Our Assessments
At Wildflower’s we see the importance of looking at and truly understanding the whole individual. With this we believe assessments are an essential aspect to therapy, as they can be used for diagnosing disorders, planning for therapy and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions. We feel the primary purpose of assessments is to guide and facilitate positive change in our clients, enabling them to grow and bloom into the wonderful individuals they are.
Autism Assessment
Our Autism assessment is a comprehensive assessment that can diagnosis individuals
with difficulties around social interaction, communication, and play and behaviour..
The assessments completed allow us to better understand the individual, their strengths
and challenges, as well as how these may be impacting on their adaptive functioning and ability to engage across environments. Clinician’s utilise the DSM-5 criteria to determine if an individual is meeting the criteria for an Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis.
When to test:
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An individual is having challenges within social settings and making friends
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An individual is find it hard to cope with changes
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An individual has specific interests and fixations
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An individual may have sensory sensitivities
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An individual has difficulty with understanding their emotions and contorling behaviours
Our Process
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Parent/Carer/Individual information gathering session
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ADOS Assessment completed
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Standardised questionnaires completed by parent/carer/teachers and/or individual themselves.
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Feedback session with results and where to go
The assessments completed as apart of this comprehensive assessment are:
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Autism Diagnostic Observational Assessment – ADOS -2
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Sensory Profile (completed by parent/carer and teacher)
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Vineland - Adaptive Functioning (completed by parent/carer and teacher)
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Autism Spectrum Rating Scale (completed by parent/carer and teacher)
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OR Social Responsiveness Scale (completed by individual or carer
Behavioural Assessment
Our behavioural assessments are aimed to observe, understand and help explain an individual's behaviour, ensuring we can best support the individual, carers and others engaged with them. Our goal of these assessments is to problem solve and understand why these behaviours are present, what interventions or strategies can be implemented to support positive behaviour or if additional assessments are required. To complete our behaviour assessments observations of the client will be conducted, unstructured conversations with carer givers or others are used to gather information and any questionnaires that are deemed necessary, will be completed. Our goal is to support the individual to positively engage with others and in their environments to promote success and purpose. These assessments are completed by our wonderful Psychologists and Occupational Therapists.
Allied Health Assessments
Psychometric Assessments
ADHD Testing
Our ADHD assessments can help provide psychometric testing, and diagnosis of children
with difficulties around inattention, impulsivity and concentration difficulties. The DSM-V’
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth edition (DSM-5)1, is utilised to help diagnose ADHD.
This diagnostic standard helps ensure that children are appropriately diagnosed and treated for ADHD
When to test:
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If an individual is highly impulsive and constantly ends up in trouble due to an inability to control his/her behaviour.
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If an individual has a “short attention span” and he/she is unable remember simple instructions.
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Your child’s teacher or preschool teacher is concerned about behavioural issues or violence towards other children.
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If an individual struggles to make friends because he/she is “too intense” for other children.
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You or your family is concerned about the individuals behaviour or ability to follow instructions
Our process:
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Parent/Carer/Individual information gathering session
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IQ Assessment completed
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Standardised questionnaires completed by parent/carer/teachers and/or individual themselves.
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Feedback session with results and where to go
IQ and Cognitive Functioning Testing
Our psychologists are very proficient in completing assessments to better understand one’s cognitive profile and intellectual functioning to promote positive engagement and functioning across their environments.
When to test:
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Diagnosis of global developmental delay
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Falling behind with their learning
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Recommended by a Paediatrican, GP or Clinician
Our process:
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Parent/Carer/Individual information gathering session
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IQ Assessment completed
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Standardised questionnaires completed by parent/carer/teachers and/or individual themselves.
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Feedback session with results and where to go
Learning Disability Testing
At Wildflowers we complete assessments to better understand an individuals' learning abilities and areas for growth. Learning disability can result from disruption to any stages of the learning process. Specific learning disability is a disorder in one or more of the learning processes associated with language use (written or spoken) that affects listening, reading, writing, speaking and spelling skills, or mathematical abilities. Children with learning difficulties may also be hyperactive, show impairments in perceptual-motor coordination, disorders of attention (ADHD), impulsivity, disorders of memory and language problems.
When to test:
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Difficulty keeping up with their peers
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Obvious signs of boredom or disengagement in the classroom
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Behaviourally disruptive in class
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Struggling to keep up with homework, assessment tasks and avoiding academic tasks
Our process:
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After an IQ assessment is completed, potential learning challenges are identified and a WIAT assessment is recommended
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Parent/Carer/Individual information gathering session
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WIAT Assessment completed
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Standardised questionnaires completed by parent/carer/teachers and/or individual themselves.
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Feedback session with results and where to go
Occupational Therapy Assessments
Functional Assessments:
Our functional assessments will assess an individual's ability to complete daily activities based on their age and how they engage and complete tasks across their environments, such as; at home, school, work and in the community. We will evaluate which area’s of one's development may be impacting on their ability to complete daily activities and interact appropriately. These assessments may include standardised assessments, a combination of structured and unstructured observations, questionnaires and discussions with the individual and carers.
The areas that we can assess are:
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Self-Care and daily living skills
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Fine motor skills
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Handwriting skills
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Visual Motor Integration
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Coordination and Movement Skills
These assessments will help guide our person focused therapy approach to establish therapy interventions and determine which supports will best assist the client on their journey to thriving as the unique individual they are.
Sensory Assessments:
Our sensory assessments aim to identify how an individual's behaviour is impacted by their ability to process the sensory information their body receives throughout the day. This assessment can help us better understand why individuals react in a certain ways to sensory input, have increased emotional reactions, withdraw or become overwhelmed. When assessing an individual with Sensory concerns we will complete a sensory profile questionnaire, additionally we may complete both structured and unstructured observations and hold discussions to gather relevant information. We may observe individuals in different environments if necessary, based on their presenting challenges.
This assessment will provide knowledge and education on how to best support an individual's sensory regulation and integration. It will also provide strategies and adaptations to help reduce sensory triggers and allow the individual to feel understood and continue to grow and confidently interact within their environments.
Speech Pathology
Assessments
Our wonderful Speech Pathologist offers a range of Speech Pathology assessments, aimed at understanding our an individual best communicates and therefore how we can support them to have a voice and be actively engaged in their relationships and community.
In order to set appropriate therapy goals, it is recommended that a comprehensive, individualised assessment is conducted.
Assessments usually take between 60 to 90 minutes, and may include informal observations, discussions regarding concerns and case history, and completion of several formal assessments. A detailed report with recommendations for further steps will then be provided.
The assessments that we can conduct include:
Comprehensive Language Assessment
What are the concerns?
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Not speaking or limited verbal language
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Babies/toddlers - not making sounds/vocalising
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Poor sentence structure
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Poor vocabulary
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Difficulty understanding others
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Difficulty following instructions
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Difficulty following classroom routine
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Behind at school
Speech Sound Assessment
What are the concerns:
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Others have difficulty understanding the child’s speech
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Child substitutes certain sounds, e.g. ‘w’ instead of ‘l’
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Sounds are not included (e.g. ‘p’ at the end of words)
Combined Comprehensive Language and Speech Sound Assessment:
Concerns: any of those listed above
Stuttering Assessment:
What are the concerns:
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Stuttering can present in various ways:
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Repeating a syllable, word or sound
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‘Blocks’, or being unable to get a word out
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Social Communication Assessment:
What are the concerns:
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Difficulty with any of the following:
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Making friends
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Having a conversation
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Appropriately starting or ending a conversation
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Allowing others to have a turn during conversation
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Asking appropriate questions
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Greeting others
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Understanding body language and facial expressions
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Understanding of emotions (own emotions and others’ emotions)
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Taking turns and cooperating during game
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