ADHD & Neuropsychological Testing in the South Bay

We are a South Bay practice, based on Pacific Coast Highway in Hermosa Beach, and we evaluate adults, teens, and children from Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo, Torrance, and Palos Verdes.

Who performs your evaluation

Evaluations are conducted by Dr. Daniel Hai, PsyD, a California licensed psychologist and clinical neuropsychologist with more than ten years of assessment experience. He completed postdoctoral training in neuropsychology and is a member of the National Academy of Neuropsychology.

His particular expertise is in complex presentations, where cognitive, emotional, developmental, personality, and medical factors overlap and the picture is not obvious. Much of that experience comes from residential treatment settings, working with people carrying multiple diagnoses, complicated histories, and symptoms with several possible explanations. More about Dr. Hai and our clinical team.

What testing can clarify

• ADHD, and whether attention difficulties are better explained by something else
• Autism spectrum differentials
• Learning differences and academic struggles
• Attention, executive functioning, and processing speed
• Memory concerns
• Mood and personality functioning
• Trauma-related conditions
• Cognitive changes associated with medical or neurological conditions

Why the differential matters

Attention problems are a common final pathway for a long list of causes. Anxiety fragments attention. Depression slows processing. Poor sleep looks almost identical to ADHD on a symptom checklist, and so do thyroid dysfunction, chronic stress, and unprocessed trauma.

Sorting between them is the entire value of a proper evaluation, and it is where a neuropsychologist's training does work that a checklist cannot. That distinction also determines treatment: an anxiety-driven attention problem treated with a stimulant often gets worse. If you want a fuller picture of what an evaluation involves, we wrote about adult ADHD testing and what to expect.

Two levels of evaluation

Focused diagnostic evaluation	Comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation
A relatively clear clinical picture	Complicated or overlapping presentations
Clinical interview and rating scales	Full cognitive testing across domains
Partially rules out other causes	Thoroughly rules out other causes
Brief written summary	Detailed report suitable for accommodations
Clarity and a treatment direction	Documentation, complex history, prior treatment failure

Which one fits depends on the question you need answered. We confirm that on the consultation rather than defaulting everyone to the most extensive option.

Specialized evaluations

Beyond diagnostic assessment, Dr. Hai's experience includes fitness-for-duty, disability, academic and testing accommodations, conservatorship, and professional competency evaluations, including high-stakes evaluations involving physicians, surgeons, clergy, and other licensed professionals. If you need an evaluation for one of these purposes, say so at the consultation, because the scope and the report differ considerably from a standard diagnostic assessment.

What to expect

We begin with a free 15-minute consultation to understand what you need answered. The evaluation itself involves structured assessment sessions, followed by scoring, a written report, and a feedback session to walk you through what the findings mean and what to do with them.

A diagnosis is the beginning of the useful part rather than the end. Because testing sits inside a coordinated practice, findings connect directly to psychiatric care where medication may help, and to therapy or teen support where that would serve, without starting over with someone new.