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When most people think about child psychological assessments they
think about IQ testing or educational assessments. While
intellectual and educational ability assessments are frequently
requested, psychological test results can help children,
parents, and educators in many other ways.
At CPAC
our approach to child psychological assessment falls within one of
four broad categories:
- Developmental Assessment
-
Clinical/diagnostic Assessment
- Educational and Intellectual
Ability Assessment
- Behavioural
Assessment
Developmental Assessment
As the term suggests, developmental assessment is focused on
collecting information about children's developmental functioning.
This may be relevant because of suspected developmental delay or in determining whether a
child is ready for school entry. In other cases, such as suspected ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorders, the first step is always
to screen for possible developmental delay. Individual
characteristics of specific or global developmental delay can
be similar to ADHD or Autism like symptoms and it is
important to distinguish the two.
Developmental
tests identify cognitive (thinking), physical, social, emotional and
self help skills and associated strengths and weaknesses. When
children's weaknesses are known, appropriate intervention plans
can be designed and implemented. Early recognition of
problematic developmental areas can assist children to make
sure that they reach their full potential.
Clinical/Diagnostic
Assessment
Diagnostic assessments
cover a broad range of childhood disorders. These include emotional difficulties (such as childhood
depression, trauma or anxiety), ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Learning and Intellectual Disability and behavioural disorders
.
An important fact about most
psychological diagnoses is that they are NOT definite or
static. A diagnosis is only a way of communication between
professionals about a cluster of symptoms. Minor disagreement
between professionals is common, just like small deviation between
the given diagnoses. A good advice is to always seek
a second opinion and to look for
consistency.
Generally, our assessment process
for diagnostic purposes is somewhat less structured and
more explorative than other assessment approaches. It includes
psychological tests, parent and child interviews and parent
questionnaires. The reason for this exploration is simple; when
parents or other professionals suspect some form of childhood
disorder, it is important to screen for a range of symptoms, not
only for symptoms of the suspected difficulty.
Different psychological disorders often present together and it
is important to explore all options and areas of
functioning.
Our diagnostic assessment process aims to
combine as much information as possible to evaluate children's
functioning. This approach ensures that we don't rely on clinical
judgment or test results alone, but we use them in combination.
Educational and Intellectual Ability
Assessment
Educational and intellectual assessment is not the
same as class testing. Stand alone tests, such as the ones
administered in class rooms, only rely on test results,
whereas in depth, individual assessments rely on information
from multiple sources. These include psychological and
educational tests, observation during test taking, interview with
the accompanying parent and incorporating other relevant records,
such as medical and teachers' reports. This process ensures
that children receive individual attention and the results
reported are based on the most accurate information available at the
time of the assessment.
Educational assessment can help
children in many ways. In case of learning difficulties , some children perform
poorly on academic tasks, despite average or above average
intelligence. Appropriate assessment can identify the areas of
learning difficulties, such as oral expression, reading skills,
listening comprehension, written expression or mathematical
reasoning. Sound knowledge of these specific areas can help children
by allocating them to the right programs and to tutoring in the
right areas.
In case of giftedness, results from intelligence and
achievement tests can assist in determining advancement to higher
school levels or to extension programs. Often gifted children show
behavioural problems at school, simply because the
tasks designed for their age group are too simple to maintain their
attention. Gifted children benefit from fittingly difficult tasks
and may need special attention from teachers, or even advanced
placement.
Behavioural
Assessment
Behavioural assessment
can help parents of children with diagnosed developmental
disorders, such as developmental delay, intellectual disability or Autism Spectrum Disorders. The aim here is to
identify existing strengths and weaknesses in adaptive functioning.
Parents who care for children with disabilities often feel that they
are "left wondering in the dark"
and may struggle finding ways to help their
children. The assessment of adaptive functioning can help
parents shift their focus to areas where children may need help and
to areas where children's strengths can be further utilised. It is
the first step in developing a program for children with
disabilities.
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