Psychological Assessments Gold Coast

Adult and Children Cognitive & Psychological Assessments

Redman Gall’s psychologists provide high-quality, individualised Cognitive & Adult Intelligence Assessments as part of our Psychological Assessment Services. We are particularly experienced in conducting comprehensive assessments to support the diagnosis of ASD and ADHD as well as learning disorders. Specialised assessments such as Workplace Assessments and suitability for plastic or bariatric surgery can be conducted on an as-needed basis. These allow workplace and surgeon concerns to be addressed and help to identify potential barriers to a positive outcome.

Our cognitive, intelligence and psychological assessments are conducted following best-practice clinical guidelines. Our psychologists take pride in providing excellent personalised services to our clients and we consider these guidelines as a minimum requirement.

The Assessment Process

When conducting cognitive, intelligence, and psychological Assessments, our highly trained psychologists will use a variety of tests best suited to your or your child’s needs. Our goal is to provide comprehensive assessments and recommendations within a single report and avoid duplication of expenses to our clients. For example, our reports can be used to support NDIS applications, school Individual Education Plans, Disability Support applications, etc as well as providing your treating specialists with high-quality information to support their care of you or your child. To this end, our assessments assess the whole person and their overall well-being to develop comprehensive treatment and intervention plans. Noting this, psychological assessments are a labour-intensive process and are therefore expensive, and we will provide advice as to the most cost-effective way to gather the information that you need.

In general, all of our assessments have four parts:

1. An initial interview and the provision of background information – during which we confirm what tests are best going to meet your needs, and from who or where we need to gather information (e.g. parents, children, teachers, partners, school reports, etc).
2. Testing – this may include completing tests in and out of our clinic
3. Report writing – scoring, interpretation, and integration of testing data with the information gathered from other sources, writing of the report, and development of individualised recommendations.
4. Feedback – This is where we present the results to you and answer any questions that you have regarding the results or recommendations.

Cognitive Assessments

Cognitive assessment or intelligence testing are clinical resources to support individuals in providing a better comprehension and understanding of their general thinking and abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles. Some of these tests are what are referred to as ‘IQ tests’, whereas other tests can be used to help us understand more specific elements of cognitive functioning that are not determined by intellect. These tests also assess mental capacity, memory working, general perception, and ability to retain and manipulate information. They are important in identifying intellectual delay or disability, learning disabilities, specific learning disorders (dyslexia), and difficulties with executive functioning. They are generally not required for a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD, however, they can provide very useful information to support learning development plans, support academic achievement, and better understand why certain challenges occur at school and home.

The cognitive psychological assessments used by Redman Gall Psychologists are accurate and reliable tests, such as Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). Intelligence tests are often compared to achievement tests, to see whether children and adults can perform academically at the level predicted by their raw intelligence. This process is integral to the assessment of learning disorders and conditions such as dyslexia. The majority of children presenting for cognitive or achievement testing will also be experiencing other challenges, such as anxiety. In these cases, we recommend that additional screening tests are combined with cognitive assessments to ensure a comprehensive picture is formed.

Such test results will create the opportunity to develop a more accurate and personalised recommendation for a treatment plan, skill development, emotion regulation, and general academic performance improvement.

How does it work?

First: Unless you have a referral from your doctor for a specific cognitive test, the first step will be a clinical interview with one of our psychologists. In this session, you will be interviewed by one of our clinicians who will work to ensure that we have a clear understanding of your needs and how your report may need to be used in the future. Based on this your assessing psychologist will make recommendations to you regarding what tests are recommended and a quote is developed. Following this, the psychologist will interview you and/or your child and begin to gather the information required. You may be requested to fill in forms or find information such as school report cards. The interview component will usually take between one and two hours, though often this is split into more than one appointment.

Second: You and your child will attend a session to complete the tests with your psychologist. Times vary depending on the assessments that are being completed and you will be advised before making your bookings.

Third: The clinician will gather all the information, summarise and build a comprehensive report result. They may need to talk with you further to clarify issues identified during the assessment process. A formal report is then raised and reviewed by one of our clinic directors. The turnaround time for reports is currently six weeks after the psychologist has access to all the information required and has completed testing.