I am often asked by parents to complete a psychoeducational assessment and a good part of the time they are unsure exactly what it is and why it is necessary. Here are some simple answers about psychoeducational assessments:
A psychoeducational is a report produced by either a school psychologist or a registered psychologist that looks at a student's academic skill set, their intellectual capacities and behaviours and tried to determine where they stand compared to either their age group or grade. From the information we look at their intellectual capacity - by using an IQ test, to some extent their neuro-developmental levels with tools that look at writing speed, auditory processing and related specific skills, and we compare those to their current academic skill looking for unexpected deficits - sometimes called "discrepancies." A good psychoeducational assessment also looks at a child's social and behavioural development, and if your lucky, emotional development.
All this information, as well as observations and history, are used to develop an education plan called an IEP or Individualized Education Plan. That plan, developed WITH the parents present (not developed by the school and presented to you, you should be there to develop it with the school because you know a lot about your child) should consider the child's deficits that need to be addressed, and then their strengths that might be helpful in addressing those deficits (for instance, a child might have poor auditory memory but out of this world visual memory ....that visual memory can be used to address the deficit area). The plan should address all significant deficits that make learning difficult, and should list measurable goals the school will meet on they way. It should also address in detail how the school and teacher are going to support the student in reaching those goals.
Too many IEPs in BC say, "Tommy will learn to multiply," and fail to state what was originally interfering with his ability to multiply (maybe being off task, having problems focusing or maybe a visual-spatial problem that can be addressed with larger print or another supportive scaffold) and how we -the school ,the teacher and the parents, are going to teach him and support him.
At many IEP meetings I just want to ask, "And how is that going to happen with YOUR support?" That is exactly what the psychoeducational assessment is designed to address. What are this student's strengths and weaknesses, and how can we use this knowledge to support the student in meeting these reasonable educational goals.
That's, in general, how a psychoeducational assessment helps a student, and why we need a psychoeducational assessment every time a student is "coded" or "labeled" as needing special education support services. Students with cognitive deficits, students with specific learning disabilities, students with autism, Aspeger's or emotional problems. Parents often ask why a psychoeducational assessment is necessary for their child who is diagnosed with Aspeger's or autism spectrum disorder. The answer is, "To tell us where the student is academically and SOCIALLY - this is a student with ASD - and tell us about the student's strengths and weaknesses so we can develop not just a plan that states goals, but a plan that tells us what we - the school, the teacher and the parents- can do to support that student in reaching that goals.
Regretfully students in BC are on long waiting lists for psychoeducational assessments. These should be completed by the school district, however, most districts are low on funds and staffing, Because of that many parents make the choice of going to a registered psychologist for a psychoeducational assessment. Please visit my web page at www.relatedminds.com for information about psychoeducational assessments. In addition to being a licensed and registered psychologist I am also a certified school psychologist with over two decades of experience in the school system. This includes working as a program director, behaviour program specialist, school psychologist, counsellor and classroom teacher.
www.relatedminds.com
Dr. Jim Roche
relatedminds@gmail.com
778.998-7975
