Educational Assessment

Child Educational Assessment

Comprehensive educational assessments (containing both the intellectual/cognitive and academic achievement assessments) help parents and educators to gain a fresh insight into a child’s unique learning profile and academic capacity. Educational assessments review areas of cognitive functioning related to memory, the ability to pay attention to tasks and to solve problems. They assist parents and educators to make informed decisions regarding their child’s educational placement, optimal learning environment and individual learning needs.

The findings of the educational/academic achievement assessment are suitable for use in a variety of clinical and educational settings, including schools and therapeutic settings. We identify the academic strengths and weaknesses of a student (aged over 4 yrs, up to 19 yrs), primarily using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT-III). The results can be interpreted to inform decisions regarding eligibility for educational services, educational placement, or diagnosis of a specific learning disability and to design instructional objectives and plan interventions. The educational assessment can also be used to inform decisions about extending a child’s academic learning, where they are not being stimulated by the standard curriculum or may benefit from additional tutoring to assist in developing their achievement.

Childhood giftedness is suggested where a child is reluctant to attend school and shows boredom with school work as they are not being stimulated or challenged. These children often learn quickly and efficiently and typically excel academically. Neuropsychological assessment can inform the grading of these children and educate further strategies to extend them, where desirable. Some schools provide gifted and talented streams to benefit such children.

Typically, an educational assessment to review learning difficulties or giftedness is added as an additional element to the standard neuropsychological/cognitive assessment. For more information, click here.

Response to Intervention Framework

Specific Learning Disorders are diagnosed within a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework in Australia, the USA and UK. Sage also adheres to this paradigm of diagnosis. The RTI framework replaces the now outdated IQ-Achievement discrepancy analysis of learning disorders.

What are the essential components of RTI?
Simply, “Response to Intervention” refers to a process that emphasises how well students respond to changes in instruction. The essential elements of an RTI approach are the provision of scientific, research-based instruction and interventions in general education; monitoring and measurement of student's progress in response to the instruction and interventions; and use of these measures of student progress to shape instruction and make educational decisions. The core features of an RTI process are as follows:
• High quality, research-based instruction and behavioural support in general education.
• Multiple tiers of increasingly intense scientific, research-based interventions that are matched to student needs.
• Use of a collaborative approach by school staff for the development, implementation, and monitoring of the intervention process.
• Continuous monitoring of student progress during the interventions, using objective information to determine if students are meeting goals.
• Follow-up measures providing information that the intervention was implemented as intended and with appropriate consistency.
• Documentation of parental involvement throughout the process.

For any student that is assessed to be at risk of developing a Specific Learning Disorder, a formal diagnosis is not able to be confirmed until the student has received a minimum of 6 months small group and or 1:1 intervention in addition to standard classroom learning in the academic area of concern, whether it be reading, written expression or mathematics. This additional tuition can be incorporated within the existing resources of their school or sought privately with the assistance of a personal tutor. Sage Clinical Psychology provides baseline assessments for when concerns are noted and also brief post-intervention follow-up to diagnose Specific Learning Disorders..

To learn more or to book an assessment, call Sage Clinical Psychology on 0458 507 772 or contact us here.