I'm an educational psychologist AMA

[thisisasurvivor]

Hello all

LA EP here

Ask me anything

Usually through cognitive assessments but it may not be appropriate to carry some out when students struggle to engage

We had one.

Soecified exactly what was required, how many hours and group size.

It was fantastic.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow glad to hear this

Parents should ask to see draft copy and give input re hours and group size

Process is hugely frustrating
I get that

I could cry some days for what families go through

Some requests are turned down for kids with significant needs
How is that fair

My Dd refused to speak to the EP.

He was brilliant though and said it was indicative of her high anxiety levels.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow
Yes so common

There are ways for students to contribute without face to face work or. A video call

I would be petrified if a psychologist was called to my school to see me
I totally understand that

I have a child with selective mutism. She is just turned 4. I am deferring her starting school a year. Speech and Language dont cover it in my area and they say an Ed Psych should. My HV team say they have no access to Ed Psych support but the NHS thought they should.

1. do you think Ed Psych is the best support for SM

2. do you have any views on what to look for in a 'good' school for a child with SM?

Yes an EP would be well placed

Can I ask if the nursery made an EP referral?

When did they become concerned !?

@thisisasurvivor no nursery didn't refer.

HV team were telling me DD was 'behind' with speech from the age of 12 months. I kept pushing and said if she's behind can you refer us to SALT. Eventually they did, and SALT said that at 2Y 9M her delay wasn't bad enough to receive speech therapy although there was a delay, but they thought she had SM and that this was the bigger issue. That's when they said that unfortunately in our local area, SALT are not commissioned to support SM. In 15 months we haven't been able to access any support. As a summer born I can defer her starting reception which I have chosen to do as I am hoping the extra year at home helps cement the little bits of confidence she is gaining. But I do worry about choosing the 'wrong' school for her. We have village schools which blend classes, or a single form entry school of slightly bigger classes...no school I have visited or spoken to seem to have much knowledge or experience of SM, saying things like they have shy children who do well etc.

That's a shame

And so hard for parents to cope with this system

Schools can get speaking training

eps can be called in to support staff

She may not meet the criteria for an ehc just yet
But start to collect as much evidence as you can

Sounds look you have made a lot of good decisions already

Specialist training

Autocorrect on here is awful 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Thanks for this great post OP.

If you were assessing the cognitive ability of a just turned 7 year old, which wechsler teat would you chose between the wisc and the wppsi? Would you say they are both reliable for that age group?

Thanks

I'm a BAS user

Purely because I did not have access to a wisc or wippsi during my placement (year 2 and year 3)

But from speaking to colleagues they would most likely use the wisc

Can I also mention many of my colleagues prefer dynamic assessments and currently don't use psychometric assessments

How rude are you! Some people are genuinely interested in hearing OP’s advice etc…

@Thesecretingredientiscrime time to sign off now

Hehe

Thanks all
Lovely to answer some of your q

Oh no I have missed you

If you are still reading what would your recommendation be for off roled autistic DC who were struggling with school avoidance. Is it better to get back into the system for secondary? dc should be starting y5 in Sept

Is another smaller setting an option?

What have the school done?

Ehc in place or have you requested one yet?

So hard for them
I can see why so many students are struggling to attend

Ohh what are they please?

Are your reports specific and quantified in terms of hours per week of intervention and who delivers that intervention?

Do you use phrases like “would benefit from”?

<holds breath>

Think that's all for now

Thanks all x

(Don't hold that breath for too long 😜)

Good morning,

Has less engaged parenting impacted on the rise of ND children?

Does parenting improve the outcomes and life chances of ND children?

If there are more ND children and adults, does the ‘definition’ of ‘NT’ change ( is there even NT/ND or are we all unique anyway?)

I did see the draft as did the many families I support. It was either ignored or told that it was not policy to specify snd quantify….

It is not just a few families that go through hell it is the majority and I stand by that I do not know how some of you sleep at night. I suggest you look at Special Needs Jungle, there is an article saying that there are parents out there suffering from PTSD fighting the very people who are supposed to help and advocate.

Have you ever come across a school who try and influence your report - against the needs of a child?

I'm happy to explain what we went though but it happened to us - this was ds EHC needs assessment report and he'd already had one 2 years previously at juniors.

He'd also been diagnosed with autism and was under neurology (turns out he has a degenerative neuromuscular genetic condition) at this time.

The EP was brilliant at writing a factual report that lead to lots of reading between the lines to prevail - it left enough gaps to ask questions which gave answers (on my side) to counteract where school said "he's fine".

School went nuts at me accusing me of trying to make them look bad