What is an Intellectual Disability?
Over the years the language has changed; a Learning Disability, and an Intellectual Disability are the same. An Intellectual disability assessment can be completed at any stage of life, as a child young person or an adult.
An Intellectual Disability is a disorder with onset during the developmental period and will have an impact on overall development. It includes both intellectual and adaptive functioning deficits, in comparison to an individual's age, gender, and socioculturally matched peers.
Intellectual Functions
Intellectual functions include reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, learning from instruction and experience, and practical understanding.
Critical components include verbal comprehension, working memory, perceptual reasoning, quantitative reasoning, abstract thought, and cognitive efficacy.
Adaptive Functioning
Adaptive functioning refers to how well a person meets community standards of personal independence and social responsibility, in comparison to others of similar age and sociocultural background.
Adaptive functioning involves adaptive reasoning in three domains: conceptual, social, and practical.
An Intellectual disability can be mild, moderate, severe, or profound and the support a person needs will depend upon the level of Intellectual Disability. The various levels of severity are defined on the basis of adaptive functioning, and not IQ scores, because it is adaptive functioning that determines the level of supports required.
An intellectual disability assessment result can be used as confirmation of a person’s learning disability for their Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment application.
An Intellectual Disability is different from a specific learning difficulty, such as dyslexia, as dyslexia does not affect general intellectual ability. Having an Intellectual disability may mean people need more time and support to learn new information and skills, common signs of an Intellectual Disability:
• Difficulties understanding new information or abstract concepts.
• Struggling in education
• Slow processing of information
• Difficulty with learning
• Memory difficulties
• Difficulty socialising
• Finding connecting actions to consequences difficult
• Are vulnerable may be easily led by others who may not have their best interests in mind
Sometimes the difficulties seen in an Intellectual Disability may make people think that the person has another neurodevelopmental problem such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Assessment for giftedness
Other people may have worries that their child is exceptionally bright but this is not being recognised by educational professionals.
Whatever the reason you need to know more about a person’s intellectual functioning, we can help. We can carry out a full cognitive assessment, which looks at a person’s verbal ability, non-verbal ability, processing speed and memory, giving an overall IQ score.
Diagnoses you can trust
With over 40 years combined experience in diagnosing and treating neurodivergent children, our founders are committed to offering NHS quality assessments that follow NICE guidance.
Stage 1
Simply register for our members area by entering a few basic details and you will be able to access the application form. Once this is received completed, your application will be triaged and allocated to a caseworker who will make contact with you directly to book your first appointment.
Stage 2
We specialise in providing a tailor-made experience and will endeavour to meet your child’s needs. Initially, we meet you as their parent/carer to gather a detailed history of your child's development.
Stage 3
Further appointments are then arranged to complete an assessment of intelligence using the Wechsler Intelligence Scales and an assessment of adaptive functioning.
Stage 4
Our online assessment area allows you to track the progress of the assessment, whilst allowing you to view and upload/download any relevant documents and communicate with your caseworker.
Once a decision is reached a feedback session will be offered to explain the diagnosis and answer any questions.
But what if a diagnosis is not indicated? Well, if an intellectual disability diagnosis is not indicated your clinician will discuss the reasons why, and where appropriate offer recommendations for potential causes of the young person’s needs, along with any further assessments that may be required through us or through paediatric services.
Pricing
Our simple pricing structure is designed to be all encompassing, and include any tests and reports associated with the assessment.
The cost of an intellectual Disability assessment is £1950 and you will be asked to pay this before the first appointment is made. Once the assessment has started, this is non-refundable.
If you are ready, let's get started