Dyslexia, learning & cognitive assessment for children · Gold Coast Understanding how your child thinks and learns.
Assessment of cognitive ability, academic skills and everyday functioning for children from 2 years 6 months to 16 years. For when learning is harder than expected, or a specific learning disorder, intellectual disability or giftedness is a question. Reports are written for parents, schools and paediatricians.
School, GP or paediatrician? Refer a child.
- Who this is for
- Children from 2 years 6 months to 16 whose learning, thinking or school progress is a question, and their parents, teachers and doctors.
- What it can clarify
- Your child's cognitive profile, whether a specific learning disorder, intellectual disability or giftedness explains the picture, and what teaching and adjustments fit.
- What you receive
- A feedback discussion and a written report with standardised scores, an explanation of the pattern and recommendations for home and school.
- Format
- A parent interview, teacher questionnaires, one or two testing sessions with your child, and a feedback appointment.
- Next step
- Request an assessment, or ask your child's school or paediatrician to refer.
A cognitive and learning assessment describes how a child takes in, holds and works with information, and how that relates to what they are achieving at school.
Standardised, age-normed measures of cognitive ability and academic skills are combined with a developmental and school history and information from teachers. The results are interpreted as a pattern and turned into specific recommendations.
When it helps
When a learning assessment helps
- Reading, spelling, writing or mathematics remain difficult despite extra help at school
- A child seems capable in conversation but struggles with schoolwork, or works far more slowly than peers
- A school, paediatrician or speech pathologist has asked for a cognitive assessment, or evidence is needed for adjustments, an individual learning plan or verification
- Intellectual disability or giftedness is a question, or learning difficulties follow epilepsy, prematurity or a brain injury
Hearing and vision should be checked first. If speech and language is the only concern, a speech pathologist assesses this directly. Where attention, behaviour or emotions are the main question, see our behaviour and emotions or autism and ADHD assessments.
What is involved
What the assessment includes
A parent interview covering developmental, medical, family and schooling history, previous reports and what has already been tried. With your consent, standardised teacher questionnaires and school records. A standardised cognitive assessment matched to your child's age, measuring verbal comprehension, visual-spatial reasoning, fluid reasoning, working memory and processing speed. Where learning is the question, standardised measures of reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension, spelling, written expression and mathematics. A standardised everyday-skills questionnaire is added where an intellectual disability question or a funding application requires it. Testing takes two to three hours for a cognitive assessment and longer where academic measures are included, in one or two sessions with breaks. Results are interpreted as a pattern alongside the history and teacher information. The report gives specific recommendations, a feedback appointment follows, and we can speak with the school about putting them into practice.
Your child should be rested and have eaten, with glasses or hearing aids if they use them. Bring school reports, previous assessments and hearing or vision results.
What it clarifies
What the assessment can clarify
- Your child's cognitive profile: strengths and weaknesses across verbal comprehension, visual-spatial reasoning, fluid reasoning, working memory and processing speed
- Whether the pattern meets the criteria for a specific learning disorder in reading (dyslexia), written expression or mathematics: persistent difficulty despite targeted teaching, with skills well below what is expected for age
- Whether cognitive ability and everyday functioning together indicate an intellectual disability, or a borderline profile that needs support
- Whether abilities are in the gifted range, and how any uneven profile affects learning
- The contribution of attention, language, anxiety or fatigue, and specific recommendations for teaching, adjustments and support
After the assessment
What the report is used for
- Evidence for reasonable adjustments in the classroom and in assessment, which schools document under the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) without needing a diagnosis
- Where intellectual disability is identified and special school enrolment is being considered, the cognitive and adaptive assessment that Queensland's Education Adjustment Program verification requires
- Information for your paediatrician or GP, and evidence of functional impact for an NDIS application where intellectual disability is the question
- A baseline against which progress can be measured
- Follow-up sessions to put the recommended strategies in place at home and school, and a meeting with the school where it helps
Our child and adolescent clinicians are introduced on the team page.
Cost & funding
Fees and funding
The fee depends on the scope of the assessment: your child's age, and whether academic and adaptive measures are needed. A written estimate comes before booking, and the booking fee is credited to the total. Cognitive and learning assessment is not rebated by Medicare. Medicare assessment items apply only where a consultant paediatrician or psychiatrist has referred your child for a suspected complex neurodevelopmental disorder or eligible disability, and the cognitive assessment forms part of that work-up. NDIS funding may apply where the assessment describes the functional impact of a disability for a participant's plan. See our fees and policies.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Can you diagnose dyslexia?
Yes, where the criteria for a specific learning disorder with impairment in reading are met. That means reading skills well below what is expected for age, persisting despite targeted teaching, and not better explained by intellectual disability, uncorrected hearing or vision, or lack of instruction. The report states the diagnosis and the evidence for it.
Does my child need this assessment for school adjustments?
Not always. Schools can make and document adjustments without a diagnosis. An assessment helps when the school needs to understand why a child is struggling, or when adjustments have not worked. It is also needed when a diagnosis or verification is required for a specific program or funding.
How long does the assessment take?
Testing usually takes two to three hours for a cognitive assessment and longer where academic measures are included, split across one or two sessions with breaks. The parent interview and feedback appointment are separate and can be by telehealth. Allow a few weeks from the first appointment to the report.
My child is struggling to read. Is it dyslexia?
It may be, but reading difficulty has several causes: a specific learning disorder, a language difficulty, attention, hearing or vision, anxiety, or teaching that has not yet matched how a child learns. An assessment looks at reading, spelling and the skills underneath them, alongside your child's thinking profile. It states whether the pattern meets the criteria for dyslexia or points somewhere else.
How often can a child be reassessed?
Cognitive measures are usually not repeated within 12 months, so that practice effects do not distort the results. A review is worthwhile when the question has changed, when a decision depends on current results, or when the earlier assessment is several years old.
What is the difference between a learning difficulty and a learning disorder?
A learning difficulty is any persistent struggle with schoolwork, whatever the cause. A specific learning disorder is a diagnosis with defined criteria, described above. An assessment tells the two apart.
For referrers
For paediatricians, GPs and schools
Cognitive assessment uses the Wechsler scales (WPPSI-IV from 2 years 6 months, WISC-V from 6 to 16). Standardised academic achievement measures are added where a specific learning disorder is the question, and the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (ABAS-3) where adaptive functioning is required. Reports state standardised scores, address DSM-5-TR criteria where a diagnosis is in question, and are written so that schools can act on them.
- Suspected specific learning disorder after a period of targeted teaching
- Suspected intellectual disability, or a borderline profile needing cognitive and adaptive assessment for school verification or an NDIS application
- Cognitive profile to inform a paediatric or neurological work-up, or giftedness and an uneven profile affecting learning
Funding. Cognitive and learning assessment is privately funded, except where it forms part of a Medicare complex neurodevelopmental assessment referred by a consultant paediatrician or psychiatrist. Refer through our referrer page, by fax or by email; every referral is acknowledged on receipt.
Request an assessment
Tell us your child's age, what is difficult and what the school has observed. Our team and a psychologist review every enquiry, and we reply by email within two working days to confirm which measures are needed, the likely fee and the next available appointment.
School, GP or paediatrician? Refer a child · Phone enquiries are welcome during business hours on 0452 452 262; if we are with a client, please leave a message and we will call you back.
Request an assessment Book a 15-minute discovery callSources: Wechsler D., WPPSI-IV and WISC-V, Australian and New Zealand standardised editions, Pearson Clinical; Harrison PL, Oakland T., Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Third Edition (ABAS-3); American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5-TR; Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability; Queensland Department of Education, Education Adjustment Program.