Analysisrept

The Starjump Comprehensive Developmental Assessment endeavours to understand the whole child via a developmental, biological, physical, social and emotional model. The Assessment Report provides the information needed for parents, teachers and specialists to work together in a deliberate, informed and constructive way. Visual problems are very common in children who struggle to learn at school. A child may have good eyesight, but other underlying problems may exist. Their eyes have to take in and process movement, space, depth, colour, shape, texture, position and direction. Children who have a dysfunctional auditory system can, as a result, have a stressed visual system because of the need to compensate. Our screening looks for weaknesses in the visual system. Literacy
Children who have a deficient auditory or language system need to be taught to read, write and spell using their visual spatial cognitive strengths. Their areas of deficit should be remediated via their cognitive strengths and not through processing systems that are dysfunctional for them. This section screens for possible language difficulties or problems affecting the development of strong literacy skills. This includes dyslexia, language development and writing skills. Auditory
Children who have had chronic middle ear problems in their infancy often develop a strong visual spatial thinking system to compensate for their deficient auditory system. Classrooms are essentially language based learning environments. Children who think primarily in pictures, those with a language disorder and those who have a central auditory processing disorder often switch off in such environments. This can happen at home, at school or in a social environment and they often miss most of what a teacher or parent is saying. This section screens for auditory processing efficiency and also auditory working memory. There are many factors that affect how children learn. This section of the assessment provides vital information about the physical and psychological development of the child. VSL Characteristics
People naturally have a right or left brain dominance in a similar way to people being either right or left handed. Brain dominance in different cultures changes throughout the ages according to environmental and genetic influences. We refer to children with a right hemispheric dominance as Visual Spatial Learners and those with a left hemispheric dominance as Auditory Sequential Learners. If VSL children are not taught using their cognitive strengths it is like asking a left handed child to write every day with their right hand. It can be done, but takes an enormous amount of energy and they are unlikely to ever be at ease with the task, resulting in mediocre proficiency. This section looks at whether the child has a strong visual system of thinking. Copyright Starjump P/L. Melbourne. All rights reserved. Emotions
Emotions drive the intellect and unless the inner world of a child is understood, acknowledged and respected, at home and at school, his learning outcomes may be compromised. When a child is happy and relaxed, he is in a receptive state of mind to learn. Our duty as adults and parents is to help them develop a deep, abiding, strong sense of self. In this section we are looking at how the child responds emotionally to the experiences and challenges they encounter. Behaviour
This section of the assessment looks at Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) all types, ASD & Aspergers and Oppositional Behaviours and identifies whether the child displays sufficient characteristics to warrant referral for further investigation of any of these. Each of these conditions, if left undiagnosed and managed can lead to significant life long struggles. Self Analysis
The self-analysis part of the assessment gives the child the opportunity, if not already begun, to start the important process of self-reflection. It is through self-reflection that he begins the process of recognizing what he needs in order to live, learn and be happy. Each of the headings in this section of the assessment are profoundly relevant to a child’s learning outcomes, not just at school but in life generally. Exceptional Kids
This section looks at the characteristics of a gifted child and in conjunction with psychometric assessment results if they are available, and the information in the Open OE Inventory section will can identify whether a child may be gifted. Personality
This section looks at a range of personality traits including introversion/ extroversion. Understanding the personality aspects about a child is useful in assisting them to develop skills essential to their well being. Open OE Inventory
“Over excitabilities” is a term Kzimierz Dabrowski gave to the inborn heightened ability of the gifted to respond to stimuli, making them more alive and alert human beings. These unique mental functions, primarily of the gifted, create a distinctly different quality and experience of life to their peers. The extent to which a person experiences the world will impact on everything they do. Dabrowski described five over excitabilities, these being psychomotor, sensual, emotional, intellectual and imaginational. This section screens the extent to which how the child is experiencing each of these as compared to the general population. Short Sensory
Our sensory systems are of primary importance in how well we function in the world. Through our senses we take in information which is then processed in different parts of our brain to help us make sense of the world and our relationship to it. The information coming in has to be accurate for it to be processed properly. A child with a sensory processing deficit requires early intervention so that physical, intellectual or emotional development is not compromised. This section screens for this.
In addition to a summary of all the information that is screened our report provides Referrals to appropriate specialists if
necessary, Recommendations about strategies and programs that will assist the child and links to articles, books and
web sites that will provide additional in depth information on the specific aspects of the child that have been identified
through our assessment process.
Copyright Starjump P/L. Melbourne. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.starjump.com.au/media/Admin%20%20Documents/Assessment%20Report%20Master.pdf