Train the Brain - Psycho-Educational assessments

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Psycho-Educational Assessments

Professional assessments can underline both strengths and weaknesses in the cognitive abilities of a student or child. It is advantageous to know a student has an identified learning difficulty and is not just deliberately being difficult or lazy.

When a child/student exhibits a learning issue, a psycho-educational assessment can be utilized to identify a possible profile of one or more learning disability a well as associated corrective interventions to improve the situation. It can also assist the student and others involved to deal with the circumstances in an effective way.

An assessment will help to identify:

· Learning difficulties such as:

o Dyslexia

o Dyscalculia

o Dysgraphia

o Dyspraxia

o Visual Perceptual/ Visual Motor Deficit

o Auditory Processing Disorder

o Sensory Motor Difficulties

· Reasons for underachieving

· School readiness

· Giftedness

· Special assessment conditions for NCEA exams

· Career options

Please Note: It is important to remember that assessment outcomes indicate what the situation was on a specific day, i.e. any assessment is only a tested fragment of a specific child on a specific day and results should always be interpreted with this in mind.

When should an assessment be considered?

It is desirable that a child/student be assessed when:

· a learning difficulty or giftedness is expected

· there are doubts whether the child is school-ready

· a student

o underachieves

o is academically bored or frustrated

o avoids going to school

· a teacher requests and assessment

What does an assessment include?

An assessment covers:

· Cognitive function (IQ)

· Academic achievement

· Discrepancies between ability and performance

· Neurological processing

· Self-concept

· Social and emotional functioning

· School readiness

· Phonological awareness

Assessment Instruments

At Train the Brain we mainly use the following assessment tools:

· The Woodcock–Johnson IV tests Cognitive Abilities, Oral Language and Achievement (reading, writing, spelling, mathematics).

This is a comprehensive, individually administered cognitive assessment that identifies strengths and weaknesses in cognitive abilities, processes, and academic performance to assist professionals in the diagnosis of disabilities or non-cognitive factors.