Clinic for Educational Supports

A psycho-educational assessment is a comprehensive evaluation that helps us understand how your child learns and identifies any challenges they might be facing in school. This assessment looks at various aspects of your child’s thinking, learning and emotional well-being to provide a complete picture of their strengths and areas where they may need extra support.

What Does the Assessment Include?

• Cognitive Testing: This helps us understand your child’s thinking skills, like problem-solving, memory and attention.
• Academic Testing: We look at your child’s reading, writing and math skills to see how they’re doing in school.
• Behavioral and Emotional Screening: We check for any social, emotional or behavioral challenges that might affect your child’s learning or daily life.
• Interviews: We’ll talk with you, your child and sometimes their teachers to get a well-rounded understanding of their experiences and challenges.

Why is it Important?

A psycho-educational assessment helps identify learning disabilities, attention issues (like ADHD), or emotional challenges that might be affecting your child’s school performance. With this information, we can create a plan to support your child’s learning and help them succeed in school.

Parents often seek a psycho-educational assessment when they notice certain challenges or concerns with their child’s learning or behavior. Here are some of the most common issues that might prompt an assessment:

Learning Challenges

• Struggles with Reading, Writing, or Math: Your child might be having difficulty keeping up with their peers in specific academic areas, such as reading comprehension, writing assignments, or solving math problems.
• Difficulty Following Instructions: Some children find it hard to follow multi-step instructions, which can affect their ability to complete tasks in the classroom or at home.

Attention and Focus

• Trouble Staying Focused: If your child is easily distracted, frequently loses focus during tasks or has trouble paying attention in class, it might be a sign of attention difficulties, such as ADHD.
• Impulsivity and Hyperactivity: You might notice your child acting impulsively, having trouble sitting still or being overly active, which can interfere with their learning and social interactions.

Behavioral and Emotional Concerns

• Behavioral Issues at School or Home: Some children may exhibit challenging behaviors, such as defiance, aggression or difficulty following rules, which can create problems in school or at home.
• Anxiety or Mood Concerns: Signs of anxiety, depression, or extreme mood swings can impact a child’s ability to learn and interact with others.
• Social Skills Challenges: Your child might struggle to make friends, understand social cues, or navigate social situations, which can lead to isolation or difficulties in school.

Autism/Developmental Concerns

• Developmental Disabilities: Some children may be at risk for or already have diagnosed developmental disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, that affect their learning and behavior. 
• Delays in Speech or Language: Some children may have trouble understanding language, expressing themselves or pronouncing words correctly, which can affect their communication and learning.
• Motor Skills Issues: Difficulty with fine motor skills (like writing or using scissors) or gross motor skills (like running or jumping) can be a concern for some children.

School Performance

• Decline in Grades or School Performance: A sudden drop in grades or consistent struggles to meet academic expectations may signal a need for further evaluation.
• Concerns from Teachers or School Staff: If teachers express concerns about your child’s learning, behavior or social skills, it might be a good idea to explore a psycho-educational assessment.

Neurodevelopment and Cognitive

• Gifted and Talented: Possible giftedness or advanced learning needs.

Other Concerns

• Changes in Behavior After a Major Life Event: Sometimes, significant changes in behavior or learning can occur after events like moving, changing schools or experiencing a family change (e.g., divorce, death in the family).

Speech and language services may include assessment and intervention for individuals of all ages with communication challenges. Intervention sessions may be individual or in a group setting. Some areas of focus include:

• Apraxia
• Auditory Processing
• Cognition
• Dysphagia
• Expressive Language
• Pragmatics/Social Skills
• Receptive Language
• Speech Sound Disorders
• Stuttering
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Voice Disorders

While we do not charge fees for speech and language services, we welcome donations to help sustain and enhance our programs.

Contributions support:

• Clinic staff: Scheduling appointments, supporting clinicians and clients, maintaining records, training supervisors, ensuring HIPAA compliance and administrative operations

• Equipment: Audiometers, otoacoustic emissions screeners, cameras and audio/visual tools for supervision

• Clinic supplies: Therapy materials, gloves, sanitizing products and other essential supplies

• Testing materials: Assessments, protocols, screeners and record forms

Donate to the Clinic