Parents, school counselors or guidance officers, general practitioners (GPs), paediatricians and child psychiatrists commonly refer young clients to child psychologists for a cognitive or learning assessment if the child is experiencing learning problems at school.  These assessments can ascertain whether they have any learning problems that may be causative or contributing to a clinical presentation and to aid in accurate clinical formulation and treatment planning.

Different Types of Assessments are below:

Learning Assessment

• Identify the child’s potential for learning (intelligence) and whether the child is in fact meeting their potential academically (reading skills, writing, spelling and mathematics);
• Provides information as to how the child is performing compared with peers and grade expectations;
• Identifies how the child learns best;
• Helps provide teachers with valuable information about how children differ in order to match the classroom teaching to the specific needs of the children;

Clinical /Diagnostic Assessment

A thorough investigation using psychological tests, parent and child interviews and parent questionnaires, to identify if a child has a childhood disorder (eg depression, AD/HD, anxiety, autism spectrum disorders, behaviour disorders, etc.)

Developmental Assessment

Identifies developmental delays in language, motor skills, social and emotional skills, cognitive (thinking) and self help skills.