What Is a Psychoeducational Assessment?
Nancy Bergeron, Registered Psychologist
Now that the new school year is beginning, I thought I would shed some light on a sometimes confusing topic: psychoeducational assessments. Hopefully the following will help you gain an understanding as to why some children need psychoeducational assessments while others do not.
A psychoeducational assessment is used to help identify areas in which students excel or need support. Psychoeducational assessments for giftedness or learning challenges provide specific recommendations to help students achieve their full potential. Assessments offer one way to understand the learning needs and abilities of students who are underachieving or capable of learning more than expected by the standard curriculum for their grade. Formal assessments provide objective measures of a child’s performance relative to their peers and help identify their unique strengths and limitations. These assessments may be used diagnostically to identify intellectual, learning, emotional and behavioural concerns affecting a child’s ability to succeed in school. They may also provide support for applications to gifted programs for students who may benefit from advanced learning opportunities.
As parents, we often become concerned about our child’s learning when there are signs our child is not reaching their potential. We and our child’s teachers may have noted that our child puts in significantly greater effort than other students or needs extra support to maintain grades. Or, we may have noticed our child consistently completing work more quickly than their peers, exceeding grade-level expectations, or expressing that school is uninteresting. Other signs our child may benefit from an assessment may include:
Indicating less interest in learning
Complaining about or avoiding school
Saying the work is too difficult or too easy
Struggling to focus or being disruptive in class
Straining to organize or complete assignments
Expressing sadness or worries about school
Disengaging in class or from learning or peers
Lagging behind peers in reading, writing or math skills
If our child is showing signs they are not reaching their potential, an assessment can provide valuable information about our child’s abilities. Specific recommendations can help us understand how to improve our child’s learning experiences, reduce barriers to our child’s potential, and provide guidance through the next several school years. Information gathered in the assessment may also help identify learning disorders, such as AD/HD, dyslexia, or dysgraphia. An assessment may also recognize emotional concerns, such as depression and anxiety, that may be affecting our child’s ability to learn.
Psychoeducational assessments may be used when parents or teachers believe a student’s abilities are not fully recognized within their current academic program. In conjunction with other academic or subjective information about our child, a formal assessment may provide information to help our child qualify for gifted or talented programs. Gifted and talented programs typically determine which tests are required for entry into their program. These tests provide scores that describe our child’s performance relative to other students and indicate whether our child can maintain their program’s standards. Our child’s assessing psychologist may determine if other tests are necessary and will ensure that these provide information about the intellectual, academic, creative or leadership qualities each school’s programs may require.
At the end of the assessment process, the psychologist will arrange a feedback session to inform us of the assessment’s overall findings. The psychologist will discuss recommendations, a plan for helping our child move forward, and provide copies of the formal written report. We may choose to share this confidential report with our child’s school to help teachers understand our child’s learning profile, adjust their teaching methods, and/or create an Individual Program Plan (IPP). Based on the confidential written report, our child’s school may apply to modify the curriculum, access funding for extra supports, or approve academic accommodations for school and provincial exams.
You do not need a referral for a psychoeducational assessment. If you have any questions or would like a complimentary consultation about whether your child may need an assessment please feel free to email me. I wish everyone a smooth transition into the new school year. I know there are many unknowns with COVID-19, so let’s all try to stay present focused and deal with any challenges day by day.
Nancy Bergeron, RPsych.
info@nancybergeron.ca
Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash