What is an Intellectual Disability?
Wondering what the definition of Intellectual Disability means? Here is an up-to-date definition by the Medical Community.
What is a Psychologist?
Psychologists study how we think, feel and behave from a scientific viewpoint and apply that knowledge to help people understand, explain and change their behaviour; to reduce suffering from various mental and physical disorders.
A psychologist holds a Doctoral degree in psychology that involves 10 or more years of university study
of how people think, feel and behave. Psychologists use the title “Dr.” and are registered
with the College of Psychologists of Ontario. Typically, they will have completed their university
training in clinical psychology, counselling psychology, clinical neuropsychology or educational/school
psychology.
During graduate school, internship/residency, and supervised practice years, psychologists
develop competencies in working with specific groups of patients and practice areas.
What is a Psychometrist?
A Psychometrist is a graduate level professional who is responsible for the administration and scoring of Psychological Tests under the supervision of a Clinical Psychologist. A Psychometrist typically holds a Masters Degree in Psychology, that involves 6 or more years of university study.
Psychometrist training emphasizes accuracy, validity, and standardization in psychological test administration. Accurate scoring of assessments with appropriate norms, and detailed behavioral observations of the client are provided to the Clinical Psychologist to aid in test interpretation. The Psychometrist may also be responsible for collecting demographic information from a client. Psychometrists can also be involved with developing behaviour management plans, as well as counselling.
What is the WAIS-IV?
The WAIS-IV is the most commonly used adult intelligence test in North America. Administered to a person individually, it covers the age range from 16 to 90 years. Procedures of administering and scoring the WAIS-IV are dictated by the test publishers, and the person giving the test is expected to follow those procedures rigorously, to ensure that the conditions for administering and scoring the test are consistent from person to person. Items on each WAIS-IV subtest are presented in order of increasing difficulty, going from items that are easier, to items that are quite difficult for the individual. In order to find out how much a person knows, it is necessary to raise the difficulty until the limit of what they know is reached. The overall measure of a person’s cognitive capabilities as assessed by the WAIS-IV is stated as the Full Scale IQ. The Full Scale score summarizes four 'index' scores: Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed, each of which is made up of two or three subtests designed to measure different components of intelligence. While there are several ways of expressing the person's Full Scale IQ and index scores on the WAIS-IV, the individual's percentile rank is most commonly used.
What is the Vineland-3?
The Vineland-3 measures adaptive behaviours, which are the things that people need to do to function in their everyday lives. These important everyday behaviours can be grouped into the broad areas of communication, practical daily living skills, and relating to other people. The specific adaptive behaviours that are needed will change as an individual grows older and depends less on the help of others, but at every age, certain behaviours and skills are expected in the home, work, and community. Learning about an individual’s adaptive behaviours and skills is part of a process that can help in planning for his or her education, and for any special needs at home, and in the community.
What is a Social Worker?
Social Work is a profession that aims to help individuals, families, groups and communities to improve their individual and collective well-being. From individuals and families, to organizations and communities, social workers collaborate with their clients to address challenges through a process of assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation.
Registered social workers have specialized university education and must participate in continued professional learning and skills development to fulfil the requirements of their professional regulatory body, the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers.
Social workers serve in a variety of workplace settings, from hospitals and community centres to schools and social service agencies.
According to the College’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, the scope of practice of the profession of social work means the assessment, diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of individual, interpersonal and societal problems through the use of social work knowledge, skills, interventions and strategies, to assist individuals, dyads, families, groups, organizations and communities to achieve optimum psychosocial and social functioning.