Blue Mountains Health
Therapy | Health Psychology | Testing

Sometimes an individual’s learning issues interfere with his or her ability to learn.  A psychoeducational evaluation measures an individual’s potential against his or her academic achievements.  Psychoeducational testing generally includes an intelligence test which has verbal, perceptual, and other sub-tests, as well as achievement in different academic areas. The evaluation often also includes separate tests of cognitive functions, such as attention, memory, and executive functioning, which refers to the ability to plan and execute one's work. The evaluation can include tests of other cognitive functions and also some measures of emotional functioning. The purpose of these tests is to understand how an individual learns, what might be getting in the way, and how to facilitate an improvement in learning. A good evaluation considers the individual in a holistic way which incorporates emotional and environmental factors in addition to test results.  An evaluation documents the nature of any challenges or disabilities and if warranted, provides individualized recommendations to address specific learning issues.