Psychological assessments are carried out to understand underlying causes of problems at school, work or in relationships. These assessments help to clarify the underlying cause(s) and guide intervention appropriately. E.g. if a child is having difficulty at school, it is important to clarify if this is due to emotional difficulties (anxiety); learning difficulties (dyslexia); or attentional difficulties (ADHD) among others. Assessments may take the form of clinical interviews, behavioural observations, collateral interviews, formalized and non-standardized test or questionnaires.
Comprehensive psychometric, psycho-diagnostic and psycho-educational assessments are provided for children, adolescents and adults. Assessments are tailored to suit the unique needs of a client.
The following areas could be included in any psychological assessment, depending on the person’s unique needs:
- Cognitive functioning
- Scholastic functioning
- Perceptual functioning
- Emotional functioning
- Neuropsychological functioning
Comprehensive psycho-diagnostic assessments are provided for the following:
Psycho-educational assessment
A psycho-educational assessment considers all aspects of a child, adolescent or young adult’s functioning to provide salient information regarding performance and ability. This is essential when considering subject choice, tertiary study direction, exam concessions and career pathing. Psycho-educational assessment includes an advanced assessment of attention and concentration abilities.
Clinical Assessment
A Clinical assessment considers aspects of an individual’s functioning including cognitive, emotional, personality and executive functioning in order to provide important and accurate diagnostic information essential to planning effective psychotherapy.
Care and contact assessment
A care and contact assessment typically involves the following:
- Psycho-diagnostic assessment of the child/children
- Psychological profiling of the parents/caregivers
- Parenting capacity assessment of the parents/caregivers
- Home visits
- Consultations with collateral sources
- Clinical neuropsychological assessment
Experts in clinical neuropsychology assess whether a head injury or other forms of serious injury have resulted in psychological deficits severe enough to support a civil court claim. In many cases, traumatic brain injury (TBI) may result following serious motor vehicle accidents (MVA). Legal damage claims might also be sought after physical assault, for instance, or injury through negligence. For further information on the complex field of clinical neuropsychology, you can visit SACNA’s website by clicking on the following link: www.sacna.co.za.