By: Jane Hauser
Director of Marketing & Outreach, NESCA
NESCA is pleased to welcome Dr. Leah Weinberg to its team of expert neuropsychologists. Learn more about her professional experiences and what she hopes to bring to NESCA and the families it serves.
Tell us about your career path and what made you get into neuropsychology.
My path to neuropsychology was not a direct one. My initial field of interest was in school psychology, a discipline that focuses on the mental health, behavioral, and academic needs of students within the school setting. The program I went to at Fordham University had a focus on testing, but also offered very strong consultation and counseling components. That’s how I got into psychology, broadly speaking. I did my internship at and worked as a school psychologist in a large private school for different age groups. During that time, I worked in early childhood, elementary, and in high school grades. As a school psychologist, I engaged in psychoeducational assessment, provided direct therapeutic support to students, and collaborated closely with educators, parents, and administrators to promote positive student outcomes.
And as a side job during and after graduate school, I dipped my toes into some teaching – assistant teaching, regular classroom instruction, some special education settings, and school counseling, primarily with middle to high schoolers. From there, I got into neuropsychology, which brought together my love of testing and helping children/students – and by extension, their families – by helping to figure out what is going on and how to direct them to the appropriate intervention(s).
I was a post-doctoral fellow at a group practice in the greater Boston area and stayed with them as a pediatric neuropsychologist for a total of 10 years.
What are your areas of expertise in evaluating students?
As far as ages go, I like to work with individuals from age six through the college years or into young adulthood. Regarding the profiles of students I evaluate, I have experience in a little bit of everything, but largely focus on children with executive function and attention deficits. I also evaluate for learning disabilities, including reading, math, and writing challenges, nonverbal learning disability, as well as children with concerns of various types of anxiety, depression, or mood issues. I also see a lot of children with emotional regulation issues, presenting as emotional outbursts, behavioral outbursts, meltdowns, or ADHD-type symptoms.
It’s really interesting to me to determine the cause of the various forms of regulation challenges. It may stem from being born prematurely or could also be related to a disorder or disability. The behaviors that children with regulation challenges exhibit may look similar from one child to another, but no two children are the same. The root cause is unique within each child or individual.
I really enjoy working with these kids and helping their parents or caregivers understand what’s going on with them. It’s often mind-blowing to see their parents or caregivers finally understand that there is a reason behind the difficult behaviors and that they have a chance to support them. You can watch them start to connect the dots or see things start to make more sense to them. It’s like pulling the veil off of something that looks and feels very complex, but through evaluation, we are giving them a path to go down to support the child and mitigate the challenges. This is why I love my job. I can provide clarity to parents and other providers. And with that clarity, we can empower them to seek appropriate and tailored care and support for their child.
What were you looking for in choosing to join the NESCA team?
I was hoping for a more supportive and collaborative environment and with a strong peer group. I wanted to be in a setting surrounded by colleagues who love their jobs as much as I do and who can work well together and independently.
I am hoping to nurture the relationships I have with the families I work with and also with my colleagues. From what I’ve experienced, NESCA is a supportive environment that will assist me in doing my job through its collaborative, enriching peer group, and that benefits the families we serve and strengthens our skills as neuropsychologists. I love learning from the different perspectives, experiences, and insights into schools, providers, and interventions we recommend.
What do you tell parents or caregivers who are hesitant to have their child evaluated?
Often, parents are setting out trying to find answers for their child’s struggles, maybe for the first time. Very frequently, they are unsure of the process and what it all means. They are worried about their child getting a label, what the implications of having a label will be and for how long their child will carry this. They are scared of what they don’t know. Those who have been seeking answers for quite some time may be skeptical that a neuropsychological evaluation won’t deliver the answers they are desperate for.
Parents and caregivers exploring whether to get a neuropsychological evaluation carry a lot of fear, and rightfully so. In my role, I try to put myself in their shoes. They feel as if they are putting their child under a microscope and are unsure and afraid of what we will find. I keep their journey or experiences, which are often frustrating and tumultuous, in mind and educate them about the different ways in which a neuropsychological evaluation can be beneficial. For example, beyond assisting the family in understanding their child’s strengths and weaknesses in a thorough fashion, a diagnostic label may just be the key to giving their child (and them) some relief from their struggles. With a diagnostic label, they may finally access the services needed to help their child realize their full potential as a student, friend, or community member. Our goal is always to make things better for the child.
What have you been seeing in children, teens, and young adults since Covid hit?
I am seeing more emotionally driven scenarios, stemming from the increase in anxiety. I am also seeing kids with more of a mood component to their profiles. In addition, we are seeing an increase in learning disabilities alongside that mood piece. In many cases, it is more difficult to distinguish what exactly is the root cause of the challenges, whether each issue they have exists independently of or is part of another disorder, or which of the issues they are experiencing is at the forefront of the challenges. We also are seeing younger students taking much more time to learn to develop their academic skills, such as reading. Since Covid, there have been more cases involving questions about gender identity
We are also seeing a large population of students who are struggling with those important developmental and educational transitions, such as with the jump from elementary school to middle school and middle school to high school. The time that should have been dedicated to preparing students for these types of milestones was wildly disrupted. These students were left struggling to navigate so much on their own – things like how to work with multiple teachers, how to get around in a new environment and with a different schedule than they were used to. Their transitional preparation was essentially bypassed and children were required to carry out their education in developmentally unsuitable ways that they were not prepared for.
Finally, schools scaled down the level of work so much during Covid, which made it more challenging for the students when they came back to school. Since being back in the school setting, their demands were raised back up. It’s been difficult for students and families to rebound, especially if there is some kind of identified need or challenge with the student. We’re still very much dealing with the ramifications of these shifts.
About the Author
Dr. Leah Weinberg specializes in the assessment of school-aged children and adolescents with a wide range of concerns including development disorders, such as Autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities (e.g. dyslexia, dysgraphia), language-based learning difficulties, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Nonverbal Learning Disability (NVLD), and executive functioning disorders (e.g. slow processing speed). She also has experience in working with individuals with psychiatric difficulties, such as anxiety, mood disorders (e.g. depression), and behavioral disorders. Dr. Weinberg has expertise in working with children with complex profiles or multiple areas of strength and weakness that cannot be encapsulated by a single diagnosis. Dr. Weinberg is passionate about helping families better understand their child’s neuropsychological profile and the impact it may be having on their behavior or functioning in order to best support them in all areas of their life.
If you are interested in booking an appointment for an evaluation with Dr. Weinberg or another NESCA neuropsychologist/clinician, please fill out and submit our online intake form.
NESCA is a pediatric neuropsychology practice and integrative treatment center with offices in Newton, Plainville, and Hingham, Massachusetts; Londonderry, New Hampshire; the greater Burlington, Vermont region; and Brooklyn, New York (coaching services only) serving clients from infancy through young adulthood and their families. For more information, please email info@nesca-newton.com or call 617-658-9800.
