Psychological & Diagnostic Assessments

Where to start? Book a Psychological Assessment Discovery Call!

At Play Therapy Melbourne, we recognise that family life is busy and filled with challenges. We understand how important it is for parents to feel confident, reassured, and supported, especially when navigating the complexities of raising children in today’s world. Whether you have questions regarding neurodivergence, developmental differences, or educational needs, our online session will equip you as the parent or caregiver, with the information needed to make informed decisions about potential next steps for your child’s wellbeing. Navigating the process of deciding whether to obtain a formal assessment or potential diagnosis for your child can be complex and overwhelming. With waitlists across Melbourne averaging over 18 months, determining the best course of action can be challenging. To support families in this process, Play Therapy Melbourne also offers parents and guardians an individualised online discovery session. These sessions are designed as a first step in seeking support for your child, to provide a comprehensive understanding of:


  • how we can make sense of what is going on for your child and your family, including options for psychological assessment (including behavioural, cognitive and educational assessments) and exploring whether and when these are right for your child, and
  • different therapeutic supports available to your family, based on presenting concerns.

You can expect to leave your Psychological Assessment Discovery Call (above) with a clear understanding of the next steps based on your family’s unique circumstances and needs.
Play Therapy Melbourne are committed to supporting you throughout the process, offering in-house referrals with reduced wait times (including Psychological & Diagnostic Assessments) to ensure timely access to the appropriate resources and specialists.

Both of these online services are delivered by Elishia Harding, a highly skilled and passionate psychologist at Play Therapy Melbourne. With a Master in Psychology (Counselling Psychology) and subsequent intensive training in Child Centred Play Therapy, Synergetic Play Therapy, and Perinatal and Infant Mental Health, Elishia brings extensive experience in supporting children and families.

As a fully registered AHPRA psychologist, your sessions with Elishia may be also eligible for a Medicare rebate with a valid referral from a GP under a Mental Health Treatment Plan. This will depend on the nature of the support you are seeking, and whether you or your child has a diagnosed mental health disorder by a GP or paediatrician.For NDIS Participants, your sessions can also be covered under your or your child’s NDIS Plan, under Improved Daily Living: Capacity Building (Psychologist).

Or, already have a GP or Paediatrician referral? Book a Psychological Assessment Intake!

Or, if you already have a referral from your GP or Paediatrician for a psychological assessment and know what you're after, we can begin the process with you right away.

Book today, to start with a thorough intake session; a 60 - 90 minute clinical interview with the child’s primary caregivers. This will help us build a full understanding of your child’s history, needs, and strengths. Following this, we’ll schedule a series of appointments with you and your child, tailored by the psychologist to ensure the assessment is both comprehensive and supportive.

Should you need any assistance with your online bookings, or wish to discuss your options further please call our offices on 03 9439 2450 or 1300 211 238, or email enquiries@playtherapymelbourne.com.
Cognitive Assessments
Assessments at Play Therapy Melbourne

At Play Therapy Melbourne, we offer gentle, evidence-based psychological and educational assessments to help understand how your child thinks, learns, and experiences the world. Our approach is grounded in connection. We take the time to build trust so your child feels safe and supported, because that’s when we get the most meaningful and accurate results. Every assessment is tailored to your child’s unique needs and conducted in a calm, welcoming space. With your consent, we may also connect with teachers or educators to gain a fuller picture of your child’s strengths and challenges.

What the Assessment Process Involves

  • Initial Intake Consultation
    We begin by gathering a full picture of your child’s background, including developmental history, health, learning, and social-emotional wellbeing. This helps us understand your child in context and tailor the assessment accordingly.

  • Assessment Sessions
    Your child will complete one or two individual sessions, depending on their needs and the type of assessment. These are paced gently and flexibly to ensure comfort and engagement.

  • Scoring and Interpretation
    We carefully score and interpret the results using gold-standard, standardised tools, considering both data and behavioural observations.

  • Comprehensive Report
    You’ll receive a detailed report that brings together all findings, including background information, observations, results, and thoughtful, practical recommendations.

  • Feedback Session
    In this final session, we’ll walk you through the results, answer your questions, and discuss how best to support your child at home, at school, and moving forward.

Psychological & Diagnostic Assessments

BASC-3

The BASC (Behaviour Assessment System for Children) helps us understand children's behaviours and emotions. It may be administered if it is suspected that your child's learning issues may be due to an underlying mood or behavioural issue.
The BASC-3 can be a complimentary additional psychometric testing tool, or a great first step providing clues to what might be the best suited formalised assessment. It helps identify problem behaviors and supports the development of effective interventions and treatment plans for emotional and behavioral disorders. The BASC-3 is widely used by mental health professionals to understand and address the behavioral and emotional challenges faced by young individuals.

THE WIAT-III

The WIAT (Wechsler Individual Achievement Test) is an achievement test that measures how an individual is doing in areas of academic school work. The WIAT gives a summary of function in common school subjects like reading, math, written language, and oral language. The results can be interpreted by our team to inform decisions regarding eligibility for educational services, educational placement, or diagnosis of a specific learning disability, and to design instructional objectives and plan interventions.

THE WPPSI-IV & WISC-V

The WPPSI (Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence) and the WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) are the most common intelligence tests for younger and older children. The test can take up to 2 hours to administer and generates a Full Scale IQ (formerly known as an intelligence quotient or IQ score) which represents a child’s general intellectual ability. It also provides five primary index scores (i.e., Verbal Comprehension Index, Visual Spatial Index, Fluid Reasoning Index, Working Memory Index, and Processing Speed Index) that represent a child’s abilities in more discrete cognitive domains.

Academic & Educational Assessment

Educational Assessments help parents and educators gain insight to a child’s unique learning profile and academic capacity. Educational Assessments assess areas of mental functioning related to memory, the ability to pay attention to tasks and to solve problems. They assist parents and educators to make informed decisions regarding their child’s educational placement, optimal learning environment and individual learning needs.

Additional Screening & Psychometric Tools

There might be other screening or psychometric tools, or shorter diagnostic tools recommended or suggested to help create a more comprehensive conclusion to your childs assessment and provide a full picture view of your childs challanges. If there is something else you are looking for, please let us know.

Have some questions or unsure where to start?
Book your ‘Psychological Assessment Discovery Call’ now!
Play Therapy Melbvourne currently have reduced wait times with intake appointments available today.
Costs & Fees
  • BASC-3: $1,164.95 (5 hours)
  • Cognitive: $1,863.92 (8 hours)
  • Academic & Educational: $2,329.90 (10 hours)
  • Autism & ADHD: $2,795.88 (12 hours)
  • Additional Screeners & Tools: $232.99 (1 hour)

At minimum, regardless of what assessment your child partakes in, there will 3 appointments you and/or your child are required to attend for your assessment administration:

1. Initial Intake Consultation (parent/carer)
2. Assessment Administration (child)
3. Feedback consultation and conclusion delivery (parent/carer)

Regardless of how many appointments are required to conclude your childs assessment dependant on your and your childs needs, the total cost of the assessment will be required to be paid on 2 separate invoices. Payments must comply with Play Therapy Melbourne’s Payment Policy which is inclusive of a 7-day due date.

Initial Invoice ($1,164.95): Consultation, preparation, report writing and case review
Final Invoice (balance in full dependant on assessment conducted): Assessment administration, scoring and conclusion.

NDIS & Medicare
NDIS

Assessments by a psychologist may be covered if it helps participants to find the right supports, if they are in line with the NDIS plan and are considered reasonable and necessary. They need to be care not usually provided by the health system. The below information about where assessments would fit is from the 2025-26 NDIS Price Guide.

Core Supports – Assistance with Daily Life: Disability Related Health Supports
Sub Category: Therapy supports and Early Childhood Supports
Item is 01_701_0128_1_3: Assessment, recommendations, therapy or training supports – Psychologist, up to $232.99 per hour
 
Capacity Building Supports – Improved Daily Living
 
Early Childhood Supports, Participants <9
Can use these items for assessment, planning an delivery of disability-related health supports, where these supports directly relate to a participant’s significant and permanent functional disability, to assist them to undertake activities of daily living.
Item is 01_001_0118_1_3: Early Childhood Supports – Psychologist, $232.99 per hour
 
Therapy Supports, Participants >9
Therapy supports for participants with established disability, where maximum medical improvement has been reached.
Item is 01_054_0128_1_3: Assessment, recommendations, therapy or training supports – Psychologist, up to $232.99 per hour
Medicare
Complex Neurodevelopmental Disorder or Disability Service

For clients up to 25 years of age who are diagnosed with, or suspected of having, a complex neurodevelopmental disorder (such as ASD) or eligible disability.
Note: ASD included (as extension of Helping Children With Autism items), however ADHD is not. 

Full List of Eligable Disabilities Here
Relevant assessments with a psychologist could be covered, if a client is specifically referred by a paediatrician or GP under this Medicare scheme. There are two service components to this scheme:
  1. Assessment to inform development of a Treatment and Management Plan, and creation of the Treatment Management Plan.
  2. Allied health services to support implementation of the Treatment Management Plan.

Psychologists could be brought into this scheme in either Step 1 or 2:

For Step 1, the paediatrician or GP could request an allied health practitioner or practitioners (including a psychologist) to conduct an assessment to support their work. For psychologists, these sessions are under Medicare item numbers 82000, 93032 or 93034 (for F2F, video and telephone sessions respectively, sessions need to be at least 50 mins duration, rebate is $96.65 per session).

There are up to 8 of these allied health sessions available to the patient across their lifetime. More than one session can be used in a day, but can only be for time in direct contact with the client (so not report writing or analysis).

For Step 2, which is implementation of the Treatment and Management Plan, the paediatrician / GP could refer to an allied health practitioner/s (including a psychologist) for up to 20 allied health sessions across the client’s lifetime. For psychologists, these sessions are under Medicare item numbers 82015, 93035 & 93043 (for F2F, video and phone sessions respectively, need to be at least 30 mins duration, rebate per session is $96.65).

Better Access to Mental Health Scheme
Assessments not covered. 
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