Psychoeducational Evaluation and Its Importance to Education Industry

Parents just want their children to succeed and avoid the stress and struggles that come with learning, even at a young age. This is why parents or guardians of kids opt to seek professional help for a psychoeducational evaluation. There are multiple reasons why a child may undergo psychoeducational evaluation, such as when parents are concerned about seeing their child struggle in school, when it is required by an educational institution, or when parents are simply curious to know more about their child’s learning profile to further help them with school. There are various reasons, but the important things are that the evaluation is done by a professional and that the adults and child are open to the knowledge that the evaluation can provide.

But first, what is a psychoeducational evaluation?

Psychoeducational evaluation, or psych-ed eval, is a type of assessment to see how a student learns, which involves measuring learning, memory, and working efficiency. Psychoeducational evaluations are done by licensed psychologists who specialize in psycho-educational or neuropsychological evaluations.

Five Areas of Evaluation

While the method or kind of evaluation may differ depending on the specialist or the objective of the evaluation, most psychoeducational evaluations cover these five areas:

A Background Review

The psychologists who will do these evaluations will ask about various parts of your child’s background, such as family history, medical history, academic records, social and emotional issues, and other areas of concern. This information is essential for the evaluator so they can gain a better understanding of your child and their development thus far.

Cognitive Functioning Assessment

This area of the evaluation assesses how your child learns, which includes tests to measure verbal and non-verbal reasoning as well as memory. There will also be a series of tests that will evaluate your child’s working efficiency, or the speed at which your child processes information and formulates a response.

Assessment of Processing

Aside from cognitive assessments, the child will also be tested in other areas, which include but are not limited to:

Speech and language processing

Auditory processing

Attention

Visual-motor processing

The examples above are areas that are essential in completing the child’s learning profile.

Academic Functioning

This part of the evaluation covers subjects that are similar to those that are regularly tested in school, such as: reading, writing, listening, math, etc. Depending on the initial observations of the evaluator, they may also conduct additional testing to further measure the child’s academic skills.

Social or Emotional Functioning

In addition to academic and cognitive functioning, a child’s social or emotional functioning should also be measured to gain a better understanding of the child’s strengths and weaknesses. Testing in this area may be done in different ways depending on the subject’s age or maturity. For younger children, adults like their parents or teachers may be asked to answer questionnaires regarding the child’s behavior and social/emotional functioning. Older children may complete these questionnaires themselves. Learning more about a child’s social or emotional functioning is important as it can also have an impact on learning—just as much as cognitive and academic functioning.

Why is Psychoeducational Evaluation important to the education industry?

Informed Parents and Educators

Whether some would like to admit it or not, dealing with kids can be frustrating, especially when it comes to learning. Not to mention the kids or students get frustrated, too. Most of this frustration may come from a lack of knowledge. Which is why getting valuable information from a psychoeducational evaluation can help release some of the frustration from all parties involved and lead them to solutions that can help close the gap in the child’s learning experience. Additionally, information from a psych-ed evaluation can also fight bias or prejudice towards some of the child’s actions that can otherwise be labeled as lazy when in fact they might actually be a result of a learning or attention issue.

Reevaluate Current Education Standards

Findings from a psychoeducational evaluation can help provide actionable insights that educators can integrate into their teaching methods. When more data is available, educators may start creating modules, especially for students who fit certain learning profiles. This way, teachers can better communicate and help their students learn, while students may feel a little more excited about learning and going to school.

Educational institutions, with advice from learning specialists and psychologists, can reevaluate their current modules and testing to make accommodations for students who are found to have learning disabilities or other concerns. With the help of psych-ed evals, educators are better informed about how a student's functions (cognitive and social) can affect their potential for academic achievement. This knowledge can help educators develop methods that can help bridge these two areas, such as testing accommodations (providing extended examination time), better access to special education resources, etc.

Set Every Child Up for Success

Finally, the results of psychoeducational evaluation create ripple effects not just on a single child’s education or a school’s curriculum but potentially on future educators and students as well. The changes and accommodations that educational institutions are making now can slowly but surely create a more inclusive learning experience that will help every child build their future.

Learning more about a child’s cognitive abilities and academic skills can equip both parents and educators with knowledge that can help them build a foundation for a great future. And while most of the information may be overwhelming to parents at first, an experienced psychologist can walk you through the support or best educational options for your child.