Children and Young People
In order to gain as full a psychological profile as possible of a child or young person, assessment will involve:
In order to gain as full a psychological profile as possible of a child or young person, assessment will involve:
- Discussions with parents and teachers, both before and after assessment
- Observation (if relevant) of the child or young person in context - at home or in an educational setting. This may involve an element of working alongside the child in order to observe learning and working styles and social interaction.
- Direct work with the young person including discussion, psychological testing of performance and more informal observation and assessment to ascertain preferred learning styles and potential. The first half of the session involves an assessment of intellectual strengths and weaknesses, as this is important in order to establish whether the individual has a specific difficulty or a pattern of more generalised difficulties. It looks at skill areas such as verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, short-term auditory sequential memory, short-term visual memory and verbal and visual processing ability. Specific strengths and weaknesses within and intellectual profile can help us to understand any difficulties the child or adult may be having and also identify the best ways of supporting her/him. The second half of the assessment tests literacy skills, reading comprehension, writing skills and reading and writing speeds and if relevant numeracy skills. An assessment usually takes about 2 hours, depending on an individual's working speeds.
- Feedback meeting and initial guidance suggestions for parents and teachers.
- Full written report including observations, assessment and guidance (including, for students, guidance for university support and DSA - Disabled Students Allowance applications).
- For GCSE and A Level students - Completion of form requesting examination arrangements, where required.
- Follow-up telephone support.