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Comprehensive Psychological (Educational) Assessments

This is a crucial part of understanding your child’s needs, and a thorough assessment results in a clear understanding of your child’s learning profile and indicates which interventions will be the most appropriate.

An assessment is usually conducted over 2 x 2 hour appointments and consists of:

• an intellectual assessment to establish your child’s learning strengths and weaknesses
• academic assessments to determine their progress in a range of areas including reading, writing and maths
• assessment of processing areas which may include listening, visual, organisational and phonological skills
• behavioural and emotional areas may also be explored to better understand your child’s
  developmental needs

A comprehensive report is prepared that provides a summary of findings and makes a range of recommendations to assist in planning the best way to support your child.

Parents can arrange a follow-up consultation to discuss results and to address any concerns or questions.

Speech Pathology Assessments

Learning Keys Speech Pathologists are qualified to undertake formal and informal assessments for children and adolescents with communication and/or literacy difficulties. Many people assume that a Speech Pathologist’s job is to assess and treat problems with speech clarity or pronunciation; however, communication is considerably more than this. Learning Keys Speech Pathologist can formally or informally investigate children’s skills in a range of areas, including:

• Speech – clarity / articulation / phonology
• Language – understanding and use of words and sentences
• Reading – decoding, reading fluency and comprehension
• Writing – spelling and written expression, planning and organisation
• Pre-literacy skills – phonological awareness
• Auditory processing (Note: Screening assessments only. Assessments for (Central) Auditory Processing Disorder are completed by a Specialist Audiologist.)
• Reasoning and problem solving
• Social skills

A comprehensive Speech Pathology assessment is usually conducted over 2 x 1 hour appointments. However, Learning Keys Speech Pathology assessments are tailored to the needs of each individual, and the exact nature of the assessment depends on the specific areas of concern. If a comprehensive assessment is requested, a report is provided with a full description of the child’s communicative strengths and weaknesses, along with recommendations for support, if applicable.

Prior to any testing, a Speech Pathologist will gather all relevant information. This is an essential part of any assessment, as it provides a clear picture of the main concerns for the child, and will allow the Speech Pathologist to most effectively investigate the child’s strengths and successfully pin-point areas of difficulty. At an initial appointment, a Learning Keys Speech Pathologist will collect the following information:

• developmental and medical history, and other background information
• parent or caregiver’s main concerns (this may include filling in developmental questionnaires)
• teacher concerns (with parental permission, teachers may be asked to fill in short a questionnaire)
• school reports and reports from other professionals (e.g. hearing assessments) if applicable

Our rooms are warm and welcoming, as it is important that children feel as comfortable and as relaxed as possible in any assessment or learning situation. Parents can choose to observe the assessment (or make this decision with their child), and in some cases this can help to provide parents with a clearer understanding of their child’s abilities.

Contact us to enquire or to book in for an assessment.