Psychological Report

Writing

Presented by: Ms. Florabel S. Suarez

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Objectives:

Understand and appreciate the multi-

method approach in assessment
Understand and appreciate the
significance of psychological evaluation
reports
Identify different models adapted in
psychological report writing

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 Seminar-Workshop Objectives

Utility
Significance
Format
PSYCHOLOGICAL
Issues and REPORTS Best
challenges Practices
Models
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Psychological
Evaluations:
“. . . can be invaluable tools in understanding and
addressing the needs of individual students. When
conducted, interpreted, and reported in a manner
that accurately and fairly describes student needs,
such evaluations can positively affect a student’s
educational career.” (Canter, 2003)

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Relevant Issues Identified in the Literature
Principals and teachers:
Evaluations conducted for the wrong reasons,
with inappropriate methods, and with little
regard for how the results will be used by
parents and school personnel (Canter., 2003)
Competent psychological evaluations, if
ignored or misunderstood, can lead to serious
discord between parents and school
personnel and may lead to inappropriate or
inadequate supports for student learning or
behavior (Canter, 2003)

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Relevant Issues . . .
Psychologists and other clinicians:

Question may exists regarding the audience

for psychological reports—the audience for
the report should dictate how the report is
written (Rahill,2015)

Other psychological professionals

 When writing for other professionals,
there is an assumption that the reader of
the report needs technical information in
the report to contextualize the situation.

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Relevant Issues . . .
Teachers, administrators and other school
staff
 psychological jargon should be reduced,
but technical information still necessary
Parents
 emphasis is on providing a complete
picture of the child with low levels of
psychological jargon

The challenge: to write reports that can serve

these multiple audiences while clearly
communicating important information to the
consumers of reports (Hass & Carriere, 2014)
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Relevant Issues . . .

practitioners are continually challenged to

changing their reports or report writing style
to a more integrated format (Rahill, 2015)
 some school psychologists express
concern that writing the report geared
to parents and teachers with a reduced
emphasis on jargon may mean that the
report is not legally defensible or as
professional as a test-based report
might be

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Relevant Issues . . .
Psychologists and other clinicians:

A huge variation in report writing styles and

content—utilizing a standard report may not
reflect best practices in conducting
assessments specific to the child and the
child's needs in order to answer the specific
referral question/s) (Rahill,2015)
report writing continues to account for large
blocks of school psychologists' time—how to
write efficiently while incorporating best
practices in the report while providing a
comprehensive overview of a child's strengths
andFree
weaknesses
Powerpoint(Rahill,2015)
Templates
Psychological Report Writing

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A. The need for psychological reports

Psychological report
 the end product of assessment
representing clinician’s effort to
integrate assessment data with a
functional whole, can be used by
the client in solving problems and
making decisions (Groth-Marnat,
G., 2003)

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Psychological report
 A principal vehicle of
communication – a medium
through which findings are
described and impressions
conveyed as clearly and as concisely
as possible

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Psychological report
 involves analyzing, synthesizing and
integrating numerous sources of
data, including:
• present and previous test scores
• teacher’s report
• behavioral observations
• interview
• social and family history
• medical findings
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Purpose of Psych Reports

1. describe the client who is being

assessed and the client’s problem
2. provide a record of the evaluation
results for future use
3. serve as a means of communication to
persons wanting or needing the results
4. Recommend appropriate course(s) of
action

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II. Psychological Report Writing
B. Models of psychological reports
(Weiner, J. & Costaris, L. (2012)

Test Oriented Model – results are

discussed on a test-by-test basis
 each test is listed by name and
significant results for the test are
presented
 Little or no effort is made to and
contrast data between the various
tests
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Test-oriented Model
 Strength: the source of each piece of
data is identified (w/c could be
important in forensic assessment
settings)

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Test-oriented Model
 Weaknesses:
• the reader’s attention becomes
focused on the tests rather than on
the client’s adaptive functioning
• limited perspective regarding
psychological assessment—
presenting it to be a low-level,
technical skill w/c involves little
more than giving the test and
copying some interpretive
statements out of a manual
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Test-oriented Model
 Weaknesses:
• ignores the role of psychologist as
the integrator of the test data

 extensively used in the past but has

become increasingly unpopular in
recent years

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B. Models of psychological reports

Domain Oriented Model – results

are grouped according to certain
topics (e.g., intellectual ability,
interpersonal skills, psychosocial
stressors, coping techniques,
intrapersonal needs, motivational
factors, etc.

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Domain Oriented Model
 useful when there is no specific
referral question and there is
uncertainty on how data will be
utilized
 common in neuropsychological
reports where a variety of providers
may eventually become involved
(each provider focusing on separate
parts of the report to assist in a
specific aspect of intervention)
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Domain Oriented Model
 Strength: helpful in monitoring
treatment progress—allows one to
monitor changes in client’s
functioning across a wide variety of
areas
 Weakness: the reader may be
presented with a lot of information
that has little relevance to his
intended intervention

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B. Models of psychological reports

Hypothesis Testing Model – results

are focused on possible answers to
the referral question(s)
 Presenting a hypothesis in the
“Purpose for Evaluation” section and
present data systematically to
support or refute the hypothesis

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Hypothesis Testing Model
 Separate paragraphs in the “Results
of Evaluation” section address
theoretical/conceptual issues by
integrating data from history, mental
status exam and behavioral
observations with data from all the
tests
 tests are rarely mentioned by name

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Hypothesis Testing Model
 Strength: efficiency and concise
focus on the referral problem—
reader not distracted by unrelated
details
 Weakness: some information which
are not related to the “purpose of
evaluation” are unreported but
which could potentially be useful at
some point

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II. Psychological Evaluation Report
Writing
C. The psychological report format
Personal data
Reason for referral / Purpose of
evaluation
Evaluation procedures
Behavioral observations
Test results and interpretation
Summary
Recommendations
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Reason for referral / Purpose of
evaluation
Even if the presenting problem is seldom the
real problem, it is the best starting point
States the reason for the coming for
assessment; why the client has been
referred for psychological evaluation—initial
impressions made the one who referred
Many questions appear present at the start
to help the flow of the communication but
interviewer has to establish control over the
interview situation and clarify problem
raised
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REFERRAL QUESTION/REASON FOR TESTING:
Kyle Smith came to me without being referred,
because he is concerned about continuing his
education. We met on several occasions to discuss
his concerns and allow me a chance to interview
Kyle about information I felt was pertinent to the
issue at hand. Kyle has some doubts about whether
he is qualified to attend the University of his choice.
He is also concerned with whether he will be
successful at all in his future education and career.
The purpose of testing Kyle is to provide him with
guidance about his future college major and
continuing education. Testing Kyle will help
determine his strengths, weaknesses and interests
to help him find the career and college major that
best match his personality.
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REASON FOR REFERRAL

Jian Miguel was referred by her mother for

psychological evaluation, specifically for
intelligence testing, to assess his general
intellectual functioning as he is observed to
experience academic difficulties in school, poor
retention, attention difficulties, lack of interest
to study and work on school-related tasks (due
to written expression difficulties), and poor
academic performance.

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Evaluation Procedures
List of all procedures undertaken as well as
well as psychological tests conducted

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EVALUATION PROCEDURES

Background information was obtained from his

mother, his previous social worker, former
psychologist, and numerous psychological,
educational and medical reports. This
observation was obtained from interview,
developmental history, and rating scales as well
as medical records.
Current status of his learning and behavior was
obtained from observation during testing and
from standardized psychological,
neuropsychological, and achievement tests. The
validity of his performance on most tests was
deemed to be accurate due to his cooperation
and motivation to performs the tasks.
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EVALUATION PROCEDURES

The following diagnostic tools were administered:

1. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth

Edition (WISC-IV)
2. Wechsler Intelligence Achievement Test, Second
Edition (WIAT-II)
3. Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 4-12 (CBCL)
4. Rotter’s Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)
5. Homework Problem Checklist (HPC)

Evaluation is also accompanied with interviews from the

client himself and from other significant individuals such as
the client’s mother, class adviser, school directress, and
caretaker. Jian Miguel’s behavior was also observed during
the testing session and interview. Informal assessment was
also employed (w/ school record used as reference).
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Behavioral Observations
Physical appearance, mannerisms, particular
traits, reaction to the interview and test
situation, etc., should all be included in this
section
Special attention should be given to the style
of dealing with the tasks and the emotional
quality of the client’s behavior and
communication patterns

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Behavioral Observations
particular attention may also be given to the
clarity of self-expression and level of self-
knowledge, willingness to cooperate,
openness, and defenses used in the
interview
the usefulness of these early impressions
will often become apparent in the final
stages of evaluation, particularly for
diagnosis

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Summary
should contain the main findings of the
present evaluation
having the original purpose of the evaluation
in mind, it is essential to summarize the
whole report in no more than two
paragraphs

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Recommendations
therapeutic goals and modes of therapy are
be suggested
interventions and activities that may help
the client in the different aspects of his/her
life given the client’s present internal and
external resources
looking at the client from a holistic
perspective (i.e., including the physical,
intellectual, social, emotional, and
moral/spiritual aspects) may guide in
formulating this section

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A. C.L.E.A.R. Approach to Report Writing
 Client-centered perspective
• Emphasis is placed on
individualized (rather than generic)
description of the client’s abilities
and less on scores and numbers.
Information is organized by theme
rather than test-by-test

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 C.L.E.A.R.
 Link referral questions, assessment
results, and recommendations
• Information pertaining to the
referral question(s), results, and
recommendations is explicitly
linked so the reader is better
informed about the purpose,
results, and outcomes of the
assessment

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 C.L.E.A.R.
 Enable the reader with concrete
recommendations
• A smaller number of concrete, realistic,
and implementable recommendations
are preferred over a large number of
vague suggestions.
• Use of the S.M.A.R.T. (specific,
measurable and meaningful, attainable,
realistic) and timely approach can ensure
that recommendations are easily
implemented

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 C.L.E.A.R.
 Address strengths as well as
weaknesses
• A report that provides a balanced
description of strengths and
weaknesses is better received by
stakeholders and provides rich
information pertaining to the
specific and overall abilities of
clients

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 C.L.E.A.R.
 Readability
• Ensuring that reports are written at
a level easily understood by most
readers (e.g., Grade 12) will ensure
that readers comprehend the
information in the report and are
better able to implement suggested
recommendations

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References:

Cohen, R.J. & Swerdik, M.E. (2009). Psychological

testing and assessment: An introduction to tests
and measurement, 7th Ed. The McGraw−Hill
Companies, Inc.
Groth-Marnat, G. (2003). Handbook of psychological
assessment , 4th Ed. New York: Wiley.
Mastoras, S.M., Climie,E.A., McCrimmon, A.W.,
Schwean,V.L. (2011). A C.L.E.A.R. approach to
report writing: A framework for Improving the
rfficacy of psychoeducational reports. Canadian
Journal of School Psychology, 26(2), 127-147.
DOI: 10.1177/0829573511409722

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Rahill, S.A. (2015, January). Current issues in
psychological report writing. The School
Psychologist, 30 (1). Retrieved July 26, 2015
from http://www.apadivisions.org/division-
16/publications/newsletters/school-
psychologist/2015/01/report-writing.aspx .
(Weiner, J. & Costaris, L. (2012). Teaching
psychological report writing: Content and
process. Canadian Journal of School Psychology,
27(2), 119 –135. DOI:
10.1177/0829573511418484

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