Private Family Law ADHD assessment or Ed Psy?

[mazzat85]

Hi,
Can anyone advise please… so as the post says I'm going through private family law proceedings.
I had tried to have an ADHD assessment done on my child but their dad keeps blocking it from going ahead.
I'm now at the point in wondering weather it would be better for me to seek an assessment through an Ed Psychologist who will do assessments for ADHD and say weather my child meets the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD or not.
When I get to court I want to use the ADHD diagnosis or the Ed psy report to show that my ex has stopped me from being able to get our child help.
If I go with an Ed Psy they won't be able to diagnose ADHD but will be able to say weather my child meets the criteria for a diagnosis and say weather they would recommend an ADHD assessment happens etc.
Obviously court pages say that the judge needs to take into consideration when making a final order:
Child's physical, emotional and educational needs
And
Child's age, sex, background and any characteristics which the court considers necessary
If I was to get an Ed psy assessment/report of the report said child meets criteria for a diagnosis will the judge take that into consideration
Ie ' Ed psy has done assessment and said child meets criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD I have to take ADHD into consideration when making a final order'
Or will the judge just look at it as if the child has no SEND needs at all even if the report says child meets the criteria?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

I’m really sorry but an EP can’t diagnose ADHD because it’s a medical condition. Only a psychiatrist can do this.

You don’t need your OH’s permission to make an appointment: google psychiatry UK. You can then get a diagnosis privately for a few hundred pounds.

Consultant Paeds diagnose here, is your Child under paediatrics?

@BelleTheBananas as he has 50/50 parental rights if I don't consult him about the ADHD assessment I could be reprimanded in court at our final hearing because of it, I could lose my parental rights if I don't ask him if I can get our child assessed 😔

I know an EP can't diagnose as it's a medical condition but she/he can do the assessment for ADHD to see if the child meets the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD so if I went down the EP route and the report from the EP said they had done an ADHD assessment and from speaking to the school and working with child they feel child meets the criteria for a diagnosis and they would recommend child has an ADHD assessment to receive a formal diagnosis will the judge take that as the child has ADHD but is not yet diagnosed because my ex stopped the private ADHD assessments going ahead or will the judge only take into consideration what diagnosis have been diagnosed when making the final order?

she/he can do the assessment for ADHD to see if the child meets the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD so if I went down the EP route and the report from the EP said they had done an ADHD assessment and from speaking to the school and working with child they feel child meets the criteria for a diagnosis and they would recommend child has an ADHD assessment to receive a formal diagnosis

An EP wouldn’t do this, and shouldn’t do this.

@BelleTheBananas

I’m really sorry but an EP can’t diagnose ADHD because it’s a medical condition. Only a psychiatrist can do this.

You don’t need your OH’s permission to make an appointment: google psychiatry UK. You can then get a diagnosis privately for a few hundred pounds.

This

@discodannie nope child not under paeds. In my area CAHMs do everything 6-18years to do with ADHD, paeds do everything 6-18years to do with ASD. Other local areas do paeds do under 11 ADHD and ASD CAHMs do over 11s ADHD and ASD

I'm an EP. I don't know of any EP that would do an "assessment" to say if a child meets the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. I'm pretty sure it would be considered unethical as working outside our area of expertise.

@Neolara the EP would carry out a Conners 3 which is a tool CAHMs, psychologists and psychiatrists use in the diagnostic and identification process of ADHD so if the EP does that and that (conners 3) comes back that child has high probability/chance of having ADHD will the judge take that into consideration that the EP done that assessment/tool and has said child has high chance of having ADHD when making a final order or will the judge only take into consideration a diagnosis of ADHD when making a final order?

@Saysage so EP would do a Conners 3 which is a tool which is used in identifying traits of ADHD so if this came back of a high chance would the judge look at that as the EP has said child will eventually have a diagnosis once assessed by a psychiatrist when making a final order or will the judge only look at why has been diagnosed?

An EP wouldn’t do that, I’m afraid.

The Conners 3 is a diagnostic tool to support the DSM 5 diagnostic process. But EPs are not involved in the diagnosis of ADHD. Just because their qualification level means they can use a particular assessment, doesn’t actually mean that doing so is within their professional remit.

OP I am very concerned about you seeking advice on the internet for this issue (think you’ve got 3 threads). This is obviously an issue between yourself and your ex. It’s unclear where you are in legal proceedings. It’s unclear what court orders have been made to date, but you talk about losing parental rights if you took your child for an ADHD assessment, which would be an incredibly draconian sanction so again makes me concerned more is going on here.

If your ex won’t agree to your child seeing a psychiatrist I am unclear why you think he would agree to a psychologist.

In making any order the court will refer to the “welfare checklist” in the Childrens Act.

I don’t know if you are legally represented but if you can afford to get some advice I would recommend this. A solicitor can review your whole case, and where appropriate, make the necessary applications.

@Saysage I know they cannot diagnose but they can score the conners 3 and say weather the child has scored low, medium or high on it so if the EP writes in the report that child has scored high on it will the judge take into consideration that the child score high on the questionnaire that is used in part in diagnosing adhd?

The thing is that’s not how EPs work. I don’t know of any EPs who use that scale, nor would they appreciate being told what assessments to use. After an initial consultation they would use their training and experience to generate hypotheses for what’s happening for the child. They would then (possibly) use a variety of techniques to explore those hypotheses further. It would be outside of their HCPC standards to say that a child should be diagnosed with ADHD (or autism etc).

@LillyDeValley yes I've got 3 posts as I wasn't sure on what board to post the question on and because I wanted advice I posted more than once on different boards so there was a high chance in getting a response.
My ex has threatened that if I get an ADHD assessment done without him saying our child can be assessed he will have me stripped of my parental rights because I've been threatened with that it's not a chance I'm willing to take.

I don't know weather he will agree to a psychologist but he seems to be against a psychiatrist assessing as he doesn't want our child to be diagnosed as having anything so if I went down the ED psychologist route our child won't get diagnosed but will get recommendations on what should happen moving forward to support them and if the ED Psy says child scores high on Conners 3 will the judge take into consideration that our child scored high?

@LillyDeValley I'm not currently represented, I am trying to do all the correspondences myself and saving to be represented within the hearing plus saving for a private assessment that I have got to fund as ex doesn't want to pay towards an assessment

OP how do you know the EP will use Connors 3?

Remember also Ed psych will need to explain reason for assessment.

Have school raised concerns? Have they recommended referral to camhs?

@LillyDeValley child's been referred to cahms by GP and school on separate occasions 2 years apart for an assessment of ADHD 2 years ago (2020) we was in lockdown so school couldn't confirm child's behaviours we're seen in 2 environments like they say for an assessment of ADHD behaviours need to be seen across two environments. School then asked for a behavioural specialist/coach to come in and do some group work with my child that happens and the behavioural therapist has said their is a concern their as child lacks concentration, is fidgety and squirmy, easily distracted by absolutely anything (lights, sound, movement, objects in the environment) school then done a period of observations after the group work finished and referred to CAHMs which CAHMs have closed the referral down saying child's behaviours could be anxiety and not ADHD so have close it down.

GP referred my child to CAHMs for anxiety 2-3 months prior to CAHMs closing the ADHD assessment down. So 2-3 months ago CAHMs said they didn't feel my child had anxiety... school made a referral to CAHMs for an ADHD assessment ... CAHMs are now saying saying they don't think child has ADHD and won't assess for ADHD as the behaviours could be anxiety around the court case 🤦🏼‍♀️ (we've been in court proceedings for the last 17months so if it wasn't anxiety 2-3 months ago when GP referred, I don't see how CAHMs can close the School referral for ADHD assessment down 2-3 months later saying child's behaviours could be anxiety around the court case 🤷🏼‍♀️)

School have put child on the SEN register as they see there is a SEND need but what that is they're not able to say as they're not qualified to say.

@LillyDeValley the EPs I've been looking for are qualified to use the Conners 3 as they have done certain training on using and scoring it.

Yeah so I was thinking in terms of the Ed psychs reasoning to using it if the school told ED psych that they had referred for child to CAHMs for an ADHD assessment but CAHMs closed it down saying child's behaviours could be anxiety the EP would think it was in child's best interest to use a conners 3? (If that makes sense)

What if your ex produces the records from CAMHS in court? The one that says they don’t believe your ds has ADHD? That’ll scupper your plans.

[quote mazzat85]@LillyDeValley the EPs I've been looking for are qualified to use the Conners 3 as they have done certain training on using and scoring it.

Yeah so I was thinking in terms of the Ed psychs reasoning to using it if the school told ED psych that they had referred for child to CAHMs for an ADHD assessment but CAHMs closed it down saying child's behaviours could be anxiety the EP would think it was in child's best interest to use a conners 3? (If that makes sense)[/quote]
EPs are qualified to doctoral level so they will all be qualified to use the Conners 3. It doesn't mean that that will feel it is the professionally correct thing to do. EPs do not. and cannot diagnose ADHD.

The SENCo at school is of course "qualified" to say what the SEN need is that means they have put your child on SEN Support level. It will be due to needs in one or more of the four areas of the Code of Practice.

@Soontobe60 I don't know? Could that scupper my plans when CAHMs have only looked at the referral they have received, they haven't done any questionnaires, spoke to parents, observed/assessed nor have they spoke to our child's teachers where as if the EP done a report she/he would speak to parents, speak to SENDCO, speak to class teacher, speak to child, do observations/assessments on child etc?

OP thanks for all the information. I presume your ex is painting you as “neurotic mother/wants him diagnosed with various disorders”. The problem is if you get this Ed psych report (presumably without his consent) you risk him saying, “look she’s put my child through an unnecessary assessment”. What happens if Ed psych doesn’t say what you think they should say (ie no issues or agrees it’s anxiety about the court case)?

Has cafcass done their report yet? If this is a specific issue they should have spoken to school, gp and gauged their views on situation?

As I say, I would be thinking about saving money on ed psych report and looking to get a couple of hours with a solicitor who can advise you on beat course of action.

My ex has threatened that if I get an ADHD assessment done without him saying our child can be assessed he will have me stripped of my parental rights because I've been threatened with that it's not a chance I'm willing to take.

Have you got legal advice on this? I'm not a lawyer, but it's very difficult to remove someone's parental rights. Even convicted abusers often still have contact with their children.

@Saysage I know an EP cannot diagnosis but they can say weather child has traits of ADHD and weather an assessment for a formal diagnosis of ADHD is done.
School have put my child on the SEN register because of their lack of concentration/focus. Just like the EP they can say weather child has traits of ADHD but cannot diagnose, EP can say weather child has traits of ADHD but cannot diagnose.

So based on that school area saying child has traits of ADHD if the ED psych does an assessment and does a conners 3 and child scores high for traits of ADHD will the judge take into consideration that it has been said that child has traits of ADHD and it has been recommended by the EP that a ADHD assessment goes ahead for child to be formally diagnosed by a paed/ psychologist/psychiat