We are a boutique practice specializing in comprehensive evaluations and consultation services for children, adolescents, and emerging adults.
What We Do
What Makes Us Different
Our approach to assessment is uniquely holistic, more in-depth, and more well-rounded than traditional neuropsychological or psychoeducational assessments. The thorough, integrated evaluations we perform represent the intersection of developmental, neurobiological, educational, and psychological disciplines. LACIA psychologists have extensive training in both neuropsychological testing and in the assessment of personality and social/emotional functioning, including both typical and atypical developmental patterns. By integrating information about an individual’s neurocognition with a nuanced conceptualization of their inner world, we paint a clear, accurate, and deeply personal picture of them.
What Services We Provide
Testing Services: The battery of tests we administer is designed to assess numerous aspects of cognitive, processing, memory, learning, and social/emotional factors. Part of the testing process can include diagnosis of a learning, processing, attentional, or psychiatric disorder, but our philosophy is that a diagnosis is simply one small piece of the greater puzzle that needs to be solved in order to help our patients thrive.
Consultation Services: We also provide consultation services for families that have had testing elsewhere (including via the IEP process) within the last three years. Through the consultation model, we help to demystify test results and diagnosis as well as build your child’s self-awareness. When appropriate, consultation can be a faster, more cost effective way to understand the information that we already know about a student and to ensure that the treatment plan is targeted and effective.
What You Can Expect From Our Process
The ultimate goal is to construct a detailed, individualized roadmap that prioritizes an action plan in a methodical, practical way. Our philosophy is to remediate areas of weakness that respond to intervention while simultaneously developing strategies to allow a student to work smarter, not harder. Families will have the information they need to make well-informed decisions for next steps to maximize treatment gains while fostering healthy emotional growth. Emerging adults will have a realistic, concrete understanding their strengths, weaknesses, and personality style to serve as the springboard from which they launch into successful, fulfilling academic and/or vocational endeavors.
How Do We Get Started?
Contact us to get general information about the evaluation and to schedule a phone call to talk about your child’s specific needs. We are excited to work with you and your family!
Our Team
Dr. Allison Kawa
Clinical Director
Dr. Julie Caplan
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Liz Smith
Registered Psychological Associate
Mary
Clinical Coordinator
About Us
History and Mission
Los Angeles Center for Integrated Assessment (LACIA) evolved organically as a different way to approach the work of evaluating children, adolescents, and emerging adults. We are making accurate, holistic understanding of individuals accessible at varying levels of financial commitment as well as working to educate and inspire parents, educators, and providers in multiple disciplines. What started as a solo practitioner model with very compartmentalized thinking has blossomed into a dynamic, collaborative methodology whose whole is far greater than the sum of its parts.
Dr. Allison Kawa founded the practice in 2010 as a solo practitioner, providing several different, narrowly-focused types of evaluation (e.g., ADHD evaluations, dyslexia evaluations, etc.). She quickly realized that partial batteries of testing tended to raise more questions than they answered. Since they often proved unhelpful, these partial batteries were systematically dropped from the “menu of services” in favor of more comprehensive assessments. As the depth and complexity of evaluations increased, so did the time required to conduct them. This had the unfortunate result of causing excessive wait times for appointments. On a personal note, Dr. Kawa found solo practice to be lonely, and she missed the camaraderie of working in a multidisciplinary setting.
In 2013, Dr. Kawa founded Allison Kawa, Psy.D. & Associates and in 2018 rebranded as the Los Angeles Center for Integrated Assessment (LACIA). The move from independent to group practice allowed all the staff to learn from each other and to feel connected to other providers in what can be an isolating field. The practice became a place where assessment psychologists have support and mentorship while families are able to get exceptional, comprehensive evaluations without having to wait six months for an appointment. As the practice grew, Dr. Kawa’s role morphed into that of the Clinical Director. To reflect this shift, the practice was re-named LACIA to highlight the integration not only of multiple disciplines, but of all the members of the patient’s treatment team.
Dr. Kawa and her team have continued to refine their approach to testing, which is constantly changing in response to new research and assessment methods. The team has regular case conference meetings in addition to informal consultations that occur “on the fly”. Collaboration is central to the culture at LACIA, and we view ourselves as curators of information from test data, parents, teachers, outside providers, and each other to help get a 360 degree understanding of those we evaluate. The benefit of this model is that there are multiple highly-skilled and knowledgeable people working together to develop a thoughtful, integrated conceptualization of the whole person for each patient coming to the clinic. The collaborative nature of the practice also allows the LACIA staff to learn from each other as well as from all the families we see.
Just as the field of psychology and our understanding of the mind is constantly developing and growing, so must our methods for understanding it. LACIA is truly a unique entity driven by big picture thinking, curiosity, empathy, and flexibility. We remain abreast of and responsive to burgeoning research while never losing touch with our psychologically-minded roots. It is this integration of the head and the heart that sets us apart from standard neuropsychological or psychoeducational testing practices.
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At LACIA, our mission is to educate and inspire parents, educators, and providers worldwide. We aspire to make access to a holistic and integrated understanding of children and adolescents widely available at levels of commitment that suit each family’s specific needs. This might include working with us directly, or it might simply mean increasing your awareness and knowledge through content we provide here.