Easy Guide Guide to Choosing the Correct Type of Psychologist
When researching a case and which expert you require there are some considerations to ensure that the correct expert is appointed and more importantly the correct report.
The letter of instruction is the most important aspect of building a case.
The referral questions are how the expert decides to approach the case, what testing may be required, the psychometric tests to be employed or the structure of the entire clinical interview.
Thus, to help the process here is an easy guide:
In the letter of instruction, it is important that the following words are highlighted:
- Clinical
- Forensic
- Child
- Neuro
These words define the type of expert and more importantly the type of report that is required.
Psychologists are licensed in their profession of choice and this is approved because of their training. Thus, some are both clinical and forensic. But professionally it is best to choose an expert who has the requisite licence for the report required.
All too often Psychologists try to convince themselves they can write forensic reports when they really cannot and do not understand the nuances of the discipline.
If in doubt, ask for guidance.
For example:
“I require a child Forensic report to cover the following aspects of the child’s behaviour
- His offending behaviour.
- His IQ and how this affects his understanding?
- How has neglectful parenting affected his offending behaviour?
- What diagnosis does he have and how can it be treated? ”
This example includes the word forensic and, thus, a forensic expert who has training in child development would be the most suitable choice.
The key to this process is to identify the expert required, the report required and then assigning the case to the requisite Psychologist.