Assessments can be arranged privately by the parents or referred by the teachers with
parental consent. These can do done on the school premises or a private venue can be
arranged. Assessments involve a multi-disciplinary approach in which the parents, teachers
and the child are consulted
The following assessments can be arranged:
Psychoeducational assessments
The 4 following categories are focused on in a Psychoeducational Assessment:
Emotional functioning
- This is done using a range of projective techniques
- A child’s feelings about himself
- How I child feels in relation to his family
- A child’s emotional experience of school
- How the child feels in his relationships with his friends
- How all the above influence the child’s functioning both educationally and cognitively.
- Recommendations will be made to the family and if the child requires further intervention, this can be arranged.
Cognitive functioning
- Using the cognitive assessment as a measure of intellectual functioning, incorporating both verbal and performance aspects
- This will give an indication of a child’s strengths and weaknesses
- Recommendations can be made based on the results of the assessment. These will be given to both the teachers and the parents so that collaborative efforts can be made to meet the child’s specific needs.
Neurodevelopmental functioning
- Neurodevelopment refers to the hierarchical, qualitative changes in ability from the moment of conception until maturity.
- Understanding learning and behavioural problems is helped by an understanding of these hierarchical changes and the functioning of sensory-motor systems.
- A child’s learning and behaviour may be affected when natural development stages are “missed.”
- If one of the sensory-motor systems is not functioning optimally, it will place more strain on the other systems.
- This can sometimes be the basis for learning difficulties, attention problems and behavioural problems.
- Recommendations will focus on simple activities that parents can incorporate into their daily lives so as to bridge the child’s neurodevelopmental gaps.
Educational functioning
- This gives an indication how a child is functioning with school based tasks, like mathematics, reading, writing and spelling
- This can help identify areas of weakness and how remedial techniques can be used to improve the child’s performance at school
- This can help identify any learning disorders like dyslexia, disorders of written expression etc
- Suggestions will be made to both the parents and the teachers so that the child’s needs can be met at home and in the school environment.
School readiness assessment
- These assessments can be administered to Grade R’s who need an indication of their readiness for Grade 1.
- This assessment will use similar approaches above but using tests that are standardised for younger children
Career Guidance and Subject Choice Assessment
- This takes into consideration the individual’s interests, abilities and aptitude.
- Suggestions will be made based on the combination of the above mentioned.
IEB and GDE Concession/Accommodation Assessments
- These assessments are administered to Grade 11 students who require concessions for their final Grade 12 examinations.
- Concessions and accommodations are applied for an can result in the learner receiving extra time, scribes, readers etc.