Child & Adolescent Assessments

You don’t need to work this out before getting started. Sometimes the right assessment is clear, while other times there may be several areas worth exploring.

If you’re unsure, you can book a Problem Solving Session with one of our clinicians. We can talk through what you’ve noticed, what information you already have and what you’re hoping to understand, then help you work out the most appropriate next step.

Medicare rebates are available for some assessment services in specific circumstances.

Importantly, Mental Health Treatment Plans (sometimes called Mental Health Care Plans) and GP Chronic Condition Management Plans cannot be used to claim Medicare rebates for diagnostic assessment appointments. These Medicare pathways are for eligible treatment services rather than diagnostic assessment.

There are some separate Medicare pathway that can provide rebates towards some assessment services for eligible children and young people, with very specific referral and eligibility requirements.

If you’re hoping to use Medicare rebates towards an assessment, please contact our Client Care team before booking. We can check your referral and let you know whether it can be used for the assessment you’re considering.

Yes. Different areas of development, learning and everyday functioning are often connected, so there may be value in exploring more than one area as part of the same assessment.

Because our assessments are built in components, your child doesn’t necessarily need a separate assessment and report for each area. Where appropriate, we can add additional components to explore different questions and bring the findings together in one assessment report.

This can also include assessment across Psychology, Occupational Therapy and Speech Pathology where helpful, allowing information from different areas to be considered together as part of the overall picture.

We’ll recommend the components that are useful for understanding your child and answering the questions being explored, rather than adding assessment unnecessarily.

It depends on the assessment and what the assessment findings show.

Some assessments, such as Autism and ADHD Assessments, are diagnostic assessments. This means they explore whether your child meets the established diagnostic criteria for a particular diagnosis. A diagnosis is only made when those criteria are met.

Other assessments are designed to better understand a particular area of development, learning, communication or everyday functioning and may not relate to a particular diagnosis.

Whatever the outcome, we’ll explain the findings, what they mean for your child and any recommendations for what comes next.

Playology provides assessments for children and teens. The age range varies depending on the type of assessment and the assessment tools that are appropriate for your child.

If you’re unsure whether we provide the assessment you’re looking for, please get in touch.

This varies depending on what we’re exploring and how the assessment is structured.

A focused assessment of one particular area may involve only a small number of appointments, while a more comprehensive assessment may involve several components completed over a longer period.

There is also clinical work completed outside of your appointments, including scoring, analysis and report writing. We’ll discuss realistic timeframes with you when planning your child’s assessment.

Most formal assessment pathways include a written report. The type and level of reporting will depend on the assessment being completed.

Your clinician will explain what is included before you proceed, including any feedback appointment and report-writing component.

Yes. Previous assessment reports, school or kinder information, and reports from other health or education professionals can all provide useful information.

Where relevant, we’ll review the information you already have and consider how it can contribute to your child’s assessment. This can help us focus on the information we still need rather than unnecessarily repeating assessment that has already been completed.

Yes. For many assessments, understanding your child across different settings is an important part of the assessment process. With your consent, we may gather information from your child’s school, kinder, childcare or other professionals who know them well.

This might involve questionnaires, conversations with educators or other professionals, reviewing existing information, or observation in an everyday setting.

For some diagnostic assessments, information about your child across different settings is particularly important and may be needed before a diagnostic decision can be made. Your clinician will let you know what information is required as part of your child’s assessment.

Yes. Parent and carer appointments, developmental history interviews and feedback sessions can often be completed by telehealth, making it easier for families to participate without needing to attend the clinic for every part of the assessment.

Questionnaires are also generally completed electronically, so parents, carers and educators can complete them in their own time.

Direct assessment with your child is generally completed face-to-face at our Croydon clinic, particularly where standardised assessment tools or direct observation are involved.

Your clinician will let you know which parts of your child’s assessment can be completed remotely and which will need to take place in person.

Playology works with self-managed and plan-managed NDIS participants. Whether an assessment can be funded through your child’s NDIS plan will depend on their individual plan, available funding and the purpose of the assessment.

NDIS requirements and pathways can change, so if you’re unsure, please ask us before booking.

Medicare rebates are available for some assessment services in specific circumstances.

A Mental Health Treatment Plan (sometimes called a Mental Health Care Plan) or GP Chronic Condition Management Plan cannot be used to claim Medicare rebates for diagnostic assessment appointments. These Medicare pathways are for eligible treatment services.

There is a separate Medicare pathway that can provide rebates towards some assessment services for eligible children and young people, with very specific referral and eligibility requirements.

If you’re hoping to use Medicare rebates towards an assessment, please contact our Client Care team before booking. We can check your referral and let you know whether it can be used for the assessment you’re considering.