A more comprehensive list of reading assessments may be obtained from the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.The purpose of assessment is to determine what is needed for intervention, which also requires consideration of contextual variables and whether there are comorbid disorders that must also be identified and treated, such as behavioral issues or language delays. These contextual variables are often assessed using parent and teacher questionnaire forms that rate the students behaviors and compares them to standardized norms. However, caution should be made when suspecting the person with a learning disability may also have dementia, especially as people with Downs syndrome may have the neuroanatomical profile but not the associated clinical signs and symptoms. Examination can be carried out of executive functioning as well as social and cognitive abilities but may need adaptation of standardized tests to take account of special needs. Types
Learning disabilities can be categorized by either the type of information processing affected by the disability or by the specific difficulties caused by a processing deficit. By stage of information processing
Learning disabilities fall into broad categories based on the four stages of information processing used in learning: input, integration, storage, and output. Many learning disabilities are a compilation of a few types of abnormalities occurring at the same time, as well as with social difficulties and emotional or behavioral disorders. Input
This is the information perceived through the senses, such as visual and auditory perception. Difficulties with visual perception can cause problems with recognizing the shape, position, or size of items seen.
Linguistically responsive psychologist understand that second language acquisition is a process and they understand how to support ELLs growth in language and academically.</ref> When ELLs are referred for a psychoeducational assessment, it is difficult to isolate and disentangle what are the effects of the language acquisition process, from poor quality educational services, from what may be academic difficulties that result from processing disorders, attention problems, and learning disabilities. Additionally not having trained staff and faculty becomes more of an issue when staff is unaware of numerous types of psychological factors that immigrant children in the U.S dealing could be potentially dealing with. These factors that include acculturation, fear and/or worry of deportation, separation from social supports such as parents, language barriers, disruptions in learning experiences, stigmatization, economic challenge, and risk factors associated with poverty. In the United States, there are no set policies mandating that all districts employ bilingual school psychologist, nor are schools equipped with specific tools and resources to assist immigrant children and families. Many school districts do not have the proper personnel that is able to communicate with this population. Spanish-speaking ELL
A well trained bilingual school psychologist will be able to administer and interpret assessment all psychological testing tool. Also, an emphasis is placed on informal assessment measures such as language samples, observations, interviews, and rating scales as well as curriculum-based measurement to complement information gathered from formal assessments.