Child Cognitive Assessments at Sea Spray Psychology

Alex offers cognitive assessments to verbally fluent children aged 7-16

History taking session

Alex will start with a detailed history about your child via telehealth. This will include things like developmental milestones, special interests your child has or had, what they are great at and what they might find challenging.

School observation

For primary school-aged children, Alex will visit your child’s school for a classroom observation of the child during a regular lesson and have a discussion with the teacher.

WISC-V and WAIS-IV

Cognitive assessments help us understand a person’s unique patterns of how they think, learn, solve problems, and process information.

At Sea Spray Psychology, we use the gold-standards of cognitive assessments, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition (WISC-V) for children aged 6-16, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) for older adolescents. These assessments explore the following areas of cognitive functioning:

  • verbal understanding, vocabulary and verbal reasoning

  • spatial awareness, evaluation of visual detail and non-verbal reasoning

  • abstract thinking and problem solving skills

  • attention, concentration and working memory

  • visual-motor coordination, focus, and processing speed.

Cognitive assessments may be helpful for understanding learning difficulties, exploring differences in attention, memory, or processing, informing autism and ADHD assessment, identifying high intellectual ability, and developing strategies that match your child’s individual learning style.

ABAS-3

When we do a cognitive assessment, we also administer the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Third Edition (ABAS-3), unless the evaluation is for giftedness only and there are no questions about adaptive functionality. There are versions for teachers and parents/carers.

The ABAS-3 evaluates your child’s behaviour across three domains: Conceptual (communication, functional academics, self-direction), Social (leisure, social skills) and Practical (community use, home/school, health and safety, self-care, motor skills, and work for older respondents). We can then look at your child’s patterns of strengths and support needs, and devise strategies to support them. The ABAS-3 provides important information to support NDIS applications.

Child Behaviour Checklist (CBLC)

The CBLC is used to evaluate emotional and behavioral issues that your child might be having. There are teacher and parent/carer forms, as well as a youth form for older adolescents. The CBLC is also used to screen for ADHD.

The Report & Feedback session

Once we have all our information, we form an interpretation. We assemble this information and our interpretation into a comprehensive report, including evidence-based and achievable recommendations for home and school and that suit your child’s context. A feedback session with be arranged with you, other parents/carers, and your child if they are old enough and you feel it is appropriate. Occasionally something might be remembered or a recommendation seen as non-achievable. In those cases, the report will be amended. The report can then be provided to the school, paediatrician, psychiatrist, or other relevant stakeholder/s depending on the your child’s needs. A report specifically designed for an NDIS application can also be written, noting the language will be more deficits based.