1.  Assessment of Academic Difficulties, Learning Disabilities – An academic assessment is an evaluation of the core academic areas of reading, written language, mathematics, and oral language.   When appropriate a comprehensive bilingual psycho-educational assessment will be completed with an emphasis on a Cross-Battery Processing Deficit Assessment when requested. 
2. Assessment of Developmental Delay – A developmental delay is a significant lag in a child’s physical, cognitive, behavioral, emotional, or social development, in comparison with norms.  A developmental delay assessment is a comprehensive assessment of developmental functioning.  It is an evaluation of adaptive, cognitive, communication, motor, and social-emotional functioning.  The evaluation consists of direct assessment of the child and parent interviews and questionnaires.
   
3. Assessment of Cognitive/Intelligence including Intellectual Deficits and Borderline Intellectual Functioning, and Mental Retardation.  A cognitive assessment provides information about a child’s intellectual strengths and weaknesses and insight into the child’s overall cognitive potential.  The tests give general information about processing skills and are intended to be a predictor of how well and in what ways a child will learn new information.   A cognitive assessment involves the evaluation of cognitive processes and is often referred as an ‘IQ tests’. 
   
4. Assessment of Adaptive Behaviors– Adaptive behaviors represent skill areas that are central to successful life functioning, such as communication, self-care, home-living, and social skills. 

1.  Differential diagnosis of attentional deficits including Attention-Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Anxiety, Learning Disability, Post-Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Bipolar Disorder. 
2. Differential diagnosis of behavioral disorders including Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Disruptive Disorder, ADHD, and Conduct Disorder. 
3. Differential diagnosis of anxiety disorders including Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Phobias, Social Phobia, Panic Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, PTSD , Separation Anxiety, or Selective Mutism vs. intense shyness, and Nonpathological Anxiety.  Many children feel anxious or distress at times when they are separated from their parents, strangers, thunderstorms, or the dark.   But some children suffer from anxieties severe enough to interfere with the daily activities or childhood or adolescence.  Anxious children may lose friends and be left out of school activities.  They often experience academic failure and low self-esteem. 
4.  Differential diagnosis of Childhood Depression and Dysthymic Disorder– All children feel sad or blue at times, but feelings or sadness with great intensity that persists for weeks or months may be a symptom of major depressive disorder or dysthymic disorder (chronic depression).  These depressive disorders are more than your usual ‘blues’; they affect a child’s thoughts, feelings, behavior, and body, and can lead to school failure, alcohol or drug abuse, and even suicide.
5. Other diagnosis common in children include Reactive Attachment Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) and Autism Spectrum Disorders, Asperger’s Disorder, Tourette’s Syndrome, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Communication Disorders,  Elimination Disorders, and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).

Dr. Perala has worked with individuals of all ages and ethnic backgrounds as a bilingual elementary school teacher, school counselor, and school psychologist.  Dr. Perala has received specialized training and experience in psychological assessment with special focus on the evaluation of school-age children with learning disability, behavioral problems, and social-emotional problems.  Her post-training and recent training has focused on forensic assessment and recommendations.  Dr. Perala is a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) the American Psychological Association (APA), the Arizona Psychological Association (AzPA), and the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC).