For the early diagnosis and the assessment of Learning Disabilities we are using recognized and reliable tools of Special Pedagogy.
Tools:
A TEST
ATHENA TEST
INFORMAL TESTS
Duration of each session: 45-50 minutes.
Number of sessions: depends on the individual evaluation by our specialist.
The specifics of the tests:
A TEST:
A TEST is the first screening test of school readiness in Greece. It is a simple, easy to use and brief preventive test aimed at children with regular development and objectively answer the question: are they ready to start school?
What the A Test does is to check the School Readiness, i.e. the practical and verbal skills of the child that are necessary for the successful attendance at school, such as reading skills, writing, comprehension, early abstract - mathematical thinking, general knowledge. In addition, it monitors 2 other parameters: the Hyperactivity / Attention Concentration and emotional maturity of a child (the ability to work and assert its features). The aforementioned test does not measure the IQ, nor the intelligence and it does not result in a diagnosis.
ATHENA TEST:
The Athena Diagnostics Test of Learning Disabilities is a bundle of individual diagnostic tests, fourteen (14) major and one (1) complementary that assess a wider range of motor, perceptual, cognitive and psycho-literate processes. Pursuant to educational psychology research and clinical practice, these scales relate to the difficulties faced by children to meet the learning requirements of the school.
The Athena Test is a multidisciplinary, intra-individual assessment test, which gives us a detailed picture of the current situation of the child in key sectors of growth, and identify deficit areas which might prevent the child from meeting the learning requirements at school - they require for separate teaching-corrective intervention.
The testing results of the Athena test give an analytical-diagnostic of the child's profile, which indicates development areas that are lacking and that may be implicated in the present or future learning difficulties and adaptation of the child to school.
The ultimate goal of the differential-depth assessment of the child via the Athena Test is the planning and implementation of the appropriate educational-therapeutic intervention in order to help the child overcome the difficulties before they occur - to prevent them. Otherwise, in case that these difficulties have already been manifested - help the child to overcome them, before they consolidate, i.e. in the early diagnosis and treatment.
INFORMAL TESTS:
For the purposes of learning assessment, the Athena test is mainly used, thanks to its high reliability and validity indicators. However, in order to record the strengths and weaknesses of a child's learning level, other complementary tests (specific additional scales) are applied and used, which albeit do not correspond to a weighted official test, they still serve as informal tests for the most accurate learning level depiction of each child.
Special Education