School psychologist gave my child a survey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School Psychologist here...I have given the conners thousands of times...I always wondered if any parent would get upset over the nature of some of the questions....but not once in my years as a veteran psych...until I saw this thread.

Same here!

I have been a school psychologist for 24 years. (To my school psych peeps- on the Conners 4 you can now disable conduct disorder questions and print out the questionnaires without them!) I do warn parents that the Connors is for ages 6 to 18 so a few of the questions are not appropriate for elementary school students, so don't be alarmed if there are a few questions about using a weapon, etc. They can skip those or put never or if they have occurred to call me to discuss it. The reason those questions are there is that they are from taken from the criteria to meet Conduct Disorder in the DSM-5. The criteria to meet it is:

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of property
has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)
Deceitfulness or theft
has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car
often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)
has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)

Serious violations of rules
often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

Thanks for this. My DD took this test for ADHD and it seemed like they were trying to determine if there was some severe behavior or personality disorder, not just ADHD and if you answered affirmative to these then it was not ADHD and something else. Seems an odd way to determine ADHD. As if well, it's not anti-social or borderline personality so must be ADHD, because there's nothing else left. Is this really the best way to determine this?

yes

Comorbid conditions, confounding factors, and validation of screening tools to identify disorders are all at play. What do you prefer instead of one of the validated tools that is designed to distinguish the interplay of potentially comorbid and/or confounding disorders?

Look, if a child isn't following instructions, that could be because they have a problem with their hearing. Maybe they don't understand the language. Maybe they try but become easily distracted from the intended path. Maybe they don't hear the instruction because they are shifting focus on different sensations or moving their body. Maybe they can hear and understand, but don't want to follow instructions. Maybe they want to rile the teacher up and know that disobeying will do it.

These all can look the same. Just think about it. And now, how do you think someone is supposed to distinguish between these possible explanations in a systematic way that is validated in research trials to most closely approximate a more detailed assessment (since this is a screen we are talking about)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is absurd! Nobody should be performing any type of behavioral or psychological assessments on your child without your written consent!

Report this immediately to the principal, sped director, state offices. Also request the licensing information for this psychologist and report it immediately to their licensing board.

Demand that all tests and testing booklets be turned over to you and not made a part of their permanent record.

Do all of this in writing and follow up in person. Hire a lawyer if you need to.

Presumably if OP’s kid is in the 504 process, OP consented and this test is the gold standard for ADHD testing.

OP had to sign a form specifically consenting to evaluation, which listed which tests/types of evaluation the school was going to do. Did you sign that, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is absurd! Nobody should be performing any type of behavioral or psychological assessments on your child without your written consent!

Report this immediately to the principal, sped director, state offices. Also request the licensing information for this psychologist and report it immediately to their licensing board.

Demand that all tests and testing booklets be turned over to you and not made a part of their permanent record.

Do all of this in writing and follow up in person. Hire a lawyer if you need to.

Hahaha, what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School Psychologist here...I have given the conners thousands of times...I always wondered if any parent would get upset over the nature of some of the questions....but not once in my years as a veteran psych...until I saw this thread.

Same here!

I have been a school psychologist for 24 years. (To my school psych peeps- on the Conners 4 you can now disable conduct disorder questions and print out the questionnaires without them!) I do warn parents that the Connors is for ages 6 to 18 so a few of the questions are not appropriate for elementary school students, so don't be alarmed if there are a few questions about using a weapon, etc. They can skip those or put never or if they have occurred to call me to discuss it. The reason those questions are there is that they are from taken from the criteria to meet Conduct Disorder in the DSM-5. The criteria to meet it is:

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of property
has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)
Deceitfulness or theft
has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car
often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)
has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)

Serious violations of rules
often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

thanks for that explanation! that makes sense - the kid was getting screened for conduct disorder not ADHD. Can you even diagnose conduct disorder in a 9 year old?

and while you’re here, any other tips for parents on evaluations?

School psychologist again. No, the kid wasn’t getting screened for conduct disorder.

There are parent teacher and student (they rate them self) versions of the Connors. Each version has a mix of questions that cover specific areas. It has questions about all 9 symptoms for ADHD inattentive, and all 9 for ADHD hyperactive/impulsive, and oppositional defiant disorder. It also has questions about depression, anxiety, schoolwork, peer relations, and more. When you complete the Conners the questions are all mixed up, as in the first question is about adhd inattentive, question 2 anxiety, question 3 schoolwork, question 4 peer relations, etc.

I really don’t think the self rating scales or teacher rating scales have questions about “forced someone into sexual activity” but for sure the parent version does. At least the third edition didn’t. The parent and self rating scale do have a question have you used a weapon.

The conners just came out with an updated version and the conduct disorder questions can be removed before printing out the form. So I always use that version now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School Psychologist here...I have given the conners thousands of times...I always wondered if any parent would get upset over the nature of some of the questions....but not once in my years as a veteran psych...until I saw this thread.

Same here!

I have been a school psychologist for 24 years. (To my school psych peeps- on the Conners 4 you can now disable conduct disorder questions and print out the questionnaires without them!) I do warn parents that the Connors is for ages 6 to 18 so a few of the questions are not appropriate for elementary school students, so don't be alarmed if there are a few questions about using a weapon, etc. They can skip those or put never or if they have occurred to call me to discuss it. The reason those questions are there is that they are from taken from the criteria to meet Conduct Disorder in the DSM-5. The criteria to meet it is:

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of property
has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)
Deceitfulness or theft
has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car
often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)
has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)

Serious violations of rules
often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

You should not be sharing specific test questions on an open forum and should request this be removed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School Psychologist here...I have given the conners thousands of times...I always wondered if any parent would get upset over the nature of some of the questions....but not once in my years as a veteran psych...until I saw this thread.

Same here!

I have been a school psychologist for 24 years. (To my school psych peeps- on the Conners 4 you can now disable conduct disorder questions and print out the questionnaires without them!) I do warn parents that the Connors is for ages 6 to 18 so a few of the questions are not appropriate for elementary school students, so don't be alarmed if there are a few questions about using a weapon, etc. They can skip those or put never or if they have occurred to call me to discuss it. The reason those questions are there is that they are from taken from the criteria to meet Conduct Disorder in the DSM-5. The criteria to meet it is:

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of property
has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)
Deceitfulness or theft
has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car
often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)
has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)

Serious violations of rules
often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

thanks for that explanation! that makes sense - the kid was getting screened for conduct disorder not ADHD. Can you even diagnose conduct disorder in a 9 year old?

and while you’re here, any other tips for parents on evaluations?

School psychologist again. No, the kid wasn’t getting screened for conduct disorder.

There are parent teacher and student (they rate them self) versions of the Connors. Each version has a mix of questions that cover specific areas. It has questions about all 9 symptoms for ADHD inattentive, and all 9 for ADHD hyperactive/impulsive, and oppositional defiant disorder. It also has questions about depression, anxiety, schoolwork, peer relations, and more. When you complete the Conners the questions are all mixed up, as in the first question is about adhd inattentive, question 2 anxiety, question 3 schoolwork, question 4 peer relations, etc.

I really don’t think the self rating scales or teacher rating scales have questions about “forced someone into sexual activity” but for sure the parent version does. At least the third edition didn’t. The parent and self rating scale do have a question have you used a weapon.

The conners just came out with an updated version and the conduct disorder questions can be removed before printing out the form. So I always use that version now.

I am a teacher and the question about forcing is definitely on the teacher version.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School Psychologist here...I have given the conners thousands of times...I always wondered if any parent would get upset over the nature of some of the questions....but not once in my years as a veteran psych...until I saw this thread.

Same here!

I have been a school psychologist for 24 years. (To my school psych peeps- on the Conners 4 you can now disable conduct disorder questions and print out the questionnaires without them!) I do warn parents that the Connors is for ages 6 to 18 so a few of the questions are not appropriate for elementary school students, so don't be alarmed if there are a few questions about using a weapon, etc. They can skip those or put never or if they have occurred to call me to discuss it. The reason those questions are there is that they are from taken from the criteria to meet Conduct Disorder in the DSM-5. The criteria to meet it is:

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of property
has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)
Deceitfulness or theft
has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car
often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)
has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)

Serious violations of rules
often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

Your explanation sounds great. That should be standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School Psychologist here...I have given the conners thousands of times...I always wondered if any parent would get upset over the nature of some of the questions....but not once in my years as a veteran psych...until I saw this thread.

Same here!

I have been a school psychologist for 24 years. (To my school psych peeps- on the Conners 4 you can now disable conduct disorder questions and print out the questionnaires without them!) I do warn parents that the Connors is for ages 6 to 18 so a few of the questions are not appropriate for elementary school students, so don't be alarmed if there are a few questions about using a weapon, etc. They can skip those or put never or if they have occurred to call me to discuss it. The reason those questions are there is that they are from taken from the criteria to meet Conduct Disorder in the DSM-5. The criteria to meet it is:

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of property
has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)
Deceitfulness or theft
has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car
often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)
has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)

Serious violations of rules
often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

You should not be sharing specific test questions on an open forum and should request this be removed.

These tests are available all over the internet for anyone who wants to see them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is absurd! Nobody should be performing any type of behavioral or psychological assessments on your child without your written consent!

Report this immediately to the principal, sped director, state offices. Also request the licensing information for this psychologist and report it immediately to their licensing board.

Demand that all tests and testing booklets be turned over to you and not made a part of their permanent record.

Do all of this in writing and follow up in person. Hire a lawyer if you need to.

You are ridiculous.

To get a 504 or IEP, you have to make a written request for an assessment and placement. If you don't want the school to do an assessment, then don't ask for an assessment. You don't get to sue the school district for an assessment THAT YOU REQUESTED

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Legally, consent for evaluation is only required for initial 504s and IEP. Re-evaluations do not require consent. However, schools make every effort to gain consent and typically only move forward with assessments without consent when a parent has been unresponsive. If it were an initial, consent would be required. It sounds like OP asked for accommodations based on a new condition. The new condition required evidence. The Connors screens for anxiety, depression, autism, and anxiety, among other things. They cannot add new accommodations just based on OPs word. Based on results, a 504 can sometimes become an IEP instead.

Your on-going continuation with the 504 or IEP is consent to on-going assessments. You can refuse the 504 or IEP or remove your child from school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School Psychologist here...I have given the conners thousands of times...I always wondered if any parent would get upset over the nature of some of the questions....but not once in my years as a veteran psych...until I saw this thread.

Same here!

I have been a school psychologist for 24 years. (To my school psych peeps- on the Conners 4 you can now disable conduct disorder questions and print out the questionnaires without them!) I do warn parents that the Connors is for ages 6 to 18 so a few of the questions are not appropriate for elementary school students, so don't be alarmed if there are a few questions about using a weapon, etc. They can skip those or put never or if they have occurred to call me to discuss it. The reason those questions are there is that they are from taken from the criteria to meet Conduct Disorder in the DSM-5. The criteria to meet it is:

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of property
has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)
Deceitfulness or theft
has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car
often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)
has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)

Serious violations of rules
often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

Thanks for this. My DD took this test for ADHD and it seemed like they were trying to determine if there was some severe behavior or personality disorder, not just ADHD and if you answered affirmative to these then it was not ADHD and something else. Seems an odd way to determine ADHD. As if well, it's not anti-social or borderline personality so must be ADHD, because there's nothing else left. Is this really the best way to determine this?

yes

Comorbid conditions, confounding factors, and validation of screening tools to identify disorders are all at play. What do you prefer instead of one of the validated tools that is designed to distinguish the interplay of potentially comorbid and/or confounding disorders?

Look, if a child isn't following instructions, that could be because they have a problem with their hearing. Maybe they don't understand the language. Maybe they try but become easily distracted from the intended path. Maybe they don't hear the instruction because they are shifting focus on different sensations or moving their body. Maybe they can hear and understand, but don't want to follow instructions. Maybe they want to rile the teacher up and know that disobeying will do it.

These all can look the same. Just think about it. And now, how do you think someone is supposed to distinguish between these possible explanations in a systematic way that is validated in research trials to most closely approximate a more detailed assessment (since this is a screen we are talking about)?

No, you don’t screen a 9 year old for conduct disorder when the concern is anxiety or ADHD. The PP school psychologist already explained you can take the sexual/physical violence questions out for younger kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is absurd! Nobody should be performing any type of behavioral or psychological assessments on your child without your written consent!

Report this immediately to the principal, sped director, state offices. Also request the licensing information for this psychologist and report it immediately to their licensing board.

Demand that all tests and testing booklets be turned over to you and not made a part of their permanent record.

Do all of this in writing and follow up in person. Hire a lawyer if you need to.

Quit while you're ahead. If OP asked or consented to starting the 504 plan procedure, the school probably has the right to conduct a battery of psychological assessments. Conners is one of the tests on that list. The psychologist was asked to verify whether ADHD could be a reason to develop a 504 plan.

This is all to OP's kid's benefit.

Federal law requires the school to obtain consent from the youth’s legal guardian before conducting any individual assessments.

One can assume proper informed consent was not given since the OP is livid that the test was performed and clearly didn’t understand the scope of the assessment prior to administration.

Somebody failed at their job.

Ha ha! Yes, the OP and your good self, are failing a basic comprehension test. OP consented to further evidence gathering, the psychologist is merely doing their job. This is a standard test, one of many.

You have no legal leg to stand on. Do not talk of what you don't know. This is the SN Forum, most of us have been in this situation, and we're fine with it, because we understand how assessments work.

OP's reaction actually makes me wonder whether there IS a problem in that department that she'd rather not explore. No normal parent who wants to help their child get a 504 would balk at that sort of question. All the kid has to say is no. I'm sure my son said no when he was asked, at 6, 10 and 17.

I am a normal parent who happens to be a normal lawyer. I would have a huge problem if the school asked my kids questions involving criminal behavior without my *informed* consent - and that means specific test names and the diagnostic purpose and data collected.

If a parent wasn't happy with the Connors form questions, there are other standardized test that could be used for ADHD assessments

+1 from another lawyer.

Lawyers need to stay in their lane. You're not a psychologist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School Psychologist here...I have given the conners thousands of times...I always wondered if any parent would get upset over the nature of some of the questions....but not once in my years as a veteran psych...until I saw this thread.

Same here!

I have been a school psychologist for 24 years. (To my school psych peeps- on the Conners 4 you can now disable conduct disorder questions and print out the questionnaires without them!) I do warn parents that the Connors is for ages 6 to 18 so a few of the questions are not appropriate for elementary school students, so don't be alarmed if there are a few questions about using a weapon, etc. They can skip those or put never or if they have occurred to call me to discuss it. The reason those questions are there is that they are from taken from the criteria to meet Conduct Disorder in the DSM-5. The criteria to meet it is:

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of property
has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)
Deceitfulness or theft
has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car
often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)
has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)

Serious violations of rules
often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

You should not be sharing specific test questions on an open forum and should request this be removed.

DP. You seem to have a misunderstanding- these aren’t secret questions. And PP is just quoting the DSM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School Psychologist here...I have given the conners thousands of times...I always wondered if any parent would get upset over the nature of some of the questions....but not once in my years as a veteran psych...until I saw this thread.

Same here!

I have been a school psychologist for 24 years. (To my school psych peeps- on the Conners 4 you can now disable conduct disorder questions and print out the questionnaires without them!) I do warn parents that the Connors is for ages 6 to 18 so a few of the questions are not appropriate for elementary school students, so don't be alarmed if there are a few questions about using a weapon, etc. They can skip those or put never or if they have occurred to call me to discuss it. The reason those questions are there is that they are from taken from the criteria to meet Conduct Disorder in the DSM-5. The criteria to meet it is:

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 months from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:

Aggression to people and animals
often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
often initiates physical fights
has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
has been physically cruel to people
has been physically cruel to animals
has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
has forced someone into sexual activity

Destruction of property
has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)
Deceitfulness or theft
has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car
often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)
has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)

Serious violations of rules
often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years
The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning.

You should not be sharing specific test questions on an open forum and should request this be removed.

These tests are available all over the internet for anyone who wants to see them.

Exactly. These are open access. DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is absurd! Nobody should be performing any type of behavioral or psychological assessments on your child without your written consent!

Report this immediately to the principal, sped director, state offices. Also request the licensing information for this psychologist and report it immediately to their licensing board.

Demand that all tests and testing booklets be turned over to you and not made a part of their permanent record.

Do all of this in writing and follow up in person. Hire a lawyer if you need to.

Quit while you're ahead. If OP asked or consented to starting the 504 plan procedure, the school probably has the right to conduct a battery of psychological assessments. Conners is one of the tests on that list. The psychologist was asked to verify whether ADHD could be a reason to develop a 504 plan.

This is all to OP's kid's benefit.

Federal law requires the school to obtain consent from the youth’s legal guardian before conducting any individual assessments.

One can assume proper informed consent was not given since the OP is livid that the test was performed and clearly didn’t understand the scope of the assessment prior to administration.

Somebody failed at their job.

Ha ha! Yes, the OP and your good self, are failing a basic comprehension test. OP consented to further evidence gathering, the psychologist is merely doing their job. This is a standard test, one of many.

You have no legal leg to stand on. Do not talk of what you don't know. This is the SN Forum, most of us have been in this situation, and we're fine with it, because we understand how assessments work.

OP's reaction actually makes me wonder whether there IS a problem in that department that she'd rather not explore. No normal parent who wants to help their child get a 504 would balk at that sort of question. All the kid has to say is no. I'm sure my son said no when he was asked, at 6, 10 and 17.

I am a normal parent who happens to be a normal lawyer. I would have a huge problem if the school asked my kids questions involving criminal behavior without my *informed* consent - and that means specific test names and the diagnostic purpose and data collected.

If a parent wasn't happy with the Connors form questions, there are other standardized test that could be used for ADHD assessments

+1 from another lawyer.

Lawyers need to stay in their lane. You're not a psychologist.

ha ha ha