Frequently Asked Questions

A psychological assessment helps us understand the way your child processes the world. How they learn, communicate, problem-solve, and manage emotions and daily challenges. It offers clear, evidence-informed understanding of your child’s strengths and challenges, along with practical recommendations to help them thrive across home, school, boarding, and social environments.

• Cognitive/IQ
• Educational
• ADHD
• Autism
• Intellectual Disability
• Combined Assessments

A child may benefit from an assessment when you notice:

• Learning that feels harder than expected
• Attention, focus or organisation challenges
• Big emotions or changes in confidence
• Difficulties with social cues or transitions
• Teachers raising ongoing concerns

It’s also helpful to remember that cognitive or IQ testing isn’t about judging ability or labelling a child. It can highlight strengths, rule out underlying learning differences, and give families and schools clarity about how a child learns best. For many children, this information becomes a powerful support — not a negative outcome.

If you find yourself saying “Something isn’t quite right” or “We need a clearer picture”, an assessment can provide essential clarity

Our five-step journey offers structure and support from start to finish:

1. Initial Consultation

We begin with a structured conversation via Zoom or in our Southern Highlands clinic.It’s a chance to walk through your child’s history, strengths, and the challenges that have led you to seek support.
The session brings clarity, reduces the sense of “guesswork,” and helps you feel more confident about the next steps

2. Face-To-Face Assessment Sessions 

Your child attends tailored, face-to-face assessment sessions that are warm, engaging and paced in a way that supports confidence.
We meet your child exactly where they are — shy, curious, anxious, energetic — and help them feel comfortable and safe.

3. Questionnaires From School And Home to Build a Complete Picture

We collect information from both home and school to ensure we understand your child across the settings, where they learn, play and interact.

For many parents, this step provides reassurance that nothing important has been overlooked and that we’re forming an accurate, rounded view of their child’s needs.

Bringing these perspectives together reduces uncertainty and helps create clear, consistent recommendations for moving forward

4. A Comprehensive Report 

You receive a detailed, easy-to-understand report that offers clarity, not confusion.
It outlines:
• your child’s strengths and capabilities
• the facorrs influencing their learning, emotions or behaviour
• Explanations for the patterns you have been noticing
• Clear, practical strategies you can use implement
• tailored recommendations for school, teachers, support teams and other professionals

5. Feedback Session- Understanding Results and Planning Forward  

In our final sessions, we review the assessment results together in a clear and structured way.

You will have the opportunity to ask questions, discuss what the findings mean for your child, and explore practical next steps.

We outline a supportive plan for home and school, ensuring you leave with clarity, direction and confidence about the path ahead.

Most assessments are completed within 2–3 weeks, from the initial consultation through to the feedback session.

This timeframe depends on scheduling and the timely return of school and home questionnaires, which help us build a complete and accurate picture of your child’s needs.

Assessments provide clear, evidenced-based insights that help school teams understand a student’s learning profile and supporting needs. They can clarify:

• Academic and behavioural differences
•  ILP development or refinement
• Appropriate and sustainable reasonable adjustments
• Understanding sensory, social or emotional factors influencing school participation
• Early identification of emerging challenges
• Supporting parent communication

Schools gain reliable information that reduces guesswork, strengthens decision-making and supports consistent, effective practice across the whole team.

Absolutely. Collaboration is one of our core values. We communicate with teachers and learning support staff to ensure assessment findings translate into practical, classroom-ready strategies.

Our goal is to align recommendations with your existing frameworks, support consistent implementation, and ensure each student is understood and supported across all school environments.

Yes. Our reports include clear, actionable strategies specifically designed to support ILPs, learning adjustments and pastoral care planning.

We provide an assessment brochure that schools are welcome to share with families to support clear communication and help parents understand what the assessment involves.

Yes. We can schedule meetings with teachers, learning support teams and wellbeing staff to review assessment results, clarify recommendations and support effective implementation across the school environment. These meetings are offered at an additional cost and can be arranged once the assessment process is complete and parent consent is in place.

Yes. Both assessments and therapy are available from January 2026.
Therapy supports children and adolescents with emotional regulation, worry and anxiety, confidence, behaviour support, social skills, school transitions and executive functioning. Our approach is evidence-based, child-centred and tailored to each young person’s developmental needs.

No. You do not need a referral to begin therapy.
Families can contact us directly to book an appointment.
A Mental Health Care Plan is only required if you wish to claim Medicare rebates, but it is not necessary to access therapy itself.

Therapy is tailored to each young person’s developmental stage and presenting needs. 

For younger children, sessions are engaging, playful and developmentally informed. We use a combination of play therapy and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) to support emotional regulation, confidence, worry, behaviour challenges and early coping skills. Sessions use storytelling, games, visual tools and structured activities to help children learn in ways that feel safe and accessible. 

For teenagers, therapy is more conversational and collaborative. We draw on evidence-based approaches including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to support emotional regulation, anxiety, identity development, behaviour change and everyday functioning. 

Parents and caregivers remain meaningfully involved throughout the process so that skills learned in therapy can be reinforced across home and school. 

Most families begin with fortnightly sessions, allowing time to practise skills between appointments and ensuring therapy feels sustainable.

We review progress regularly with parents, and session frequency may be adjusted to less frequent over time as your child’s skills strengthen and their confidence grows.

Yes – if your child has a Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP), hey may be eligible for Medicare rebates for up to 10 psychology sessions per calendar year.

The rebate of $98.95 reduces the out-of-pocket cost, however, does not fully cover the session fee. A current MHCP must be provided before a rebate can be applied to a session.

Many private health insurance policies offer rebates for psychological services.
Rebate amounts vary depending on your insurer and level of cover.

Families cannot use Medicare and private health rebates for the same session.

We use a child-centred approach that prioritises trust and comfort. The first session focuses on helping your child feel safe, understanding their preferences, and introducing therapy in a gentle, developmentally appropriate way.

For younger children, we often use play and structured activities to ease anxiety. For teens, we take a collaborative, paced approach that respects their autonomy and readiness.

Please bring any relevant information that helps us understand your child’s history and current needs. This may include:

• Previous assessment reports
• School reports or teacher feedback
• Medical or developmental history
• Copies of any questionnaires we have asked you to complete                                                       If you’re unsure whether something is relevant, feel free to bring it — we can help determine what’s useful. 

Support begins with an initial conversation.

Parents can join our assessment or therapy waitlists, both opening for appointments from January 2026.

Schools are welcome to share our brochure and website link with families so they can join the appropriate waitlist and access timely support. Parents must make direct contact to begin the process.

Joining the waitlist ensures your family or school receives the next available appointment as soon as places open.

Clarity for you. Confidence for your child. Consistency for your school. A pathway forward for everyone.