“What will I actually be doing during the assessment?”
This is one of the most understandable questions people have before coming in. Parents want to know what their child will experience. Adults may wonder whether they will be answering personal questions, completing worksheets, or doing something that feels like an exam.
The word “testing” can make the experience sound more intimidating than it is. At Blue Spruce Psychology, the face-to-face sessions involve a series of activities we do together, using conversation, an iPad, hands-on materials, and pencil and paper.
There is nothing to study, and there is no pass or fail. Whether an activity feels easy, challenging, interesting, or frustrating, it gives me information about how you learn and approach different situations.
My goal is to understand the person sitting in front of me: what comes naturally, what takes more effort, and what might help in everyday life.
Q: Who Is in the Room and How Many Sessions Are There?
For a child’s assessment, the activities take place one-on-one with me. Parents do not participate in these sessions. For an adult assessment, it is the adult and myself working together.
At Blue Spruce, a Psychoeducational Assessment typically includes three face-to-face assessment visits. The first focuses on thinking and learning skills, the second on reading, writing, and mathematics, and the third on executive functioning and social, emotional, and behavioural experiences.
An ADHD Assessment typically includes two visits. We explore thinking skills and executive functioning, along with everyday experiences and emotional well-being. The academic session is usually omitted, unless requested (such as with post-secondary students seeking accommodations for ADHD).
This provides a general framework. The specific activities and conversations are tailored to the individual, their concerns, and what we learn along the way.
Q: What Activities Are Included in an Assessment?
Talking, Explaining, and Making Connections
Some activities are conversation-based. I might ask someone to describe how things relate to one another, share what they know about a certain topic, or talk about familiar concepts in a particular way.
These activities help me understand how the person uses language to express ideas, draw on knowledge, and explain their thinking.
These activities feel much like a conversation, although the questions are carefully chosen. I'm interested in how someone explains an idea, makes connections between concepts, and finds the words to express their thinking.
Working With Visual Information
Some activities are hands-on. We might use blocks to put together different designs, which allows me to see how someone makes sense of visual information while working with physical materials.
Other visual tasks happen entirely in the person’s mind. They might look at puzzle pieces and work out how they would fit together without physically moving them.
These tasks give me different perspectives on how someone understands shapes, spatial relationships, sizes, arrangements, and visual details.
Finding Patterns and Solving Unfamiliar Problems
Other activities involve looking at a design with something missing and figuring out what belongs there.
I am interested in how the person identifies patterns, uses logic, and approaches a problem that may be unfamiliar. Do they notice a useful connection immediately? Do they explore several possibilities? Does their approach change as the activity becomes more difficult?
The answer matters, but so does the thinking that leads to it.
Remembering Information
We also complete activities involving information I say aloud and information I show visually.
These help me explore how someone takes in, holds onto, and works with information. Remembering something you hear can feel quite different from remembering something you see.
I also watch for the strategies someone uses. They may repeat information quietly to themselves, group details together, or create a mental picture to help them remember. Sometimes a person finds a strategy that works beautifully for one activity but struggles when the format changes. Those differences are often worth exploring.
Working Quickly and Accurately
Some pencil-and-paper activities involve completing repetitive work within a set amount of time.
The format varies. One page may contain a lot of visual information, while another is simpler. Different activities also require different levels of precision.
I'm interested in whether someone works quickly and accurately, slows down to avoid mistakes, or finds that time pressure changes their approach.
Q: What Happens During the Academic Session?
For a psychoeducational assessment, we spend a separate visit exploring reading, writing, and mathematics.
The activities depend on the person’s age and the questions we are trying to answer. They may involve reading words or passages, explaining what they have read, spelling, writing sentences or longer responses, and solving mathematical problems.
I look at the pattern across these skills. Reading words accurately, for example, is different from understanding a passage. Having ideas for writing is different from getting those ideas onto paper.
I also notice how the work feels for the individual. Someone might know how to solve a problem but need considerable time, lose their place, or become unsure of themselves. Those observations help me understand the effort behind the finished work.
Q: How Are Executive Functions Explored?
Executive functions are often described as our “getting things done” skills. They help us manage information, organize an approach, maintain focus, adjust our behaviour, and work toward a goal.
Activities may involve remembering information while managing distractions, organizing visual material, planning a solution, or bringing information to mind within a particular set of rules.
I pay attention to what happens as the demands change. Does the person rush before they have a plan? Do they recognize when an approach is not working? Can they adjust independently, or do they become stuck?
These activities are especially relevant when exploring ADHD, but the assessment also needs to connect with life outside the room. A structured, one-on-one appointment can feel very different from a busy classroom, workplace, or household.
Q: What Questions Will I Be Asked?
Some questions concern the activity in front of us. Others explore everyday experiences.
Depending on the person’s age and circumstances, we might talk about school, work, friendships, family relationships, responsibilities, or childhood experiences.
I want to understand the biggest points of friction in daily life. What keeps getting missed? What feels exhausting? What happens when there is conflict or a responsibility has been forgotten?
I also ask about experiences of success. When do you feel capable and comfortable? Which parts of your day would you happily stay in longer? What do you understand about yourself that other people may have overlooked?
For children, conversations may explore how they feel about themselves as learners, their relationships, and what feels easy or difficult at home and school.
These discussions help connect the activities to the person’s own story.
What I Notice Beyond the Answers
Two people can earn the same score on an activity while approaching it in completely different ways. One might work quickly and confidently, while another takes considerable time, checks every answer, and worries about making mistakes. I pay attention to those differences because they help me understand the experience behind the result.
They may become curious, excited, apprehensive, or reluctant. During the task, I might notice that they work quickly and make mistakes, need instructions repeated, seek reassurance, or take a long time before answering.
I also notice persistence, humour, positive self-talk, creative strategies, and whether someone independently asks for help.
None of these behaviours automatically means something is wrong. Fidgeting, losing track, or asking for reassurance is useful information to understand in context. I look for patterns across activities and consider how they relate to everyday experiences.
When a Successful Strategy Tells an Important Story
One student I assessed found it difficult to listen to information while simultaneously looking at a visually busy page.
She independently decided to close her eyes. She had remembered the visual information she needed and realized that removing the competing input helped her concentrate on what she was hearing.
She completed the activity successfully.
What stood out was how she recognized a challenge and developed an effective strategy. Her final performance told one part of the story, but watching how she reached it helped me to understand her much more fully.
Q: What If I Get Tired, Anxious, or Don’t Have an Answer?
At some point, most people encounter something difficult. Many also become tired or wonder whether they are doing well.
I pay attention to those moments. When the activity allows, we can pause, acknowledge how the person is feeling, and provide support. I want the experience to feel respectful throughout.
Children sometimes ask, “Was that right?” I explain that I cannot always tell them whether an answer is correct. But, I can still acknowledge what I see: sustained effort, a thoughtful strategy, or persistence when something becomes challenging. Encouragement does not have to depend on getting the answer right.
There are procedures I need to follow so that the results remain meaningful. Within those boundaries, there is room for warmth, responsiveness, and care.
Q: Do I Need to Prepare or Practise?
There is no need to study or rehearse the activities. I want to understand how you naturally approach them.
For a child, a simple explanation is often enough: “You’ll spend time doing different activities so we can understand how you learn and what your brain likes best.”
You do not need to promise that everything will be easy. Some activities will feel comfortable, and others will require more effort. Both experiences are useful.
Most people tell me the sessions are interesting or fun, and many enjoy doing something different from their usual school or work activities.
Understanding the Person Behind the Results
By the end of an assessment, I have much more information than a collection of test scores. I have seen how someone approaches unfamiliar problems, responds to difficulty, uses their strengths, and manages tasks that require extra effort. I bring those observations together with their history and everyday experiences to develop a clearer picture of how they think and learn.
I want each person (child, teen, or adult) to leave with a clearer understanding of their abilities, the difficulties they have been experiencing, and what may help them moving forward.
If you are considering a Psychoeducational or ADHD assessment through Blue Spruce Psychology, you are invited and welcome to ask questions. Knowing what to expect can help the experience feel more comfortable from the beginning. A complimentary consultation offers space to discuss what you have noticed and whether an assessment might be helpful.
If you are still deciding where to start, explore the psychological assessment options at Blue Spruce, including fees and how the process works.
Ready to take the next step? Book a complimentary connection call or book a session directly.
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