Niki, validation is an important part of any psychic reading. That's how you know the information coming through is from the other side and not the psychic's own mind. This is why for my readings I tell people not to tell me anything about themselves or why they're calling. Validation can come in many different ways. Sometimes I'll get a personal story of something that happened to my sitter like when they were a kid. Sometimes the guides will channel a message to me word for word and when I tell my sitter they are stunned to hear that the message was what they wrote in their journal just last night. Sometimes a deceased person will come through with some specific details like, "Tell her she had a doctor appt next Tuesday at 2pm and I'll be with her." or, "Tell her I can see the tatoo she got of my face on her back and it's a beautiful tribute to me." Or whatever.
With cold reading you can't take a stab like that because it's too easy to be wrong. So instead you give vagaries like, "You are normally a very loving person but sometimes you just get really mad." Wow, how wonderfully insightful (not!).
But it's not cold reading when you say, "They're telling me your sister just lost her baby boy after he spent 3 months in the NICU and at the funeral her older son read a poem in tribute to the deceased baby entitled, "I'm still your older brother."
The best thing to do is what Steve said. Get referrals and try it for yourself.
You may enjoy reading my blog entry,
Psychics are Like Doctors for more on this.