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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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