Child Psychological Evaluations
Child Psychological Evaluations have been developed as a tool to calculate and assess a child’s psychological or emotional state, in order to subsequently decide whether the child should be diagnosed with a mental or developmental disorders.
Psychological evaluations are often carried out in situations where determining a child’s mental or emotional health and stability is considered essential, for example during a legal process, during a child custody hearing, or in academic settings.
The evaluations are executed by highly trained and specialised child psychologists, who have extensive knowledge of child development and of conducting assessments relating to child behaviour, effective teaching strategies, and social skills training.
Psychologists may liaise alongside parents and teachers to develop appropriate strategies to help the child’s developmental and psychological progression.
During child psychological evaluations, the psychologist will converse with the child and family members to identify the child’s behavioural and emotional skills and deficits, as well as assess the child’s neurological functioning in areas relating to spatial processing, attention, and memory.
The psychologist will observe the child during the evaluation, engage with family members present, and may acquire school records and medical records to further gauge their understanding of the child and their individual’s needs.
The child will be required to complete a standardised test, which will enable the psychologist to correlate their scores with the scores of other children to determine the extent of the child’s abilities in areas relating to dexterity (movement), behaviour, reading, writing, and mathematics.
Standardised tests that are frequently used include the Woodcock Johnson Assessment and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, which are measures of personality, behaviour, social and emotional functioning, and adaptive functioning.
Who might need a psychological evaluation?
Children may be referred for a psychological evaluation for reasons such as the following:
- Attention or behaviour problems at home or at school
- If they are subjected to bullying
- If they display signs of anxiety or depression
- If they develop characteristics of a learning disorder, such as difficulty with organising written and spoken language, or difficulty expressing thoughts, feelings, and words.
Why choose my Family Psychologists
If you are feeling pressured or need someone to speak to, contact My Family Psychologist for a confidential chat about how we may be able to help.
You can contact the My Family Psychologist Offices between 8 am and 8 pm to book an appointment.
Get in touch to see how we can help.