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Educational Psychology Assessment | Dublin
Every child has their own pattern of strengths, challenges, and ways of learning. An educational psychology assessment is one of the most thorough ways to understand that pattern, and to make sure the right support is in place at school and at home, without the long wait that public services often involve.
What The Assessment Involves
An educational psychology assessment brings together a range of standardised tools depending on what's being explored: cognitive assessment using the WISC-V, literacy and numeracy assessment using the WIAT-III, and, where relevant, measures of adaptive functioning and behaviour such as the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales and the BASC. Which tools are used depends on the referral question and the child's own profile.
In practice, this usually means a single one-to-one session with the psychologist (approximately 2.5 hours), where your child works through a series of tasks: solving puzzles, answering questions, reading and spelling exercises, and maths problems, depending on what's being assessed. Once testing is complete, all of this is scored, interpreted, and brought together into a written report with clear recommendations.
Early Identification of
Learning Difficulties
Learning difficulties are far more common than most people realise. Dyslexia alone is thought to affect around 1 in 10 people in Ireland, meaning roughly three children in every classroom of thirty. Yet access through the public system is limited: NEPS allocates a fixed number of assessments to each school per year, and a national survey by Dyslexia Ireland found that most people identified with dyslexia had to go the private route, with the majority waiting over two years for an assessment through the public system.
That gap matters, because timing matters. The same survey found that the vast majority of parents and adults with dyslexia felt that earlier identification would have made a real difference, and most reported that identification itself improved their (or their child's) self-esteem and, in many cases, their mental health.
Enhancing Self-Awareness and Self-Advocacy
Understanding your own strengths and challenges changes how you engage with school. Once a child (and their parents) understand their learning profile, they're in a much stronger position to communicate what they need. That kind of self-awareness tends to translate into more confidence, more willingness to ask for help, and, over time, better academic outcomes.
Who Carries Out the Assessment?
I'm Saoirse Mac Cárthaigh, a Chartered Educational and Child Psychologist (C.Psychol PsSI). I hold a doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology, and I run SMC Psychology, a private assessment practice in Dublin. Every assessment, from administration through to scoring and report writing, is carried out by me personally rather than passed to other staff.
Get in touch if you're wondering whether an educational psychology assessment is the right next step for your child.
