Embrace Wellness Consultancy provides psychometric testing to children, adolescents, and adults for a variety of purposes including, intellectual developmental disorder, learning difficulties and giftedness. The instruments used for the assessment will depend on the reason for the referral.
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Cognitive Assessments
A cognitive assessment also known as an intelligence test, is used to determine an individual’s learning capacity by identifying their cognitive strengths and challenges. Activities including quizzes and puzzles are used to measure an individual's verbal comprehension, problem solving, working memory and processing speed abilities.
In combination with background information such as childhood development, school history, and medical diagnoses, the results can assist with the development of individualised education plans, applications for funding and work placements.
Intellectual Developmental Disorder
An intellectual developmental disorder as described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fifth Edition (DSM-5 TR) is “a disorder with onset during the developmental period that includes both intellectual and adaptive functioning deficits in conceptual, social and practical domains.” An individual may experience difficulties learning in academic areas such as reading, writing and maths, retaining information and performing daily life activities such as communicating, managing money and maintaining friendships. Categories of severity include mild, moderate, severe and profound. What is a learning deficit? A learning deficit or disability can be defined as an individual experiencing difficulty with learning in a specific academic area. For example, reading, writing or math. It is different from an intellectual developmental disorder, which affects every aspect of how the brain learns and understands information. Some common learning disabilities include: • Dyslexia – difficulty with reading and writing • Dysgraphia – difficulty with spelling and handwriting • Dyscalculia – difficulty with math • Dysphasia – difficulty with speaking and understanding other’s speech Additional testing is required for the above diagnoses. What does it mean to be gifted? There are many definitions of giftedness and this will depend on the context and decisions being made such as eligibility for education programs and services. An individual may be defined as gifted if they demonstrate an advanced ability in one or more specific areas of learning, when compared to others the same age. They may excel in their thinking, comprehension and reasoning skills. A heightened sense of awareness, excellent memory, highly developed curiosity and emotional maturity are also some common characteristics and traits. The majority of the population will obtain an IQ score within the 85-115 range. The mean or average IQ is 100. Categories for gifted individuals include mild, moderate, highly gifted and profoundly gifted.