You would be doing children a disservice if you did not try out some strategies on your own before having them tested. Although psycho-educational testing is a valuable and necessary process for helping some children, it runs the risk of (a) giving children labels which follow them for the rest of their school days; (b) special classes; (c) stigmatism from peers; (d) lowered self-concept in children; and (e) disappointment from parents.
It is a step you should consider only after you are completely satisfied that you cannot help the child without some outside direction. This means trying out different strategies on your own and seeing how children respond. All the techniques and strategies in this book are possibilities for you to use. Even if you do not find anything that works for a particular child, knowing what does not work is useful information for developing interventions later on. Furthermore it shows that you made an honest attempt at helping the child, and you’re not simply looking for an easy way out.