Dyslexia diagnosis

[edpsychfedup]

I'm an ed psych and I did a dyslexia diagnosis for a child of a family friend.

Whilst the child met the diagnostic criteria, they did not meet the baseline literacy criteria (you have to have a certain level of phonics already to do the test). Technically this is a false positive - it's like saying if I was in a coma I would also score zero, is it because of the dyslexia or coma?

Family friend is demanding I add the diagnosis to a report and has made track changes to the report so that she can send it to them to get her kid into a dyslexia friendly school.

I think it's unprofessional but I know other ed psychs, professionals, paediatricians etc tend to do this kind of stuff a lot - bend the rules a bit so that parents get the help they need. I think there's a culture of it in this field but I'm newly qualified so not really that happy to do it.

aibu?

I'm also an EP, and there's not a chance I'd do this - it's against professional guidelines (HCPC and BPS), and not worth the risk to you if anything goes wrong down the line. I definitely wouldn't accept changes which she's made to your report - it's your name, HCPC number, etc. on it, so you have to be happy and confident to stand by what you've said.

If you're practising privately, as this sounds like private work, have you made sure you've got the right insurance and supervision in place? This is just the type of case you'd take to supervision - I work for a local authority and would ask my supervisor for help wording a message if I was being pressured by a parent/school to say something I was uncomfortable with (and more broadly, I wouldn't feel comfortable assessing and writing a report for a friend's child, too high a risk of conflict of interest).

I also wonder what sort of school your friend is thinking of - the 'dyslexia friendly' schools which I know of tend to require an EHCP or be very expensive private schools, so an EP report alone might not be sufficient anyway.

No way, why would you risk you career over this?

Tell the mum to wait a bit and retest.

Then don’t mix business with friends in the future.

Sorry but I wouldn’t under any circumstances have undertaken the test for a friend’s child - never mix business and friends. It’s the classic trying to be helpful but comes back to bite you ……….

You could lose your career over this if you change it and this is discovered and I’m guessing the existing report could in any event be questioned if it subsequently came to light you and the parent were friends.

Being newly qualified I’d set your own professional standards not look at the lower denominator and think it’s ok to bend the rules.

Even if you can’t make the ‘dyslexia’ diagnosis, the child seems to have learning difficulties, in which case surely you have made recommendations for support going forward?

I will take it to my supervisor - I have indemnity insurance as I was sure something like this might happen.

I've added the exact wording from the CTOPP in the report, which will not change, but the thing I feel uncomfortable to add in is that the child's interventions should include having a level 3-7 qualified dyslexia professional.

Yes - it's more the interventions she wants written out

I'm also an EP. Has the child not developed their phonics skills despite good quality teaching? Or have they never been taught them? If a child has got half way through primary and hasn't picked up phonics, that's a bit of a re flag in itself.

Then I’d tell her it doesn’t work that way. It sounds as though you’ve done her enough of a favour already.

Echoing the comments above, but also in future - lock the editing of your documents, it shouldn't be possible for anyone else to edit your reports or suggest track changes!

Yes - it's more the interventions she wants written out*

Did you agree to make recommendations? Are you in private practice and took her on as a client for mates rates?
Of did you agree to informally assess her and provide a diagnosis but then send her back to state provision? Because there's a world of difference and you are now seeing why this sort of arrangement is not recommended and can be against professional guidelines

I included a range of recommendations in the report, but she wants me to write specific ones

Exactly - it's a range of issues

I just don’t get why you would even consider this. Surely your faith in the integrity of your recommendations would override anything your friend/a client would want?