Giftedness Assessment
Psychwest offers Giftedness Assessments for children and adolescents aged 6 years up to 16 years of age. Our psychologists use standardized measures to assess your child’s intellectual ability and educational performance. They will also assess your child’s social and emotional functioning to provide a comprehensive report with individualised recommendations to support you and your child’s teachers to meet their needs.
Our psychologists use the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition (WISC-V) and the Weschler Individual Achievement Test, Third Edition (WIAT-III).
The WISC-V is an intelligence test for children and measures five (5) cognitive domains, including verbal comprehension skills, visuospatial skills, fluid reasoning skills, working memory and processing speed.
The WIAT-III is an educational assessment which measures a child’s individual achievement in reading, writing, maths and oral language.
What is Giftedness?
It is important to be aware that Giftedness is not a diagnosis. Giftedness is a term used to describe children whose performance is significantly above average when compared to other children of the same age and experience. Children can display giftedness in many domains, such as athletic ability, artistic ability and musical talent. At Psychwest, we offer Giftedness Assessments for Intellectual Giftedness.
Intellectually Gifted children can experience various difficulties, including:
Asynchronous development. This refers to uneven development across different domains, for example they may be highly advanced in their intellectual abilities but have typical development in their social or emotional skills. This may impact their peer relationships; they may have difficulty connecting with their peers due to differences in interests and views or they may not have the skills to appropriately navigate friendships or social settings.
Underachievement. Gifted children may have underachievement at school due to various factors, for example low motivation, lack of challenge, perfectionism or anxiety.
High Expectations. Gifted children may be exposed to high expectations from themselves, teachers, parents or peers which may contribute to difficulties such as low self-esteem, perfectionism or anxiety.
What to Expect
The process for a Giftedness Assessment includes four (4) sessions with one of our psychologists.
Session 2: This is a two (2) hour session for your child to attend. They will complete the cognitive assessment (WISC-V).
Session 3: This is a two (2) hour session for your child to attend. They will complete the educational assessment (WIAT-III).
Session 4: This is a thirty-minute feedback session. You will have the opportunity to discuss assessment findings, our psychologists’ recommendations and any questions you have.
Additional inclusions: Once you provide written consent, the psychologist may contact your child’s teacher to discuss their performance within the schooling environment. You and your child will also be asked to complete some questionnaires to assess social and emotional functioning, as well as screen for autism and/or ADHD
Session 1: The first session will be a one (1) hour initial consultation with the parent/s. The purpose of this consultation is to gather background information regarding your child’s development, social functioning, educational history and other relevant information. You will be asked to bring your child’s school reports, NAPLAN results and any other relevant documents for our psychologist to review. You may also be asked to sign a consent form for our psychologist to speak to your child’s school teacher/s or other relevant professionals.
Costs
$1650.00
This cost is inclusive of the above sessions, assessment scoring time and report writing.
IMPORTANT: You should NOT attempt to access or practice any components of the WISC-V prior to your assessment. Refunds will not be provided if practice effects have invalidated the results of the assessment.
Cancellations
24 business hours policy for cancellations of individual sessions is required. If you cancel within 24hrs there will be a $200 cancellation fee applied. We will do our best to reschedule cancelled appointments, however cannot guarantee that we can reschedule in a timely manner, and the assessment may be delayed. In the event that a late cancellation, non-attendance or session fee is not paid, future appointments will be suspended until payment is received.
Looking for a Giftedness Assessment?
Psychwest has psychologists available who are experienced in providing giftedness assessments in Perth.
To find out more about organising your child’s giftedness assessment, we welcome you to get in touch with our team today, discuss fees and rebates, and book an assessment.