Abstract
It is unfortunate that the value of school reports and educational records in medico-legal work is not always appreciated.
Solicitors instructing child, adolescent and family psychiatrists in child cases of any type, or where an adult seeks compensation for historic abuse, including sexual abuse, should consider obtaining not only the client’s medical records but also, if available, their nursery and school reports and Local Education Authority records, including school attendance records. Experts’ reports are likely to be less complete without them. Social service records are of course essential in public law child cases, and may be relevant in private law and civil proceedings.
I am frequently asked to carry out assessments without school reports or educational records. I am told I can carry out a further interview and produce a supplementary report when further documents are available. This is less than satisfactory because there may be information which needs to be discussed at interview.
Medical, social services and educational records are helpful because they provide contemporaneous evidence from independent professionals.
Pre-incident school reports frequently indicate a child’s expected educational trajectory and academic potential. Post-incident reports are likely to give some guide as to whether an incident affected a child’s intelligence, academic achievement and/or behaviour. How often after a child’s serious head injury has a parent assured me the child was heading for a career in brain surgery?
Most school reports give details of ‘unauthorised non-attendances’ and ‘lates’, both of which may indicate the parents’ attitudes towards education. Comments suggesting a child has difficulty in separating from a parent often indicate an attachment problem in the child, or depression and loneliness in a single parent. Changes in concentration or attitudes to teachers may be the only confirmatory information about the commencement of abuse. School reports revealing behaviour in school is normal compared with problems at home may suggest relationship problems at home.
School reports often give clues as to how well a child relates to his/her teachers and peer group, and whether the child can share, take turns and work as a team member. Lack of concentration or restlessness, however, may indicate an attention disorder, and lack of sociability can indicate clinical depression or autism. Disrespect for staff and other pupils may indicate oppositional defiant or conduct disorders. Teachers sometimes comment on the effect on children of contact with non-resident parents.
Erratic school attendance usually indicates a troubled home. A child of separated parents may attend school erratically from one parent’s home but not the other. It is should be borne in mind that children in foster care may attend school no more regularly than from their natural parents’ home.
Local Education Authority departments can also be helpful. Their records should include registration certificates setting out details of annual school attendance with reasons for missed school sessions; there are two sessions in each school day. From these, it may be possible to see a regular pattern of non-attendance such as every Monday, after absence through illness or a few days at the beginning of each term or after each half-term break. This sort of pattern suggests the child may have a somatising illness, such as stress-related stomach ache. Anything less than 95% school attendance is usually concerning, especially if the child’s academic achievement is not in keeping with teachers’ expectations. Absences from school following an accident could be detrimental to preparation for an important exam. Prolonged absence may delay an adolescent’s entry into further education or employment.
If the child has been ‘statemented’, that is, in need of extra resources to deal with special educational needs, the Local Education Authority records hold helpful information. Statements are reviewed annually, and may include an educational psychologist’s report, as well as contributions from all the professionals who dealt with the child along with the parents’ opinions. It should be noted that the Statementing process in England was altered last September by the Children & Families Act 2014 so that Education, Health and Care Plans will gradually replace Statements of Special Educational Need.
Educational records often contain information that point to the sort of problems the psychiatrist should be investigating, and are therefore as relevant as medical and social services records.