Please reach out to us at info@mindworkspsych.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Please see the Contact Us page on our website. Here is some additional information you will need to be aware of:
We schedule appointments via email only, as our email system is our most reliable communication source. Emails allow our office team to access your requests and information in the future, should they need to reference it. NOTE: There will be many emails, and contact from our office, prior to the actual appointment date.
If you do not receive an email confirmation of the appointment (after we have scheduled you via our email conversation), please let us know so we can resend confirmation accordingly.
If you do not receive an invoice (which outlines the appointment deposit request as well), please let us know so we can resend the invoice accordingly.
If you do not receive the history form immediately after being scheduled, please let us know so we can resend the form accordingly (this form must be completed at least 72 hours prior to the appointment please).
Once your appointment has been scheduled, you will also receive an additional email with rating scale forms (these rating scales need to be completed at least 72 hours prior to the appointment). The email with the rating scale forms will be sent out a few weeks prior to the appointment (and not the same day as scheduling).
Our school psychologist generally has openings in about 4-6 weeks, and our clinical psychologist generally has openings in about 10-12 weeks. We can always let you know if there are cancellations as well.
We can see children 14 months and up through age 18. We also see adults 18 through 22. We generally do not see adults over 22 for assessments, unless we have evaluated one of your family members in the past, or discussed a special situation with you, or through Vocational Rehabilitation. Here is a list of things we commonly assess:
We do!
This is a cognitive test, and the most commonly used test would include:
If you are seeking gifted testing only, the in-person evaluation typically takes about 60–90 minutes, and costs $600. We can generally schedule gifted testing appointments within 2-4 weeks, and we try to provide written results the same day.
For gifted testing, the child needs to score 130 or higher, which falls in the 98th percentile.
A few important things to note:
NOTE: If your child was tested at school, and just missed the cutoff by a few points, you may be considering having them reassessed. However, while a five-point increase (e.g., from 125 to 130) may not seem like much, it actually requires getting most answers correct, which can be quite challenging. We just want to set realistic expectations, as many parents are surprised by how difficult it is to reach this score.
Please let us know if you have ANY previous screening or testing results from a prior office, or from the school, as some school districts do not like re-testing with the same test within 1-year, and could deny results if so. We would need a copy of these results.
If you or your child is struggling in any area, whether it be learning, friendships, emotional regulation skills, behavior, or at work, and things are not improving, then an evaluation will be helpful to identify why this is happening. Once you know what might be going on, you can better target therapies and supports to help you or your child learn how to better learn or cope. An evaluation may be helpful if:
We have two main evaluations, psychoeducational and psychological.
The psychoeducational evaluation is more for school and learning concerns, ADHD, LD, etc. and can be completed by a school psychologist. The psychoeducational evaluation does not typically assess for any mental health conditions (beyond ADHD or specific learning disabilities). This is often a starter eval and we can always let you know if we see any red flags for autism. This is used for school or testing accommodations. It takes about 4 hours in person, but this can vary. Psychoeducational evaluation cost is between $1995-$2195, depending on the evaluator.
The psychoeducational evaluation for ages 4+ with verbal skills generally includes:
The psychological evaluation includes everything our psychoeducational evaluation does, but also looks at social communication and social interaction skills and personality/behavioral functioning to also assess for autism or personality features. This eval generally includes:
The psychological eval takes about 4-5 hours in person, but can vary. The written report is usually completed by our clinical psychologist (but our school psychologist can also do this, as long as you do not live in Lake County). The cost for the psychological eval can vary depending on age, but it is typically $2495 for ages 4-11, and $2995 for ages 12-22.
NOTE: We generally do not see adults for assessment unless we have evaluated one of your children in the past, or discussed a special situation with you or through Vocational Rehabilitation.
NOTE: If a child is age three or younger, or is minimally verbal, the evaluation will be $1195 and will not take as much time (we may be able to fit them into the schedule more quickly).
You will receive an initial childhood history form, and then a few weeks before the appointment you will receive additional parent and teacher rating forms. All forms must be completed at least 72 hours prior to the appointment. For kids, you will initially receive an informed consent form, go ahead and be sure to read it, as it will discuss many of the things you might want to tell your child about testing, you can read more information here about what to say to your child: https://mindworkspsych.com/2021/01/05/what-do-i-tell-my-child-about-testing/. We also have a letter to kids here: https://mindworkspsych.com/a-letter-to-the-kids/
The appointment usually starts at 9am at MindWorks, and will take about 4 hours or so, but it is a bunch of fast-paced 1:1 activities so most usually enjoy it. The appointment will be at 310 S. Dillard St. Suite 160, Winter Garden, FL 34787. It is a stone building on Dillard, and there is a big parking lot behind the building. Please park in the back, and enter the building via the back door.
Receiving the final written report can take several weeks. Every provider is different, but Dr. Carmichael generally gives her clients the diagnosis on the same day of the evaluation, so clients leave with an understanding of what’s going on. Dr. Carmichael also often goes through the results of testing/rating scales the same day as well. However, some providers schedule feedback sessions one to two weeks out to discuss diagnosis and results. If you need the diagnosis same-day for something urgent, we can generally provide that, but the final written report can take several weeks.
MindWorks employs independent contractors who set their own rates. Fees start at $195+/session (insurance is not accepted). Contact each provider individually to discuss their rates. All providers can accept the Gardiner (as direct-pay.)
I will give you a flat fee for the evaluation after discussing your needs. I do require a deposit of around 30% to reserve the day for your testing, with the balance due on the date of testing. If you need to make payments, that is fine, I just do not begin to write up the results until the final payment is completed.
Yes, we are! You can reserve the funds for this in the EMA portal. We cannot accept the FES PEP scholarship. I am also a vendor with Orange County Public Schools for Independent Educational Evaluations.
Insurance is not accepted, although you may use a FSA or HSA card. We will provide you with a superbill to submit to your insurance company should you have OON benefits (but see the warning below about this). Cash, credit cards, debit cards, cashiers checks accepted. We can also take payment plans through PayPal Credit & CareCredit.
In order to have therapy or assessment services covered under insurance, a mental health diagnosis must be made. This information then becomes part of your permanent health care record and is reported by your insurance company to the Medical Information Bureau. The MIB is consulted by insurance companies when you apply for life, health or disability insurance that needs to be individually underwritten. If there is a diagnosis listed, you, or your child, are very likely to be denied insurance or entrance to certain occupations. Paying privately allows YOU to control who has access to your or your child’s mental health information. Also, this way insurance companies do not dictate which tests your psychologist can use or not use or how many sessions you can have with your therapist. In addition, most insurance companies will not cover psychological testing for developmental delays or learning concerns, as they are “educational” in nature rather than “medical” and therefore, deemed not medically-necessary.
Insurance will often times be willing to reimburse you for your therapy costs. To make your filing process easier, we have partnered with Reimbursify for you to easily submit your claims for out-of-network health insurance reimbursement. Download the app and get your first five claims for this practice free.
Yes, there are some local providers who take insurance. There is Villar NeuroPsychology, or for autism evaluations we recommend these three offices:
Dr. Carmichael is one of only 4% of clinical psychologists who have obtained speciality certification through an organized peer review process as meeting the standards and demonstrating the competencies required in the specialty of clinical child and adolescent psychology. This helps to differentiate her psychological work from the mainstream of child psychologists and establishes her as a qualified practitioner who embraces continued learning and competency in the core areas for the practice of child psychology. ABPP certified psychologists are committed to examining themselves very rigorously and are continually striving for improvement and continual operation on empirically-based principals, open to peer-review and feedback,so as not to become complacent. As a child psychologist, she holds the opportunity and ability to influence and change young lives and that of parents coping with their children’s or families challenges, and she strives to be the best that she can be given that honor and that challenge.
A neuropsychological evaluation would be completed by a clinical psychologist, and it adds in an additional memory assessment, a visual spatial processing assessment, an additional executive functioning assessment, an additional listening comprehension or language assessment, etc. But a neuropsychological evaluation is really only needed if you are trying to localize the source of a TBI, seizure focus, or doing pre-post for radiation or surgery etc., otherwise, it is not usually necessary. A neuropsychological evaluation can take 6-8 hours in person, with a lengthy written report. If this evaluation is truly necessary, we commonly we refer out to Robyn Cohen PhD.
Our office does not create or implement 504 Plans directly, as those are developed by the school district. However, our comprehensive evaluations can play an important role in that process.
If appropriate, our assessment will include specific recommendations for accommodations and supports that may be helpful in a 504 Plan. These findings can be shared with the school to assist them in determining eligibility and in formulating a plan tailored to your child’s needs.
Please note that the College Board—the organization that administers the SAT—requires that testing accommodations reflect a student’s established, school-based accommodations, and demonstrate a consistent history of use. Specifically, 100% extended time (also called “double time”) is considered a significant accommodation, and is typically only granted when there is a well-documented need, and a clear record of the student already using that level of support in the classroom, and on school-based tests.
If your child does not currently have a 504 Plan, IEP, or documented history of using 100% extended time, it is unlikely that the College Board would approve that level of accommodation for testing purposes. However, accommodations such as 50% extended time (time-and-a-half), small group testing, or breaks as needed may still be appropriate (and more likely to be approved), depending on the student’s documented needs and diagnostic profile.
An evaluation from our office alone will not get your child the 100% extra time on the SATs. For this level of testing accommodation, your child would need to already have this outlined and in place. We suggest that the parent/guardian sets up a meeting with the child’s school, to get that very specific verbiage written into their 504 plan, if it is not already stated in there as such.
An updated psychoeducational evaluation may not be necessary at this time. Most colleges and universities will accept existing documentation—such as a recent IEP, 504 Plan, or a Summary of Performance (SOP)—that outlines the student’s history of accommodations and the rationale for their use. If your child received accommodations in high school, based on a documented disability, that documentation (along with records of how the accommodations supported their access to learning) is often sufficient. It is very difficult to try to get accommodations that are different than what was provided in high school.
Colleges and universities typically have an office of disability services that reviews such documentation to determine eligibility for accommodations. We recommend contacting the disability services office at your child’s intended college to confirm their specific documentation requirements. In many cases, they will guide you on what they accept and whether any additional information is needed.
No, our practice does not provide forensic or court-involved assessments, as outlined in our informed consent form. Our focus is strictly on clinical evaluations for diagnostic and treatment planning purposes. Our practitioners do not testify in court hearings.
For court-invovled evaluations, we recommend contacting a provider with specific expertise in forensic assessments, and with experience in testifying in court. You want your professional to be very knowledgeable with this process.