Psychological Assessment

It is an important part of a practitioner’s job to observe and assess children in order to establish where a child is at with regards to their development, health and well being and if they require extra support. The factors that need to be taken into account when assessing development are:

When looking at children and young people’s development it is important to recognise and respond to concerns to ensure that the child or young person receives the help and assistance needed.

Child physical, communication and intellectual, social, emotional and behavioural development from birth to 19 years.

In order to apply theories and models of child development to support children’s development we must get to know each individual child by building a good relationship with the children through play, communication and answering to their personal needs. Observation and assessment is also key so that we know what each child is capable of and what they are working towards/could be encouraged towards. Good communication with parents is also beneficial as it helps the carer to see what the child is doing at home and to identify if there are things they do or don’t do at nursery that is different from home. It also helps to work out ways of encouraging development at home and at nursery.

A child will be assessed by an educational psychologist if there are concerns about their intellectual, communication and behavioural development. Assessments can be arranged by the SENCO or independently. The aim of the assessments is to find out why the child is not progressing and what support is needed in order for them to progress. Specific learning difficulties are often identified in this way such as Dyslexia, AHAD, Dyspraxia. Support and targets for the child are then set to help them achieve. The outcome of the assessments may involve the child referred to other professionals e.g. occupational therapist, optometrist, speech and language therapist, psychiatrist. The psychologist will advise the school on how to promote development for example, keeping verbal instructions simple. Keep stories and group activities short to match attention span.

The Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Early Development-II was written by Albert H. Brigance & Frances Page Gloscoe. The IED-II was published by Curriculum Associates, Inc. in 1978-2004. The test is administered individually with the age range of birth-7 years old. This test was created to monitor a child’s development. Because it was not a high stakes test, there was more room for error. The IED-II was translated into Spanish. Spanish tests were given to 8.6% of participants but since scores were never compared to the English version of the test, there is no confirmation of reliability or validity (Davis pg 9). Also, the Spanish version of the test is not publicly available. “The purpose of the Brigance Diagnostic IED-II is to determine readiness for school, track developmental progress, provide a range of scores needed for documenting eligibility for special education services, and enable a comparison of children 's skills within and across developmental domains in order to view strengths and weaknesses and to determine entry points for instruction” (Davis 1). It also helps in assisting with program evaluation.

A child’s development can be measured through physical and language milestones, intellectual, emotional and social development.

Children’s development can be grouped into four different aspects: physical, social and emotional, intellectual and language.

A two year assessment is carried out between the ages of two and three. Parents/carers/guardians are provided with a short written summary of the child’s development in the prime areas. Within the progress

Assessment frameworks are the way in which a child is assessed to see whether they have any particular needs, what they are and how we can help them be met. It is useful in deciding whether a child has reached expected milestones. Assessment frameworks may be summative or formative. Formative assessments are used to check progress and helps us to consider learning opportunities needed to progress. The ongoing observations we do of children are formative assessments. They inform the next steps of the childs learning. Summative assessment provides staff with information about the attainment of knowledge and is usually measured against a benchmark or standard. For example, the EYFS assessment which is done toward the end of the reception year. This “sums up” all the different information from

1.1. When assessing development some factors need to be taken into account one of these is confidentiality, this means that you will need permission from a child’s parents/carers before doing observations, also when information is wrote down about a child is important that it is kept in a safe place were only the relevant people can access it. Also making sure that information about a child is only shared with parents/carers or colleagues and professionals that have the right to know. Another factor to take into account is a child’s wishes and feelings, this means to take into account the child’s wishes when doing an observation or assessment. The child may not want to be assessed at

Children’s development may not follow the expected pattern due to a range of personal and external factors. This could be due to disability, long-term illness, life-threatening illness, environment, friends, family, etc.

1.2 – Assess a child or young person’s development in following areas :- physical, communication, intellectual/ cognitive, social, emotional and behavioural and moral.

The early childhood are the most vital time for learning, therefore observations, assessments, planning and evaluation are an important part of the curriculum for children’s

Q1. When I first took a glance at different personality type details for this assignment, it was difficult for me to make a definite choice between types seven, eight and three. However, the discussions we had during our class meetings and videos filmed by Palmer, with a detailed and vivid descriptions (Nine Points of View Video Series, 1994), we watched helped me to draw a conclusion that I had a number eight personality. To this point, I have never heard of the Enneagram method to evaluate personalities. Therefore, it was such a new and amazing experience for me to learn about this particular technique.