Why would a child need a developmental assessment?

Posted on by buddingmindscentre

I have always had a passion for development which was one of the many reasons I chose to be a child psychologist. Once I was exposed to the Griffiths assessment, I knew this was something I wanted to offer.

The Griffiths III assessment can only be offered by practitioners that are certified and thus go through an intense training. The Griffiths III has recently been revised and whilst it is a U.K. based assessment,  many of the individuals involved in the revision were South African. The Griffiths III is a unique assessment as it can be used for a wide range of ages (birth-5 years 11 months). It can even be used for babies who were born prematurely. Moreover, for older children, they are mostly unaware that they are being assessed as the assessment is fun and interactive. The assessment measures the following areas which can be seen below:Budding Minds Griffiths ||| Flyer

As seen above, the 5 key areas that this assessment measures are: Foundations of Learning, Language and Communication, Eye and Hand Coordination, Personal-Social-Emotional, Gross Motor. This assessment looks at all areas of development and thus offers an holistic overview of a child’s current functioning.

If your child is in the age bracket described above, they will benefit from this assessment as it allows for you to gage where they are developmentally as well as what their particular strengths and growth areas. Children hold great resilience and so if there are growth areas, interventions can then be made to ensure that each child has the tools to have the most optimal learning experience in school. The sooner interventions can be introduced, the higher the likelihood of a child being able to reach their full potential.

If you’d like to learn more about what it offers, the following video illustrates this further: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EWwG_6DTQU

If you’d like to inquire further or book an assessment, click on this link: Contact

Why an assessment can be the best gift you can give your child

Posted on by buddingmindscentre

Many parents hear the word ‘assessments’, but are unsure of what it entails.

There are various assessment processes which are based on the nature of the assessment. Each assessment evaluates a certain area of functioning, for example scholastic or cognitive. At Budding Minds, we spend a significant amount of time conducting the assessment and analysing the results in order to produce an overview of the child’s current level of functioning and what their optimal functioning could be.

An assessment is valuable because it provides a clearer understanding of your child’s current level of functioning in terms of their strength and growth areas. When planning interventions, we take into account a child’s strengths, and how these can be used to help their growth areas. We believe that children can be empowered to develop to the best of their potential when the appropriate interventions are in place. Interventions are therefore catered for the specific needs of your child, with a focus on the home and school environment.

This means that assessments are not only for children who experience barriers to learning but are for all children. Assessments can help all children because they provide information on how to better promote their learning environment so that they can reach their full potential.  Assessments can positively impact the learning environment, as children will have all the tools necessary to succeed because you and your child will know how their brain learns. Assessments can therefore be one of the many gifts you can give to your child.

For more information about the types of assessments we offer, visit our assessment page. To see what other services we offer, visit Services on www.buddingminds.org.