Neuropsychological/Cognitive Assessments (i.e. Learning Assessments)

What is a cognitive assessment?

It is a formal assessment of your child’s intelligence and abilities in areas such as verbal and non-verbal skills, memory and speed of processing information. The assessment involves a number of different tasks such as puzzles, answering questions and remembering certain things. The aim of a cognitive assessment is to help you further understand your child’s abilities.

Why might you want your child to have a cognitive assessment?

You may have specific concerns about your child’s learning such as their school performance overall, specific concerns around certain areas of their learning or concerns about their ability to concentrate in school. Additionally, they may have a health condition such as Epilepsy our Neurodevelopmental difficulties such as Autism or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity, and you may wish to know the impact these difficulties might be having on your child’s learning.

Why have your child assessed?

We have specialist expertise in assessing children using a wide battery of tests and with children of different abilities.

How might a cognitive assessment be helpful to you and your child?

To give you an idea of your child’s learning strengths and weaknesses. It will generate recommendations and advice which will be communicated to your child’s school on how best they can support their difficulties. It may also help you in selecting a school placement that would best meet your child’s needs.

What can you expect when you come for the assessment?

We recommend that parents are not present during the assessment itself. Most children work better when unaccompanied. If you choose to be present, we will ask you to sit behind your child so that they do not have eye contact with you, and ask that you do not help them in any way with their responses. We are aware that it can be frustrating if your child does not answer a question you believe they know, but we ask that you do not comment if this happens. You should allow at least half a day for a cognitive assessment. Your child will be able to have breaks during the assessment. We will not be able to tell you how your child has performed on the day, as we will need time to score up the responses and write the assessment report.

Contacting other professionals

We ask your permission to contact other professionals who are involved in your child’s care, such as their school teacher. We will ask them about your child’s strengths and difficulties and the support they are currently receiving. This helps us with our assessment and also informs the recommendations we make. We will also ask to see any previous educational psychology reports.

What will happen after the assessment with my child?

We will invite you to another appointment to talk you through the report and explain the findings. Depending upon the age of your child, we may ask you to bring them to this appointment.

What will the report be like?

The assessment report details how your child scored on each of the tests and also overall on the various areas. The results are calculated by comparing how your child performed with how you would expect a child of their age to do. At the end of the report will be a summary of the findings and a list of recommendations.

Who gets a copy of the assessment report?

The report is a confidential document that will only be sent out with your approval. However, for the assessment process to be worthwhile it is important that copies of the report be sent to the professionals involved with your child, such as their class teacher or school SENCo. In this way, those working with your child will have a greater understanding of your child’s strengths and weaknesses, and recommendations made can be acted on.

Are you able to see my child if we do not live in the UK?

We routinely see international families as part of our work. If you would prefer not to have the assessment conducted in London, we are able to offer clinicians who can travel abroad to see you in your home country and carry out this assessment.