Clinical Assessments - Information for Parents and Caregivers

I know that many parents and caregivers are keen to have access to standardised clinical assessments, but a lack of availability often means long delays for children and teens getting the help and support that they need.

Often teachers or other professionals recommend assessments but do not have access to them, cannot complete them or have extremely long waiting lists. As an experienced child and adolescent therapist, I have decided to offer clinical assessments to parents and caregivers in addition to my clinical work, staff training and supervision.

If you are a teacher or other professional looking for clinical assessments, please see my information on clinical assessments for professionals.

My clinical assessment service is offered to everyone, not just my existing clients (although they do benefit from reduced costs). These can be booked here: my online diary when you have read this information in full.

The clinical assessments can be offered as a digital assessment (with the exception of the RSCA) and so can be completed in your own time and space (more information on this below). They can also be completed at my studio if you are an existing client and would like them carried out in a session, or just prefer them to be administered that way.

All the assessments are provided through Pearson Clinical, and they have both provided me with relevant training and assessed me as both qualified and competent to carry out these assessments.

The clinical assessments I am offering are all currently used by the NHS.

Sensory Profile

Age up to 14 years 11 months.

These assessments evaluate a child’s sensory processing patterns in the context of everyday life and help you determine how sensory processing may be contributing to or interfering with the child’s participation in activities. For children who attend school, the school component is needed for an accurate assessment. Each assessment (caregiver and school) each take about 20 minutes to complete.

The Sensory Profile captures the child's responses to sensory experiences throughout the day, which helps shed light on factors that may be influencing the child's behaviour and resents a comprehensive view of a child's responses across settings, which helps facilitate discussion between families and professionals about strategies that support the child's participation in all contexts.

I can offer this assessment as a digital assessment to be completed by caregivers and, if the child attends school, the teachers. This assessment can be carried out remotely at your convenience, or in person at the studio.

• Sample Child Assessment and Planning Report (PDF)
• Sample School Companion Sensory Profile (PDF)

Beck Youth Inventories (BYI-2) 

Age 7-18 years.

These assessments use five self-report inventories to evaluate symptoms of depression, anxiety, anger, disruptive behaviour and self-concept in children and adolescents and they are completed by the child or the young person. Time taken for completion is about five minutes per inventory and they do not have to be completed all at the same time. Each inventory contains  20 questions about thoughts, feelings, and behaviours associated with emotional and social impairment in youth. Children and young people describe how frequently the statement has been true for them during the past two weeks, including today. The five inventories are offered together in one combined inventory.

Depression Inventory:

In line with the depression criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), this inventory allows for early identification of symptoms of depression. It includes items related to a child's or young person’s negative thoughts about self, life and the future, feelings of sadness and guilt, and sleep disturbance.

Anxiety Inventory: Reflects the child or young person’s specific worries about school performance, the future, negative reactions of others, fears including loss of control, and physiological symptoms associated with anxiety.

Anger Inventory:

Evaluates a child's or young person’s thoughts of being treated unfairly by others, feelings of anger and hatred.

Disruptive Behaviour Inventory: Identifies thoughts and behaviours associated with conduct disorder and oppositional-defiant behaviour.

Self-Concept Inventory:

Taps cognitions of competence, potency, and positive self-worth.

I can offer this combined inventory assessment as a digital assessment to be completed by the child or the young person. This assessment can be carried out remotely at your convenience, or in person at the studio.

• Sample BYI-2 Report (PDF)

This assessment can also be repeated over time for a progress report:

• Sample BYI-2 Progress Report (PDF)

Resiliency Scales (RSCA)

Age 9-18 years.

The RSCA measures personal strengths (or resilience) in three key areas: sense of mastery, sense of relatedness and emotional reactivity scale and identifies children and young people who indicate low personal resources or high vulnerability before the emergence of symptoms. RSCA can be used alone or to compliment the BYI-2.

Each scale takes about five minutes each for the child or young person to complete.

Sense of Mastery Scale:

Assesses optimism, self-efficacy, and adaptability.

Sense of Relatedness Scale:

Assess trust, support, comfort, tolerance.

Emotional Reactivity Scale:

Assess sensitivity, recovery, impairment.

This assessment is currently not available in a digital format and therefore has to be carried out in person at the studio as a paper-based assessment.

There are no sample reports currently available on the Pearson Clinical website.

Connors 4

Age 6-18 years.

This leading ADHD assessment provides a comprehensive assessment of symptoms and difficulties associated with ADHD and common co-occurring problems and difficulties. Connors 4 is a useful tool to screen for ADHD and can indicated that further assessments and evaluations may be needed for a full evaluation and diagnosis of ADHD.

This is not a complete diagnosis of ADHD, nor does it give sufficient evidence when used alone to diagnose ADHD.

However, if you are wanting to add evidence to an EHCP, to ask for a full ADHD assessment, or if you are simply curious about your child or young person’s behaviours, Connors 4 can be useful.

The full-length form takes around 15 minutes to complete. The teacher and parent/caregiver forms are suitable for assessing a child or young person aged 6-18 years. The self-report is suitable for completion by a child or young person aged 8-18.

I can offer this assessment as a digital assessment to be completed by caregivers and, if the child attends school, the teachers. This assessment can be carried out remotely at your convenience, or in person at the studio.

• Sample Conners 4 Report (PDF)

Social and Emotional Learning (SSIS SEL)

Age 3-18 years for assessment, Age 4-14 years for intervention program.

The SSIS SEL provides evidence-based tools to assess and teach skills in the five SEL competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.

The assessments are completed by the care giver, teacher and the child or young person. Each assessment form takes around 15-30 minutes to complete.

I can offer this assessment as a digital assessment to be completed by parents or caregivers and, if the child attends school, the teachers. This assessment can be carried out remotely at your convenience, or in person at the studio.

• Sample Parent or Caregiver Summary Report (PDF)
• Sample Child or Young Person Summary Report (PDF)
• Sample Teacher Summary Report (PDF)
• Sample Screening/Progress Monitoring Scales Progress Report (PDF)

How do I book a clinical assessment with you?

1. Read all this information in full.
2. Go to my online diary and book a pre-assessment discussion with me. This will be via Zoom and the booking system will automatically generate you a zoom link. This is a 30-minute meeting and costs £50 which is payable at the time of booking and is non-refundable. If you decide not to proceed with assessments, this payment will still be due as you have paid for the meeting, not any assessments.

   If you are wanting assessments for more than one child or young person, please book just one pre-assessment discussion with me and we will do our best to cover everything we need in that time. (If another meeting is needed, we can discuss that and the associated costs during our initial meeting but hopefully we will get through everything.)

3. During our meeting we can discuss any specific concerns you have and decided which assessment/s are most appropriate for your child or young person. I will then email you a booking form for you to complete and return.
4. I will then invoice you for the full cost of the assessments. When this is paid, I will email you a link for each assessment you require. Pearson allow 30 days for the assessment/s to be completed once allocated so if you are choosing an assessment with a school element (e.g. Sensory, Conners or SSIS SEL) I would ask that you state on the booking form you would like your links to be sent out during the school term.
5. If you are planning to come to the studio for a face-to-face assessment, you can then book your session time through my online diary.
6. Once the assessments have been completed, I will compile the report for you, which will be sent to you as soon as is practicable after completion but within 21 working days of the last assessment being completed.
7. You are then welcome to book a post-assessment discussion with me to go through the report/s but this is not obligatory. This meeting will be a 30-minute session via Zoom like the pre-assessment discussion and will cost £50 which is payable at the time of booking and is non-refundable.
8. If you have been allocated an assessment link and do not use it within the 30 days of generation, it will expire on the Pearson assessment system, and you will need to purchase another assessment so please ensure you ask teachers or other professionals in advance about their availability to complete their assessments if this is relevant and also ensure that you and your child/young person promptly complete the assessments. Completion of assessments once allocated, within the time limit of 30 days is your responsibility.
9. Any questions or queries do email me: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and put ‘Clinical Assessment Query’ in the header. Thanks
10. Booking for my diary is through Setmore, if you have missed the hyperlinks in the text, go to: https://creatingcalm.setmore.com/bookclass 

Costs