David is a 23-year-old Hispanic client who, during an initial phone call about having an assessment conducted, stated that he is having academic difficulty in college and wants an evaluation for a...

David is a 23-year-old Hispanic client who, during an initial phone call about having an assessment conducted, stated that he is having academic difficulty in college and wants an evaluation for a learning disorder or possible attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This is a pretty straightforward referral question, but even knowing this information it is important for you to ask, “What questions do you want answered from this evaluation?” When he states, “I want to know if I have a learning disability or ADHD,” you can help guide him to a slightly better referral question. You can simply restate his question as a better one: “So you are having difficulty in school, and you want to know what’s underlying that difficulty?” Certainly you do not need to educate him in the moment about how so many different things can negatively affect academic performance, including not only learning disabilities and ADHD but also a host of other things like depression, anxiety, and personality characteristics.

Rewording the referral questions for him in the moment allows for

(a) him to feel heard and understood and

(b) you to conduct a more thorough evaluation to answer such questions, rather than assessing only for learning disabilities and ADHD.