Karen
I am so sorry you have had this experience!
I am a practicing psychologist and I can assure you that there are NO
edicts that say we must make wildly inaccurate statements that
interfere with the work of other professionals....
There is, however, a general expectation that all psychologist's
reports will indicate not only the information gathered and
observations made together with the conclusions reached but also the
kinds of resources and approaches that would be helpful to the
student (and those which would probably not be helpful for one reason
or another) on the basis of the assessment outcomes.
A simplified summary of the advice and training given to
psychologists (and specialist teachers/tutors) would be to say that
in each part of a report it is expected that the author will know
what they are writing about. If they lack detailed knowledge they
should perhaps simply indicate in a general way that the suggested
resource/method should be investigated and if they do not know about
something they should say nothing.
I know PATOSS gives quite detailed advice to its members as does the
AEP, both of which documents should be publicly available. I am not
aware that NASEN has ever given such advice as it is not in its remit.
If an EP is asked to prepare a report but is not in communication
with the needs assessor this could have a number of causes, some of
which could be resolved by communication of professional expectations
and observations, but only if the process is temporally linked. If an
EP report is done in total isolation without the clear expectation
that there will follow a needs assessment then it must have strong
recommendations if it is to be of use to the student and a
free-standing document. However, I do believe there should be much
better co-ordination of these two phases of a student's assessment
but I also understand that this is not a popular concept!
Jeff
>>>>
=================================================
Jeff Hughes Registered Practitioner Psychologist
psychologist.co.uk Lucem Ltd Box42 Group
Chartered IT Professional Assistive Technologist
=================================================
>>>>
Disclaimer:
This email, including attachments, is privileged and confidential.
If received in error permanently delete: DO NOT keep, copy or share.
From Box42 Group computer. WA10 3BJ39 UK Company Reg: E&W 02904434
___________________________________________
From: Karen Farmer
Sent: 23/03/2010
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Query about Educational Psychologists and their remit
> Apologies for cross-posting...
> Can anyone please tell me whether Ed Psych's who are members of
> PATOSS, BDO and NASEN are being told to put technical
recommendations
> into their diagnostic reports?
> As a needs assessor I am encountering problems as a result of one
Ed.
> Psych adding the following (or variations thereof) to their reports
> "STUDENT is also in need of a number of items of equipment to
support
> him, including Dragon Naturally Speaking. This software will allow
> him to transfer what he says speak into text on his laptop/PC. It
> will also support him in composing emails and the latest version
will
> also assist him in researching on the Internet using his voice..."
> Of course, the student, knowing no different, accepts this
statement
> as gospel, and when I sit with them and explain the pitfalls and
> limitations of Dragon NS (or any other voice recognition software),
> they either think that I am being 'mean' in not recommending this
> modern miracle, or else it undermines their faith in the Ed.Psych -
> which is not my intention, and I do make sure to explain that it is
> not part of the EP's role to understand the limitations of the
> technology whereas it IS part of mine.
> Frankly, when I meet someone who tells me that they cannot talk in
a
> smooth sentence, has no idea of where to place punctuation, and
> cannot differentiate between similar looking words, then VRS would
> not be the first thing on my list of helpful items for them. That
> and of course the need to constantly train new vocabulary slows the
> creative processes to a crawl...
> Note also that a great many of these students do not already have a
> laptop/PC and the Ed Psych seems also to be building the
expectation
> in them that this will be forthcoming...
> I would dearly love to know how the EP thinks that having Dragon is
> going to help with researching on the internet, or indeed why this
> particular student would want to do this when the student is
already
> a whizz touch-typist (far faster and more accurate than I could
ever
> hope to be)...
> I am meeting students who have been diagnosed by this person, and
> finding that the expectations being built in them are not at all
> helpful - for any of us.
> What I would like to know from all of you is - is this person
acting
> according to guidelines from within their professional bodies
(member
> of more than one) or not? And if not, is there any professional way
> to request that they stick to doing their job and not stray into
mine
> (seemingly without the necessary experience to do it right).
> Regards
> K
> Karen Farmer
> DSA Needs Assessor
> Professional & Academic Development (PAD)
> University of Bedfordshire
> Park Square, Luton
> LU1 3HZ
> Tel: 01582 74 3422
> Internal ext: 3422
> Fax: 01582 489 349
|