CONSULTATION AND ASSESSMENTS
Hall and Co EPS offer high quality support for children and young people (from birth to 25 years old) who live in Essex, Havering, Thurrock and East London and surrounding areas. We can be commissioned directly by parents, schools, Local Authorities, or additional services such as Social Care, Virtual Schools, or professionals within Health (CAMHS etc.).
Our Educational Psychologists can, where appropriate, offer consultations, observations, and assessments of children and young people in their educational settings or on a one-to-one basis at a clinic. Our services will be tailored to meet each child's individual needs for statutory (EHCPs) or non-statutory purposes.
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Please be aware that prices and availability are only valid for 24 hours from the date of quoting and are subject to change after this point.
EARLY YEARS (EYFS)
For a child who is five and younger, we offer a full Early Years assessment which will look at all the main areas of a child’s development:
Communication and Language skills,
Cognition and Learning skills.
Social Emotional and Mental Health needs.
Physical, Sensory, and Health needs.
Self-help and Independence (e.g. feeding, dressing, toileting).
This form of assessment is advised for parents looking to apply for an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP), to update and EHCP, or for those who would like to gain an understanding of their child’s strengths and needs across all areas of their development.
PRIMARY, SECONDARY, POST 16
For a child of six years or older, there are three forms of Educational Psychology involvement that can be purchased, each for differing reasons and at different prices.
A micro-assessment.
A focussed assessment.
A full assessment.
A micro-assessment involves a telephone consultation with your Educational Psychologist (EP), an observation of your child in their school setting, staff views, and then a short report with some recommendations that can be focussed on by parents and staff. This is a new approach to assessment that we are offering to meet the demand for early or preventive work. The report will be approximately three pages long. This approach could be considered by parents who do not have significant concerns with their child’s development, but who would like independent advice from a highly trained educational professional at a lower cost.
A focussed assessment will look at one main area of your child’s needs in detail. The areas that can be explored are ‘Communication and Language skills’, ‘Cognition and Learning skills’, or ‘Social, Emotional, and Mental Health needs’. Most of our requests for focussed assessments are to look at a child’s cognition and learning skills which would entail the completion of a cognitive assessment and exploration of the child’s achievement skills (number skills, spelling, and word reading). The report will also include recommendations that can be focused on by parents and staff. This report will likely be approximately 10 pages long.
For parents who are concerned that their child may have specific literacy difficulties (dyslexia), we recommend having a focussed assessment of cognition and learning skills first, then a second shorter/cheaper assessment focussing specifically on literacy skills after their child has received two terms of an evidence-based intervention aimed at developing their spelling and word reading skills. This is to measure the child’s ‘response to intervention’. Alternative approaches to diagnosing specific literacy difficulties will likely not be accepted by the Local Authority*.
A full assessment is our most comprehensive assessment which will look at all the main areas of a child’s development (and the PfA outcomes where appropriate):
Communication and Language skills,
Cognition and Learning skills.
Social Emotional and Mental Health needs.
Physical, Sensory, and Health needs.
This form of assessment is advised for parents looking to apply for an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP), to update and EHCP, or for those who would like to gain an understanding of their child’s strengths and needs across all areas of their development.
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*There will always be exceptions to the rule.
This information should be viewed as a guide and not as a contract. There will be variations in methods used/report lengths and each will be decided on a case by case basis by the Educational Psychologist. Any prices quoted or availability are only valid for 24 hours from the date they are given.
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DYSLEXIA
DEFINITIONS AND DIAGNOSIS
At Hall and Co. EPS, we follow the definitions of dyslexia that have been identified in the Rose Report (2009) and that of the British Psychology Society. In doing so we measure the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling.
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In order to ensure that our diagnoses are accurate and in line with those accepted nationally and by local authorities, we only provide a diagnosis of dyslexia if we have been able to monitor these skills in response to evidence-based interventions.
In order to do this, we offer a two-stage approach to diagnosis:
1) A baseline assessment which will look deeply into cognitive functioning and specific literacy skills. This focused assessment is undertaken in order to rule out any other causes of the child's difficulties.
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2) A follow-up assessment. This assessment can only be conducted if the child has received at least two terms of an evidence-based intervention. If the child's difficulties persist in response to focused intervention, then a diagnosis will be given.
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