assessmentsLearning Difficulties & Comprehensive Educational Assessments
Understanding Your Child’s Unique Learning Profile (Also requires a WISC and WIAT)
If your child or teenager is struggling to keep up with reading, writing, or mathematics despite their hard work and dedication, it is rarely a matter of effort. Often, these academic hurdles are rooted in specific learning differences, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia.
Sydney Psychology Group offers comprehensive, evidence-based Learning Difficulties and Educational Assessments designed to identify your child’s unique cognitive and academic profile. Our goal is to move beyond labels, providing you and your child's school with a clear roadmap, practical strategies, and the formal documentation required to access essential classroom accommodations, learning support, and interventions.
Who Are These Assessments For?
We conduct assessments for children and adolescents (school-aged through to late teens) who experience persistent difficulties in academic settings. Common indicators include
Reading Challenges
(Dyslexia-specific)
Slow or inaccurate reading, difficulty sounding out unfamiliar words, challenges with spelling, or difficulty recalling and understanding what was read.
Writing Challenges (Dysgraphia-specific)
Difficulty organising thoughts on paper, poor handwriting, frequent grammatical or spelling errors, and struggles with sentence structure.
Mathematics Challenges (Dyscalculia-specific)
Difficulty understanding numbers, quantities, or mathematical symbols; struggles with basic arithmetic, telling time, or mental math.
Gold-Standard Assessment Tools We Use
To build a complete picture of your child's learning and developmental needs, we draw from a range of gold-standard psychometric instruments:
-
Fifth Edition (WISC-V): Assesses cognitive abilities such as reasoning, memory, and processing speed, helping us understand if learning struggles are linked to underlying cognitive processing styles.
-
Fourth Edition (WIAT-4): Measures academic achievement in key areas including reading, written expression, and mathematics to identify specific learning disorders.
-
Third Edition (ABAS-3): Evaluates everyday functional skills across home, school, and community settings, providing insight into a child’s ability to cope with real-world demands.
Educational Assessment Process
This comprehensive process focuses on developing a complete learning profile and, where relevant, includes ADHD screening and detailed home and school recommendations.
-
You will complete a detailed intake form prior to starting. This form is sent out 3–4 weeks before your first appointment to capture your child's developmental and academic history.
-
The first session is used to review the intake form, gather relevant background info, and determine whether a formal assessment is appropriate. During this stage, clinical questionnaires and interviews with parents and teachers are completed.
-
The WISC-V and WIAT-4 are administered to map your child’s cognitive and achievement learning profile. These standardised tests are completed over two sessions (each lasting 1 to 2 hours each) to prevent fatigue, or can be completed in a single day with an extended break in the middle. WISC takes 1-2 hours and WIAT takes 1-2 hours. The WISC and WIAT cannot be completed on the same day.
-
Our clinical team reviews and analyses all test data, school reports, and questionnaire responses. A formal, comprehensive diagnostic report and summary letter are compiled to outline findings and clear recommendations. This process takes approximately 6 weeks.
-
A standard-length session with parents to explain the assessment findings, deliver the report, and discuss tailored recommendations for school support (such as special examination arrangements, assistive technology, and individual learning plans) and home-based strategies.