Have you or your child’s teacher noticed your child having difficulty reading or writing?
Many children, and even adults, have difficulty learning. However, with a little help and research, it’s possible to uncover the reasons behind these challenges. This way your child can work towards finding solutions.
A good starting point is getting a psychoeducational assessment, which helps identify challenges and understand the child’s current functioning. This comprehensive evaluation is designed to measure a child’s cognitive processing abilities including memory, attention, reasoning, and executive functioning.
Having an assessment done sounds like a daunting experience. To help ease any anxieties, we’ve covered what to expect during a psychoeducational examination below.
What is a Psychoeducational Assessment?
A psychoeducational assessment is an intensive process. It involves a series of interviews, observations, one-on-one testing, and input from parents and teachers.
Aptitude and academic achievement around skills such as writing, reading, and mathematics are measured using several techniques. The results will help you understand your child’s potential and identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Once a diagnosis has been reached, you’ll be able to find support programs that’ll help amplify your child’s areas of strength and target areas of weakness.
Signs That a Psychoeducational Assessment Is Needed
It’s normal for children to have difficulties at school from time to time, whether it’s on a specific subject or behaviourally.
However, if your child continues to struggle greatly and consistently in certain subjects despite extra help, it would be beneficial to get a psych-ed assessment done.
Other signs to look out for include:
- Progressively worsening attitude towards school
- Constant disruptive behaviour in class
- Failure to learn basic social and intellectual skills
It’s important to note that children exhibiting persistent disruptive behaviour at school but not at home indicate that they’re simply frustrated that they can’t keep up with their peers rather than suffering from a behavioural issue.
What Happens During a Psychoeducational Assessment?
Each assessment differs slightly based on the reason the child is being tested.
The examination is a very interactive process where kids are presented with visuals and hands-on problem-solving tasks. Since the assessment is quite a long process, it’s generally split over two or three sessions so that the child doesn’t get exhausted or burnt out.
Before testing can begin, an initial meeting with the psychologist takes place. At this point, any concerns are addressed, consent and paperwork are reviewed, and general history is discussed.
Parents and teachers will also be interviewed and asked about the behavioural habits, academic performance, and basic cognitive skills of the young person. Once the testing is complete, you’ll be able to meet with the psychologist to discuss the results and next steps.
Help Your Child Thrive With Waystone Psychology
All parents want their children to succeed in their lives, both academically and socially.
Learning is a complex process and some children need different learning styles and approaches to succeed. A psychoeducational assessment can help pinpoint exactly what the issue is so that parents and educators can implement strategies to help the child.
Our expert psychologists at Waystone stray from the cookie-cutter approach and instead treat each client with the individualized care and attention they deserve.
If you think your child may be suffering from a learning disability, get in touch with our psychologists today.