Often, the reasons for a young person’s behaviour or learning difficulties are invisible – it can feel like there are missing pieces in the jigsaw puzzle.
A psychologist is able to offera range of different assessments to help disentangle these needs. Examples area WISC/WIAT if a learning difference is suspected, or a Functional Behaviour Assessment.
Our approach to assessment will depend on the young person and their presenting needs, based on the findings of our work in the
Navigational Phase.
This is our point of difference. It means we can provide an individually tailored assessment.
Here's how it tends to work...
① Assessment Tasks
Assessments tasks could include:
o One-on-one sessions with the young person
o Interviews with important people in their world
o Questionnaires to gather more detailed information
o Further observations across different settings
o Behaviour tracking - we might ask parents or teachers to collect some data for us.
② Data Analysis
Once the assessment data has been collected, the psychologist will take some time to analyse the information.
③ Feedback (choice of pathway)
We have two different pathways for making sense of assessment results:
o Summary Document + Action Plan
o Formal Written Report
We know that different people’s brains work differently! These options mean that we can tailor the format of our feedback to what you and your child will find most helpful.
The Action Plan can be either a contribution towards the Individual Education Plan (held by your child's school) or another format (as negotiated).
We will discuss your preference with you.
④ Follow Up (if required)
After assessment feedback, we can provide follow up through:
o Referrals onwards (as necessary)
o SAC declarations (for eligible secondary students)
o Our
Flexible Support options.
The cost of further assessment depends upon the scope:
Total psychologist time:
6-11 hours
$1,200 - $2,000
(GST inc.)
These assessments are a deep dive, to help us disentangle those 'invisible' needs.
Through either feedback pathway, you will get an explanation of what it all means. This will be more verbal/conversational if you opt for the summary document (with a few pages of documentation to record the key results plus some brief interpretation). If you request a formal report, the explanation will more analytical in style (this takes more writing time, so the verbal feedback you receive will be shorter).
You will also get strategies for moving forwards: either a list of recommendations as part of the formal report, or a collaborative action plan created together with you (and any other team members you choose to invite) in a brainstorming session. The action plan can then be kept by the whānau and/or school as a working document, alongside the summary of assessment results.
Absolutely okay! Some families want both a formal written report and a strategy generation session/action plan meeting. Sometimes people make one choice and change their minds.
If you choose the
Summary Document + Action Plan, we can develop the summary document into a full report if needed at a later date. If you choose the
Formal Written Report, we can make an action plan with you later.
The additional time will be charged at the
hourly rate of $210 (GST inclusive).
