Assessment...
to understand the
presenting issues

Our Psychological Assessment Tools help to gather the correct information in order to develop an effective intervention plan

Assessment can take different forms depending on children and young people's age and presenting reasons for the involvement of the Sound Thinking Team. It is important to understand how children or young people make sense of their world, this will be dependent on a number of factors; their experience, cognitive abilities (how they think, use language, remember information and solve problems) and their personality.
The Sound Thinking Team use a range of tools and techniques to gather this information

Discussion and Information Gathering
Parents and teachers are the people closest to the child or young person and have a wealth of information which will help us to understand the child / young person's difficulty. The assessment will therefore generally start with a conversation with parents / teachers. Any 1:1 work will then be undertaken using a variety of test materials which are available. This may involve a psychometric assessment, questionnaires, dynamic assessment, play-based assessment or a range of techniques to elicit the child's perception of the world.
In some cases standardised observation would be used for gathering information.

Standardised Assessment
Standardised Assessments are clinical instruments which aim to assess children and young people's intellectual ability, language skills or personality traits. The assessments have been devised to ensure they are as reliable as possible and have been standardised (or tested) on a large number of
children / young people of different ages.

Whilst there are a number of different standardised assessments which the Sound Thinking team can use, Julia will generally use the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children uk and the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test III uk to assess reading, spelling and number work.

Kate's battery of assessments will include the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals 5,
The Pre-School Language Scales 3 and the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology
to assess children & young people's language & a range of questionnaires to assess communication abilities.

Observation
There are children and young people who find it difficult to engage in a formal assessment situation, in these situations the Sound Thinking team will observe the child or young person within an environment where they feel most comfortable. Observation is a powerful clinical tool when combined with experience and highly developed analytical skills. Children and young people's natural behaviour provides the observer with information about expressive and receptive language abilities, social interaction skills, problem solving techniques and ability to focus to task.

It is important to note that observation will only take place with parental permission.



For more information please contact the Sound Thinking Team on 01935 862329    admin@sound-thinking.co.uk


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