FAQs

They are three testing paths. They are not three names for the same product.

An Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) is an evaluation done independently of the school, when the school’s picture of your child does not match the child you know. Independence protects the work. It is not a case against the school. That path lives on Independent Educational Evaluations.

A psychoeducational assessment looks at how your child is actually learning and functioning at school, then connects that information to the question you brought. ADHD testing, learning-disorder testing, IQ testing, Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA), and Special Circumstances Instructional Assessment (SCIA) live as sections on that page. They are not separate links.

An autism evaluation is the testing path when the question itself is about autism. How autism can show up at home and at school lives on What We Assess/Treat. That hub is not an evaluation URL.

All three sit under Evaluations. If you are not sure which door is yours, that is a reason to write, not a reason to guess from a website.

They are three kinds of work, and none of them is testing.

Counseling is work with your child, focused on the emotional and behavioral concerns that affect learning and school.

Parent coaching is work with you, on what to try at home when your child is struggling emotionally or behavior has become hard to manage.

Special education consultation is the school side. It is where we help you read an IEP, a Section 504 plan, or an evaluation, and prepare for the meeting. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a written school plan for a student who qualifies for special education. A 504 plan (named for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act) is a school plan for accommodations when a disability affects a student’s access to learning.

All three live on Services. Formal testing lives on Evaluations.

Three doors. One practice.

What We Assess/Treat is the list of concerns families bring: cognitive abilities, learning challenges, attention and executive functioning, autism, social-emotional and behavioral concerns, and anxiety. Those pages help you recognize a pattern. They do not diagnose.

Evaluations is the testing lane: IEEs, psychoeducational assessments, and autism evaluation.

Services is the ongoing work: counseling, parent coaching, special education consultation, and forensic consultation.

If you are matching a concern by name, start at What We Assess/Treat. If you need a picture of how your child is actually functioning, start at Evaluations. If you need counseling for your child, coaching for you, or help with the school side, start at Services. If more than one sounds right, that is common. Tell us what’s happening, and we will help you sort the next step.

Sometimes, and sometimes the more useful answer turns out to be a different one. An evaluation addresses the question a family or school is asking, and what it can conclude depends on the child, the question, the information gathered, and the evaluator’s scope.

No particular label, eligibility finding, or school outcome is promised before the work is done. What you will have at the end is a picture of your child you understand, and next steps you can act on.

Not in that sense. Advocacy and legal representation are their own professions, and Crescent does not take them on.

What special education consultation does is help you read a plan, sharpen the questions worth asking, and prepare for the meeting so you walk in ready.

Independence is also part of what makes an evaluation useful to you: a report reads differently to a school team when its author is aligned with one side.

Please don’t, and only because a public form is not a secure place for them. A few sentences about what is going on is all the first message needs.

Once we connect, we will set up a private way to send anything else. Keep the records you already have, and write down privately what you have noticed. That part is genuinely useful early on.

Fees are discussed at consultation.

The practice-wide money explanation lives on Fees & Insurance. We do not state insurance, network, or superbill claims here.

Crescent is a private-pay educational-psychology practice. What that means for your family is a conversation, not a guess from the website.

Sitewide Good Faith Estimate / No Surprises Act information is linked from the footer.

You’ll work directly with the person handling your child’s evaluation, from the first conversation through the recommendations that follow.

Crescent is led by Marcia Lynn Miller, Licensed Educational Psychologist, and credentials are on About, where they can be shown rather than claimed.

An IEP (Individualized Education Program) is a written school plan for a student who qualifies for special education. A 504 plan (named for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act) is a school plan for accommodations when a disability affects a student’s access to learning. They are different documents. One is not a lighter version of the other.

Which plan a child should have is a decision for the school team. An evaluation informs that decision rather than making it, and neither plan automatically follows from one.

If you have a draft, a meeting notice, or a plan that no longer matches the child you know, start with special education consultation. If you need a new independent picture of how your child is functioning, that is Evaluations.

Tell us what’s happening. Use the contact page, in your own words. You do not need clinical language. You do not need the right assessment name.

Call or text (559) 287‑8351 if that is easier. Skip records, diagnoses, and meeting packets on that first note.

We will use that conversation to understand your concerns and point you to the right kind of work: an evaluation, counseling, parent coaching, special education consultation, or a page that helps you recognize a pattern. Fees are discussed there.

By appointment, serving California’s Central Valley and Central Coast. In person in Fresno, Madera, Merced, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito Counties. Virtual throughout California.

There is no public street address, and everything is by appointment. We will tell you when and where to come once the work is a fit.

Yes. Independent evaluation, review of existing evaluations and records, consultation, and expert witness testimony in California special education matters. That work has its own page. Being retained by counsel does not change how an evaluation is conducted or what it concludes.

No. This site is not monitored and is not for emergencies. Crescent is not a crisis service.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or call 911.