancement services for DCFS. We have been trying to get our name on DCFS referral lists for several years, but to no avail. If anyone has information on how to contact individual DCFS caseworkers in need of psychological assessment services, call us at 756-3664.

We can do Mental Health Assessments, Psychological Evaluations, Learning Disorder Evaluations, Neuropsychological Evaluations, Parental Fitness Evaluations, and therapy services for adults, adolescents, and children.

Relocation Child Custody Cases

2008-08-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

We have been working on a very interesting case with some family law attorneys. It has to do with relocation effects on children of divorce. Here are some of the important points that need to be covered in a child custody evaluation that deals with relocation. Age of child (infants and toddlers will forget the noncustodial parent and not form good attachment with them if they move) but elementary age children and teenagers seem to adjust better. It is not the frequency of visits with the noncustodial parent that is important, but the total amount of time and the quality of that time with them. Children do better if the custodial parent encourages visiting time with the noncustodial parent and makes it happen. There are many harms associated with relocation and several risk factors like parental psychopathology, child's previous poor adjustment to stressors, and increased rates of not graduating from high school, teen pregnancy, and other adjustment problems. However, there are also protective factors that can modulate or mitigate these harms. The most important protective factor is the relationship with the residential parent. Another is how often they are able to see their non-residential parent (more quality contact is better). Also, their ability to quickly develop new 'social capital' in the new location helps mitigate harm. Some important authors to read in this area are William Austin and Joan Lamb.

DCFS Psychological Evaluations (YXE)

2008-08-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

We are a Medicaid enhancement contract agency for the state of Utah. We can do psychological evaluations for DCFS clients in Utah County.

We are also working on being approved for drug court parental fitness referrals.

Wasatch Mental Health

2008-08-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

We can provide psychological testing for parents who are not eligible for Medicaid and cannot obtain services from Wasatch Mental Health. I was recently contacted by their services coordinator and placed on a list for those patients who need to go through their insurance for testing. Call to schedule a consult/appointment 801-400-7363 (Dr. Houston) or 801-483-1600 (Dr. Szykula, Supervisor).

Statewide Medicaid Enhancement Contract

2008-07-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

The Alpine Center for Behavioral Health is a subsidiary of Comprehensive Psychological Services in Salt Lake. Both locations have providers that can evaluate children and adults under the statewide Medicaid Enhancement Contract. Give us a call if you need an evaluation or therapy services. 801-756-3664

We are also applying for the contract that would allow us to do evaluations that are court-ordered through Drug Court.

The Alpine Center for Behavioral Health Now Offers Psychological Evaluations

2008-06-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

The Alpine Center for Behavioral Health has provided individual and couples therapy services for over 20 years. The business has a staff of several psychologists, licensed professional counselors, and licensed clinical social workers. They have recently hired Dr. Ryan Houston to conduct psychological evaluations at this location in American Fork, Utah. Psychological assessments include, but are not limited to:

DCFS evaluations/Parental fitness evaluations
Neuropsychological Testing/Screening
IQ Testing
Academic Testing
Learning Disorders/Disabilities
Substance Abuse Evaluations/Screenings
Screenings for Dementia/Alzheimer's Disease
Personality Testing
Psychological Screening for the Utah Department of Corrections
DSM-IV Diagnostic Testing
Forensic Psychological Testing
Psychological Evaluations for Federal Court Cases
Autism/Asperger's Disorder Screening

...and many more, contact Dr. Houston if you want to know if he can assist you in psychological testing. All of Dr. Houston's work is supervised by Dr. Steven A. Szykula of Comprehensive Psychological Services in Salt Lake City. Check out the website at