An Introduction to the Psychoeducational Assessment

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A psychoeducational assessment
is a rich and valuable tool

for educators, but
at first glance,

it may seem intimidating.

However, if
understood correctly,

this psychoeducational
assessment or psych-ed

can actually lead to more
effective teaching methods

and greater student success.

On this journey, we'll be
breaking down the assessment

into its five sections,
and taking you

down the path of each.

We'll start with what
you should expect to see

and why it matters to
you as an educator.

I think a psychoeducational
assessment

is a really important life
event in educational career

or educational
journey of a child.

A psychoeducational
assessment measures

students' intellectual
functioning,

behavioral functioning,
social emotional functioning,

adaptive skills, and
academic abilities.

It's really a moment
in that journey

when we have the
opportunity to collect

a lot of great
standardized information

about how a student learns best.

And our hope is that a
psychoeducational assessment

would tell you a student's
strengths and weaknesses, how

they learn best, and that it
would yield some recommendations

that the classroom teacher and
the parents would find helpful.

It's not the responsibility
of the classroom teacher

to diagnose students.

Only professionals with
graduate degrees in psychology

can perform a
psychoeducational assessment.

And while not all
assessments look the same,

they tend to follow
a similar pattern.

So, generally
speaking, you will have

a referral question that
needs to be answered,

and that will be stated.

You'll have background
information where you

can collect historical data.

You'll have an interview section
about behavioral observations,

a section for results, and a
summary section that will then

give you a clinical
interpretation of those results,

and a section of
recommendations.

If a psych-ed assessment
is done privately,

it's up to the parents
to disclose the results.

However, if it's done
through your school board

and the parents agree, the
information will be shared.

You're attuned to recognize
when a student isn't reaching

their potential, but
sometimes the solution

isn't always black and white.

Really, even just the
term learning disability,

it's helpful to a point.

But then after that.
you need to know,

what are the processing deficits
associated with this learning

disability?

So my hope is that
I can tell you

these are the types of
difficulties this student has.

This is where his or her
processing deficits lie.

And so this is where you
need to work around those.

Here are some ideas
to work around

those processing deficits.

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A psychoeducational
educational assessment

requires parent consent,
and typically starts

with a referral from a teacher.

And once they've exhausted
their bag of tricks

and their thinking, I think
this is more complicated,

that's when they
would refer to me.

So these are the questions
that our educators and schools,

school teams are asking
of us about the child.

So perhaps it's
about, why are they

having such a difficult
time learning math facts?

Or why they're having such a
difficult time with reading

comprehension, despite
all these other strategies

that we've tried
in the classroom.

The referral and
background section

makes up the first of
five assessment components

in the report.

Teacher involvement
is especially

important during
this early stage.

When we're deciding
about whether or not

an assessment is a
good idea, or if we

need to have an
assessment in order

to better plan for a student,
we're talking to teachers then.

And I would come in and
ask them some questions,

look over some of
the achievement

testing they may have done.

So we want to know what their
concerns are, how the student is

coping in the classroom, how
they present in the classroom.

So we're getting their
input at that point.

In this section of the
report, information

about student health,
developmental,

and family history
can be found, as well

as previous successful education
strategies and report cards.

I'm really getting
a flavor for, again,

the things that have
happened in their life

before that may be important
information for us to know

as part of their formulation.

And increasingly, we're
trying to highlight

the types of
interventions and supports

that we've implemented
along the way.

So perhaps they've participated
in a program, perhaps focused

on reading in
grade 1 or grade 2.

So what do that
program look like?

Do they make some of
the expected gains

that we would have thought
through that type of program?

And really importantly, how does
their participation in success

or perhaps lack of
success in that program,

how does that inform our
understanding right now?

As psychoeducational
assessment can shed light

on why a student struggles and
provide realistic strategies

for improvement, knowing about
where a student is coming from

and other factors that may have
an impact on their learning,

is extremely important in order
to make an accurate diagnosis.

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The next component you will
see is the assessment section.

This section walks you
through how the assessment was

completed, and may
sound surprising,

but many students actually enjoy
and look forward to the testing.

The fact that it's
one-on-one, they

get to do something that they
don't typically get to do,

and they're exposed
to items and questions

that you wouldn't get
in a regular class.

The goal is to assess students
when they are at their best

and not when they are
fatigued or distracted.

The assessment can be completed
in a three-hour session

or over multiple sessions.

It really depends on the student
and their interest level.

So in those cases,
you ask the student

if they're interested
in working a bit longer

or working in the afternoon
after a lunch break,

for instance.

And if they're all
enthusiastic about doing it

and they're ready to go, then
you would continue with it.

But I'll always
say to the student,

if something fun is
happening, then don't worry,

you can do that and come back.

We can pick up after lunch.

So maybe three hours with some
breaks if the student needs it.

If the student is
very chatty, then we

may have to break it into
a couple of sessions.

In this section,
you'll also find

a list of assessment tools,
measures, and questionnaires.

These tools vary on
a case by case basis

and are selected based on what
the referral question was.

So if a student
has learning issues

and social emotional
concerns as well,

then we would make sure that
we have assessment tools that

will measure their
cognitive abilities,

their cognitive
processing skills,

but also then those social
emotional side as well.

So we wanted to get
a better sense of how

they cope with various
situations and their feelings

around certain ideas.

Luckily for students, a
psychoeducational assessment

is not like a typical
classroom test.

It doesn't require any
studying beforehand.

It's a challenging activity for
the student and psychologist

to tackle together.

And then when I meet
with the student, I say,

I'm like a detective.

I'm the lady that
Mrs. Smith calls

when she's working
with the student

and she says you
know what, Suzanne?

This student, when you
talk to the student,

you can tell they're
really smart,

but then they're having trouble
with math or with reading

or something like that.

So they call me
in, and my job is

to see if we can figure
out what's going on.

So I want to know what you
know and what you don't know,

and how you solve problems
that you've never seen before.

And then I take all
of that information

and I put in a report for your
mom and dad and your teachers.

And our hope is that the report
will help them help you better.

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The behavioral observations
and impressions section

summarizes how the student
performed during an assessment,

and includes things like the
response style, attention span,

and feelings towards
the assessment.

What does the student look like
working one-on-one with someone?

What are some of the
behaviors that we might see?

What are some of the
impressions of the assessor

around their
strengths and needs?

Were they impulsive with
their impulse response style?

Or were they more
deliberate and thoughtful?

Did they take a long time?

Did they use a trial
and error approach?

Was it easy for him
to pay attention

or did he need lots of breaks?

I'm also might comment
on their motivation.

Is this a student who
seemed very eager to please,

or did they give up easily?

Were they easily overwhelmed?

This section is crucial
to the overall assessment

because it determines the
validity of the results.

This is important
because we need

to know that we've got
the absolute best out

of the student.

This assessment
really does represent

the child's
intellectual functioning

at this point in time.

So if I felt like a student
maybe was giving up easily,

they were very nervous
I would stop and say,

I don't want to put anything
in my report that's not true.

So I really need to know that
this is the best you can do.

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The test results
section includes

scores achieved in areas such
as reasoning and thinking

ability, visual processing,
memory, attention,

and intellectual functioning.

These results often
display as standard scores,

percentile ranks, or
in descriptive terms

like above average
or below average.

A standard score
will give you an idea

of how that student
is functioning

compared to other
students their same age.

And the percentile
rank tells you

exactly where that ranking is.

So for instance, if a student
scores at the 25th percentile,

that means if you had 100
students the same age as that

student, they would score higher
than 24 students and about 75

would score higher
than they did.

And I think what's
really unique again

about this assessment compared
to a lot of our perhaps opinions

and perceptions is that
it is standardized.

We're comparing these students
to other peers of the same age

to really get a
picture of really

the variability
in their strengths

and their weaknesses that way.

One possible outcome
of an assessment

is the diagnosis of a learning
disability or learning

disabilities.

The first time you'll
come across a diagnosis

is in this section.

Only a psychologist or
psychological associate

registered with the
College of Psychologists

can make that diagnosis.

And three specific
criteria need to be met.

So we need to know that each
child has at least average

intelligence somewhere.

Then we will identify
a processing deficit

or several processing deficits.

So that means there's a
specific area of functioning

that is significantly weaker
than their overall intelligence.

And then we also need evidence
that they're achieving much

below expectations.

The interpretation
portion of this section

takes those scores
one step further,

by telling teachers how the
scores translate in a classroom

setting.

When I look at the
pattern of scores

and I put everything together,
what does that all mean?

And what does that
profile consistent with?

Does it involve a
diagnosis of any sort?

And also what do we do next?

Again, we'll be
talking about how

we arrived at that diagnosis
or that formulation.

And again, really
linking that back to,

what does that mean for
this child moving forward

in their education?

What are the types
of skill strategies

really differentiate
instruction methods

we need to call upon to
best meet their needs.

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We know you're busy,
and while all parts

of a psych-ed assessment
are important,

reviewing the entire
document may not be feasible.

If you only had five minutes
to review an assessment,

the submarine
recommendation section

should be where you start.

It provides a general summary
of how the student performed,

where a child's
strengths and needs are,

and what should be done next.

You're really going to get
the bird's eye view of how

this child learns best.

So you're going to get a
lot of descriptive language

about the student's
profile, where

are their strengths that we
can maximize and focus on

in the classroom?

And where are some
of those needs

that we really need to
implement some supports

and strategies to meet?

The recommendations
portion of this section

focuses on tips
and action steps.

It often provides
recommendations

for not only teachers,
but parents as well.

Having teachers and
parents on the same page

is important because it ensures
consistency for the student.

What might be best for this
particular student in the area

of reading or writing or math.

And it might also
give you some ideas

of how to tailor your lessons to
help meet that student's needs.

Perhaps we're thinking about
text-to-speech type software

that's doing that
reading on the page,

or that passage
back to the student

so that they can
focus on comprehension

and taking meaning from
what is on the page.

Or potentially maybe we're
thinking about accommodations

and assistive technology
recommendations

about speech-to-text.

Perhaps we're using the
student's verbal strengths

to really help
articulate their ideas

and get that information and
their ideas out onto the page

or out onto the
computer that way.

It is up to the
classroom teacher

to use a psychoeducational
assessment

in their update of a child's
individual education plan.

Our hope is that once we've
identified a student's strengths

and weaknesses, that
this information can

be used to inform the individual
education plan as well.

So if the student's language
skills aren't as well developed,

then that's a student
who may rely more heavily

on visual stimuli to help them.

So that ends up being really
one of the big next steps,

because those needs that
the student has in order

to access the curriculum need to
be embedded back into the IEP.

And so with the IEP,
then there becomes

that obligation that those
needs are going to be met.

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Once a psychoeducational
assessment is completed,

many boards schedule a feedback
meeting with the parents

to discuss the results
and recommendations.

And I may meet with the parents
alone for a few minutes just

to review the diagnosis and
answer any questions they have.

Sometimes it's very
emotional for parents.

So we just want to do
that in a small group.

And then we invite the teachers
in to hear the results.

And we'll take them
through the whole report

and answer their
questions along the way.

Parents receive a copy
of the assessment.

One copy goes into the
board's psych file and another

into the child's
Ontario student record.

After that, no copies can
be made without the parent's

permission.

And although psychological
assessments are ideally

completed at an early
age, they are still

incredibly useful as that child
moves through the school system.

So ideally, the information
contained in a report

can help us now and several
years in the future.

Some of their academic needs
may have kind of changed in form

or in nature by that time.

But some of the types of
strategies, that overall bird's

eye descriptive information will
be so helpful for that classroom

teacher who's meeting that child
on the first day in September

and wondering
about, how do I best

approach my instruction
and my programming

for this student, perhaps who
may have a learning disability?

For more information about
psychoeducational assessments

and how they can benefit
you as an educator,

contact your board,
student services,

or your local chapter of
the Learning Disabilities

Association of Ontario.

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