Psychological Testing
Thrive Under 5 offers three types of testing: psychoeducational testing, socio-emotional testing and admissions testing. The first two are often used in combination when a child is having difficulty in the home and/or school settings.
Psychoeducational testing is typically administered when a child is experiencing difficulty with acquisition, maintenance or demonstration of knowledge, as typically demonstrated in a school setting. Testing will typically include an intelligence test to assess capability, achievement testing to assess where the child is performing academically and a cognitive abilities test to assess for issues such as processing speed or visual spatial weaknesses. Psychoeducational testing is used to assist with diagnosing attention deficit and/or hyperactivity problems and/or learning disorders.
Socio-emotional testing is typically administered when a child is experiencing suspected emotional issues such as depression and/or anxiety. Testing will typically include behavioral checklists to be completed by those who know the child such as primary caregivers and/or teachers. In addition, for younger children who typically have difficulty verbally expressing their emotions, projective testing may be useful. Projective tests include House-Tree-Person where the child draws each of those and the drawings are analyzed by a clinical psychologist. Another example is the Thematic Apperception Test where a child tells a story about various pictures and the stories are analyzed. Older children, who can read and write, may be administered objective tests which require them to read and answer questions about themselves. These questions are typically true or false types of questions. Furthermore, there are adult versions of the projective tests that provide useful information in understanding how a person perceives the world.
Admissions testing is performed upon request when a child needs a specific psychological test, typically an intelligence test, to be administered in order to be considered for admission to a private school.
All of the above tests are administered by a clinical psychologist who is present in the room with the child for the duration of the testing. The testing is confidential and will only be released to a school, for instance, when the proper releases have been signed.
All of the testing is conducted by appointment only. First, an initial free consultation is set up to assess the necessity and/or types of assessments to be administered. At that time the appointment will be made for the testing if it is deemed necessary. Once the report is finalized the parents will have an appointment with the clinical psychologist to receive the results of the testing with the opportunity to ask questions as needed. For older children, a separate appointment for feedback can be scheduled at the parents? request.