Despite conventional education and parental support, some children fail to perform at school.  Some children struggle to learn how to read, spell, compute math problems, or organise a writing piece.  A child’s difficulties at school may be restricted to one or several academic areas, or there may also be difficulties with attention span, impulsivity, organisational skills, and motivation.

There can be many reasons to account for the specific pattern of difficulties a child may be experiencing with learning.  For example, the child may have a particular and diagnosable learning disorder, an attention disorder, or an intellectual delay.  He or she may have a confidence or motivational issue or have missed learning opportunities or have gaps in his or her learning.  Identifying the reason or combination of reasons for the difficulties provides informed direction for how to help a child learn and develop his or her skills to full potential.

Assessment is used to reveal a child’s unique learning profile, relative learning strengths and weaknesses and identify the factors impacting on the child’s ability to learn.  The assessments usually involve the young person working individually with a psychologist for several sessions. During the sessions, we complete a range of activities including a variety of memory and information processing games, puzzles, language games and activities and some academic work such as reading and calculations.  Work is not presented to children as a ‘test’ but rather as learning activities which help parents and teachers better understand the best way to assist them with school and homework. Depending on the age of the child, the way in which the work is presented varies. At the Avenue Place, we always discuss this with the parents before meeting the child to ensure they are comfortable with the process. In addition to exploring learning styles and profiles, some parents also express a desire to explore learning confidence, self-esteem, motivation or other aspects of behaviour and their influence on their child.  These issues can also be addressed in the assessment process. At the end of the formal assessment, The Avenue Place presents you with a report with conclusions regarding the child’s difficulties and utilise the outcomes of the assessment to devise a suggested intervention plan.

The information generated from a learning assessment can be used to help unlock your child’s potential and put him or her on the right track educationally and in life.