The initial assessment is highly significant, as it gives both the parents and the child ‘special time’ to look at how the child is coping. The child, with at least one of his parents, is required to participate in the assessment. The assessment is the most important ‘session’, where the ‘contract’ of the roles, boundaries and expectations is being set up.
The Assessment
01 Looking together at the pre – assessment questionnaire; in the questionnaire, parents and children are asked to fill in all the relevant details. They do not have to agree on the answers, as sometimes their differences highlight important information that neither the child nor the parents were aware of.
02 Exercising various coordination, special awareness and grapho-motor exercises. The child is asked to try and perform various exercises, which provides a ‘map’ of how far he has developed accurate control of different muscle groups that help to participate in the learning process. (To allow sufficient information processing, and learning, muscles are needed to function in harmony without creating any physiological tension).
03 Linking the exercises to the different reasons for referral. If there is such a link, an explanation is given to the parents and the child describing the link between the reason for referral and the findings of the assessment. Depending on the findings, the child may be offered weekly or monthly sessions.