Testing and Evaluation
Why We Test
A thorough psycho-educational evaluation provides a road map for how to plan intervention for a struggling learner. While it may seem obvious to a parent or teacher, a child’s strengths and weaknesses are almost always complex, and there are a lot of details to uncover. A good evaluation provides a wealth of information and allows professionals to customize sessions that will target the neediest areas.
Should I have my child tested?
Psycho-educational evaluations include both cognitive (IQ/psych) and achievement (school skills of all kinds and in great detail) testing.
This testing is not at all similar to typical standardized testing where children sit silently filling in bubbles on a scantron sheet. This kind of evaluation is highly interactive and measures all kinds of school skills like reading, spelling, writing, and math as well as underlying cognitive skills. These include visual perception, auditory perception, expressive and receptive language, oral and reading comprehension, vocabulary, real-life math and problem solving, eye-hand coordination, and more.
A good evaluation measures your child’s strengths and weaknesses, attaching objective numbers to the hunches you’ve had as a parent.
A solid baseline of current levels of functioning is established, comparing your child’s performance to others of his age.
An evaluation provides detailed information for planning intervention and next steps.
If a diagnosis is stated, services can be obtained.
A good evaluation will provide a detailed list of recommendations for intervention and planning for success.
A neuropsychologist will have insight into deeper cognitive and developmental deficits.
A clinical psychologist’s credentials (PhD or PsyD) may be preferred in order to enroll in a specialized school or program.
Other specialists’ input may be necessary if there are specific motor or speech challenges.
An educational therapist can provide an evaluation with detailed information, mostly concerning achievement skills, at a lower price.
What should be included in an evaluation?
A complete psychoeducational evaluation covers all the bases:
Background information and general observations
Cognitive ability – general intelligence, or IQ
Achievement skills – school related learning skills like reading, writing, calculating, listening, remembering.
Specific language skills – highly detailed measures of both expressive and receptive language
Additional testing – including checklists, questionnaires, and tests relating to ADHD, social skills, behavioral or emotional concerns
Recommendations for intervention, for accommodations or modifications that may help in a learning environment, or for activities that can be employed at home to strengthen skills.
What kind of testing does Learning Works provide?
The professionals at Learning Works are educators and educational therapists, trained in the neuroscience of learning. We provide achievement testing that identifies strengths and weaknesses in skills, mostly in order to identify dyslexia, and other learning differences. If our testing raises any other concerns, we usually refer to a clinical psychologist for further consultation. Contact Us.