02/09/2026
What Does a Tina Cowley Evaluation Involve?
At Tina Cowley Reading Centre Hillcrest, we believe that every child is an individual learner with their own unique strengths, challenges and learning needs.
Before a child is enrolled at one of our centres, we conduct a comprehensive, personalised one-on-one evaluation. This allows us to gain a clear understanding of the child’s current reading and learning abilities and to identify the areas where support and development may be beneficial.
The evaluation is conducted in a supportive and child-friendly environment, allowing your child to feel comfortable while we carefully assess a range of important literacy and learning skills.
📚 Key Areas We Assess
Our evaluation looks at several essential skills that contribute to successful reading and learning, including:
• Reading Ability
We assess reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension to determine how effectively your child understands and processes what they read.
• Phonetic Awareness
We look at the child’s ability to recognise, distinguish and process sounds within words. This is an important foundation for reading, spelling and decoding unfamiliar words.
• Spelling Level
We assess spelling ability and the child’s understanding of sound-to-letter relationships and common spelling patterns.
• Visual Skills
This includes aspects such as form perception, visual discrimination, eye movement, visual tracking and the ability to maintain appropriate focus while reading.
• Auditory Memory
We assess the ability to listen, retain and recall information. Strong auditory memory plays an important role in following instructions, learning new information and developing reading and language skills.
• Concentration and Attention
We consider the child’s ability to maintain attention, remain focused on a task and work consistently without becoming easily distracted.
• Spatial Orientation and Sequencing
We assess the child’s ability to understand position, direction, order and sequence. These skills can contribute to accurate reading, writing and general learning.
• General Processing and Learning Skills
We consider how efficiently the child takes in, processes, remembers and responds to information.
🔎 For More Advanced Readers
For children who are already reading at a more advanced level, we can also include a more scientific analysis of the reading process.
This provides greater insight into the technical aspects of how a child reads, including:
• Reading speed and rate
• Comprehension level
• Eye stops and regressions while reading
• How much of a word is recognised during the first eye stop
• Visual processing during reading
• Overall reading efficiency and effectiveness
This information can help us understand not only what your child is reading, but also how they are reading.
⏱️ How Long Does the Evaluation Take?
A Tina Cowley evaluation generally takes approximately 60–90 minutes, depending on the child’s age, reading level and individual needs.
We take the necessary time to ensure that the assessment provides meaningful information about your child rather than simply focusing on a single reading or spelling score.
🌟 Why Is the Evaluation Important?
A thorough evaluation provides us with valuable information that enables us to:
✓ Identify your child’s strengths
✓ Identify areas that may require further development
✓ Establish your child’s current reading and learning level
✓ Place your child at the appropriate level or in the correct group
✓ Determine suitable areas of focus
✓ Develop a personalised programme aimed at supporting your child’s individual needs
✓ Monitor progress more effectively over time
Our goal is to understand where your child is now, identify where support may be needed, and help them develop the skills and confidence they need to become more effective and independent learners.
Give Your Child the Right Start
If you would like to find out more about the Tina Cowley Reading Programme or would like to arrange a personalised evaluation for your child, we would be happy to assist you.
Contact: Joyce Petterson
📞 079 128 8092
📍 Tina Cowley Reading Centre Hillcrest
Because every child has potential — sometimes they simply need the right support to unlock it.
