SECOND OPINIONS
When the report doesn't match the child you know
“Your Child Scored Average.”
But what does that actually mean?
Serving Long Island & Queens, NY
Dr. Courtney Duhning, Psy.D.Pediatric Neuropsychologist · Manhasset, NYMath Problem Solving:
Average
Then why does math homework end in tears?
- Why does a 20-minute assignment take two hours?
- Why does your child understand it one day and completely fall apart the next?
- Why does school seem so much harder than the testing says it should?
Because “average” is a score. It isn’t the whole story.
A school evaluation may tell you where your child’s scores fall. Average, below average, above average. But parents need more than a range. You need to know:
- Why is this happening?
- What is getting in the way?
- What happens when the demands increase?
- How do attention, memory, language, learning, and executive functioning interact?
And most importantly: what does all of this mean for my child in real life?
That’s where a comprehensive evaluation can go deeper. A private neuropsychological evaluation or Independent Educational Evaluation isn’t just about collecting more scores. It’s about looking at the pattern. Connecting the dots. Understanding the child behind the numbers.
Because the goal isn’t to tell you “Math problem solving is average.” The goal is to help you understand “So why is math still so hard?”
That’s the difference between having test results and having answers. You need a plan of exactly how to help your child, not being told that everything is “fine” when you know things are not “fine.”
Parents are usually the first to notice, and often the last to be believed.
You have sat through homework every night for three years. You know what this child can do on a good day, and what is left by Thursday. An evaluation that does not account for any of that is not describing your child inaccurately so much as incompletely. It is describing a few hours in a quiet room with an unfamiliar adult.
WHAT GETS RE-EXAMINED
A second opinion is not the same test run twice
Repeating an evaluation rarely helps if the original asked the wrong questions. What changes in a second opinion is the scope of the enquiry, not the effort put into it.
The question that was asked
School evaluations typically focus on foundational academic skills, educational needs, and whether a student meets the criteria for special education services.
Some students have meaningful learning or attention difficulties but do not initially qualify for services because their school-based scores do not meet eligibility criteria.
The areas that may not have been fully evaluated
Processing speed, working memory, phonological processing, executive function and language are not always included. A difficulty in an area nobody measured will not appear in the results.
Whether the conditions matched real life
Attention and stamina behave differently in a silent room, one to one, for a short session, than they do in a classroom in the sixth hour of a school day.
How the numbers were interpreted
The same score can support more than one conclusion depending on what sits around it. A score read in isolation and a score read against the rest of the profile can mean quite different things.
What was seen once versus what happens repeatedly
A single session captures a moment. A thorough evaluation weighs that moment against developmental history, school records and what you have observed over years.
Whether emotion was separated from learning
Anxiety can look like inattention. Years of finding school hard can look like a poor attitude. Untangling cause from consequence takes deliberate assessment.
ABOUT ASKING
Disagreeing does not have to mean fighting
Many parents hesitate here, and the hesitation is rarely about the evaluation. It is about the relationship. You still have to sit across from these people at every meeting for the rest of your child's time in the district.
Asking for another opinion is not an accusation. School psychologists are working within fixed criteria, standard batteries and caseloads they did not choose. A second evaluation does not tell them they were wrong. It gives the team more information than it had before.
In practice, the parents who arrive at a meeting with a detailed independent report tend to have easier conversations, not harder ones. Specific findings give everyone something concrete to work from, which is far more productive than a disagreement about impressions.
WHAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY ASKING FOR
You are not asking anyone to be wrong. You are asking for a fuller picture.
A second evaluation adds information to the table rather than taking a side at it. That is usually how it is received, and it is certainly how it is best raised.
TWO ROUTES
How families usually go about it
A private evaluation, arranged by you
- ✓You choose the evaluator rather than being assigned one
- ✓No district process to wait on, so it usually happens sooner
- ✓The scope is set by your questions, not by eligibility criteria
- ✓The report belongs to you, and you decide whether to share it
- ✓You pay for it
An Independent Educational Evaluation
- ✓You state your disagreement with the district's evaluation in writing
- ✓The district then either funds an independent evaluation or requests a hearing to defend its own
- ✓The evaluator must meet the district's published criteria
- ✓It takes longer, and the process has specific steps
- ✓It may be conducted at public expense
These are not mutually exclusive, and families regularly start with one and move to the other. If you want to understand the IEE route in detail, including what to put in the letter, that is set out on the IEE page.
Schools determine educational eligibility and classification but generally do not provide clinical diagnoses. A private neuropsychological evaluation can diagnose conditions such as ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, processing difficulties, and other neurodevelopmental disorders when supported by the findings.
A private diagnosis does not automatically guarantee eligibility, but it can clarify why a child is struggling, document the educational impact, and provide the school team with important information when determining services and accommodations. By identifying the underlying difficulty, a private evaluation can recommend interventions and programs that are specifically matched to the child's learning profile.
WHAT IT GIVES YOU
What changes once you have a clear picture
You walk into the next meeting with documented findings rather than a worry you are trying to describe
You can ask for supports that fit this child, instead of accepting whichever accommodations are usually offered
A tutor can be briefed on the actual difficulty rather than the subject it shows up in
You stop running experiments at home to work out what helps
Your child gets an explanation for something they have probably been explaining to themselves far less kindly
From parents
What families say
“Dr. Duhning's knowledge of the school system made a huge difference. We felt prepared and confident going into IEP meetings.”
Parent, Nassau County“We finally understood why our child was struggling and what to do next. This was more helpful than any school evaluation we've had.”
Parent, Long Island“We were able to get in quickly, and the entire process, from testing to feedback, was prompt and efficient. We didn't have to wait months for answers.”
Parent, QueensCOMMON QUESTIONS
Before you request one
Do I have to tell the school I am getting a second opinion?
Not if you are arranging it privately. It is your evaluation and you decide whether to share it. If you are requesting an Independent Educational Evaluation at district expense, then yes, the process begins with telling them in writing that you disagree with their evaluation.
Will this damage our relationship with the district?
It very rarely does. Requesting an independent opinion is a normal, established part of the process and districts encounter it routinely. How it is raised matters more than whether it is raised.
How recent does the school's evaluation need to be?
There is no fixed rule, but the closer together the two evaluations sit, the more directly they can be compared. If a couple of years have passed, the second evaluation is better understood as a fresh picture than as a check of the first.
What if the second opinion agrees with the school?
That is a genuinely useful outcome and it happens. You would still have a far more detailed account of how your child learns, and you would be able to stop wondering whether something had been missed.
Is a second opinion the same thing as an IEE?
Not quite. An IEE is a specific legal route with defined steps and the possibility of public funding. A second opinion is the broader idea, and it can be pursued privately without involving the district at all.
My child was already given a diagnosis. Is this still worth doing?
Often, yes, particularly when the diagnosis does not seem to explain everything you are seeing, or when treatment based on it has not helped as expected. That situation has its own page, on diagnostic clarity.
When the report does not sit right
The first step is a free phone consultation. Tell Dr. Duhning what the report concluded and what you see at home, and together you can work out whether a second opinion is worth pursuing at all.
Continue reading
Explore related pages
Related reading for parents
- I Disagree With My Child’s School Evaluation. Can I Request an Independent Educational Evaluation?
- How is the Schools Testing Average?
- Why a School Evaluation Isn’t Always Enough
- Psychoeducational or Neuropsychological Evaluation: What’s the Difference?
Free school evaluation review checklist
Organize your questions about the school’s evaluation and note what you would like clarified before discussing next steps.