Some children work twice as hard as their classmates and still fall behind, or seem bright everywhere except at homework. Many parents notice this long before anyone can explain why. My job is to help you understand why your child is struggling, explain what I’m seeing in a way that’s easy to understand, and help you move forward with a plan that fits your child.
The Right Explanation Can Change Everything.
You may have watched your child work twice as hard as everyone else and still struggle to keep up. They understand concepts when you talk through them together, but reading, writing, or math never seems to come as easily as it should. Before long, homework becomes a nightly battle, confidence starts to slip, and they begin questioning their own abilities.
By the time families come to me, everyone seems to have a theory. A teacher may think your child isn’t trying hard enough. A relative wonders if they’re just distracted. Someone else suggests more tutoring. I look beyond those guesses. Through learning disability testing, I evaluate how your child’s brain processes reading, writing, and math, so we’re working from evidence instead of opinions.
What you’re seeing is real … and there’s a reason for it.
A comprehensive evaluation looks at reading, writing, math, attention, and emotional functioning together so I can explain what’s really going on. My goal isn’t simply to give your child a diagnosis. It’s to help you understand why they’re struggling, recognize their strengths, and leave with a plan that helps them succeed.
This learning disability evaluation tends to fit families like these, and you can see the full range of who I help as well:
Your child's struggles deserve an explanation.
Let’s talk about what you’ve been noticing in your child’s learning. No pressure. Just a real conversation about your child.
Before we ever begin testing, I want to understand your child through your eyes. You’re the expert on your child’s day-to-day experiences, and what you’ve noticed is an important part of the evaluation. That’s why a learning disability evaluation begins with a conversation, not a worksheet.
It follows the same thoughtful approach as the neuropsychological assessments I provide for other concerns, combining what you share with comprehensive testing to understand how your child’s brain processes information. My goal is to explain what’s making learning difficult, identify your child’s strengths, and recommend supports that can make a meaningful difference.
What you can expect throughout the evaluation:
Because Every Child Deserves to Be Understood.
I’m Dr. Allisen Landry, a pediatric neuropsychologist who works with children, teens, and young adults experiencing learning, attention, and developmental differences. I know that by the time many families reach my office, they’ve often heard a lot of opinions but still don’t have a clear explanation for why school has been so difficult. My goal is to help you understand how your child learns, explain what’s getting in the way, and identify the supports that will help them thrive… not just now, but as they continue to grow.
I also know that an evaluation doesn’t end when you leave my office. That’s why I take time to explain the results in plain language, answer your questions, and provide recommendations you can confidently share with your child’s school. I want you to leave feeling like you understand your child in a way you couldn’t before, with practical next steps that make sense for your family.
Finding strengths alongside challenges.
Every child learns differently, which means learning disabilities don’t look the same from one child to the next. Understanding these differences is often the first step toward making sense of your child’s struggles and finding the right support.
A learning disability isn’t about effort or intelligence. It describes a specific way a child’s brain processes certain kinds of information, like reading, writing, or math, differently than expected for their age and ability. The disorder shows up as a real gap between how capable a child seems in conversation and how much harder certain academic tasks are for them. Recognizing that gap is often the first challenge parents run into, since teachers and report cards don’t always capture it.
Many parents are surprised to learn that there isn’t just one definition of a learning disorder. Depending on who is evaluating your child, you may receive different answers … even when everyone agrees your child is struggling.
Schools and clinical psychologists often use different criteria because they serve different purposes. Schools determine whether a student qualifies for special education services under educational laws, while neuropsychologists diagnose medical and psychological conditions using clinical standards. As a result, a child may have a diagnosed learning disorder but not qualify for special education, or they may receive school services without meeting the full criteria for a clinical diagnosis.
For many years, the standard approach compared a child’s IQ score to their grades and test scores, looking for a big enough gap before calling it a learning disorder (sometimes called the “IQ-achievement discrepancy model”). Research has shown this approach misses many children who are genuinely struggling, and it often means families wait years for help while their child keeps falling further behind.
Today’s approach looks at the whole picture instead of one score. Current guidelines (the DSM-5-TR) ask:
Rather than relying on one test score or a specific IQ gap, learning disorders are best identified by looking at the whole child: how they’re doing in school, their thinking and learning strengths and weaknesses, their history, and how much the struggle is affecting daily life.
Because different systems use different rules, navigating support can be frustrating. A child can struggle every day in school, have a clear learning disorder, and still not qualify for school-based services. On the other hand, some students may receive educational support through the school without meeting criteria for a clinical diagnosis.
My role is to determine whether your child meets the evidence-based clinical criteria for a learning disorder and, more importantly, to understand why they are struggling. By identifying the underlying pattern of strengths and weaknesses, I can provide recommendations that help guide intervention at home, in school, and through outside services … regardless of the specific eligibility decisions made by the school district.
A comprehensive assessment looks at more than reading, writing, and math alone. Some children who struggle academically are also dealing with attention difficulties, and an ADHD evaluation can help clarify whether that’s part of what’s happening, since learning disabilities and ADHD commonly overlap. Others show patterns that benefit from an autism assessment as part of a fuller evaluation. Looking at cognitive, academic, and emotional functioning together is what turns a list of struggles into an explanation a family and a school can use.
Two children with the same type of learning disability can look completely different day to day. One child might grow quiet and avoid homework entirely, while another gets frustrated and pushes back on every assignment. Some kids start to internalize the struggle, saying they’re not smart or that they hate school, when what’s really happening is that a specific skill hasn’t clicked yet.
Understanding how a child learns new concepts and performs academic tasks, not just whether they’re struggling, is what makes the explanation feel complete instead of partial.
You may hear both clinical terms and everyday terms used for the same learning disorder, sometimes in the same conversation. Knowing how they connect can make school meetings, evaluation reports, and everyday conversations easier to follow.
Learning disabilities aren’t one single thing. Dyslexia affects reading and can show up as trouble decoding words, slower reading fluency, or difficulty with reading comprehension even when a child understands the material out loud. Dysgraphia affects writing and spelling, making it hard to get thoughts onto paper even when a child can explain them clearly.
Dyscalculia affects math, showing up as difficulty with number sense or multi-step problems that seem to take much longer than they should. Some children have a single learning disability, and others have differences across more than one area.
Within each learning disorder, there are also more specific skills involved, called specifiers. For reading, that includes word reading accuracy, reading rate or fluency, and reading comprehension. For written expression, it includes spelling accuracy, grammar and punctuation accuracy, and organization or clarity of writing. For math, it includes number sense, memorization of math facts, accurate or fluent calculation, and mathematical reasoning. Some children have difficulty with just one of these skills, while others have several going on at once, which is part of why two children with the same diagnosis can look so different.
You’ll likely hear two sets of names for the same three learning disorders, and it can feel like everyone is speaking a different language. The clinical terms come from the diagnostic manual: Specific Learning Disorder in Reading, Specific Learning Disorder in Written Expression, and Specific Learning Disorder in Mathematics. The everyday terms for those same three conditions are dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. Teachers, doctors, and evaluators may use either set, sometimes in the same conversation, so it helps to know they’re describing the same thing.
Understanding before accommodations.
When families come to me, they’re often hoping someone can finally explain what years of report cards, tutoring, and classroom observations haven’t. Every evaluation is designed to answer that question by looking beyond a single subject or test score and understanding how your child’s brain processes information across multiple areas of learning.
Learning difficulties rarely exist in just one subject, so I look at how a child is thinking, learning, and processing information alongside their actual academic skills.
What this looks like during the evaluation:
Alongside academic testing, I use standardized measures and direct conversation to understand how the learning struggle has affected your child emotionally, not just academically.
What this looks like during the evaluation:
Your observations and your child’s academic history are part of the data, not just background information.
What this looks like during the evaluation:
The evaluation isn’t finished until you understand it, and until your child’s school has something useful to work from.
What this looks like during the evaluation:
Your first appointment is the intake, and it happens online. I’ll ask what you’ve noticed about how your child learns, and let you lead the conversation from there.
The evaluation itself is always in person, at my office in Bellevue. It’s a full day, with breaks, snacks, and a chance to earn a small prize for younger kids. My office has big windows and plenty of color, on purpose, so it feels comforting.. Most of the day involves academic tasks, some conversation, and some activities on an iPad or computer.
About three weeks later, we meet again online for the feedback appointment. I send a draft of the report the day before, so you have time to read it and write down questions. We go through the findings and recommendations together, including what might support an IEP or 504 request at school.
A learning disability is a specific difference in how a child’s brain processes information, not a reflection of effort or intelligence. Struggling in a subject can happen for lots of reasons, but a learning disability tends to show up as a consistent, unexpected gap between how capable a child seems and how they perform in a specific academic area.
The most common types include dyslexia, which affects reading, dysgraphia, which affects writing and spelling, and dyscalculia, which affects math. Some children have a single learning disability, while others have differences across more than one area, and many also deal with attention difficulties alongside it.
Common early signs include reading well below grade level, avoiding reading or writing tasks, taking far longer than peers to finish homework, difficulty with spelling or math facts that seem to require constant repetition, and frustration or low confidence around schoolwork. No single sign confirms a learning disability on its own.
Teachers see a child alongside dozens of same-age peers, which can make gaps in reading, writing, or math easier to spot. A teacher might notice a child avoiding certain tasks, needing much more time or support than classmates, or performing inconsistently across similar assignments, and raise the concern before it’s obvious at home.
No, ADHD is a separate diagnosis from a learning disability, though the two commonly occur together. ADHD affects attention and executive functioning, while a learning disability affects a specific academic skill like reading, writing, or math. A comprehensive evaluation looks at both, since treating one without recognizing the other can leave part of the picture unaddressed.
Learning disabilities are often identified in early elementary school, once a child is expected to read, write, and do math independently, though some are caught earlier and others aren’t recognized until later grades when academic demands increase. Earlier identification generally means earlier support.
It starts with an online intake conversation about your concerns and your child’s history, followed by a full day of in-person testing and a feedback appointment where you receive the results and recommendations. No referral or diagnosis in hand is needed to get started.
A comprehensive evaluation looks at reading, writing, math, attention, and emotional functioning together, rather than testing one skill in isolation. It combines standardized testing, a conversation with your child, input from you and your child’s teachers, and a review of academic records like report cards or prior evaluations.
After a diagnosis, you receive a written report with specific recommendations, which can support an IEP or 504 request, guide conversations with your child’s school, and point toward tutors or specialists if additional support outside the evaluation makes sense.
An IEP provides specialized instruction and services for a child whose learning disability significantly affects their education, while a 504 plan provides accommodations, like extra time or modified assignments, without changing the instruction itself. Which one fits depends on the severity and type of need identified during an evaluation.
A 504 plan can be quicker and simpler for a school to put in place than an IEP, which requires additional evaluation and paperwork on the school’s end. That doesn’t mean a 504 plan is always the right fit, especially if pull-out services are needed. An outside evaluation gives you independent information to bring into that conversation.
Common accommodations include specialized instruction, interventions, assistive technology, and modifications to help them access the curriculum and demonstrate their knowledge.
No, I don’t provide ongoing tutoring or design a treatment plan myself. My role is to complete the evaluation and provide a written report with recommendations, and while I don’t do that follow-up work directly, the report gives whoever does, whether that’s a tutor, the school, or another specialist, a clear starting point.
Learning disability testing is effective at identifying what’s contributing to a child’s academic struggles, using standardized, well-researched measures alongside clinical judgment and real input from you and your child’s teachers. It doesn’t guarantee a specific outcome, but it consistently replaces guessing with a clear, usable explanation.
The testing day itself typically takes about five hours, with breaks built in throughout. Including the online intake appointment and the feedback appointment about three weeks later, the whole timeline usually spans several weeks from start to finish.
The testing portion of the evaluation is always done in person, since it requires close observation and specific testing materials. The intake and feedback appointments are both conducted online, so only the single testing day requires an in-person visit to Bellevue.
My office is located in the Wilburton area of Bellevue, Washington, and the evaluation day always takes place there in person. Families also travel from nearby areas like Bridle Trails, Crossroads, and Lake Hills. The online intake and feedback appointments can be done from anywhere in WA state and some other states as well.
Learning struggles don't define your child.
If you’ve been wondering why school has become so frustrating for your child, you don’t have to keep piecing together opinions or hoping they’ll simply grow out of it. A comprehensive evaluation can provide the answers you’ve been looking for, helping you understand how your child learns, where they need support, and how to help them move forward with confidence. If you’re not sure whether an evaluation is the right next step, I’m happy to start with a conversation.
