A child has special educational needs when the ordinary arrangements at school are not enough to bring about his/her progress.

Our chartered educational psychologists are specialists in assessing the kind of facilities which a child needs to learn successfully.

We have an initial telephone consultation with parents, then either visit children in their school, to observe them in class and discuss progress with staff; or see them at home.

We work with the child using short tasks to measure skills and ability, and to detect specific difficulties. We also find out how quickly and easily the child can learn, and what approaches will help.

We then write a full report of our assessment, which includes practical advice for parents and teachers on ways to support the child's progress.

The whole process of assessment can take from three to more than eight hours, depending on the complexity of the child's difficulties.

We visit the home to meet the family of children and young people with challenging behaviour. Everyone in the family has a point of view, which is important in forming a picture of what is happening. Our skilled staff can then offer appropriate support and help.

After an initial assessment by one of our educational psychologists, we may offer a series of visits to the home to offer support to the family in overcoming the child's difficulties. Or our specialist teacher can work in partnership with the child/young person, parents, school and educational psychologist to help overcome barriers to learning.

We offer cognitive behavioural therapy assessments and interventions to address mental health difficulties such as depression, anxiety, phobias, post-traumatic stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder, health anxiety, anger, school, exam or work stress, panic attacks, worrying and sleep problems.

Visit the website of our sister company, The Reading Shop, for details of an assessment service and classes in the Leicester area for children who need a little extra help in learning to read and spell: http://www.thereadingshop.co.uk.