I am an LA educational psychologist, AMA.

[summerEP]

Really enjoy reading the AMA threads so thought I would offer my own. I work for an LA as an EP and completed my training within the last 3 years. AMA.

For a child younger child aged 7 with autism/ADHD/speech delay who attends a special school and who has not been assessed since diagnosis 3-4 years ago. What would you suggest if you suspect the child has dyslexia/severe mathematical difficulties (possibly dyscalculia?) and potentially other specific learning difficulties/disabilities which were not picked up or noticed before. Would you suggest another LA EP assessment, and if so, would that pick up the Dyslexia/Dyscalculia amongst other things. Who is best person to diagnose and formulate a plan for sensory processing issues? TIA and appreciate you taking the time to do this AMA.

In our LA the quality of the LA Ed Psych reports is so poor that parents invariably have to fund independent Ed Psych assessments. So for my dd the only recommendation the LA Ed Psych made was an Art Therapy session. SAR revealed that reason for recommendation was cost £30 and her questioning whether the LA would fund travel expenses. This was the Head Ed Psych not some junior. With independent Ed Psych report dd now attends out of County independent specialist school and gets the Art therapy through the on site Art Therapist. What should pasrents do when they receive such reports? This was the second report, the first one made no recommendations at all so I asked for it to be done again. Aren't there standards that should be met?

"EPs were prioritised for early vaccinations; the HCPC announced it on 13th January 2021."

In my local area we were emphatically not prioritised. The hcpc recommendation was for clinical staff iirc and we were judged non clinical.

I got my vaccine in group 6 as my child is immunosuppressed. I was one of the very first EPs in my area to be vaccinated (late Feb).

Have you ever had any referrals which you consider to be unnecessary and/or driven by another agenda, be it that of school or parent?

www.hcpc-uk.org/news-and-events/news/2021/hcpc-responds-to-covid-19-vaccines-delivery-plan/

“John Barwick, Chief Executive and Registrar comments: “We welcome the news that all our registrants, including those in private practice, are in the priority group for the vaccine roll-out.”

Here's the link from the BPS. No mention of psychologists working in education, only in clinical settings. My LA judged we were not covered.

www.bps.org.uk/coronavirus-resources/professional/access-vaccine-bps-members

Anyway we are all vaccinated now....

Not all EPs are in the BPS and so their guidance is just that - guidance.

Who cares about vaccines when there are children absolutely floundering and parents being told by schools that there's no EP time?

I managed to get DD1 (16) a reassessment. She's been in special school since the age of 4. Her EP assessment was done when she was 3. Ridiculous to make post 16 provision based on a 13 year old report. When the assessment was done it was very poor. So I complained and said I wanted it done again. They agreed and apologised. The new process was a 'person centred planning meeting'. Absolutely ridiculous. DD1 was asked what she wanted to do when she's older. 'Be a vet and travel to America'. She has learning disability. But they nodded along and said 'great idea!'. Meanwhile, I'm saying 'Being able to manage a wash on her own would be good.....' Absolutely crazy. She ended up with a lovely poster that has virtually no new information on it. The ED Psych (very senior) also made lots of recommendations that included phrases such as 'best decided by parents and college who know her' - nothing specified or quantified.

No exploration of why DD1, who hates school, is looking forward to college (she wrongly thinks she will be able to go to McDonalds for lunch each day).

Sorry for the rant!

You don't know what a child's needs are without assessment. That's why you get it done. Otherwise, you could just implement provision (or not, as the case might be) at will.

Early intervention is key - everyone agrees on that. But if you only assess because there are clearly awful problems, by definition, you have identified the problem late. Far better to go upstream and work out what a child needs before they are evincing damage.

We didn't get my son fully assessed until he was ten. We had my daughter assessed at 6/7. Guess which child had a high needs EHCP at an age early enough to avoid developing a range of diagnosed mental health problems, on top of the autism diagnosis (we had that assessment done when he was five, but by itself, it's just a piece of paper).

My gifted daughter had issues only identified by thorough cognitive assessment. She had 99.95 centile results for reading and maths at the age of 7, in stark contrast to her 52nd centile processing speed. My son's scores were similar, but by the time his were done, That's actually fairly normal with autism, but at the time, she wasn't diagnosed and the school were insisting there were no needs at all, because she was so bright. This was a pattern repeat of what had happened with my son. Both also have major problems around executive function (my daughter's EHCP mandates the Smart But Scattered programme) which again, in a very able child can be effectively masked for years, harming their learning badly. My daughter is thriving in a small independent primary with a lot of extra support - which she only has because we had the full assessments done early. My son has a high needs EOTAS - he costs the LA mid-5-figures, despite being educated entirely at home because there is literally no school they can name able to meet his very complex needs. That is from the harm done, by his needs going unrecognised and unmet for so long.

Sometimes, it's the children who are seemingly very able and with no L&C needs who most need the assessment, because their issues are completely invisible until they cause significant harm - academic and emotional alike.

My son has PTSD, which isn't unusual in able autistic children completely failed by the mainstream school system. If he'd had proper assessment at the same age my daughter did - which includes full cognitive testing - he could have been spared a lot of suffering, as well as a lot of academic struggling when he reached the age where being very bright is insufficient, by itself.

What is unethical is ignoring potential problems until you have caused harm to a child by that ignorance.

@Lougle my son had a child centred NHS OT assessment. He was asked what he struggled with and the conclusion was it was only doing his shoe laces despite the fact he has many motor skill difficulties. He was offered a block of 10x1 hour sessions (because we have a comprehensive private report recommending 1 hour per week) but the report provided makes it look as if it’s purely for helping with his shoe laces! Yes professionals need to work with the child but a professional assessment is needed to decide what help is required.

@perfectstorm My daughter's story is similar although she had a SSEN before she started nursery and then it moved to EHCP. She was traumatised by mainstream secondary, LA in their wisdom wanted to place her in a generic special school without a GCSE curriculum when she had been top group in Mainstream. Independent Ed Psych did cognitive testing, her IQ was 162 and possibly higher as her anxiety was really high at the time. LA Ed Psych did no testing but went to Tribunal to argue the special school was the right placement when her peer group were academically the same level dd had been in reception class (dd was y10). If you don't assess needs you don't have to make provision is the reasoning I think.

@Lougle We too have suffered over the years by people just asking DDs what they think they need etc. This might work well with a self-aware child, but for others it is a disaster.

I was a bit worried because the Ed Psych sent through details of an alternative provision for DD2 - just a kind suggestion because I said I don't know what she needs. They only offer 2 GCSEs (English and Maths). I think she needs more options than that. But we're happy way through year 10, she has her GCSEs in one year and has missed an entire term of lessons.

Did you do a masters/phd after degree? What was your first job ?

Hi all, I have read through everyone's posts and thought I would reply with a summary which I hope covers most of the comments. Lots of the situations you are describing show how underfunded the whole education system is and how overstretched schools are, as well as the LA. Unfortunately same with the health service. This is particularly true with regards to the availability of specialist settings, TA's (recruitment for schools is so hard and they are so underpayed). We have to do our best within the confines of the political system and hope that we can help as many children as we can with what we have. I think many of the situations your describing would be useful to chat through your queries with the EP when it happened and then they can explain their reasoning which may help, and if not then it can be raised as necessary.

Unfortunately I think like GP's many EPs are leaving LA work because of the misunderstanding of what their role is, how they work and the perception of them as a gatekeeper rather than change agent (as a result of the whole system).

I have an undergraduate in a non-related subject, a masters in psychology, 2 further postgraduate diplomas in teaching and a therapy as well as a 3 year professional doctorate in educational psychology. Whole training took me 10 years whilst gaining relevant experience as well.

What do you think of the gender dysphoria/trans issue?

Do you feel that other issues are being fully explored in your profession first, such as bullying, online grooming, social contagion, ASC etc?

My philosophical underpinning is social constructionist so I seek to find an individuals truth rather than believing there is one 'real' truth so my support is informed by the constructions of the person I am supporting. Same with everything I support, the meaning of others is what I seek to inform my work and support. My work is also influenced heavily by understanding of intersectionality.

As for your second question, yes I would say all those areas were covered in my training and subsequent cpd. Although as the previous EP poster said, like GP's EPs will have areas of significant interest or specialisms often in each of those areas and around what they wrote their thesis about.

I think a lot of EPs are trained to be social constructivists. It may account for why many of them prefer dynamic assessment to cognitive.

Which is great for the most part, except when you come up against issues that some PPs have mentioned… when the individual’s construction is either a) harmful to themselves as in previous examples b) harmful to others (e.g. in direct contradiction of legislation such as the Equality Act).

That's where leaning towards a critical realist and pragmatic approach is useful I find. Particularly in child protection cases.

Could you tell me what is require for a learning disability diagnosis. My son scored in the 0.1 percentile on 3 of the wisc subsets and the 9th percentile on 2 of the others. It has been suggested that he has learning disability but not diagnosed. Many thanks for doing thid

Do social constructivists believe biological sex is a social construct?

And that children should be encouraged to cosmetically alter their bodies and take drugs to fit their constructed identity?

EPs are hugely hiding from and avoiding the topic of Trans kids by using vague supportive sounding language as they know it's controversial and are waiting to see where the popular opinion goes. They are nationality silent on the current debate, when given their role and supposed skill set they should be all over it.

Which is a hugely cowardly dereliction of their role in safeguarding children and utilising psychology to understand what is occurring in the huge increase in trans identifying children, especially girls,and the associations with autism, and mental health needs.

Any views OP on the impact of social transition, & medical transition vs watchful waiting for gender questioning children?

Or on the conversion therapy bill as it relates to trans identifying children and the psychologists role in exploratory therapeutic approaches?

In time do you think neurodivergent people will be involved with recommending support, interventions etc for children and young people who are neurodivergent? I understand and value the role of the EP, but also feel that a professional who is neurotypical cannot fully understand the experiences of a child or young person who is ND.