Affirming Report Language – Part 4

Like most of us, I learned how to write reports from my supervisor.

They were solid reports – legally defensible, thorough, sophisticated…and, in retrospect, completely incomprehensible to many of the families I worked with.

When I went into private practice, I began interviewing the people who referred clients to me about what makes for a helpful evaluation. One pediatrician shared a request that literally turned my reports upside down:

“What’s most helpful are your conclusions and diagnosis. I wish reports would start with this information instead of ending with it.”

So I changed my report to start with the end.

The Upside Down Report

It turns out, the standard report format is rooted deep in scholarly tradition.  Dr. Stephanie Nelson shares that our typical report format follows the structure of a research article:

• Intro (Background and History…which the client already knows)

• Methods (Tests we used and validity statements…which are meaningless to the client)

• Results (Numbers and descriptors…which often include a lot of jargon)

• Discussion (Summary and what it all means…i.e. the good stuff!)

While this is a sophisticated way to write up our findings, Dr. Nelson – and many other experts – are now recommending that we…

Put the good stuff first

In other words, our reports may look like this:

• Summary and Diagnosis (the good stuff)

• Recommendations (the actionable stuff)

• Background and History (documenting our record review and interviews)

• Results (what happened during testing)

• Scores (for other practitioners)

The upside down report is not just helpful for our referral sources.  It is one of the many changes that makes our reports more affirming for our clients.

Part of neurodiversity-affirming practice is making our reports more accessible to all kinds of minds.

Starting with the conclusion makes our reports easier to read, easier to understand, and easier to put into action.

Writing for the Reader

The upside report is one of many changes we can make to our reports to make them more understandable to our diverse audience of readers.  

To get the above template and even more tools, check out:

After this on-demand workshop, you’ll walk away with:

• A neurodiversity-affirming report template and examples

• Specific, jargon-free language for writing easy-to-read reports

• Tech and analogue strategies for making your report writing more efficient

I hope to see you there!