Schools can refer students for assessments to help them find out if a student is eligible to apply for support under the
Program for Students with Disabilities (PSD).
The assessment categories are:
- intellectual disability
- severe language disorder with critical educational needs.
Cognitive and language assessments for these two categories must be completed through the service.
All assessments are carried out by qualified and fully registered psychologists and speech pathologists.
Assessments Australia is contracted to conduct these assessments on our behalf.
Disability Inclusion
Schools that have transitioned to
Disability Inclusion may continue to refer students to the assessment service in order to establish whether a student has an intellectual disability or severe language disorder with high functional needs. Whilst cognitive and language assessments will not be required to determine eligibility for a
Disability Inclusion Profile, these assessments will continue to assist schools and families to better understand a student's educational support needs, and may inform the Disability Inclusion Profile.
Assessments Australia provides cognitive assessments to support specialist school enrolment processes for students with intellectual disabilities. The assessment service is also available to provide cognitive assessments to support enrolment processes in specialist schools (intellectual disability) that have transitioned to Disability Inclusion.
Referring a student for assessment
If the school believes a student may have an intellectual disability or severe language disorder with critical educational needs, they should make a referral to Assessments Australia.
Before contacting the assessment service, the school needs to have verbal permission to discuss the student from their parent or carer. It is also necessary to have the relevant student information, such as the student’s history and current needs, on hand.
If there is sufficient evidence to suggest a student may fall into one of the categories of intellectual disability or severe language disorder with critical educational needs, Assessments Australia will send the school a referral pack.
For details about the referral process and the steps involved, refer to
Applying for a cognitive or language assessment through the PSD Assessment Service
Assessment
If the referral proceeds to assessment, an assessor will get in touch with the school.
The school must contact the student's parent or carer to tell them when the assessment is scheduled to take place, and invite them to attend.
Following the assessment, the assessor will give written reports and feedback to the school and the student's parent carer.
More information