What is involved in Psychological, Psycho-Educational
& Neurodevelopmental Assessments?
A psychological or neurodevelopmental assessment is a comprehensive evaluation designed to map out an individual’s strengths and difficulties in various areas including for example, their cognitive, academic, attention, memory, social and emotional skills. Rather than a single test, it is a multi-step process that builds a detailed picture of how a person learns, communicates and interacts with the world around them.
Key Components of the Assessment Process
1. Initial Clinical Intake & Developmental History
This is when the clinician meets with the individual, parents and/or caregivers to review early milestones, family history, medical background and specific areas of difficulty or strength across home and school environments.
2. Cognitive & Intellectual Assessment
This is a measure of the person’s core cognitive abilities. Standardised tools evaluate verbal comprehension, visual-spatial reasoning, fluid reasoning, working memory and processing speed. These refer to the individual’s understanding and use of language, their visual processing and visual manipulation skills and their ability to solve new problems. They also refer to the person’s ability to hold information in their mind temporarily and their capacity to process information quickly. These are skills we all use on a daily basis.
3. Academic Achievement & Processing Testing
This is an assessment of an individual’s learning profile. Standardised tests measure reading fluency and comprehension, written expression and mathematical skills. Executive functioning, memory and attention skills and sensory processing profiles may also be examined.
4. Autism-Specific Diagnostic Evaluation
These are used when the person may be displaying features of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Gold-standard diagnostic instruments are administered, which typically include detailed developmental questionnaires and interviews (e.g. the ADI-R) and semi-structured behavioural observations (such as the ADOS-2).
5. Multi-Informant Cross-Context Reporting
All assessments should include information from multiple people across multiple contexts. This can include parents, teachers or other healthcare professionals who support the person attending the assessment. Questionnaires are completed by parents, teachers or others to assess adaptive behaviour skills, day-to-day emotional and behavioural functioning and social communication skills across settings.
6. Observation
A key component in many assessments includes an observation of the individual in their school or therapeutic setting. This varies depending on the nature of the assessment but observations typically provide useful information about the person’s presentation in their daily contexts (e.g. the classroom).
7. Formulation & Reporting Writing
This is when the clinician analyses and organises the various pieces of information gathered throughout the assessment process. This information is then outlined in detail within a formal diagnostic report.
8. Feedback
A dedicated feedback session explains the results of the assessment, provides any relevant diagnoses and outlines tailored recommendations for supporting the individual. Feedback meetings are typically held with parents and educators (with parent consent) so that the various findings and recommends are available to everyone supporting the person.