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Cognitive Assessments (6-16 years old)
Cognitive Assessments:
A cognitive assessment, or IQ test, is commonly requested by Paediatricians, parents or a child’s school, in order to better understand how a child thinks and learns.
This assessment process can explore a child’s cognitive struggles and how to support them, or it can eliminate cognitive concerns for the purpose of perusing another diagnosis (e.g., ADHD). It will give the clinician a profile of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. This profile can then help parents and teachers to gain a deeper understanding of how their child’s brain operates, what additional considerations and adjustments they might need at school and in the home environment.
The assessment process involves:
- 1-hour Initial Consultation with parent/s which includes background developmental history and current concerns with the Psychologist.
- 2-hour Assessment Session with Child and the Psychologist.
- Psychologist to review & score the assessment and complete a comprehensive cognitive assessment report – 4 hours
- 1-hour Feedback Session to Deliver Report (Parents Only).
Appointments will be spread out over a 4-6 week period.
Please Note:
At this stage, our practice only utilises the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V) cognitive assessment, but in the future, we hope to expand to offer a Non-Verbal cognitive assessment, and tests for a larger age range as well. Until these are in place, parents must be aware that in their initial consultation appointment, the Psychologist will assess if it is ethical that your child be assessed with the WISC-V.
Criteria that would make the referral unable to be completed include: significant speech and language delay history, EALD (English as an Additional Language or Dialect) struggles with comprehension, a child who has done this assessment within the last 2 years, or a child whose age is out of the appropriate range for this assessment (Testing range: 6 years – 16 years 11 months). The cognitive assessment alone does NOT investigate learning concerns of a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) including Dyslexia/Dyspraxia/Dyscalculia, Giftedness, ADHD, ASD, or other behavioural presentations. However, it may aid in investigations of these conditions with other health professionals.
It is at the discretion of the Psychologist at the time of the initial consultation appointment as to whether or not they will take on the assessment. Therefore, the fee for the initial consultation and the remaining assessment have been separated. If it is decided to continue with the assessment, report, and feedback session the payment for this service will be required prior to the assessment taking place. Cognitive Assessments are NOT covered by the Medicare Better Access Scheme, and therefore Medicare rebates are not available for this service. This also means parents do not require a referral from an external practitioner in order to engage in this service; however, any information from external services who have requested the assessment is encouraged.
Fee schedule:
$250 per hour
The fee schedule breakdown will be:-
- 1-hour Initial Consultation = $250
- Cognitive Assessment, report and feedback session = $1750
An upfront full fee payment will be required in advance for both the initial consultation and the cognitive assessment.
Please note, that these fees are considerably less than the standard fees recommended by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) for both consultations and reports. APS fees start at $300 for a 46 – 60 minute consultation.
Cancellation Policy:
Your appointments and well-being are very important to us. We understand that sometimes, unexpected delays can occur. If you need to cancel your appointment, we respectfully request at least 24 hours’ notice. You will receive a SMS reminder 72 hours prior to your appointment to confirm or cancel your appointment.
- Any cancellation or reschedule made less than 24 hours will result in a cancellation fee. The amount of the fee will be equal to full fee of service.
- If you are late for your service, we may not be able to accommodate you. In this case, the same cancellation fee will apply. We will do our very best to reschedule your service for another time that is convenient to you.
- In the event of a true, unavoidable emergency, all or part of your cancellation fee may be applied to future services.
Thanks in advance for your understanding.