The purpose of chapter 2 is to describe potential users of ReportWriter, and describe ReportWriter's scope and limitations, the computer hardware and software systems for which ReportWriter was designed, and the components of the ReportWriter package. Seven questions are addressed in this chapter:
1. Who should use ReportWriter?
2. What are the benefits of ReportWriter?
3. What are the limitations of ReportWriter?
4. For what type of client should ReportWriter be used?
5. With which computer systems is ReportWriter compatible?
6. With which word processing applications is ReportWriter compatible?
7. What are the components of ReportWriter?
1. Who should use ReportWriter?
This package was designed to be used by practicing psychologists, psychological associates, and psychometrists writing psychoeducational reports about children and adults. Students who are learning how to do psychoeducational assessments will especially find ReportWriter to be a useful tool. With some adaptation, practitioners can also use this package for writing more clinically oriented psychological reports.
2. What are the benefits of ReportWriter?
As outlined in the introduction, ReportWriter should facilitate the consistent production of a psychological report that parents, teachers and principals comprehend and like to read. This format involves providing detailed information about a client's functioning and enough information about recommended approaches that a reader unfamiliar with the approach can implement it. Psychological reports produced with ReportWriter will also utilize considerate text: technical terms will be explained, examples of concepts and handouts provided will be provided, the report will be organized by functional domain, and the structure of the report will be made salient.
3. What are the limitations of ReportWriter?
ReportWriter does not replace the practitioner. The psychologist, or other professional, interprets the data and writes the report. ReportWriter facilitates the writing process, but does not dictate the content of the report.
4. For what type of client should ReportWriter be used?
ReportWriter was designed as an aid to the writing of psychoeducational reports. Thus, clients for whom it is most useful are those who are attending school or for whom educational issues are of importance. These client groups include: preschool children who are referred due to suspected intellectual giftedness, learning disabilities or developmental delays; developmentally delayed, gifted and learning disabled school-aged children and adolescents; children and adolescents who are referred due to behaviour disorders but for whom academic achievement is an issue; and learning disabled adults who wish guidance regarding educational directions and programming.
ReportWriter comes in two forms: the Complete Psychoeducational Assessment form is an aid to writing reports for assessments comprised of psychological and educational testing, interviewing of clients, parents, and teachers (as required) and one or two classroom observations. The assessment would normally be completed in one to three sessions. The Gifted Screening form is designed for school-based screening programs to identify children who meet specified criteria for intellectual giftedness. These gifted assessments are normally carried out in one session and consist of the administration of a standardized intelligence and achievement test. It is important to note that this form is designed for screening activities only. The Complete Psychoeducational Assessment form should be used for children referred to assess giftedness who require more intensive investigation.
5. With which computer and word processing systems is ReportWriter compatible?
ReportWriter is compatible with both Macintosh OS and Windows Systems.
6. With which word processing applications is ReportWriter compatible?
ReportWriter is designed to be compatible with Microsoft Word 97 for Windows and Microsoft Word 98 for Macintosh, but can be used with earlier versions of word. We anticipate that it will also be compatible with later versions.
7. What are the components of ReportWriter?
ReportWriter consists of 6 parts:
a. Report Forms. These are report templates individually designed for the two types of assessment described above (Complete Psychoeducational Assessment and Gifted Screening Assessment). The labeled report forms may be found in the Report Forms folder. The assessment report forms contain some or all of the following sections: Demographics (name, age, birth date, school, examiner, etc.), Reason for Referral, Background Information, Assessment Questions List, Assessment Questions Discussion Area, and Conclusion.
b. Report Prompt Copies. Report Prompt copies for each assessment report form may be found in the Report Forms folder. The Prompt copies are similar to the report form templates except that they contain a series of prompts under the referral and background sections of the report and under each assessment question. The prompts cover suggested content areas that users may wish to include in their discussion of the question.
c. Test Templates. Test templates can be found under the Insert menu in AutoText Normal or in the Test Glossary folder. In each of these locations you will find a selection of entries consisting of templates and tables for reporting results of commonly administered tests.
d. Form Letters. A selection of form cover letters for sending reports to clients, parents, teachers, psychologists, medical doctors, and other professionals may be found in the Form Letters folder. The specific information pertinent to the client would be filled in by the report writer.
e. Recommendation Handouts. A selection of intervention techniques can be found in the Recommendation Handouts folder. The recommendations Glossary consists of a number of commonly used educational approaches for remediation in reading, written language and mathematics, teaching of learning strategies, and classroom management.