Psycho-educational Assessments

Every child learns differently. Sometimes, however, a child may be working much harder than expected, falling behind despite their efforts, struggling to keep up with classroom demands, or becoming anxious or frustrated around schoolwork. A psycho-educational assessment provides a comprehensive understanding of your child's cognitive, academic and emotional functioning.

It looks beyond marks alone to identify their strengths, areas of difficulty and individual learning profile, helping us understand what may be getting in the way of their progress and what support they may need. The goal is not simply to give your child a label, but to understand how they learn and what can be done to help them thrive.

Who can benefit from an assessment?

Psycho-educational assessments are suitable for children and adolescents experiencing difficulties or uncertainty in areas such as:

An assessment can also be helpful when a child is doing reasonably well academically, but parents or teachers feel that something is not quite adding up or that the child is working disproportionately hard to achieve.

When should parents consider an assessment?

You may want to consider an assessment when difficulties are persistent, affecting your child's confidence, or becoming increasingly difficult to manage. Common concerns include:

You do not need to wait until difficulties become severe. Early understanding can make it easier to put appropriate support in place.

What does the assessment involve?

The assessment is tailored to your child's age, developmental history and reason for referral. Depending on their needs, it may include:

Background information and interviews

We gather information about your child's development, schooling, medical and family history, as well as current concerns. Parent and teacher input may also be considered.

Cognitive assessment

This explores areas such as reasoning, verbal and visual abilities, working memory and processing speed, helping us understand how your child approaches different types of thinking and learning tasks.

Academic assessment

Depending on the referral question, this may include reading, reading comprehension, spelling, written expression and mathematics. The aim is to understand not only whether your child is struggling, but where difficulties are occurring and what may be contributing to them.

Emotional and behavioural information

Where relevant, questionnaires, observations and other measures may be used to explore factors such as anxiety, emotional well-being, self-esteem, behaviour and attention.

Feedback and recommendations

Findings are discussed with you during a feedback session, with practical recommendations based on your child's individual profile.

What can families expect afterwards?

The assessment is intended to provide a clear understanding of your child's learning profile, rather than simply a collection of test scores. Depending on the findings, recommendations may include:

Where appropriate, the assessment may also provide supporting documentation for applications for school-based accommodations or additional educational support.