Are you or your child struggling to manage the stressors of daily life, relationships, work and/or school? Or are you interested in understanding yourself a bit better, or identifying your strengths and weaknesses? Then a psychological assessment may be of interest to you. If psychoeducational assessments are what you’re looking for, just call us at 780 446 0300 or email at info@dochaspsych.com and we can guide you from there. But for more information about what assessments are and what they involve, read on!
What are Assessments?
I know, the word “Assessment” can bring up all sorts of stressful memories, icky feelings of judgement and a pressure to succeed. However, rest assured, psychological assessments are not about that. It’s not about passing or failing; instead, it’s about learning about your behaviour, character, and strengths so we can figure out how to best help you, and most importantly so that you can figure out what you or your child’s needs are.
Some assessments can be done with your therapist, but some require quite a bit more specialized training. These are psychoeducational assessments and are usually known by a bunch of acronyms like WISC, WAIS, BASC, and more. The acronyms can even seem intimidating… but they’re just titles that help keep us organized. Psychological assessments evaluate your behaviour, learning and thinking. They are used and recommended for educational and behavioural intervention purposes and can help identify and shed light on difficulties in different areas of your life.
When To Consider Assessment
Sometimes we start to think about assessments when we as parents are feeling overwhelmed interacting with our children, wondering if something is wrong with ourselves or the child. Sometimes we recognize we have consistently struggled in our lives and just want an answer. And sometimes it’s because someone else said, “Hey, maybe something is going on here you want to get checked out.” Here are some other signs to look for if you are considering assessment:
• Not keeping up with peers
• Seeing delays
• Grades are slipping
• It’s harder to concentrate or stay on task
• Teachers or others are commenting about issues/observations
There is good news… once you know about something, then strategies can be used to cope. As with most things, the earlier you find out, the better. And something to keep in mind is you will typically get a more accurate result if you or the child is not super stressed while completing the testing. So, you will want to find an environment that promotes this response.
Why are Assessments helpful?
Assessments can be helpful for a variety of reasons including but not limited to:
• Greater access to funding for special needs in and outside of the school system
• To diagnose and increase our understanding of disorders
• Speed up the diagnosis process for those who need help right away and can’t afford to sit on a waitlist for up to a year or more
• Provide you with insight into your or your child’s needs and guide treatment
We understand that assessments cannot always be accessible due to the cost. However, psychological services such as assessments are typically covered by insurance under health benefits and through extended health coverage. In addition, coverage for assessment can also be accessed through government-sponsored agencies, including both Veterans Affairs and Children’s Services. If you have any questions about accessing funding, please contact your insurance agency, or reach out to us for guidance on potential avenues that you can pursue to access funding for psychological services.
What assessments do we offer?
At Dochas, we offer primarily Psychoeducational and Academic assessments including:
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children -V
• Wechsler Individual Achievement Test -III
• Behaviour Assessment System for Children -3
• Feifer Assessment for Writing
• Feifer Assessment for Reading
• Feifer Assessment for Mathematics
• Vineland
• Conners-3
Assessments can include assessment of EQ (Emotional Intelligence), IQ (Intelligence Quotient), attention difficulties, and elements of personality that are often of concern. These assessments provide us with the capacity to assess and diagnose disorders including but not limited to:
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Cognitive Delays
• Learning Disorders
• Attention-Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder
• Developmental Disorders
• Behavioural Disorders
• Communication/ Social Disorders
The Process
When you come in for an assessment, typically you will first go to an office and sit with the assessment psychologist for a few hours, who will spend time learning about you through interview methods and formal testing. Then, after one or two meetings with you, they will take all that information and spend several hours analyzing the data. All that data takes several hours to evaluate and summarize into a report which is then shared with you and the people who asked you for the information. Your assessment psychologist will then meet with you to help you make sense of all the information in the concise report. This information can then be used to guide treatment, work with schools to improve access to education, and help you understand yourself a bit better so you can reach your goals.
At Dóchas, we are very aware of how this can all be overwhelming. We work diligently to create an environment that is welcoming and safe, so it takes the trauma out of assessment. Our assessment professionals are extremely knowledgeable and caring, creating exactly the balance we want in assessment psychology: receiving accurate and helpful information while respecting who you are as a person and what your needs are in the testing environment.