ASD, Educational, Cognitive, and Neuropsychological assessments
Child and Adolescent Assessment in Melbourne – ASD, ADHD and more
Our assessments are fun, interactive and engaging for children and teenagers. They provide insight into your child’s strengths and challenges and give recommendations for school and home. Clinical Neuropsychologists at MCCP provide a range of assessments for children, adolescents and adults. Your child might require an adaptive behaviour assessment to understand how they are functioning at school and home and to provide guidance for the school. A school readiness assessment will include an adaptive behaviour assessment and a cognitive assessment as well as clinical interviews for a developmental history and to assess functioning at kinder or daycare. The assessment will provide guidance for your child’s readiness to begin school (at an earlier or later than typical age) and give recommendations for the teacher and any supports that they require.
A cognitive assessment can form part of assessments for a child who has been diagnosed with a developmental condition such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, a genetic condition, cerebral palsy or other conditions. Cognitive assessments can also help to identify Dyslexia and other reading and writing disorders, ADHD, and memory difficulties. Cognitive assessments can provide information about your child’s strengths and difficulties across language, visual reasoning, fluid reasoning, attention, memory, processing speed and executive functioning.
Clinical Neuropsychologists help you to understand the relationship between your child’s brain development, thinking skills and behaviour. Our assessments identify cognitive strengths and difficulties to assist with learning, social skills and developing study and vocational pathways.
Educational and Developmental Psychologists provide assessment for Autism Spectrum Disorder, social communication and sensory processing difficulties as well as in-depth cognitive assessments for learning difficulties.
NDIS: Your Paediatrician may have assessed you or your child as meeting the criteria for NDIS support and funding. If you have NDIS funding your plan coordinator may advise that a functional assessment will be a helpful process to undertake to guide plan goals and identify support needs for your child. The cognitive and ASD assessments are functional assessments that can identify your child’s strengths and areas of support needs. These assessments can be an essential part of understanding your child’s needs and how best to meet these at home, in social settings and in educational settings. Assessment reports are comprehensive and can be an instrumental part of your NDIS plan.
Psychologists do not need to be registered with NDIS or NDIA to provide assessments and therapy that is NDIS funded. Psychologists at MCCP are not NDIS registered or registered with NDIA, however NDIS funding can be used for assessments as each Psychologist is a medicare provider and AHPRA registered.
Can you provide therapy sessions for children with ASD and other developmental conditions? Yes, we can also help with therapy sessions for ASD, learning difficulties, social skills and executive functioning difficulties. We can work with your child’s teachers to develop an individualised learning plan and put recommendations into place.
Common concerns that benefit from neurodevelopmental and cognitive testing include:
Learning Difficulties
Language Disorders
Developmental Delay
Acquired Injuries and Conditions
Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Metabolic Conditions and Genetic Conditions
Giftedness
Readiness for School
Differentiating anxiety and other mental health conditions
FAQs for ASD, Cognitive and Developmental Assessments
What is a cognitive assessment?
Cognitive means thoughts or our thinking processes. A cognitive assessment is sometimes called an educational assessment, a learning assessment, a neurodevelopmental assessment or a neuropsychological assessment. They measure a child’s strengths and difficulties in:
- language
- memory
- visual and spatial reasoning
- attention
- executive functioning
- social reasoning and sensory processing
They are called different names because they answer different referral questions. We can assess for Specific Learning disorders in Reading, Written Expression, or Mathematics (these used to be called Dyslexia and Dyscalculia). Or you might be interested to assess if difficulties with attention might be part of an ADHD diagnosis. It can be helpful to assess cognition following a brain injury or in a developmental condition. We can also assess if anxiety is causing problems with test taking. Please note that Psychologists do not prescribe medication and we recommend talking with a GP, Paediatrician or Child Psychiatrist.
What is a neurodevelopmental assessment?
This assessment is comprehensive developmental assessment that includes assessment of developmental conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, congenital and acquired conditions such as epilepsy or genetic conditions; and cognitive testing of language, attention, memory, visual reasoning and executive functioning.
This assessment provides an overview of your child’s functioning in all areas of development and also provides a detailed look into their specific strengths and difficulties. Assessments can be completed just prior to major milestones such as starting school as this provides a very good understanding for school planning. The cognitive and behavioural part of this assessment can be conducted multiple times across developmental stages so you can understand your child’s progress and their changing support needs as they grow.
Who provides a cognitive and neurodevelopmental assessment?
Our Paediatric Clinical Neuropsychologists have extensive knowledge regarding brain development. They assess cognitive skills and help adapt the environment to support your child’s learning. Neuropsychologists assess learning disorders, the impact of brain injury and the effects of a developmental condition. Whilst your child may have received a diagnosis of a developmental condition such as ADHD from your paediatrician, a cognitive assessment conducted by a Clinical Neuropsychologist will help you and your child understand the specific impacts of ADHD or another developmental condition.
A detailed assessment of memory, attention and executive functioning can highlight the areas of difficulty and can also provide information about your child’s strengths. Our team are amazing at helping teachers put recommendations in place at school and home. They work with the school teacher and can offer school visits and meetings to help with Individualised Learning Plans.
Our Educational and Developmental Psychologists provide in-depth assessments of Autism Spectrum Disorder and associated difficulties with sensory processing and social communication. Educational and Developmental Psychologists also provide cognitive assessments that explore learning differences and disorders and can be a much needed complement to an assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Would my child benefit from a cognitive assessment?
Is your child struggling with learning? Have they had an injury or been diagnosed with a developmental condition? Are they anxious or having difficulties with planning, organising, and memory? An assessment can assist with diagnosis, supporting recommendations and designing an academic curriculum to help your child.
If your child has received a diagnosis of ASD, ADHD or any other developmental condition, then a cognitive assessment would be very beneficial. An assessment of their thinking skills in regard to memory, language, attention, visual and verbal reasoning skills and executive functioning skills (including planning, organising and regulating attention) can provide the in-depth understanding that you need to navigate school, home life and sense of self and identity. A diagnosis often identifies the difficulties, whereas a comprehensive assessment will provide understanding of your child’s strengths, unique ways of processing the world around them and highlight the best ways to support them. This is often a big part of helping you and your child adjust and understand a diagnosis as well as support their self esteem and sense of self.
Would my child benefit from an Autism Spectrum Disorder assessment?
Your Paediatrician can refer for an assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as part of a referral for Complex Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Eligible Disabilities which will provide medicare rebates for the assessment. Educational and Developmental Psychologists can use the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule 2 (ADOS 2) and Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R) or the Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing the Autism Spectrum (MIGDAS 2) as well as additional questionnaires and clinical interview.
These assessments can be very helpful not only in providing a diagnosis but also defining strengths and difficulties. If you or your child has received a diagnosis of ASD from your Paediatrician or Psychiatrist it can still be informative to undertake a detailed assessment of ASD. A detailed assessment can guide understanding of the specific ways in which you experience ASD. It can help you to understand yourself or your child’s experience of the world and themselves and assist communication and supports at school and in the workplace. It can also help guide you as a parent or a partner in what can be helpful in your relationship.
What happens during an assessment?
The assessment has three parts:
- We meet with you to ask questions about your child’s developmental history and we might ask you and your child’s teacher to complete some questionnaires.
- Your child will complete lots of tasks and activities that assess their thinking, social and communicative skills. These are fun and engaging and many of them are on iPads.
- You will meet with us to receive the results of your child’s assessment and we will provide you with a comprehensive report. We provide recommendations and can talk with school teachers and schools to help your child achieve their best.
Which assessment will be best for my child?
We have two levels of cognitive assessment: Level One (intelligence assessment with WPPSI, WISC or WAIS, academic achievement with WIAT III and additional tests for exploring learning difficulties) and Level Two: all Level One testing as well as testing of memory, attention, executive functioning and more.
An assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder can be conducted as part of a neurodevelopmental assessment which also includes cognitive testing or it can be a stand alone assessment.
All assessments include:
- a report
- recommendations
- liaison with the school and other health professionals
- feedback session
- You can also arrange for ongoing sessions to help implement recommendations if needed.
How are assessments funded?
Assessments can be funded by third parties such as NDIS, WorkSafe / WorkCover, TAC and other government and private organisations. NDIS does not fund diagnostic assessments but does fund functional assessments to help guide intervention and treatment. Please contact your Plan Manager or Coordinator for approval for funding of assessments. Private health insurance and medicare can provide rebates for clinical consultations but not cognitive testing specifically.
A referral from your Paediatrician for an assessment of Complex Neurodevelopmental Conditions and eligible disabilities can provide substantial medicare rebates for an assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as well as other developmental conditions. Please talk to your Paediatrician for more information about this referral process. Assessments can be privately funded. Please contact reception for more information about the costs and funding options available to you.
What’s the next step?
Please phone reception for a discussion about your needs. We can also provide you a detailed brochure with more information about each psychologist’s assessment process and the costs involved as well as the medicare rebates and NDIS funding that may be applicable. You can also contact our Paediatric Clinical Neuropsychologists and Educational and Developmental Psychologists via email: info@melbourneccpsychology.com.au
