ALL ABOUT ASSESSMENT

What is an Educational Psychology or Psychoeducational Assessment?

A lot of parents are unsure as to what exactly a psycho-educational assessment entails and when it is necessary for a child to have one. This kind of assessment is primarily focussed on identifying learning problems/difficulties and/or determining the child's emotional and academic strengths and weaknesses in order to design an effective intervention strategy or programme.

These interventions are designed to ensure that your child learns and develops to his/her full potential. There is a wealth of information a psycho-educational assessment can provide to help you and your child's teachers understand how your child learns best.

I have undergone specific training in the UK to assess children for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder/s. These assessments are complex and further support/referral is likely to be required from a specialist developmental paediatrician if the comprehensive assessment is indicative of ADHD.

WHAT IS ASSESSED?

Every person is different.....but

The psycho-educational assessment starts with an individually administered cognitive test that will provide information about your child's intellectual abilities/learning profile in comparison to those of other children their exact age. It will provide you with a wealth of information about his/her abilities and learning style.

You will learn about his/her verbal abilities including vocabulary, reasoning with words, quantitative reasoning, abstract reasoning, auditory memory, processing of information through verbal channels, and knowledge of information. You will also learn about his/her nonverbal abilities including reasoning with visual cues, abstract visual reasoning, visual sequencing and processing, visual motor processing and integration, and alertness to social cues and analysis.

You will also understand whether these abilities are evenly distributed within your child, or if he/she has significant strengths and weaknesses. And you will find out what his/her abilities are in tasks requiring memory and processing speed.

The academic part of the assessment will assess the following:

reading (phonetic skills, sight vocabulary, reading comprehension),
spelling
writing
mathematics (basic numerical operations, mathematical reasoning),
academic fluency (speed of reading, writing, calculating)
handwriting (speed, legibility)

More complex assessment also include assessments of attention, impulsivity, social language/pragmatic language, behaviour and/or emotional issues.