It is helpful to bring:

• Any previous reports which are relevant to the appointment, such as school reports, speech therapy or occupational therapy reports, school counsellor reports, doctor’s reports.
• Any letters of referral from doctors, specialists or other allied health professionals.
• Morning tea, lunch and a drink.
• Try to avoid bringing other children to the appointment, as it can make it difficult to give feedback in front of siblings. Also, younger children often are very distracting for parents at the end of a long session of waiting.

When you first come to Cumberland Education, you will be greeted by the Clinician who will be assessing you and/or your child.

Then, there will be a meeting (including parents, child, and clinician) for a chat about the presenting concerns and to gather some information. This may takes about 30 minutes. Often some information has already been obtained prior to this meeting (e.g. over the telephone) but it is important to have this exchange of information before any formal assessment. 

After this meeting where information is exchanged, the assessment begins.

Typically the examiner and the examinee work together alone in the assessment room. Longer assessments are broken up with short rest breaks for snacks, drinks, and breaks for the toilet. Parents and caregivers typically choose to wait in the waiting room whilst the assessment is conducted. Experience has shown that it may be best for the parent to wait at the centre whilst the assessment is being done in case the child wants the parents and/or any assistance during this time.   

For speech and language assessments of very young children, often the parent and child work together with the Clinician.

At the conclusion of the assessment:

• Psychologists take a short period of time where they evaluate the results of the assessment and then provide verbal feedback.
• Speech & Language therapists and OT’s usually make a time to discuss assessment findings at a later date either over the phone or as part of a consultation.
• For all assessments, a report will be written for the client within a short and timely manner.

For Clinical Sessions and Specialised Lessons, bring 2 exercise books (approx. 60 pages). One is for the work done within the session, and the other is for any homework that needs to be completed.

For tutoring, bring an exercise book or folder to write in, as well as any relevant school/university/TAFE work to refer to. Also, please notify us in advance regarding any online work/material that needs to be accessed.

Our goal is to only assess students when deemed absolutely necessary, as we do not want to ever over assess a client. The decision as to what, if any assessment is required, is determined on a purely individual basis.

The goal of assessment however, is to fully understand all the client’s learning strengths, weaknesses and needs, so the most effective interventions can be designed and implemented.

Specialised Lessons and Tutoring (unlike clinical work or assessments which are paid for at the time of the appointment) are paid for via direct debit.

When you enrol at Cumberland Education, for Specialised Lessons and Tutoring, you are allocated a time and day that is convenient for you, for example, “Tuesday afternoon at 4pm”. We consider this is ‘your time’.  If you need to change your day or time, we will endeavour to accommodate such a request.  Whilst no guarantee can be given, we are usually able to accommodate changes to existing clients. 

However, if you want to un-enrol from our centre’s Specialised Lessons and Tutoring, a one week notice period is required in terms 1-3, and a two week notice is required in term 4.

If an absence occurs, as a matter of courtesy, it is appreciated that you phone to let us know in advance.

Unfortunately, make-up lessons can no longer be offered.

Cumberland Education prides itself on being a truly multi-discipline centre, where we work together to solve even the most challenging educational issues.

We regularly have team meetings where we discuss and set goals, and plan and monitor interventions for our clients. Collaboration begins in the assessment phase, carries on through the clinical work and into the specialised lessons.

When you call us to discuss your specific and individual needs, we will devise the most appropriate assessment. Following an assessment, we consult with the client to create a plan of intervention that addresses a client’s goals for intervention. We also discuss who is conducting the work (e.g. speech therapist/psychologist etc), when such work will be conducted (e.g. 30 mins per week in a clinical session to be reviewed at the end of term etc), and the progress or results of the review for each client.
See attached Goal Setting sheet that we refer to in our team meetings. The client is involved at each stage of the process.