Dr Tiffany Gerlich
Clinical Psychologist & Clinical Neuropsychologist
Cognitive and learning assessment across childhood and adolescence, describing each child's strengths as well as the difficulties. Dr Gerlich's profile
Learning & school · children 2½ to 16 · Southport, Gold Coast Dyslexia and learning assessment: find out why school is hard.
Assessment of how your child thinks and learns: dyslexia and other specific learning disorders, intellectual disability and giftedness, with a report your child's school can act on. For children from 2 years 6 months to 16.
Another question? All child and adolescent care.
- From 2 years 6 months to 16
- Interviews and feedback by telehealth; testing in person
- No referral needed for a private assessment
- Not Medicare-rebated, except within a paediatrician-referred neurodevelopmental assessment
For paediatricians, GPs and schools
Reports state standardised scores, address DSM-5-TR criteria where a diagnosis is in question, and are written so that schools can act on them. Schools can send their learning support summary with the parent's consent.
What the assessment comprises
- Wechsler scales: WPPSI-IV from 2 years 6 months, WISC-V from 6 to 16
- Standardised academic achievement measures where a specific learning disorder is the question
- Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (ABAS-3) where adaptive functioning is required
- Parent interview and, with consent, standardised teacher questionnaires and school records
Medicare
Cognitive and learning assessment is not rebated by Medicare. The assessment items apply only where a consultant paediatrician or psychiatrist has referred the child for a suspected complex neurodevelopmental disorder or eligible disability, and the cognitive assessment forms part of that work-up.
How to refer
Online referral form or email; every referral is acknowledged on receipt.
The questions families bring
What an assessment can answer
- Is it dyslexia? Whether reading, spelling, writing or maths difficulties meet the criteria for a specific learning disorder, and what is underneath them
- Why is a capable child struggling? Whether working memory, processing speed, attention or language explains schoolwork that does not match how a child talks and thinks
- Is my child's thinking behind, ahead or uneven? Where intellectual disability or giftedness is the question, including the everyday skills that go with it
- What should the school do differently? Specific recommendations and the evidence a school needs to adjust teaching, assessment and support
Check first, or start elsewhere
Hearing and vision should be checked first. If speech and language is the only concern, a speech pathologist assesses this directly. A specific learning disorder is diagnosed only where difficulties persist despite at least six months of targeted help, so if that help has not started, the school's learning support team is the first step and we assess once it is under way. Where attention, behaviour or emotions are the main question, see our autism and ADHD assessment or our emotional wellbeing and behaviour page.
What the assessment includes
Your child's history, and the school's view
A parent interview covers developmental, medical, family and schooling history, previous reports and what has already been tried. With your consent, standardised teacher questionnaires and school records are included.
How your child thinks
A standardised cognitive assessment matched to your child's age measures verbal understanding, visual and spatial reasoning, problem solving, working memory and processing speed. It takes two to three hours, in one or two sessions with breaks, and is designed to feel more like puzzles and games than a test.
How your child learns, and manages day to day
Where learning is the question, standardised measures cover reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension, spelling, written expression and mathematics. A standardised everyday-skills questionnaire is added where intellectual disability is the question or a funding application requires it.
Report and feedback
Results are interpreted as a pattern alongside the history and the teacher's information. A feedback appointment explains them, and the written report gives specific recommendations for the classroom and for home. With your consent, we talk the school through putting them into practice.
How the report is used
The report is written to give your child a plan that works in the two places it has to: school and home.
At school
Queensland schools adjust teaching and assessment for a student with a disability or learning difficulty under the national data collection (the NCCD), which needs evidence of need, with or without a diagnosis. The report gives that evidence, names the adjustments that fit your child's profile, and supports an individual plan. Where intellectual disability is the question, it also carries the information used for verification, which is now needed only for special school enrolment.
At home, and afterwards
You get a plain explanation of how your child learns best and what to do at home. Learning difficulties often bring frustration, worry or a loss of confidence; where they have, our emotional wellbeing and behaviour page describes how therapy can help. Where intellectual disability is confirmed, the report gives evidence of functional impact for an NDIS application. Australian organisations that support families with learning difficulties are on our helpful links page.
Who you will see
Qualifications and AHPRA registration are on the team page.
Elie Walsh
Psychologist · Clinical Neuropsychology Registrar
Learning, attention and executive functioning difficulties, working with parents and teachers to put the recommendations into practice. Elie Walsh's profile
Fees and funding
Private
No referral is needed. The fee depends on scope: your child's age, and whether academic and everyday-skills measures are needed. A written estimate comes before booking, and the booking fee is credited to the total. Fees are based on clinician time at $250 to $290 an hour. Fees and policies.
Medicare
Not rebated, except where the cognitive assessment forms part of a consultant paediatrician- or psychiatrist-referred assessment for a suspected complex neurodevelopmental disorder or eligible disability.
NDIS
Funding may apply where the assessment describes the functional impact of a disability for a participant's plan, including where intellectual disability is the question.
Common questions
My child is struggling to read. Is it dyslexia, and can you diagnose it?
It may be. Reading difficulty has several causes: a specific learning disorder, a language difficulty, attention, hearing or vision, anxiety, or teaching that has not yet matched how a child learns. We can diagnose dyslexia, a specific learning disorder with impairment in reading, where reading is well below what is expected for age, has persisted despite targeted teaching, and is not better explained by something else. The report states the diagnosis and the evidence for it, or points to what does explain the difficulty.
What is the difference between a learning difficulty and a learning disorder?
A learning difficulty is any persistent struggle with schoolwork, whatever the cause. A specific learning disorder is a diagnosis with defined criteria, described above. An assessment tells the two apart.
Does my child need this assessment for school adjustments?
Not always. Schools can make and document adjustments without a diagnosis. An assessment helps when the school needs to understand why a child is struggling, or when adjustments have not worked. It is needed when a diagnosis or verification is required for a specific program or funding.
How often can a child be reassessed?
Cognitive measures are usually not repeated within 12 months, so that practice effects do not distort the results. A review is worthwhile when the question has changed, when a decision depends on current results, or when the earlier assessment is several years old.
Request an assessment
Tell us your child's age and year level, what is difficult and what the school has already tried. We reply within two working days with what an assessment would answer, the likely fee and the next available testing session.
Prefer to start by email? Write to enquiry at brainandmind.com.au. Referring doctor or school? Make a referral. Phone enquiries are welcome during business hours on 0452 452 262.
Sources
Wechsler D., WPPSI-IV and WISC-V, Australian and New Zealand standardised editions, Pearson Clinical; Harrison PL, Oakland T., Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Third Edition (ABAS-3); American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5-TR; Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability; Queensland Department of Education, Education Adjustment Program.