The Jadis Blurton Family Development Center provides academic and emotional support services to children in Hong Kong, aiming to ensure they have the tools to live happy, healthy and productive lives. One of these services is the psychoeducational assessment, as Dr Kristie Craigen explains.
Tell us about the assessment; why do you offer it?
A psychoeducational assessment can be an extremely positive experience for children and their parents. It’s a comprehensive roadmap of a child’s cognitive, academic and socio-emotional abilities, which includes all their innate gifts and strengths, not just their weaknesses. Having this knowledge gives parents and teachers the tools they need to guide a child towards achieving their optimal performance both at home and in the classroom.
Our assessments are conducted by an experienced team of child development experts who know how to make the sometimes scary and intimidating testing process fun and entertaining. Their positive approach makes children feel comfortable and understood as well as painting a balanced picture for parents and teachers to view student needs in positive light.
Who should have an assessment?
It’s helpful for any student – and, in an ideal world, every child would have this amazing roadmap available to them, to help them understand themselves better as they strive to be the best version of themselves.
However, parents tend to seek a full psychoeducational assessment only if their child is:
• bored and under-challenged academically;
• unexpectedly struggling at school;
• having difficulty learning a particular skill;
• suspected of having a learning disability;
• struggling emotionally or socially;
• having difficulty with attention or focus;
• looking to qualify for testing accommodations (SAT, IB, A-levels and so on); or
• applying to a school that requires psychological testing.
What is the outcome of an assessment?
This is just the first step towards developing appropriate strategies in support of your child’s academic and/or socio-emotional growth. Once complete, we share assessment findings with parents. The assessment team can then work with parents to advocate on their child’s behalf through specific recommendations to teachers that will help support academic and personal success.
Blurton FDC
19/F, 23 Belcher’s Street, Kennedy Town
2869 1962 | blurton-fdc.com
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This article first appeared in the City Guide 2018 issue of Expat Living magazine. Subscribe now so you never miss an issue.
