Psychological Assessment

A psychological assessment is an evaluation of a child’s functioning in one or more of the areas mentioned above. It involves collecting lots of  information from multiple sources (including interviews, questionnaires and standardised testing) to pinpoint the problems underlying your concerns.

Let’s go back to the doctor analogy and ask yourself.... “why bother visiting a doctor when your child is unwell?”.

Well, children are complex. It may be beyond the scope the parents to understand what is causing their child's problems and how to help them. If this is you, don't worry, you're in the majority!

Psychological assessment is a process of finding the root-cause of your child's concerns. You will understand WHAT is going on for your child and HOW to best support him or her toward better functioning and health.

Without knowing these underlying issues, attempts to help your child may be a waste of valuable time and possibly make the situation worse.

For many children, psychological assessment is an important stepping stone towards a higher quality of life.

The primary role of the psychologist is to apply their skill and knowledge to identify any underlying issues concerning your child.

It is also their job to paint a picture of what is going well for your child, to provide you (the parent) with understanding and education, offer solutions and strategies, and ultimately support you to make a meaningful difference in your child’s life.

Our assessments will help you to:

• Understand your child better, including strengths and areas for development.
• Identify the cause of your child’s difficulties.
• Learn about key psychological concepts related to your child’s particular
  concerns.
• Develop skills and knowledge that will empower you to support your child.
• Advice to help you make important life decisions for your child.
• Guidance on what to do next to improve your child’s quality of life.
• Evidence to support applications for NDIS or school funding.
• Measure treatment progress and outcomes.
• Peace of mind in knowing what’s possible for your child and that you are doing what you can to help them reach their potential!

There are four main components to psychological assessment:

1. Information gathering – your psychologist will collect information about your child via questionnaires, interviews, previous assessments, school reports, and medical records.
2. Formalised testing – your psychologist will observe and interact with your child; guiding them through a series of structured tasks, tests and activities.
3. Report writing – your psychologist will spend time putting all the pieces of the
   puzzle together and present this information in a clinical report.
4. Feedback and support – you will be guided carefully through the results, educated, and provided with practical strategies, resources, referrals.

For more details about the assessment process click here.

The duration of the assessment will vary depending on your child’s presenting concerns and support needs. We aim to complete the full assessment with report and feedback within 2 weeks of your first booking. 

To provide accurate assessments, we use precise tools. Our psychologists use only the top-quality testing instruments available on the market. All of our standardised tests are based in strong scientific research.

In short, the tools we use to assess children have  validity and reliability. Our test library is comprehensive, meaning we can assess for most childhood conditions across the five key areas of behaviour, cognition, emotions, school learning and social health.

For reference purposes, here are a few of the more common tests we use:

• WISC-V^A&NZ (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – 5th Edition)
• WIAT-III^A&NZ (Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – 3rd Edition)
• WAIS-IV^A&NZ (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - 4th Edition)
• ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – 2nd Edition)
• ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview –Revised) 
• NEPSY-II (A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment – 2nd Edition)
• CTOPP-2 (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing - 2nd Edition)
• BASC-3 (Behaviour Assessment System for Children – 3rd Edition)
• Vineland-3 (Adaptive Behaviour Scales - 3rd Edition)
• BRIEF-2 (Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function – 2nd Edition)
• SRS-2 (Social Responsiveness Scale – 2nd Edition)
• GARS-3 (Gilliam Autism Rating Scale - 3rd Edition)
• CVLT-C (California Verbal Learning Test – Children’s Edition)
• RCFT (Reys Complex Figure Task)