Students with Disability

Chapter 7: Assessment service for students with disability

The Students with Disability Assessment Service provides assessments for students and assists schools and families to understand the educational support needs of students with disability and high needs. The service conducts cognitive and language assessments, and schools may refer students who are likely to have:

• an intellectual developmental disorder, also known as an intellectual disability, which impacts cognitive development and adaptive behaviour skills for everyday activities
• a severe communication disorder and high functional needs, attributable to:
  • a developmental language disorder, characterised by significant and persistent language difficulties affecting the student’s everyday functioning and with no known reason for these difficulties
  • severely disordered speech as a result of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), a rare speech sound disorder affecting ability to organise the movements of the muscles used in speech.

All assessments are carried out by qualified and fully registered psychologists and speech pathologists.

AKG Health (formerly Assessments Australia/MAX Health) is currently contracted to conduct these assessments on behalf of the Department of Education.

Referring a student for assessment

There are 4 stages in the assessment service process.

1. Pre referral

Before making a referral, it is recommended that schools:

• liaise with the parent/carers to establish whether the student has previously been assessed and to obtain any reports. Refer to: Students already assessed
• discuss with the parent/carers and Student Support Group (SSG) whether a referral to the assessment service may assist in understanding the student’s support needs
• ensure that the parent/carers provide fully informed verbal consent as to the nature and purpose of the referral, that is the school feels there is evidence to indicate the student may have an intellectual developmental disorder (intellectual disability) or developmental language disorder
• collect information that may assist in determining if a referral to the assessment service is appropriate, for example:
  • information describing the nature of the student’s cognitive, communication and/or language difficulties which are significantly impacting on the student’s ability to participate, interact and learn at school
  • evidence of significant challenges across a range of academic and developmental areas (everyday interactions and social communication, learning and academic skills, attention and behaviour, and social, mental, and emotional wellbeing, not only literacy)
  • previous cognitive or language assessment results
  • relevant background information (for example, medical reports, family history, hearing assessment)
  • consideration of the impact that other factors (such as trauma, English as an additional language, and behavioural issues) may have on the student’s presentation
  • details of interventions and adjustments that have been made which have been aimed at assisting the student’s learning and participation
  • involvement of early intervention services, external specialists or Student Support Services (SSS).

The school may collect, use and share relevant personal and health information about a student in accordance with the department’s Privacy and Information Sharing policy.

Schools must offer interpreting and translation services to parents and carers who have limited or no English language skills to communicate key information about their child’s education. For more information refer to Chapter 4: Working with families of children with additional needs and the department’s Interpreting and Translation Services policy.

Once verbal consent has been obtained from the parent/carers to share information about a student with the assessment service, the school can start the referral process by calling 03 9678 5100. The school staff member initiating the referral will be asked to:

• provide the name of the parent/carer who gave consent, the name of the person it was given to, and the date it was provided
• provide information about the student’s history, current needs and presentation.

If there is sufficient information to support a referral to this service, the assessment service will create a record, and a referral pack will be emailed to the school. This pack includes a teacher referral form, parent referral form, and parent/carer consent form. If the referral is for assessment for intellectual developmental disorder, a link to a digital Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales-3 (Vineland-3) form will also be emailed to the school.

In circumstances where there is insufficient information to progress the referral through the assessment service, feedback will be provided to the school regarding further actions the school may consider.

2. Referral to the assessment service

It is the responsibility of the school to complete the referral pack and return it to the assessment service. The digital Vineland is automatically returned to the assessment service once it has been completed, while all other forms should be scanned and emailed to swd@assessments.com.au

The referral documents are designed to capture information about a student's developmental and educational history, as well as information regarding their current abilities and learning needs at school. The referral information provided by the school and parent/carers is a key part of the assessment process. This information assists the assessor to plan the assessment and contributes to the assessor’s analysis of the assessment results, potential diagnosis and report.

The assessment service will arrange an assessment if the completed referral pack and Vineland-3 results (for intellectual developmental disorder) indicate assessment through this service is appropriate, and the parent/carer consent form is signed.

If the referral does not proceed to assessment, the assessment service will provide feedback to the school about the reasons for this and appropriate actions the school may take. If a Vineland-3 form was completed as part of the referral, the assessment service will provide a summary of the scores which may assist further investigations by SSS or other professionals.

3. Assessment

The assessment will usually occur within 4 weeks of the assessment service receiving the completed referral information from the school.

The psychologist or speech pathologist who will undertake the assessment will:

• contact the school by phone or email to set up a date and time for the assessment, which usually occurs at the school
• compile an initial case history and assessment plan based on information obtained through the referral process and a pre-assessment interview with the parent/carers and school staff
• conduct formal testing and interviews with the student using standardised testing materials. The assessor will consider the referral information provided by the school and family, as well as relevant professional guidelines when selecting the most appropriate test.

The school must:

• contact the student's parent/carers to advise them when the assessment is scheduled to take place and invite them to attend for an interview and feedback on the assessment
• arrange for the school contact and/or the classroom teacher to make themselves available for feedback following the assessment wherever possible
• provide a suitable assessment space that is quiet and free from distraction to ensure that test administration guidelines can be adhered to
• ensure that the child safety risks for the assessment space have been considered and that these risks and any mitigation strategies have been documented in the school’s child safety risk register
• book and arrange a professional interpreter if required to facilitate assessment of a student who is a refugee, has recently arrived in Australia and where English is not their first language. Information on how to book an interpreter is available on the department’s Interpreting and Translation Services policy.

The assessing psychologist or speech pathologist usually provides feedback to the school and the parent/carers immediately after the assessment. At this time, further information regarding the student’s history may also be collected if required. If the parent/carers are unavailable for face-to-face feedback on the day, the assessor will arrange a follow-up meeting or feedback via telephone.

In some cases, the assessor may consult with and seek further information from the school, department staff, or senior professionals with the assessment service to ensure an accurate assessment has been completed.

4. Report and post assessment

The assessment service will provide a written report and feedback to the school and parent/carers following the assessment. A comprehensive narrative report will include:

• information about the reason for referral, the student’s history, previous assessments, and current presentation and needs
• a description of the testing that was completed, the student’s presentation during testing and the results
• recommendations to support the student at school.

A report will be provided regardless of the outcome of the assessment. The school must retain 2 copies of the report – one for the school’s student file, one for the parent/carers.

If the parent/carers, school, SSS staff, or other relevant department personnel require further information about the report or the assessment process, they may contact the assessment service for additional feedback. Appropriately qualified SSS psychologists or speech pathologists may request access to a student’s assessment records to assist them to provide further support to the student, family and school if required.

For further information about the role of the assessment service, refer to Assessment services for students with disability.

Students already assessed

Referrals to the assessment service are not recommended for students already fully assessed by external professionals or SSS staff. For intellectual developmental disorder (intellectual disability), a full assessment includes a cognitive assessment, adaptive behaviour assessment and detailed case history.

Schools can use existing assessment results to inform educational planning, however in some cases a more recent assessment may be warranted if there has been a significant change in the student’s functioning and support needs.

The assessment service will provide a ‘Vineland only’ report in instances where the external assessment report that diagnoses an intellectual developmental disorder (intellectual disability) does not include a current adaptive behaviour report. Following completion of the Vineland-3 form by the school, the assessment service will score the form and prepare a summary report for the school that includes the domain standard scores and adaptive behaviour composite score.

In some circumstances where an assessment has been completed by an external professional and a diagnosis of intellectual developmental disorder (intellectual disability) has not been made, the assessment service will gather additional information to determine whether a diagnosis is appropriate.

Assessments for specialist school enrolment

The role of the assessment service is to assess and report on a student’s cognitive abilities. The service does not make recommendations about school enrolment – however, a specialist school can use the report as one piece of evidence in determining whether a student is eligible to enrol.

For information on policy and processes for enrolment in specialist schools refer to: Enrolment in specialist schools and other specialist education settings.