Christine Pickering, Ph.D., BCBA, NCSP
Psychologist for Children, Teens & Adults in Tampa, St. Petersburg & Sarasota
Specialized in psychological testing and comprehensive evaluations for children, adolescents, and young adults across Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota, with deep expertise in ADHD, autism, learning disability, gifted, and psychoeducational assessment.
Licensed Psychologist (Florida #PY8409), Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP)
About Christine
Licensed Psychologist (Ph.D.) — Florida | License #PY8409
Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) — Certification #1-14-10172
Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP)
Primary Specialties: psychological testing and evaluations, ADHD assessment, autism spectrum evaluation, learning disability testing, gifted testing, psychoeducational evaluation, developmental evaluation
Location: In-person evaluations in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota offices
Approaches: evidence-based standardized assessment, integrated cognitive and behavioral testing, school psychology framework, applied behavior analysis (ABA) informed evaluation
Background: 17+ years of clinical practice across public schools, hospital settings, private practice, and alternative education programs, including extensive work with Hillsborough County Public Schools
Christine's Approach to Evaluation
Dr. Pickering brings together two complementary clinical traditions in her work. As both a licensed psychologist and a nationally certified school psychologist, she understands assessment from inside the clinic and from inside the classroom. As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, she brings a behaviorally informed lens to evaluation that pays close attention to how a child or adult actually functions across settings, not only how they perform on a single test in a single afternoon.
Her evaluations are structured, thorough, and warm. She believes a good report should not only answer the diagnostic question, but also leave the family or adult client with practical, specific recommendations they can actually use at home, at school, at work, and in coordinated treatment.
In her assessment process, she focuses on:
Understanding the referral question with precision before any testing begins
Selecting instruments clinically rather than offering one-size-fits-all batteries
Integrating cognitive, academic, behavioral, social, and emotional data into a complete picture
Communicating findings in plain language during a feedback session, not just in a written report
Writing recommendations that translate directly into school plans, treatment goals, and accommodations
Coordinating with therapists, psychiatric providers, and schools when ongoing support is part of the plan
Dr. Pickering's goal is not simply to assign a diagnosis. It is to help families and adult clients see themselves and their children clearly, with both the strengths and the challenges in view, so the next decisions feel grounded rather than guessed.
Christine Specializes In
Dr. Pickering works with:
Children, adolescents, and young adults from preschool through college who need diagnostic clarity
Families seeking gifted testing or cognitive assessment for academic placement and advocacy
Children and teens with suspected ADHD, learning disabilities, or executive functioning challenges
Children and adolescents being evaluated for autism spectrum traits, social communication patterns, or sensory differences
Students who need formal documentation for IEPs, 504 plans, standardized test accommodations, or university disability services
Young adults preparing for college, graduate school, or licensing board exams who need accommodation documentation
Adults seeking diagnostic clarity for ADHD or other neurodevelopmental concerns
What Christine Helps Clients With
Dr. Pickering provides psychological testing and evaluations for children, teens, college students, and adults across Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota, including:
ADHD evaluation for children, adolescents, and adults
Autism spectrum evaluation for school-age children, teens, and adults
Learning disability evaluation, including dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia
Gifted testing and cognitive assessment for academic placement
Comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations for layered referral questions
Developmental evaluations for preschool-age children
Anxiety, depression, and behavioral assessment integrated with cognitive testing
504 plan and IEP documentation for public, private, and homeschool families
Accommodation documentation for standardized tests, college entrance exams, graduate exams, and professional licensing boards
Diagnostic clarity for treatment planning when therapy and psychiatric care are part of the next step
Christine’s Background & Training
Dr. Pickering earned her doctorate from the University of Florida and has practiced psychology for more than 17 years across an unusually broad range of settings. Her career has spanned public schools, alternative education programs, hospital systems, and private practice, including extensive work within Hillsborough County Public Schools. That cross-setting experience is one of her differentiators as an evaluator: she has seen how the same child presents in a structured school day, in a hospital intake, and in a quiet private practice office, and she draws on all of it when she designs a testing plan.
Her training and credentials include:
Ph.D., University of Florida
Licensed Psychologist, State of Florida (License #PY8409)
Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), Behavior Analyst Certification Board (#1-14-10172, 2014)
Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP)
Extensive experience administering and interpreting standardized cognitive, academic, behavioral, and adaptive assessment instruments
17+ years of clinical practice across public and alternative schools, hospital settings, and private practice
Prior leadership of an independent psychological assessment practice in Tampa
Her work is evidence-based, family-centered, and built around the practical reality that a testing report is most useful when it leads to action. Colleagues across the Tampa Bay clinical community describe Dr. Pickering as warm, thoughtful, and unusually skilled at building rapport with children and families, especially in evaluations where a child may have been reluctant or anxious about the process.
A Message From Dr. Pickering
"Every child and every adult I evaluate has a story that goes beyond a score on a test. My job is to ask the right questions, choose the right instruments, and put everything together in a way that actually helps you move forward. A good evaluation should leave you with more clarity and a real plan, not just a label."
Ready to work with Dr. Pickering?
We invite you to schedule a FREE CONSULTATION with us to begin your healing journey.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you decide which tests to use for my child?
Before any testing begins, we start with a careful intake conversation about your referral question, your child's history, and what you are hoping the evaluation will help clarify. That conversation drives the testing plan. Two families can come in with the same general concern (say, attention difficulties) and walk out with very different testing batteries because the underlying questions are different. The point of a good evaluation is not to administer the most tests possible. It is to choose the right ones to answer the actual question.
What ages do you evaluate?
My core specialty is psychological evaluation across the school-age years, from preschool through college, and I also conduct adult evaluations for ADHD and other neurodevelopmental concerns when accommodations or diagnostic clarity is the goal. My deepest experience is with children, adolescents, and young adults, and that is reflected in the way I structure the evaluation process to feel calm and supportive for younger clients.
How long does a psychological evaluation take from start to finish?
A typical evaluation runs across several appointments. There is an initial intake interview, one or two testing sessions depending on the complexity of the referral, time for record review and report writing, and a feedback session where we sit down and go through the findings together. The full process from intake to written report usually takes a few weeks, and we set realistic expectations during scheduling so you know what to plan for.
What makes your evaluations different from the testing I could get through the school?
School-based evaluations are valuable and serve an important purpose, but they are bound by school district eligibility criteria, scheduling constraints, and the specific question of whether a child qualifies for special education services. A private psychological evaluation is broader. It can clarify diagnosis, integrate emotional and behavioral data, address the whole child rather than only school performance, and provide a report that is portable across schools, providers, and accommodation systems. The two can complement each other, and I often work alongside school teams when that is helpful.
Will my child feel comfortable with the testing process?
Helping children and adolescents feel safe and engaged during testing is part of the work, not separate from it. A child who feels rushed or judged will not produce results that reflect their actual abilities. I take time at the start of each session to build rapport, explain what we are doing in age-appropriate language, and keep the process structured but warm. Families often tell me their child surprised them by enjoying parts of the process.