Specialist Assessment

Full Psychological Assessment

This therapeutic assessment is conducted by a registered Counselling or Clinical Psychologist and provides an in-depth understanding of the child and family’s psychological needs with a particular focus on the impact of disrupted attachments and developmental trauma.

This assessment is designed to provide a thorough understanding of family relationships and the impact of the child’s early history upon these. It is particularly helpful for families where relational, familial and systemic factors are prominent and those struggling with intergenerational attachment issues and/or fractured relationships. It also offers scope to screen for specific issues such as underlying neurodevelopmental difficulties, mental health difficulties, cognitive difficulties and specific trauma.

This assessment would also be the most appropriate choice for children and young people for whom sensory issues have already been assessed or where they are not impacting significantly on the child and family’s functioning.

Psychological Overview and Sensory Integration Assessment

This assessment is overseen by a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist and seeks to understand the impact of disrupted attachment and developmental trauma on young people both in terms of their psychological and sensory functioning.

This assessment is ideal for families where sensory issues have been identified and the child has not previously had these investigated. Whilst this assessment will take account of the child’s attachment history and any developmental trauma and how sensory issues may interact with this, it will not provide a thorough understanding of the child’s attachment and relational difficulties and how the family is functioning as a whole.

Sensory Integration Assessment

This specialist, standalone assessment will be carried out by a fully qualified Occupational Therapist and Sensory Integration Practitioner.

This assessment is ideal for families where sensory issues have been identified and a psychological assessment has already been completed. This may prove a useful addition to the understanding of the child, either as part of a wider assessment or to further inform ongoing therapeutic work. Whilst the assessment will be attachment informed, the emphasis will be on better understanding the child’s sensory functioning.

NB: For adoptive families and SGO families, at the point of writing, Sensory Integration Assessment is not an approved assessment under the Adoption Support Fund Assessment Fair Access Limit and as such, would have to be funded via the therapy Fair Access Limit.