Everyday care
Neuropsychological vs. school evaluations: what's the difference?
A good evaluation is the foundation of everything else: diagnosis, IEP or 504 plan, therapies. Families often hear about two kinds: the school's psychoeducational evaluation and a private neuropsychological evaluation.
Updated · 3 min read
Two kinds of evaluations
- School evaluation (psychoeducational): done by the district, free, to decide special education eligibility and needs at school.
- Private neuropsychological evaluation: done by a neuropsychologist, usually broader (attention, memory, executive function, learning, emotions) and often used for diagnosis. Insurance coverage varies.
- Independent educational evaluation (IEE): if you disagree with the school's evaluation, you can request an outside evaluation at public expense.
Preparing for it
- Write down your observations with dates: homework, focus, behavior, sleep, what teachers say.
- Bring previous evaluations, report cards, the IEP or 504 plan.
- Tell your child, simply, that they'll do puzzles and activities to understand how they learn best.
After the report
- Ask for a feedback session to go through results and recommendations.
- Share the report with the school in writing if you want it considered for the IEP or 504 plan.
- Turn recommendations into a list of requests for the next meeting.
The process in Lumina
How Lumina helps, step by step
- 1
Prepare the intake
Reread your child's timeline to give concrete, dated examples during the parent interview.
- 2
Send previous evaluations
A summary PDF with older evaluations attached, sent to the evaluator before the first appointment.
- 3
Get a plain-English summary
Upload the report to Documents and tap “Summarize this evaluation”: Lumina writes a plain-language summary, on your device.
- 4
Update the profile
Add diagnoses and recommended accommodations to your child's profile; they'll appear in every summary.
Everything you write stays encrypted on your device: neither Lumina nor anyone else can read it.
Frequently asked questions
Does Lumina send my child's evaluation to an AI service?+
No. Automatic summaries run inside your browser; the document never leaves your device.
Does the school have to follow a private evaluation?+
It must consider it, but isn't required to adopt all its recommendations. Ask for the team's response in writing.
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Tester gratuitementThis guide gives general information, not legal or medical advice. Rules and timelines vary by state and district and can change: check with your school district, your state agency or the official websites. Lumina is not a medical device.