Brain Sprout Clinic Assessments
Dyslexia Assessments
Understanding Learning, Thinking and Academic Skills. Develop a clearer understanding of how you or your child learns, individual strengths, and what may be making learning more difficult.
Clear learning profiles
Comprehensive assessment of academic skills
Clear recommendations for your context
Assessments for children aged 6+, adolescents, and adults.
Ability to identify Specific Learning Disorders including dyslexia.
Practical Reports and meaningful next steps.
Understanding the Assessment
A psychoeducational assessment explores how a child thinks, learns and uses academic skills. It brings together information about cognitive abilities and educational achievement to develop a clearer understanding of their individual learning profile.
At Brain Sprout Clinic, we look beyond individual scores to understand patterns of strengths and difficulties and how these may be affecting learning at school and in everyday life.
Psychoeducational assessment may also help identify whether a learning profile is consistent with a Specific Learning Disorder, such as difficulties in reading, written expression or mathematics. This includes dyslexia.
People seek psychoeducational assessment at different stages of life and for many different reasons.
For children and adolescents, questions may arise when learning or academic progress looks different from expected, when particular subjects remain difficult despite support, or when parents and teachers want to better understand how a young person learns.
For adults, an assessment may help make sense of longstanding difficulties with reading, writing, mathematics or learning that may not have been recognised earlier. It may also be helpful when returning to study, attending university or TAFE, navigating workplace demands, or seeking a clearer understanding of learning strengths and support needs.
An assessment may explore:
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reading and reading comprehension
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spelling and written expression
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mathematics
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learning and remembering information
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processing and working with information
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reasoning and problem solving
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cognitive and academic strengths
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possible Specific Learning Disorder
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adjustments and supports for education or work.
A comprehensive psychoeducational assessment considers both how a person thinks and processes information and their academic skills and achievement.
The assessment typically includes:
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a comprehensive cognitive assessment
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assessment of relevant academic skills
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developmental and educational history
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questionnaires or interviews where appropriate
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review of previous reports, school records or other relevant information
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information from parents or caregivers for children and adolescents
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information from teachers or educators for school-aged clients where appropriate
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a feedback session
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a comprehensive written report with individualised recommendations.
For adults, we recognise that school records or information about earlier learning may not always be available. We work with the information that can reasonably be obtained.
Depending on the person's age and individual circumstances, Brain Sprout Clinic uses measures such as the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence - Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fifth Edition (WISC-V) or Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Fifth Edition (WAIS-5).
Rather than focusing only on an overall score, we consider the pattern of results across different areas of thinking and learning and what these may mean for the person in everyday life.
Educational assessment explores skills in areas such as reading, spelling, written expression and mathematics.
At Brain Sprout Clinic, we use the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – Third Edition (WIAT-III) to assess academic achievement. The areas assessed are selected according to the questions being explored and the person's age, educational history and individual circumstances.
Results from the WIAT-III are considered alongside cognitive assessment, developmental and educational history, and other relevant information. No individual score determines a diagnosis.
The Assessment Process
Learning Without the Pressure
Psychoeducational assessment involves a range of structured activities that can feel a little like puzzles, problem solving, working with pictures, remembering information, reading, writing or maths activities.
We understand that some of these activities, particularly reading, writing or maths, may have been a source of frustration, anxiety or embarrassment in the past. We take time to help you or your child feel comfortable, explain what to expect and reduce unnecessary pressure. There is no expectation to know every answer or perform perfectly.
Breaks are welcome, and children and adults can ask questions, move around and participate in ways that work for them. We consider communication, sensory, emotional and accessibility needs throughout the assessment.
There is nothing you need to study or practise beforehand. The aim is not to judge performance, but to develop an accurate and meaningful understanding of how you or your child learns, where things come more easily and where additional support may be helpful.
Specific Learning Disorder
When can it be diagnosed?
A Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) is not diagnosed based on a single assessment score. The DSM-5-TR requires difficulties with academic skills to have persisted for at least six months despite accessing targeted intervention.
This means that evidence of appropriate, evidence-based intervention and the person's response to that support forms an important part of the diagnostic process. For children and adolescents, this may include targeted literacy or numeracy intervention provided through school or privately, alongside information about progress over time.
Where appropriate intervention has not yet occurred, an assessment can still identify areas of strength and difficulty and provide recommendations for targeted support. However, there may not yet be sufficient evidence to confirm a Specific Learning Disorder diagnosis. In these circumstances, intervention and monitoring may be recommended before diagnostic conclusions are finalised.
For adults, we recognise that detailed records of childhood intervention are not always available. Your psychologist will consider the available educational and developmental history, previous supports and other relevant evidence when determining whether diagnostic requirements can be established.