We offer cognitive assessments, used to measure intellectual functioning, for children, young people and adults.  We use WISC V (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fifth UK Edition) for children and young people aged 6 - 17, and the WAIS IV for adults.  

What is a Cognitive Assessment

A cognitive assessment is a standardized evaluation used to measure a person’s mental capabilities—how they think, learn, remember, and solve problems. These assessments provide insight into how the brain is functioning in different areas of cognition and are commonly used in educational, clinical, and developmental contexts. 

A cognitive assessment can be invaluable for both you and the educational institution in gaining a deeper understanding of your child's thinking processes and their perception of the world. This assessment provides insights into various aspects of your child's cognitive abilities, including their capacity to process verbal and visual information, approach problem-solving, the speed at which they process information, and their short-term memory retention. By utilising this information, you can better support your child's learning journey.

Why have a Cognitive Assessment?

An assessment is about understanding how someone learns and thinks, so appropriate support, instruction, or intervention can be provided.  

It can be very powerful as a complimentary part of an Autism or ADHD assessment because it can highlight peaks and troughs in intellectual capability. 

Although they are assessments of general intellectual functioning, they enable us to understand the weaknesses and strengths of each individual child or young person we are assessing. These are really significant because they highlight to us where the neuro-development of that child may be being privileged (ie what the brain gives more attention to) which shows the areas the child is excelling in, naturally driven from the motivation of the child, or where there may be extra support required. This therefore means that we can then scaffold the weaknesses and enable the child to be whatever they can. This leads to tailored and effective post diagnosis support.

What happens in a Cognitive Assessment

An assessment undertaken in person with a psychologist and consists of a series of brief puzzles, questions and tasks using paper and pencil as well as a specialised set of physical tools. The process typically takes two hours during which the psychologist will guide the assessment and take behavioural observational notes.

The raw scores are compared to age-based norms. The psychologist interprets the results in context — identifying patterns and ruling out alternative explanations. These outcomes are then complied into a detailed report which includes results, interpretations and recommendations. 

Finally a feedback consultation session is held with the psychologist and client/family to review, explain and discuss the outcomes and the report

Fees

Full Cognitive Assessment  - £695

• using WISC V or WAIS IV 
• detailed report 
• 1 hour online feedback session

More information about the WISC V

The WISC-V is used to measure the general thinking and reasoning skills of children aged 6 to 16 years.  It consists of 10 core "subtests" (tasks) that each measure skills associated with an area of intellectual functioning.  WISC-V scores show how a child has performed compared to a group of children of their age from the United Kingdom.

In addition to scores from individual “subtests”, the assessment provides a composite score that represents a child’s overall intellectual ability (Full-Scale IQ Score), as well as primary index scores that measure the following areas of cognitive functioning: verbal comprehension, visual spatial processing, fluid reasoning, working memory, and processing speed.