What are Cognitive Assessments?
Cognitive assessments are tests that are designed to determine various aspects of someone’s cognitive ability. In more basic terms they are tests designed to examine how good you are at various mental tasks. The most well known test is the IQ test which examines someone’s ability to learn new information compared to their age. Other tests might examine how good at reading and writing you are or how good you are at using what you know. These tests are typically done by a psychologist or other mental health professional to help someone learn more about themselves and difficulties they may be facing.
What Cognitive Assessments Aren’t
Cognitive assessments (even an IQ test) aren’t tests of how smart or capable you are in general. There are many different types of intelligence or ability and being below average at some mental tasks doesn’t mean you can’t excel at others. For example I’m sure we’ve all met people who may be bad at schooling but very good at getting along with others and who have excellent social skills. The opposite is also true as well, people can be great in school and terrible at getting along with others. Another example is someone who struggles in school but is excellent with their hands and at performing physical activity. So whilst you may struggle with school it doesn’t mean you aren’t good at other things or that with a little support you wouldn’t excel at higher education as well. Sometimes people can be discouraged by results of cognitive assessment and it’s important to remember that you’re the same person you were after the tests as you were before them.
Why Do People Get Cognitive Assessments?
People typically ask for cognitive assessments to get help with a specific problem they are facing. For example, a parent may be trying to get special considerations at school for their child or an adult may be trying to get some sort of social security or workplace benefit. Beyond this people can also want cognitive assessment just for personal interest and to learn more about themselves.
Cognitive assessments are useful because they can help you put a name or an explanation to lifelong difficulties and in turn enable you to get support. For example there are many people who have difficulties reading and writing but who are highly intelligent verbally, with this information a workplace or school can figure out ways to adapt to allow that person to show their full abilities with programs that speak text out loud or transcribe spoken words into text. This is particularly important in a school environment as sometimes children who struggle with learning there may believe they are broadly bad at learning when it is just an unsuitable environment for them.
Cognitive assessments are also useful for other allied health professionals to understand what you find easy and what you find hard. This is especially important when they are designing your treatment regimens or trying to understand you better. With a cognitive assessment report in hand you can simplify the process of explaining to every new doctor, organisation or school what your strengths are and save you the hassle of repeating yourself.