Toronto Psychological Assessments
Dr. O'Connor's Toronto psychological assessments address a range of psychological issues and concerns that present in children, adolescents and young adults. These include learning problems, academic issues and trauma related concerns, as well as social, emotional and behavioral problems. Her services increase understanding of the psychological concerns that present in children, adolescents and young adults and lead to evidence based interventions to help promote positive outcomes in young people.
How Does It Work?
When conducting an assessment, Dr. O'Connor relies on information from a variety of sources. These include background information gathered from the young person's parents, teachers or other significant adults, from school reports, or previous assessments. Dr. O'Connor also relies on questionnaires, behavior rating scales and other informal measures to learn more about the child or adolescent, including his social, emotional and behavioral functioning, his neuro-cognitive strengths and weaknesses and his academic skill levels.
Dr. O'Connor uses standardized assessment measures to compare the young person's psychological functioning to others of the same age across a range of behaviors and skills. Standardized measures include intelligence and cognitive/learning measures, academic tests and tests to measure the young person's neuro-cognitive skills across numerous domains. These include sensori-motor skills, memory & learning skills, auditory/phonological skills, visual-spacial and language skills, executive functions and processing speed skills. The young person's social, emotional and behavioral functioning, as well as his academic skills are also assessed.
The assessment takes several hours to complete and usually involves more than one session, typically two sessions, and sometimes three, of approximately three hours each.
Dr. O'Connor tailors the assessment to the young person's specific needs and uses assessment tools and approaches that address the concerns that are at issue for the child, adolescent or young adult. No two young people will show the same pattern of neurocognitive strengths and weaknesses, despite sharing the same diagnosis, for example, a reading disorder.
Various standardized measures, informal screening tools, behavioral rating scales and informal measures, such as drawings and play based interviews are used to assess the young person. What measures or procedures are most appropriate depend on the child, and his or her individual needs.
Not all of these measures will apply to
each case. Some of those that are typically used by Dr. O'Connor
include:
- Gathering Background Information: This
includes information about a young person, such as medical,
developmental and family history. Dr. O'Connor also explores questions
related to anxiety, both in the child and other family members. In
addition, the parent provides information about their child’s strengths
and weaknesses, their view of where things are working or going well,
and what kind of help they seek.
- Informal/projective measures such as art and play therapy, or picture telling techniques, are often incorporated into the clinical interview with the child.
- Various standardized behavioral/emotional rating scales:
Numerous such measures may be completed by the parent, the teacher,
or other adults, when requested, and often the young person.
- Specific Behavior Rating Scales that are designed to explore anxiety, in particular, or other psychological concerns such as ADHD, or Depression. Both of these concerns are associated with anxiety.
- Parenting questionnaires/rating scales to help explore the parent-child relationship when appropriate.
Following the assessment, Dr. O’Connor scores, interprets and summarizes the information gleaned from the various assessment procedures.
She then integrates this information into a comprehensive written report.
Dr. O'Connor's Approach
Dr. O'Connor, provides comprehensive, in depth psychological assessments , which she integrates within the larger context of a school neuropsycholoical assessment to increase understanding of the psychological problems that can present in a young person, and how to help. Through her work as a psychologist she helps parents and young people move beyond the problem and what’s wrong. She explores "what’s working” and the strengths and positives that also present. She encourages parents and helping professionals to harness the positives and “what works” and to use these to develop evidence based interventions to help address child and adolescent problems, or those that present in a young person.
Dr. O'Connor encourages the enhancement of healthier coping strategies in young people and increased psychological well-being and competence. Her services help promote positive outcomes in the children, adolescents and young people you care about and work with.
Guiding Principles and Values
Early & Timely Intervention: Although symptoms of psychological concerns are often evident early on, other adolescent or child problems, such as traumatic and acquired brain injuries can surface later. Psychological concerns in children, adolescents or young adults, whether they surface early, or at a later stage, can benefit from timely intervention and support. The earlier we intervene when problems arise the greater the likelihood of preventing problems from escalating and becoming more difficult to reverse and/or deal with.
How Can Dr. O'Connor's Toronto Psychological Assessments Help?
Dr. O'Connor's Toronto psychological assessments sharpen the focus or "open a window" on the young person's strengths and specific needs. You will have a clearer picture of how the child, adolescent or young person is doing across various developmental and/or neuro-cognitive domains, and the kind of interventions that can help in areas of concern.
More About How A Psychological Assessment Helps
Dr. O'Connor's Psychological Assessments increase understanding of adolescent and child problems and how to help.
- Find out what is contributing to and maintaining the adolescent and child problems that worry you.
- Find out how a young person is doing in specific areas of child development - the social, emotional, behavioral and cognitive/academic.
- Find out about a young person's needs and how to help.
- Discover a child's strengths and build on where "things are working" and going well.
- Learn how a child is coping with specific challenges or concerns (e.g. divorce, parental addiction, social concerns, trauma related issues,) and what you can do to help.
- Find out where you need to intervene to reduce stress in a child, build positive coping strategies and enhance the young person's competence, psychological well being and resilience.
School Neuropsychological testing components frequently inform the assessment as well, as do neurocognitive, learning and academic measures. Elevated levels of Anxiety can contribute to learning problems or be the result of them. Similarly, elevated levels of anxiety can contribute to various neurocognitive weaknesses, for example, problems with executive control, as well as difficulties with attention, concentration, and working memory. These in turn inhibit the child's ability to learn and function effectively at school.