WHO?
School readiness assessments are administered to Grade R’s who need an indication of their readiness for Grade 1.
WHAT?
Various areas of development are evaluated including intellectual functioning, receptive and expressive language, attention, memory, information processing, adaptive functioning, socio-emotional functioning and visual-motor integration.
APPROACH
This assessment will use similar approaches as psycho-educational assessment, but using tests that are standardised for younger children namely:
- Intake interviews
- Observations (during assessment, play and in class)
- Various psychometric instruments including:
-
- Cognitive/ individual intelligence tests
- Speech/language assessment
- Assessment of socio-emotional functioning (to determine what is happening in the emotional and social context in which the child functions.
- Motor functioning assessment
- Assessment of visual and auditory perception (which forms the basis for learning)
- Neuropsychological assessments
The assessment process:
- The child’s parent(s) / primary caregiver meet with the psychologist for an initial interview, gaining background information.
- An assessment date is scheduled for the child.
- Observation session and meeting with the teacher at school are scheduled if needed.
- After approximately one week of the assessment and observations, a feedback session is scheduled where the results of the assessment are explained and the psychologist gives recommendations.
A written report is provided to the parents as soon as possible.