Assessment Questions to Answer Before You Book Anything

Someone has told you your child needs an assessment. Nobody has told you which one, who does it, what it will answer, or why the school's version and the private version are not the same thing. Before you spend money or join a waitlist, these are the questions worth settling.

How do I know which assessment my child needs?

You do not have to guess, and you should not book on the strength of one comment from one teacher. Ontario uses several different assessments, and they answer different questions.

A psychological assessment must be performed by or under the supervision of a qualified member of the College of Psychologists of Ontario. A speech and language assessment is conducted by a speech-language pathologist. Health assessments are administered by legally qualified medical practitioners or specialists such as audiologists or ophthalmologists (assessing students' strengths and needs).

Start from the question, not the professional. A child who cannot get words onto a page needs a different starting point than a child whose speech is hard to follow, or a child who is fine until the room gets loud. In an hourly consultation we listen to the concerns, whether they are yours or the school's, work out which assessment would give the clearest picture, and connect you with professionals we trust. We do not conduct assessments.

What does a psychoeducational assessment actually tell you?

It maps how your child learns: cognitive profile, academic skills, attention, memory, processing speed, and how those interact with each other.

The useful output is not the scores. It is the explanation of why a bright child is struggling with something that looks like it should be easy for them, and what to do about that in a classroom on a Tuesday morning. A report that ends at percentiles has done half the job. A report that says which strategies follow from the profile is the one a school can use.

Does it diagnose ADHD, autism or dyslexia?

It depends on the assessment, the questions being asked, and the professional conducting it. A psychoeducational assessment is designed to map a learning profile, and a learning disability identification typically comes out of one. Diagnoses such as ADHD or autism may involve other or additional assessment, sometimes with more than one professional.

This is the confusion that costs families the most. Parents pay for a psychoeducational assessment expecting an autism diagnosis, or book a paediatric appointment expecting a reading profile, and get a careful report that answers a question they were not asking.

Before you book anything, ask the clinician:

• What question will this assessment answer, in one sentence?
• Which diagnoses, if any, can come out of it?
• What will not be covered, and who would cover that?
• Will the report include classroom recommendations a teacher can act on?
• How long from the last session until we have the written report?
• Will you speak to the school, and is a feedback session included?

Can we get the assessment through the school board instead?

Boards do conduct assessments, and a board assessment does not come with a bill, because the psychologist is employed by the board. In the TDSB, for example, school teams under the principal's leadership decide whether a student is referred to Psychological Services for a psychoeducational assessment (TDSB Psychological Services). You do not refer your own child. You ask the school to.

Access is the constraint, and it is a real one. The Ontario Human Rights Commission's Right to Read inquiry found that 93 per cent of elementary and 79 per cent of secondary schools had students on wait lists for professional assessments, that 66 per cent of elementary and 53 per cent of secondary schools reported restrictions on how many students could be assessed, and that nearly one quarter of students with special education needs in the four boards it examined waited more than a year for a psychoeducational assessment (professional assessments). In five of the six boards that provided lists, some students were waiting 600 days or more.

So most families end up weighing a free assessment they may wait a long time for against a private one they can arrange sooner. That is a genuine trade-off with money on one side and time on the other, and it deserves a conversation rather than a default. One practical point: once you buy a private report, the board assessment often stops being offered.

How long is an assessment good for?

There is no fixed shelf life. What matters is whether the report still describes the child in front of the teacher.

An older report carries less weight when your child's profile has changed, when they are moving into secondary school, or when a placement decision is being made. If your report is three or four years old and a significant decision is coming, review it before the meeting rather than after. Sometimes the finding is that the report still holds and you can stop worrying about it, which is worth knowing too.

Can someone explain the report to us?

Yes, and most families need this. Reports are written for other clinicians, not for parents. In a 60 to 75 minute consultation, virtual or in person, we go through the results in plain language and set out what they mean for your child's learning and how to use them at school.

Talia is an Ontario Certified Teacher and Special Education Specialist, not a psychologist, and does not conduct assessments. The work here is translation: turning a clinical document into a school plan you can act on, and telling you which three recommendations actually matter out of the fourteen in the appendix.

Go deeper

Our guide to psychoeducational assessments in Toronto and Ontario covers the board route and the private route side by side, what the report can and cannot diagnose, and what the process looks like from referral to feedback session.

Frequently asked questions

Does the school have to accept a private report?

A committee must consider any information about the pupil submitted to it by a parent (O. Reg. 181/98, s. 15(6)), so a private report cannot simply be ignored at an IPRC. What the school does with it day to day is a separate question. Send it to the principal in writing, ask for confirmation it has been received and filed, and ask which recommendations the school can act on.

Do I need to consent to a board assessment?

Yes. Where an assessment beyond the routine educational assessment is requested, informed parental consent must be obtained before it can be done. That consent form is also your chance to ask what questions the assessment will answer and roughly when you will receive the report.

Can I ask for a specific test to be included?

You can ask, and the psychologist decides. Clinicians choose their own tools based on the referral question and their professional judgement. What you can shape is the referral question itself, which is why it helps to write down what you want explained before anything is booked.

Should we go through the school or pay privately?

It depends on how soon a decision is coming. A board assessment costs you nothing, but access is limited and waits can run past a year. A private one is faster and comes with a bill. If an IPRC, a placement decision or a secondary school transition is on the horizon, timing usually settles it.

Sources

• Special Education in Ontario, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Assessing students' strengths and needs
• O. Reg. 181/98: Identification and Placement of Exceptional Pupils
• Right to Read inquiry report: Professional assessments, Ontario Human Rights Commission
• TDSB Psychological Services