/At Living Dreams Disability we are qualified in using the MIGDAS (Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing Autism Spectrum) system for assessing and diagnosing autism. 

The MIGDAS system is a comprehensive assessment, meaning that parents will be able to give our written report to their paediatrician and provide it to their child’s school or kindergarten to potentially gain further support or aid. 

We understand that having your child assessed for autism can be a stressful and an anxiety provoking time. We are compassionate and skilled clinicians who pride ourselves on educating and supporting parents throughout the process. 

For this we might need to also do the following assessments:

SRS-2, BRIEF-2, ABAS-3,CAT-Q

The MIGDAS is administered in person by our Psychologist, and the four others are all done online and/or by others in the clients life (parents, teachers, friends). This combination of assessments not only supports a diagnosis but also provides a rationale for funding through the NDIS (eg: adaptive functioning or quantifying 'severity').

The assessment is conducted over 3 sessions

1st session - 1hr Initial Consultation Interview

2nd session - 1 to 3hr assessment (depending on client’s circumstances, the assessment could take 1 to 3 hours and could be split into two sessions)

3rd session report/feedback session (4-6 weeks after the assessment) explain all results and receive a 12 months care plan that targets the areas of concern.

Pricing: $1,672

ADHD assessments are to diagnose Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This involves a comprehensive evaluation of information gathered from the client, family members and/or teachers. 

*After completing the assessment, the client will be referred back to the GP to be referred to a psychiatrist or a paediatrician to make the formal diagnosis.

For this we will do the following assessments:

DIVA, ASRS, BRIEF-2, ABAS-3

The DIVA is administered in person by our Psychologist, and the three others are all done online and/or by others in the clients life (parents, teachers, friends). This combination of assessments not only supports a diagnosis but also provides a rationale (eg: adaptive functioning or quantifying 'severity').

The assessment is conducted over 3 sessions

1st session - 1hr Initial Consultation Interview

2nd session - 1 to 3hr assessment (depending on client’s circumstances, the assessment could take 1 to 3 hours and could be split into two sessions)

3rd session report/feedback session (4-6 weeks after the assessment) explain all results and receive a 12 months care plan that targets the areas of concern.

Pricing: $1,672

Because around 80% of people with ASD also have ADHD, we offer the opportunity to do both assessments.

For this we will do the following assessments:

MIGDAS, DIVA, SRS-2, ASRS, BRIEF-2, ABAS-3,CAT-Q

The first two are administered in person by our Psychologist, and the five others are all done online and/or by others in the clients life (parents, teachers, friends). This combination of assessments not only support a diagnosis but also provide a rationale for funding through the NDIS (eg: adaptive functioning or quantifying 'severity').

*After completing the assessments, the client will be referred back to the GP to be referred to a psychiatrist or a pediatrician to make the formal ADHD diagnosis.

The assessment is conducted over 3 sessions plus assessments done in client’s own time.

1st session - 1hr Initial Consultation Interview

2nd session - 3hr assessment (depending on client’s circumstances, the assessment could take 1 to 3 hours and could be split into two sessions)

3rd session report/feedback session (4-6 weeks after the assessment) explain all results and receive a 12 months care plan that targets the areas of concern.

Pricing: $2500

What is a Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA)?

A Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) analyses your functional performance in areas of self care and general day to day activities in and around the home. These assessments are often carried out for participants who are experiencing difficulties in these areas. You or a loved one may be experiencing difficulties due to neurological, musculoskeletal, congenital and degenerative conditions, the ageing process, spinal cord injury or a traumatic brain injury.

How do we help?

Our FCA reports provide detailed information on the person's functional capacity and any restrictions they may experience in carrying out everyday tasks. By using observation, interview, standardised assessments and involving other stakeholders; we are able to offer a comprehensive overview of the person's needs. Our detailed reports include recommendations to identify and overcome limitations & strategies to increase your independence. We can also recommend a regime of care necessary to meet current and future needs, including services and hours.

Your Local Area Coordinator (LAC) or NDIS planner will then use the independent information detailed in your FCA report & to help guide services and allowances included in your NDIS plan & either when you are transitioning onto the NDIS; or creating, reviewing or appealing an NDIS plan.   

What do we do?

Our comprehensive FCA assessments and reports address all of the following areas:

• Medical and treatment history

• Social circumstances & living arrangements

• Environmental evaluation & detailed scope of home environment

• Summary of personal & self care skills

• Summary of domestic activity involvement, including housework, shopping, financial management and home maintenance

• Assessment of physical function, including hand function, mobility and seating 

• Mobility and transfers, including falls risk and mobility devices or aids

• Community mobility, including driving and public transport

• Work and/ or educational activities

• Psycho-social skills, including social interactions and emotional management

• Communication skills & any limitations

• Recreational and non-vocational activities

• Assessment of cognitive skills and any difficulties or limitations

• Summary of bowel and bladder management and any difficulties

We will provide a comprehensive ​summary of occupational limitations with proposed and required interventions to increase participation and independence, and which may include: 
>>   Care or assistance with participation in personal ADLs
>>   Strategies for task modification
>>   Capacity building to overcome physical and/or cognitive barriers
>>   Assistive technology, aids and equipment
>>   Environmental modifications and fixtures
>>   Rehabilitation services 
>>   Core support services

Price : 2,909.85 (based on average 15hrs. Price may vary depending on the complexity of the assessment and hours taken to complete it)

The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Fifth Edition (CELF-5) is a standardised assessment used by speech pathologists for the identification and diagnosis of language and communication disorders.

A standardised assessment is one where the test has been used on a large number of children before it is published and used.  This helps us understand the range of scores that are high, low, and average.  On the CELF-5, the results for the language subtests and language areas are given as standard scores.   This lets us compare any score to scores of other children of the same age group.

What different areas are assessed?

Expressive Language

The subtests on the CELF-5 will look at your child’s ability to formulate sentences, recall sentences aloud and use appropriate grammar/word structure.

Receptive Language

The subtests on the CELF-5 will look at your child’s ability to follow directions, comprehend and interpret sentences.

Pragmatic Language

Pragmatic Language refers to social language skills such as turn-taking in conversation, their use and interpretation of facial expressions and body language, gestures and eye contact.

Reading Comprehension

This subtest assesses your child’s ability to sustain attention and focus on reading texts of increasing length and complexity, ability to respond to questions about the content of the information given and the ability to use critical thinking to interpret beyond the given information.

Structured Writing

This subtest assesses your child’s ability to use the information given by a story title, an introductory sentence and an incomplete sentence to create a structured narrative.

The assessment is conducted over 3 sessions

1st session - 1hr Initial Consultation Interview

2nd session - 2 to 3hr assessment (depending on client’s circumstances, the assessment could take 2 to 3 hours and could be split into two sessions)

3rd session report/feedback session (4-6 weeks after the assessment) explain all results.

Pricing: Speech Pathologist $1,357

At Living Dreams Disability we are qualified in using the WAIS-IV (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Fourth Edition) system for measuring assessing cognitive ability in several areas such as vocabulary, comprehension, arithmetic, and reasoning skills.

WAIS is comprised of several subtests that provide scores for different cognitive domains. These subtests assess an individual's ability to process information and their speed of processing. The test takes into account age and provides norms for comparison with individuals of the same age range. WAIS provides an overall score, as well as scores for specific cognitive domains, to give a comprehensive assessment of an individual's cognitive abilities.

The assessment is conducted over 3 sessions

1st session - 30mins Initial Consultation Interview

2nd session - 2hr assessment

3rd session - 30mins report/feedback session (4-6 weeks after the assessment) explain all results and receive a 12 months care plan that targets the areas of concern.

Pricing: $1337

At Living Dreams Disability we are qualified in using the WISC-V (Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children - Fifth Edition) system for measuring assessing cognitive ability in several areas such as vocabulary, comprehension, arithmetic, and reasoning skills in children.

The WISC-V psychometric test has been recently updated (2016) to incorporate 75 years of research and advances in the field of intellectual assessment, as well as to reflect the practical and clinical needs of contemporary society.

The WISC-V has 10 primary subtests and supplementary subtests:

-Similarities and Vocabulary are the two primary subtests that comprise the Verbal Comprehension score.

-The two primary Visual-Spatial subtests are Block Design and Visual Puzzles.

-Fluid Reasoning is measured with the two primary subtests, Matrix Reasoning and Figure Weights.

-Digit Span and Picture Span are the two primary Working Memory subtests and Coding and Symbol Search are the two primary Processing Speed subtests.

The 10 primary subtests, however, do not contribute equally to the Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient or IQ score. The Full-Scale IQ is comprised of seven primary subtests:

-Similarities

-Vocabulary

-Block Design,

-Matrix Reasoning

-Figure Weights

-Digit Span and Coding.

More About the WISC-V Measures

The Verbal Comprehension Index measures a child’s ability to access and apply acquired word knowledge. Specifically, this score reflects one’s ability to verbalise meaningful concepts, think about verbal information and express oneself using words.

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The Visual-Spatial Index measures a child’s ability to evaluate visual details and understand visual-spatial relationships to construct geometric designs from a model. This skill requires visual-spatial reasoning, integration and synthesis of part-whole relationships, attentiveness to visual detail, sometimes using hand-eye coordination, and working quickly and efficiently with visual information.

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The Fluid Reasoning Index measures a child’s ability to detect the underlying conceptual relationship among visual objects and use reasoning to identify and apply rules. Identification and application of conceptual relationships requires inductive and quantitative reasoning, broad visual intelligence, simultaneous processing and abstract thinking.

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The Working Memory Index measures a child’s ability to register, maintain and manipulate visual and auditory information in conscious awareness. These tasks measure one’s skills in attention, concentration and mental reasoning as well as visual and auditory discrimination. This skill is closely related to learning and achievement.

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The Processing Speed Index measures a child’s speed and accuracy of visual identification, decision-making and decision implementation. Performance is related to visual scanning, visual discrimination, short-term visual memory, visuomotor coordination and concentration. This skill may be important to a child’s development in reading and ability to think quickly in general.

The Full-Scale IQ score is derived from seven subtests and summarises ability across the five areas of cognitive ability: Verbal Comprehension, Visual-Spatial, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory and Processing Speed indexes. The WISC–V Full-Scale score is one way to view a child’s general intellectual functioning.

The assessment is conducted over 3 sessions

1st session - 30mins Initial Consultation Interview

2nd session - 2hr assessment

3rd session - 30mins report/feedback session (4-6 weeks after the assessment) explain all results and receive a 12 months care plan that targets the areas of concern.

Pricing: $1337