Report Writing

My school has experienced an influx of new special ed students. The positive of these additions is the fact that I get to see many different writing styles in the psycho-educational reports. I get to see how many people actually interpret findings instead of reporting numbers. Unfortunately, I've learned in the past few weeks that truly interpretive reports are hard to come by.

I guess I have to thank my school psychology professors and site supervisor because they stressed good report writing. I see the report as a way to understand why a child performs or behaves the way that he or she does. The report should paint a picture of the child that one can observe in the classroom. Unfortunately, the majority of the reports that I've read seem to be content with listing scores and what each test is supposed to measure. The reports haven't been reader friendly, and they do a poor job of describing the child. Anyone can list scores, it takes talent and skill to interpret what it means and make connections to observations. I've always found that what I observe during IQ testing, not what a child says, but how she behaves when responding, is the most important information. Is a child answering questions easily? Does he struggle to answer most questions? Does she try to avoid answering questions? Is he aware of how well or how poor he's doing? These all matter and tell me about motivation, level of effort, self-awareness, and ease of information retrieval. These are the little things that I add to my reports to inform the reader of how the child completes tasks. I guess I was trained well.

It's just frustrating to expect to learn something about the student and all you have are scores. How can people take pride in pumping out bland reports like that? This is something that will sit in the child's file forever. You're making your mark. I can't believe people don't take more pride in their craft. The report is where you show off your competency as a school psychologist. People don't see us test or counsel children; therefore the report is a way to make a great impression and prove your worth. Otherwise, what's the point? I could put scores on a chart and save a whole lot of time.

BBC