Essay Sample on Need to Have a Clinical Psychologist Evaluation for a Child

A child may be referred for psychological assessment for many reasons. Attention and behaviour at home and school are one of them. They may get subjected to bullying, get depressed and anxious or may have a learning disorder (Wolraich et al., 2019). The 11-year-old daughter may be struggling in academics or maybe much behind the peers in mental development. Therefore there is a need that she gets a psychological assessment.

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The findings and result of the findings and assessment help the parent to know where the child better at and can excel as well as the areas that she might need an address. For instance, she may be suffering from an undiagnosed learning disability. The psychological assessment, as described by Jones et al., (2018), help in the promotion of the academic and emotional functioning of the child. The psychological test is supposed to be carried out by a highly trained that are specialists in the field. That will reveal the child's strengths and weaknesses and the issues that are supposed to be addressed. The assessment and child evaluation helps in the improvement of the child academic and emotional functioning.

The assessment of the child is often carried out by an experienced and a well-trained psychologist that are experts in what they do. The psychologists are health professionals, and they will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the child (Wolraich et al., 2019). They will further collaborate with the parents and teachers or the child’s coach in formulating an approach that will help in the progress of the child.

During the psychology test, there are some tests carried out. The expert in assessment carries out the assessment by carrying out an interview with the child and the parents in order to learn more about the emotional and behavioural skills as well as on the neurological functioning in some areas such as their spatial processing. Sometimes they might also talk to the teacher who is more close to the child or any other person who knows the child well. The expert will also observe the child's behaviour during the process.

If need be, the experts may have to visit the child's home or school for further evaluation of their interaction with the rest of the children. The child may also be required to complete a standardized test that may e taken by several people allowing comparison of the child results to those of the rest in the assessment of the range of disability (Wolraich et al., 2019). That is in the quest to know the child’s functioning in the areas of movement and other subjects like reading, math and writing. The expert may also evaluate the medical records, school records or an interview the child's parents and teachers to learn more about the child.

The evaluation is not just a quick activity to carry out. The test takes some hours to complete and is likely to involve more than one session so that to be sure that the psychologist has all details about the child. Through putting the information together, the psychologist will be able to develop some strategies that will help the child in reaching their potential (Michaelis et al., 2018). Once the test is complete, the psychologist will go through go over the results together with the parents. The results are supposed to reveal about 100% of the child potential, skills as well as her ability. The evaluation will be used by the psychologist expert to learning more about the child's present functioning, whether in school or in the home environment. He will be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the child. The expert will be in a position to discuss the child's areas of good performance and suggest on ways that the child may improve on the weak points.

If the child has developmental delays or some deficit in some social skills, she may find it difficult expressing themselves. The expert will have to handle the child emotions and interact with her at the developmental level. They can use some play methods in the assessment if the daughter lacks the intellectual capacity of expressing herself (Wolraich et al., 2019). The clinical psychologist may use the daughters' behaviour in the assessment. The parents, in collaboration with the expert, will have to collaborate and address the issues. They shall therefore schedule the assessment during the time when they are alert.

The child may be silent due to depression disorder or anxiety. The child may be having a history of not talking in unfamiliar social situations. Therefore the child may be engaged through some other means such as writing, use of gestures and other non-verbal means. The systematic interventions may be done for the disorders and must be pursued.

Suppose the child gets diagnosed with a learning disability, emotional issues or behaviours issues. There will be recommendations made on the way to help the child in managing the concerns (Wolraich et al., 2019). It is by understanding the child’s issues that the child psychologist will provide some positive strategies of coping up with the issues. It will help the daughter reduce stress and enrich their competence as well as their well-being.

Reference

Jones, L., Gold, E., Totsika, V., Hastings, R. P., Jones, M., Griffiths, A., & Silverton, S. (2018). A mindfulness parent well-being course: Evaluation of outcomes for parents of children with autism and related disabilities recruited through special schools. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 33(1), 16-30. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10062146/1/Totsika_Jones%20et%20al%20Mindful%20Parenting%20ACCEPTED%20EJSNE.pdf

Michaelis, R., Tang, V., Goldstein, L. H., Reuber, M., LaFrance Jr, W. C., Lundgren, T., ... & Wagner, J. L. (2018). Psychological treatments for adults and children with epilepsy: Evidencebased recommendations by the International League Against Epilepsy Psychology Task Force. Epilepsia, 59(7), 1282-1302. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/epi.14444

Wolraich, M. L., Hagan, J. F., Allan, C., Chan, E., Davison, D., Earls, M., ... & Holbrook, J. R. (2019). Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents. Paediatrics, 144(4), e20192528. https://www.associationtdah-impulse.ch/wp-content/uploads/adhd-guidelines-2019.pdf