Clinical Psychological Assessment

Helping us understand the underlying causes, not just the symptoms, and provide the right support.

A psychological assessment can be thought of as a journey towards a deeper understanding of what a person is experiencing. Through clinical interviews and up-to-date assessment methods, we explore a person's current mental health or a child's stage of development.

Why is this important? A thorough assessment helps us identify the underlying causes of difficulties at an early stage and better understand how they may develop over time. This allows us to recommend the most appropriate and accessible form of support or therapy. 

By focusing on the key issues from the beginning, we can avoid unnecessary detours and make the overall care more targeted and effective.

Why assessment matters, especially for children

Without understanding, we treat the symptom rather than the cause. A child who cannot pay attention may have an attention disorder — or anxiety, poor sleep, a hearing difficulty, or simply fear of what is happening at home. From the outside, these look the same. Only an assessment reveals what lies underneath, and therefore what will actually help. Without it, a great deal of effort can go into something that misses the point.

It is the gateway to treatment. Therapy, cognitive rehabilitation and other forms of care can only be planned well when we know what we are working with. An assessment shows where to begin, what to avoid, and what can realistically be expected. It is much like physical health care: before treatment starts, we need to know what is being treated.

It provides the professional basis for support at school. Our assessment describes the child's health condition and how their difficulties show up in learning and in everyday life. In the Czech system, decisions about support measures at school are made by school counselling facilities (školské poradenské zařízení — the educational-psychological counselling centre, PPP, or the special-education centre, SPC), and these take the child's health condition into account. Our report is therefore not an instruction to the school, but expert evidence to build on — and, above all, a clear explanation of what your child needs and why.

With children, timing matters. Development does not wait for adults to decide to act. The sooner we understand what is happening, the more can be done — and the less has time to accumulate on top. School failure, loss of confidence and exclusion from the peer group tend to arrive as a second wave, and they are often harder to undo than the original difficulty.

It protects children from their own conclusions. A child who does not know why something is hard will find an explanation anyway — and it is usually the worst one available: I am stupid, I am lazy, there is something wrong with me. An assessment often disproves exactly this. And sometimes it confirms that everything is fine, and the family can breathe out.

It brings everyone onto the same page. Family, school and doctor often hold different pictures of the same child. An assessment is where those pictures meet and the conversation starts to be about the same thing.

And it is a starting point. In younger children especially, the picture changes as they grow. A first assessment is therefore not a final verdict — it is a reference point we can return to later and compare against.

Assessment in a language other than your own

We provide care in English, Ukrainian and Russian. When it comes to psychological assessment, however, there is something worth knowing in advance.

Psychological tests are developed and validated on a specific population. Czech tests assume the Czech language and what children learn in Czech schools. When an assessment is carried out in another language, or with a child who is still learning Czech, part of the result reflects language proficiency rather than ability. That could lead to an inaccurate — and therefore unfair — conclusion.

This is why we work differently with patients who do not speak Czech as their first language. We have selected performance-based instruments with UK and US norms, which means that for part of the assessment results can be compared against an appropriate reference group rather than the Czech population alone. Alongside this, we rely more heavily on interview, observation and methods that depend as little as possible on language, and we gather information from several sources — the family, the school, and how the child manages an ordinary day. Our report always states the conditions under which the assessment took place and how confident its conclusions can be.

Sometimes this means the assessment takes longer, or that a particular question cannot be answered straight away. We consider this preferable to giving you a quick conclusion that cannot be relied upon.

Please note that...

Psychological assessments are usually scheduled in the morning, as this helps create the best possible conditions for concentration, cognitive performance and emotional wellbeing. This applies to both children and adults.

Please arrive well rested and bring any assistive devices you normally use, such as glasses, hearing aids or a cochlear implant.

Accessible facilities are available for patients with reduced mobility.