High Quality and Timely
Psychoeducational Assessment

We all know that no two children learn the same. Your child is wonderfully unique and will learn much more effectively when we become a student of the student. At Bayridge Centres we offer pycho educational testing for children from 6 to university/college age. This often is the key that opens the door for your child’s learning.

Our parents usually ask for an assessment because:

• Their child is struggling in their reading, spelling and or writing
• Their child can’t do math
• Their child is not performing at their grade level
• Their child is bright but lazy
• Their child is smart but not doing well in school
• Their child is highly distracted
• Their teacher/doctor suggested testing
• Their child is anxious and not enjoying school
• Their child has trouble concentrating
• Their child is bright but does not do well on tests
• Their child is struggling with organization
• Their child is struggling following instruction

And educational assessment can be conducted by a school resource teacher or other professional to evaluate current academic skill development. A psycho-educational assessment is conducted by a Psychologist/Psychological Associate or someone under their supervision to investigate why academic skill development has occurred as it has, or to investigate other factors affecting school performance. While learning is the primary focus of psycho-educational assessment, behavioural, socio-emotional, and medical issues may also need to be addressed in a psycho-educational assessment.

Your assessor has the ability to choose from a large list of tests based upon your areas of concerns. They will choose a battery of tests focused on answering the questions of:

• Does the student have a learning disability, developmental disability, attentional problems?
• What are the student’s academic and cognitive abilities, strengths, and weaknesses?

the basic components of a Psycho-Educational assessment report include:

Cognitive Ability & Memory Skills

• Verbal Comprehension;
• Short-Term Auditory Memory;
• Long-Term Verbal Memory and Learning;
• Working Memory;
• Perceptual Reasoning (visual-spatial organization, nonverbal reasoning);
• Visual memory;
• Visual-Motor Coordination;
• Processing Speed.

Academic Functioning
In this section, psychologists may refer to achievement testing completed by the Student Education Resource Teacher (SERT) and/or our own achievement testing. Achievement tests are designed to determine the student’s degree of knowledge and proficiency in a specific area or set of areas, such as:

• Reading;
• Writing;
• Math.

Attention and Behaviour

• Inattention;
• Impulsivity/Hyperactivity;
• Rule-breaking, Opposition, Conduct Problems;
• Aggression;
• Anxiety, Depression, Withdrawal;
• Somatic complaints;
• Atypicality, Social Problems, Thought Problems;
• Leadership;
• Internalizing vs. Externalizing Behaviours.

Executive Functioning

“Executive function” is a term used to describe the many different cognitive processes that students use to control their behavior and to connect past experience with present action.

Students rely on executive functions to perform activities such as planning, organizing, strategizing, paying attention to and remembering details, and managing time and space.

Adaptive Functioning

Adaptive functioning or behavior reflects an individual’s social and practical competence of daily skills to meet the demands of everyday living.

Adaptive behavior includes the age-appropriate behaviors necessary for people to live independently and to function safely and appropriately in daily life (Wikipedia).

Adaptive behaviors include real life skills such as grooming, dressing, safety, safe food handling, school rules, ability to work, money management, cleaning, making friends, social skills, and personal responsibility (Logsdon, 2016).

Yes,absolutely. At Bayridge we provide a full,comprehensive report of your child’s results. However, at Bayridge we go far beyond the written report. Together we will sit face to face with you the parent(s) to walk you through each aspect of the results so that it is clear and understandable to you, our valued client.

The basic components of a psycho-educational assessment are:

• Background Information;
• Assessment Techniques (what tests or checklists were administered);
• Behavioural Observations;
• Cognitive Ability & Memory Skills;
• Academic Functioning;
• Attention and Behaviour;
• Executive Functioning;
• Adaptive Functioning;
• Conclusions and Recommendations.

Your child’s psycho-educational assessment is owned by you the parent. You are free to give a report to any person you feel would be within the circle of your child’s education and care. In most situations, our clients want us to meet with their child’s teacher in order to clarify their specific needs for effective learning. In this way, we bring them into alignment with the plan and strategy for your child’s educational success.

Psycho-educational assessments will find cognitive and academic strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes those weaknesses are so significant that they signal a Learning Disability and,if that is the case, that formal diagnosis will be made and will be useable for legal and educational purposes. In other cases, cognitive issues will be so significant that they signal an Intellectual Disability. If that is the case, with additional evidence that formal diagnosis will be made and it will have standing legally and for educational purposes. ADHD can also be confirmed through a psycho-educational assessment.

Your personalized assessment is always unique to your child’s needs. However, generally your appointment schedule would look like the following:

• Introduction and information gathering 1 hr
• Two separate testing days – three hours each 5-6 hr
• Presentation of Report 1- 1.5 hrs

In total, we will be working with your child for 5-6 hrs. (two separate sessions)

We will sit with you the parents for 2-2½ hrs. (two separate session)

Many parents want us to join them to meet with teachers and that may add another 1½ hrs. of consultation.

In general, it takes 1 to 2 months to get in.

Like any sound problem-solving process, a person begins by defining the problem then setting out a strategy or plan to solve it. Psycho-educational assessment is the detailed look at endeavouring to define the problem of why a child’s learning is challenged. In many circumstances, this can be adequately addressed by working with the teacher and parents. However, defining a problem is only half way to solving it. A child will not necessarily require therapy after a psycho-educational assessment. Depending on the age of the child, having some understanding of their individual strengths and weaknesses as they affect learning can be very helpful, so psych-education after the fact may be appropriate. For older students (10+) some ongoing coaching around organizational skills, study skills, etc., can also be helpful. A child will not necessarily require therapy after a psycho-educational assessment, however, unless there were coexisting issues already identified.

No, there is also testing for young adults from 16 – 21 years of age and up. Because early assessment is critical, for best results we typically assess children from age six to 15.

Your child’s assessment is all about finding patterns and evidence, so we ask parents to bring all report cards going back to JK, the IEP, if there is one, any previous assessment reports from any professional going back to preschool services, any letters from doctors, etc. If they don't have these things handy and the child attends any publicly-funded school or most private schools in Ontario, most of these documents will be found in the child's Ontario Student Record. We suggest that parents call the school and ask that they be copied. Also, if the child is accustomed to having a snack and drink mid-way through the morning or afternoon, they should be encouraged to provide something that's easy for the child.

In most situations extended health care providers from employment can be applied to the costs of the assessment. However, because every insurance policy is different, it is always advised to check with your HR department.

No, unfortunately psycho-educational assessments are not covered by OHIP.

Let’s answer this with another question. Are there any risks in having an annual medical examination? No! Unless you consider knowing about the condition of your health a risk. Most parents want to give their children every advantage possible. Whether it is saving for their college or university education or giving them great learning experiences. We believe that helping your child learn how to learn is just as important, if not more so, than just giving them education. So, to answer your question. If your child is struggling in any way in their educational journey, we believe that the cost of a psycho-educational assessment that could get them on the best track for learning for the rest of their life is more than worth the invested time and money.