PSYCHOLOGY CLINIC

ASSESSMENTS

• PSYCHO-EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT

A Psycho-educational assessment refers to the assessment of underlying mental processes impacting educational, workplace achievement and life management abilities. It identifies areas of strength and weakness in a student’s learning profile and provides a deeper understanding of their educational abilities. It can also identify learning disabilities and mental health issues that can interfere with learning. It assesses the cognitive (i.e. intellectual) abilities, academic achievement levels, information processing abilities, memory and general emotional and behavioural issues.

Psycho-educational assessment answers the following questions;

• What kind of learner is my child?
• Why is my child struggling in one subject, but not others?
• Why does my child cry at the thought of school or doing homework?
• Why have my child’s grades declined?
• Why do I have to repeat myself over and over to get my child to do something?
• Why is my child struggling to make friends?
• Why is my child misbehaving in class?
• Why is my child so nervous?
• Why does my child seem so disorganized and lazy?
• Why is my college student struggling with the demands that are placed on him or her?
• Why do I find it difficult focusing on work?

Psycho-educational assessment helps to identify academic interventions and accommodations that may be necessary for children/adolescents entering or continuing schools around the world, as well as transitioning from one school to the other. Furthermore, it can also help students prepare for higher education by identifying the ways in which they learn most efficiently.

In our clinic, psycho-educational assessments typically involve nine areas of questioning and assessment:

1. Background information and developmental history
2. Behavioural report from school
3. Assessment of abilities (cognitive functioning)
4. Assessment of memory 
5. Assessment of attention
6. Behavioural assessment
7. Assessment of academic functioning
8. Social-emotional functioning
9. Assessment of speed of handwriting

• BEHAVIOURAL ASSESSMENT

Behavioural assessment is a tool that is used for observing, describing, explaining and predicting behaviours.  We carry out this kind of assessment in the clinic, educational and corporate sectors.

• Behavioural assessment in educational sector

When students have trouble in school, it is not always because of academics. Often, behaviour is the reason they struggle. They may disrupt class, become withdrawn, or even not go to school. To help, schools refer them to us to carry out assessment that will help to understand, analyze, find out the reason behind the behaviour and give recommendations.

• Behavioural assessment in the workplace

We use behavioural assessment in the workplace to understand the emotions, personality and behaviours of staff. We also use it to carry out recruitment processes knowing that person-job fit is not just about certification but also about the personality of the employee.

In behavioural assessment, behaviours are observed and structured questionnaires are administered to understand the personality, social emotional functioning and behaviour of the employee and staff. Recommendations and treatment are prescribed based on the findings from the questionnaires and overt observations.

• NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT

Neuropsychological assessment is a procedure used to evaluate the behavioural and functional expression of brain dysfunction and identify the impact of brain injury or disease on the cognitive, sensorimotor, emotional, and general adaptive capacities of an individual. The primary goal of neuropsychological assessment is to:

1. Provide information about an individual’s functioning that will be useful in his or her environment.
2. Define the client’s specific cognitive strengths and weaknesses and to identify the relationships between the neuropsychological findings and the client’s medical and psychiatric condition.

Tools used to complete the NPA are measures of cognition and intelligence that are standardized on a neurologically normal sample. By administering the measures in the identical, systematic manner, as described in the instruction manual for the testing instrument, we can compare the individual’s performance on the measure to the performance of a normative sample. It is optimal if the normative sample is subdivided by gender, age, and years of education. In that way a very specific comparison can be made. Neuropsychological test performance has been generally shown to vary according to gender, age, and years of education in control samples.

• NEUROCOGNITIVE ASSESSMENT

Neurocognitive assessment is a non-invasive method for measuring brain function in adults. It evaluates specific cognitive abilities, including memory, fine motor control, and recognition, among others. Various abilities are linked to different areas in the brain. For instance, organization skills are linked to the frontal lobes, while memory skills are concentrated in the temporal lobes. This kind of assessment is important for adults with brain fog, Recurring headaches, depression, difficulty concentrating, memory loss,  mood swings and trouble multitasking. Neurocognitive tests are robust and measure a broad range of functions. In our clinic, these tests are broken down into seven individual assessments, each of which measures a specific brain function: Verbal Memory Test, Visual Memory Test, Finger Tapping Test, Symbol Digit Coding, Stroop Test, Shifting Attention Test and Continuous Performance Test. Treatments and recommendations are prescribed based on the outcome of these assessments.

TREATMENT

• Biofeedback therapy

Biofeedback is the process of learning to control physiological functions by the use of instrumentation. In addition, biofeedback is a process that enables you to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance. Precise instruments measure physiological activity such as brainwaves, heart function, breathing, muscle activity, and skin temperature. These instruments rapidly and accurately feedback information to you the user. The presentation of this information often in conjunction with changes in thinking, emotions, and behaviour supports desired physiological changes. Over time, these changes can endure without continued use of an instrument. Biofeedback training requires attaching sensors to the body for the purpose of acquiring biological signals such as those produced muscles, sweat glands, body temperature and heart rhythm. The goal of biofeedback training is gaining mental control over subconscious biological processes. Biofeedback promotes a stronger sense of self and responsibility for wellness. It has been found to be effective in managing of migraines, headaches, inattentivity, high blood pressure, irregular heart rates, muscle tension and sleeplessness.

• Brain Entrainment Therapy

We utilize brain entrainment therapy to train and exercise the brain in order to improve its ability to be flexible (shifting brain states) and at the same time improve stability (maintain brain states) when necessary. Brain entrainment therapy makes use of a device known as Audio-Visual Entrainment device (AVE). Audio-Visual Entrainment (AVE) device influences your brainwaves and is an extremely effective, non-invasive method. By flashing lights through an eye set and pulsing tones through headphones, we can gently guide ourselves into various brainwave states. After a short period of time, the brain begins to resonate at (or mirror) the same frequency as the stimuli. Research has shown that AVE is an effective non-drug approach to reduce the symptoms of many disorders that are caused by improper brainwave production. AVE is being successfully used by thousands of people for learning difficulties, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, insomnia, chronic pain, post- traumatic stress disorder, stress management; it also improves self-esteem, cognition (mental agility) and performance as well as overall well-being.

• Neurofeedback therapy

Neurofeedback is an effective non-drug and non-invasive training for the brain. The brain needs healthy fast and slow-moving brainwave activity to function at its best. Neurofeedback, a form of biofeedback, works to change the electrical activity of the brain. It is a non-invasive treatment that works toward improving the source of unwanted symptoms. Neurofeedback therapy is often added to the patient’s treatment plan in order to help improve the brain’s ability to sustain attention and concentration for prolonged periods of time. These interventions are also designed to help improve auditory and visual processing, sequencing, and memory. As brain function improves, the patient develops greater confidence and calmness. Patients with Autism, mood disorders, executive function disorder, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, learning disorders, memory impairment, impulse control difficulties, or slow processing speed can improve their brain function through neurofeedback therapy.

• Cognitive enhancement therapy

The cognitive enhancement therapy is the use of recommended cognitive and brain enhancement software, games and meta-cognition applications to improve learning skills and abilities. These software and games have been found to improve processing speed, reasoning, comprehension (reading and verbal), spatial abilities, memory, concentration, attention and problem solving skills. These games are readily available at our shop

• Neuro-cognitive therapy

Neurocognitive therapy is often added to the patient’s treatment plan in order to help improve the brain’s ability to sustain attention and concentration for prolonged periods of time. These interventions are also designed to help improve auditory and visual processing, sequencing, and memory. As brain function improves, the patient develops greater confidence and calmness. Patients with ADD/ADHD, Learning Disorders, Memory Impairment, impulse control difficulties, or slow Processing Speed can improve their brain function through neurocognitive therapy

We offer a number of neuro-technologies to help you train your brain for improved neurocognitive function.  These are brain-based interventions to assist in improving the brain’s ability to process information more efficiently.

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders and severe mental illness. Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life.

We use CBT to teach clients to become their own therapists. Through exercises in the session as well as “homework” exercises outside of sessions, patients/clients are helped to develop coping skills, whereby they can learn to change their own thinking, problematic emotions and behaviour. Furthermore, we emphasize what is going on in the person’s current life, rather than what has led up to their difficulties. A certain amount of information about one’s history is needed, but the focus is primarily on moving forward in time to develop more effective ways of coping with life.