Educational Potential

An Educational Psychology assessment involves a series of different activities to help identify a child or young person's strengths and areas of need. It combines a cognitive assessment to look at thinking and reasoning skills and an attainment based assessment to explore literacy and numeracy skills. We ask parents and the school to complete a questionnaire prior to the assessment. We also like to see any relevant reports carried out by professionals eg. speech and language, occupational therapy, psychiatrist, paediatrician and psychotherapist reports.

An Educational Psychology assessment generally takes around 2 - 2.5 hours, however this depends on the age of the child and the speed they work at. Parents will receive a feedback meeting via video link either that day or the following day with the educational psychologist. The exact timing will be confirmed at the time of booking an assessment.

We have found that most children are aware that they are struggling at some level with learning at school. We suggest that parents say something along the lines of 'you know how you find maths, writing, spelling etc difficult, well we are going to see someone who will do some maths, spelling and writing with you and they will be able to tell us how you like to learn and how we can help you with that at school'. We always recommend telling your child that the assessment is not a test or an exam - there are no wrong or right answers!

Assessments are valid for 18 months to 2 years and should not be carried out before this time has elapsed for validity reasons. Not all children who have been assessed once will need to be assessed again. The educational psychologist will be able to advise you on whether your child will need to be reassessed.

Yes, you will receive a comprehensive report two weeks from the date of the assessment. The report will include dialogue and commentary about the tests that were carried out, any referrals to other professionals and a diagnosis of dyslexia if the child meets the criteria. There will be a list of recommendations for intervention at home and at school. We recommend that parents share the report with the school and then arrange a meeting with them to discuss next steps forward in how to best support your child.

Specific learning difficulties (SpLDs) is an umbrella term used to cover a variety of difficulties which can range in their severity. Dyslexia is the most commonly known difficulty. It affects both written and spoken language. It occurs due to difficulty with information processing particularly sounds in spoken words, visual and auditory perceptual skills as well as working memory. The main specific learning difficulties include: -Dyslexia - difficulty with reading and spelling -Dysgraphia - writing difficulties -Dyspraxia or Developmental Coordination Delay (DCD) - fine and gross motor planning difficulties -Dyscalculia - extreme difficulty with understanding numbers Learning difficulties typically affect an individual's motor skills, information processing and memory.