Assessments

Assessments are used for a variety of purposes, depending on the individual needs of the child or adolescent. Assessments provide valuable information about an individual’s current level of functioning, and their strengths and growth areas. Recommendations and interventions for the school and home environment are based on the unique needs of each child.

Psycho-Educational Assessments

 

These are comprehensive assessments which focus on cognitive, emotional and academic functioning. They are useful for diagnosing a child’s relative areas of strength and for highlighting areas where further development may be necessary. The results provide an overall picture of a child’s current level of functioning. Interventions are suggested based on the interpretation of the results, which aim to address the individual needs of a child.

 

School Readiness Assessments

 

 

This type of assessment focusses on a child’s level of readiness for Grade 1. It provides an understanding of any strengths and difficulties a child may have, in order to ascertain and advise parents on school readiness. Recommendations can be obtained to determine the type of support a child may require to promote school readiness.

Developmental Assessments

The assessment used is the Griffiths III and it provides an overall measure of a child’s development, as well as an individual profile of strengths and needs across five areas:

• Foundations of Learning – assesses critical aspects of learning during the early childhood years.
• Language and Communication – measures overall language development, including expressive language, receptive language and use of language to communicate socially with others.
• Eye and Hand Coordination – considers fine motor skills, manual dexterity and visual perception skills.
• Personal–Social–Emotional – measures constructs relating to the child’s developing sense of self and growing independence, interactions with others, plus many aspects of emotional development.
• Gross Motor – assesses postural control, balance and gross body coordination, among other abilities.

Career Assessments

These are tools used to assess an individual’s interests, personality, aptitudes and skills, in order to provide guidance on career options that will provide a goodness of fit.

Concessions (GDE and IEB) 

This type of assessment is administered to determine what type of support and accommodations a learner requires, in order to ensure that individuals with barriers to learning and development are given a fair opportunity during examinations.