Terms of Service

These Terms of Service set out the professional and contractual framework within which All Kinds of Minds Assessments provides its services. They explain the nature and boundaries of the professional relationship and the arrangements that apply before, during and after an agreed consultation or assessment service.

These Terms should be read as an integrated whole. The provisions that apply in an individual case depend on the service that has been agreed and on whether the assessment is privately arranged or commissioned by the H.S.E. Service-specific information and any individual written arrangements that form part of an agreed private service are addressed under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract.

Detailed provisions concerning the respective areas of practice are contained under the relevant sections of these Terms. H.S.E.-commissioned assessments are additionally governed by the arrangements described under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

Practice Identity

All Kinds of Minds Assessments is the registered business name under which Shaun Frandsen operates the practice as a sole trader. The registered Business Name number is 732887.

The practice is based at 1st Floor, 10 Stephen Street, Rathquarter, Sligo, F91 V2XR.

All Kinds of Minds Assessments is not a limited company or a separate legal entity from its proprietor. The registered business name identifies the practice through which the professional services described in these Terms are provided.

Clinical Psychology Lead

All clinical work at All Kinds of Minds Assessments is led by Shaun Frandsen, a Chartered Clinical Psychologist (C.Clin.Psychol., Ps.S.I.). She is a Chartered Member of the Psychological Society of Ireland (P.S.I.; Member No. M5560C) and a Full Member of the Division of Clinical Psychology. Her Clinical Psychology education and professional training were completed at accredited American universities, with undergraduate education at the University of Georgia followed by postgraduate professional training through the Pacific University Psy.D. Programme. Following her relocation to Ireland, her qualifications were formally recognised through a Statement of Equivalency from the Department of Health Validation Unit.

Shaun has 15 years of Clinical Psychology experience within the Irish public health service, including six years with Mater C.A.M.H.S. and nine years as a Senior Clinical Psychologist across H.S.E. Northwest C.A.M.H.S. and Primary Care Psychology. Her work at All Kinds of Minds Assessments is grounded in current research and professional ethics and delivered within a neurodiversity-affirming framework that understands each child or young person as an individual, with their strengths, differences, developmental context, and support needs considered together.

Multidisciplinary Autism Assessment

Autism assessments include multidisciplinary input from Tina Usborne, C.O.R.U.-registered Speech and Language Therapist (Reg. No. 016775). Tina brings more than 35 years of clinical experience across Ireland and the United States, spanning hospital, school and community settings, and currently works as a Senior Speech and Language Therapist within the H.S.E. Primary Care Speech and Language Service.

For children and adolescents completing an Autism assessment, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (A.D.O.S.-2) is undertaken collaboratively by Shaun and Tina. Both clinicians participate jointly in the appointment, and the findings are considered within the wider multidisciplinary assessment rather than interpreted in isolation.

Shaun remains professionally responsible for the Clinical Psychology components of the assessment, while Tina remains professionally responsible for the Speech and Language Therapy work she undertakes. Where a multidisciplinary diagnostic conclusion is reached, both clinicians contribute their respective professional perspectives and assessment findings to the overall formulation.

Professional and Ethical Standards

All Kinds of Minds practises in accordance with applicable Irish law and the professional and ethical standards relevant to the services provided.

The Clinical Psychologist practises in accordance with the current Psychological Society of Ireland Code of Professional Ethics and relevant P.S.I. professional guidance. Given her doctoral training in the United States, relevant principles from the American Psychological Association may also inform professional practice where appropriate, but they do not replace Irish law or the professional standards applicable to practice in Ireland.

The detailed requirements concerning professional competence, consent, confidentiality, safeguarding, clinical independence, reasonable adjustment, assessment practice, reporting and professional boundaries are addressed in their respective sections of these Terms.

Nature of the Practice

All Kinds of Minds is a specialist, assessment-focused practice for children and adolescents. The assessment services provided, the age range served, the areas within and outside the formal diagnostic scope of the practice, and circumstances in which another professional or service may be more appropriate are set out under Scope of Practice.

Professional services are provided for a defined assessment or consultation purpose rather than as an open-ended clinical-care relationship. The contractual scope of an individual service is addressed under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract, and the ending of the active professional relationship is addressed under Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct, and Professional Boundaries.

Private and H.S.E.-Commissioned Services

All Kinds of Minds provides both privately arranged professional services and assessments commissioned separately by the H.S.E.

Private services are agreed directly with All Kinds of Minds in accordance with the applicable private contract arrangements set out in these Terms.

H.S.E.-commissioned assessments are provided by All Kinds of Minds as an independent service provider within the scope authorised by the H.S.E. They are additionally subject to the H.S.E. referral, commissioning and governance arrangements applicable to that work. The detailed relationship between those arrangements and these public Terms is addressed under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

Private services and H.S.E.-commissioned services remain distinct. A private service does not extend or alter an H.S.E. commission, and an H.S.E.-commissioned referral does not create a private assessment contract with the family.

Related Policies and Information

These Terms should be read alongside the separate public policies that apply to the practice. The Privacy Policy explains how personal and special-category information is processed. The Cookies Policy addresses the use of cookies and similar technologies on the Website. The Feedback and Complaints Policy explains how feedback, concerns and complaints may be raised. The Child Safeguarding Statement sets out the practice's safeguarding arrangements and responsibilities in relation to children and young people.

Service-specific pages on the Website provide additional information about individual assessment pathways and current service arrangements. The relationship between Website information and an agreed private service is governed under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract and Website, E-Mail, and External Links.

Statutory rights and the effect of mandatory Irish law are addressed under Governing Law and Statutory Rights.

A private contract is formed when the particular professional service has been identified, the applicable fee and payment arrangement have been made clear, the required booking or acceptance steps have been completed, and the service has been confirmed by All Kinds of Minds.

A contract may be formed electronically, including through the practice's booking system or agreed written electronic communication.

Where the assessment pathway requires individual discussion or configuration before booking, the assessment contract is formed when the pathway and material scope of the assessment, the applicable fee and payment arrangement, and the booking arrangements have been confirmed and accepted.

Parent Consultation and Subsequent Assessment

For private Autism and A.D.H.D. assessment pathways, including combined pathways, the Parent Consultation is a separate booked professional service and forms its own contract.

The Parent Consultation is not a deposit, instalment or advance payment towards a later assessment. Booking or completing it does not commit the family to proceed to assessment and does not itself create a contract for a subsequent assessment.

Where a full assessment is subsequently agreed, that assessment forms a separate contract when the assessment pathway, material scope, applicable fee and payment arrangement have been confirmed and accepted.

Standalone S.L.D. and Cognitive Assessment pathways may proceed directly to an assessment contract without a preceding Parent Consultation where the pathway has been accepted as suitable and the assessment is booked.

What Forms Part of the Agreement

The agreement for a private service is determined by these Terms, the service-specific information applicable to the service being booked, the confirmed booking and payment arrangements, and any specific written arrangement or variation expressly agreed in relation to that service.

Oral or written statements made by or on behalf of All Kinds of Minds also form part of the agreement where applicable law provides that they do so, including where a family reasonably relied upon the statement when deciding to enter into the service contract.

These sources are read together. A specific written arrangement expressly agreed for an individual service takes precedence over a more general description to the extent of any genuine inconsistency, provided that the arrangement is lawful and does not remove or restrict a right or contractual protection that cannot lawfully be excluded.

The effect of later changes to generally published Website information, fees or these Terms is addressed under Changes to These Terms and, where relevant, Fees and Payment.

Assessment Pathways and Individual Assessment Components

An assessment contract is ordinarily for the agreed assessment pathway and its clinical purpose rather than for an inflexible sequence of individual tests, questionnaires, interviews or other procedures.

The assessment pathway establishes the material scope of the professional service. The particular assessment tools, sources of information, order of procedures and other clinical components used within that pathway are selected according to the assessment question, the information available and the professional judgement of the clinician or clinicians involved.

Descriptions of assessment components on the Website or in service information should be understood in that context. Where a particular component has been expressly confirmed as forming part of an individual assessment, that confirmation forms part of the agreed service, subject to clinically appropriate refinement as described below.

Clinical Refinement Within the Agreed Scope

Psychological assessment is an iterative professional process. Information obtained during an assessment may show that a planned procedure is unnecessary, that another source or method would answer the clinical question more appropriately, that the sequence should change, or that a particular component cannot appropriately be used.

The assessment plan may therefore be refined during the course of the assessment where the change remains consistent with the purpose and material scope of the service already agreed.

Clinical refinement does not permit the practice to substitute a materially different assessment service, materially expand the agreed pathway, or impose an additional charge without agreement. Where a proposed change would materially alter the service the family agreed to purchase, the change will be explained and expressly agreed before the materially different work proceeds.

The clinical considerations affecting whether a particular procedure can validly or appropriately be completed are addressed under Assessment Process, Participation, Access and Reasonable Adjustments and Assessment Evidence, Previous Assessments and Reassessment.

Additional and Optional Professional Work

A clinical recommendation for further assessment, an additional assessment component or another professional service does not itself add that work to the existing contract or create an obligation to purchase it.

Where additional work falls naturally within an assessment already underway, it may be expressly agreed as an addition or variation to the existing assessment contract. Its scope and any additional fee will be confirmed before the additional work begins.

Where a later service is genuinely separate from the original assessment, including an optional appointment or other separately offered professional service that was not included in the agreed pathway, it forms a separate agreement when booked.

Nature and Limits of the Contracted Service

The contracted service is the agreed professional consultation or assessment service. Where an assessment is contracted, the agreement is for the professional assessment process and resulting clinical opinion within the agreed scope, not for a predetermined diagnostic or other external outcome. Diagnostic formulation and assessment outcomes are addressed under Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes, while decisions made by schools, public bodies and other organisations are addressed under Reports, External Use and Third-Party Decisions.

Each private contract is limited to the particular professional service agreed. It does not create an open-ended clinical-care relationship or an automatic entitlement to later assessment, review of new information, liaison, advocacy, additional correspondence or other professional work after that service has been completed.

What constitutes later professional work and how the active professional relationship ends are addressed under Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries.

H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments

An assessment commissioned by the H.S.E. is not a private assessment purchased by the family and does not become one merely because the child, young person or family participates in the assessment.

The H.S.E. authorises the commissioned assessment scope and pays All Kinds of Minds for the professional work falling within that commission. The private contract-formation provisions above therefore do not apply to the H.S.E.-funded assessment itself.

Any genuinely separate private service must be clearly distinguished from the commissioned work and cannot be used to circumvent, duplicate or extend the scope authorised by the H.S.E. The detailed arrangements governing H.S.E.-commissioned referrals are set out under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

Nothing in these public Terms varies or overrides the applicable commissioning arrangements between All Kinds of Minds and the H.S.E.

All Kinds of Minds Assessments provides both privately commissioned assessments and assessments commissioned separately by the Health Service Executive. The same core professional, ethical, clinical, safeguarding and quality standards apply to all assessment work. H.S.E.-commissioned assessments are additionally subject to the referral, contractual, governance, information-management, reporting, audit and other requirements applying to the commissioned service. The H.S.E. arrangements require the Service Provider to maintain clinical governance, risk-management, safeguarding, consent and quality-assurance processes appropriate to the work being undertaken.

For a private assessment, the service agreement is between the client or family and All Kinds of Minds and is governed by these Terms and the assessment pathway agreed with the practice.

Where an assessment is commissioned by the H.S.E., All Kinds of Minds provides the assessment as an independent service provider within the scope authorised by the H.S.E. The referral, assessment requirements and administrative arrangements applying to that commissioned service are determined by the relevant H.S.E. arrangements.

These Terms continue to apply to the professional assessment service provided by All Kinds of Minds insofar as they are consistent with the applicable H.S.E. arrangements. They do not amend or replace those arrangements. Where an aspect of an H.S.E.-commissioned assessment is governed differently by the applicable H.S.E. requirements, including referral, scheduling, payment, authorised assessment scope, information governance, report circulation, audit, records management or contractual case closure, the H.S.E. requirements govern that aspect of the commissioned service.

Fees and Scope of Commissioned Work

Families referred for an assessment that has been commissioned and funded by the H.S.E. are not charged the private assessment fees described elsewhere in these Terms for that commissioned work. Payment for the commissioned assessment is made by the H.S.E. to the Service Provider under the applicable H.S.E. arrangements.

The assessment undertaken through the H.S.E. pathway is limited to the work commissioned or otherwise authorised within that pathway. Where additional assessment is clinically indicated but falls outside the authorised scope, it will not be added to the H.S.E.-commissioned assessment without the prior approval required under the applicable H.S.E. arrangements. Current H.S.E. requirements expressly require additional elements outside the commissioned specification to be sanctioned in advance.

Where a family separately enquires about a privately funded service while H.S.E.-commissioned work is active, the proposed service must be genuinely separate, clinically appropriate and clearly distinguished from the H.S.E.-commissioned assessment. Private work will not be used to circumvent H.S.E. authorisation requirements or unnecessarily duplicate assessment already commissioned by the H.S.E.

Referral and Scheduling

H.S.E.-commissioned referrals do not join the practice's private wait lists. They are managed through the applicable H.S.E. referral and commissioning arrangements and according to the capacity, scheduling, communication and completion requirements applying to that pathway.

Once an appropriate H.S.E. referral has been accepted by the practice, All Kinds of Minds communicates directly with the family as necessary to arrange the assessment and establish the consent and information-sharing arrangements required for the service.

Clinical Independence

Clinical conclusions remain the independent professional responsibility of the assessing clinician or clinicians.

H.S.E. commissioning determines the service and assessment scope being commissioned. It does not predetermine whether a diagnosis will be made, require a particular diagnostic conclusion, or alter the clinician's obligation to interpret the available evidence independently and in accordance with professional standards.

Reports and recommendations are similarly based on the child or young person's assessed profile and functional needs rather than on a predetermined service outcome. H.S.E. commissioning requirements themselves require reports to meet professional standards and recommendations to be specific, evidence-based and linked to identified functional need.

Location and Delivery of H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments

H.S.E.-commissioned assessments are delivered from the practice's independent clinical premises and in accordance with the accessibility, equipment, clinical and assessment-delivery requirements applying to the commissioned service.

Some elements of an assessment may be undertaken remotely where this is clinically appropriate and permitted within the relevant H.S.E. pathway. Other assessment elements require in-person completion. The method used for each component will therefore reflect both professional judgement and the requirements applying to the commissioned assessment. The H.S.E. specification permits, for example, remote background-history and questionnaire work and, with appropriate agreement, remote feedback, while reserving other assessment elements for in-person completion.

Assessment of Need

An H.S.E.-commissioned Autism assessment may, in some circumstances, form the full clinical assessment required within an Assessment of Need process or may contribute to a broader Assessment of Need. The precise position depends on the referral and statutory pathway applying to the individual child or young person.

Where the assessment forms part of an Assessment of Need process, the clinical report and any required A.O.N. Summary documentation will be completed and provided in accordance with the applicable H.S.E. requirements. The statutory Assessment of Need process and determination remain matters for the relevant H.S.E. Assessment Officer. H.S.E. clarification specifically distinguishes the Service Provider's clinical report from the Assessment Officer's statutory A.O.N. report.

Reports and Feedback

H.S.E.-commissioned assessments include the clinical reporting and feedback required within the commissioned pathway.

The final multidisciplinary clinical report is provided to the appropriate parent or legal guardian, or to the young person where applicable, and is also provided to the nominated H.S.E. recipient in accordance with the commissioning arrangements. Where an Assessment of Need is involved, the required A.O.N. Summary documentation is also provided through the applicable H.S.E. process.

Relevant reports or assessment information may also be shared with other professionals where this forms part of the authorised H.S.E. pathway, valid consent or other lawful authority exists, or disclosure is otherwise required by law. The confidentiality and information-sharing provisions elsewhere in these Terms continue to apply.

Information Governance and Records

H.S.E.-commissioned assessment information is managed in accordance with applicable data-protection law, professional confidentiality requirements and the H.S.E. information-governance arrangements applying to the commissioned service.

The precise data-protection roles of the H.S.E. and All Kinds of Minds depend on the processing activity being undertaken. Where All Kinds of Minds processes H.S.E. personal data on behalf of the H.S.E., it must act in accordance with the H.S.E.'s documented instructions and the applicable Data Processing Agreement. The H.S.E. arrangements also require need-to-know access, confidentiality, appropriate information-security controls, secure handling of records and appropriate procedures for data-subject rights and data-security incidents.

Assessment information and documentation are securely transferred, retained, returned or deleted in accordance with the applicable H.S.E. contractual and data-processing requirements and any independent legal or professional obligation applying to the practice. The Privacy Policy provides further information about the data-protection arrangements applying to H.S.E.-commissioned and private assessments.

Safeguarding, Governance and Complaints

The safeguarding and professional responsibilities described elsewhere in these Terms apply equally to H.S.E.-commissioned assessments. H.S.E.-commissioned work is also subject to the applicable H.S.E. governance requirements concerning Children First, consent, safeguarding, risk management, clinical governance, quality assurance and audit.

All Kinds of Minds maintains its own Feedback and Complaints Policy. Where an assessment has been commissioned by the H.S.E., additional H.S.E. complaint, review or escalation arrangements may also apply. The appropriate route will be explained where relevant. The H.S.E. Service Arrangement requires providers to maintain an approved complaints process and to cooperate with the applicable H.S.E. complaints framework.

Relationship Between Private and H.S.E.-Commissioned Services

The availability of private services does not alter the terms of an H.S.E.-commissioned assessment, and an H.S.E. referral does not create an entitlement to privately offered services beyond the scope commissioned by the H.S.E.

Conversely, a family's use of a private assessment service does not place that assessment within an H.S.E.-commissioned pathway unless the H.S.E. has separately commissioned the work.

The distinction is maintained so that families can understand who has commissioned the assessment, what work has been authorised, who is responsible for payment, how information will be handled and circulated, and which contractual or administrative arrangements apply.

All Kinds of Minds Assessments is a specialist, Clinical Psychology-led assessment practice for children and adolescents who are aged six years or older and have not yet reached their 18th birthday at the time of referral. The practice provides formal diagnostic assessment of Autism, A.D.H.D. and Specific Learning Disability (S.L.D.), including dyslexia and dyscalculia, together with Cognitive Assessment and, where clinically indicated, Adaptive Behaviour Assessment. Combined assessment pathways are available where more than one neurodevelopmental difference requires formal consideration.

Autism assessment is multidisciplinary and includes Speech and Language Therapy input as part of the assessment pathway.

Assessment is comprehensive, individualised and formulation-led. The purpose is not only to determine whether applicable diagnostic criteria are met, but to develop a meaningful understanding of the child or young person's strengths, differences, support needs, developmental context and the factors influencing their everyday experiences. Detailed requirements concerning assessment evidence and diagnostic formulation are addressed separately under Assessment Evidence, Previous Assessments and Reassessment and Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes.

All Kinds of Minds is an assessment-focused practice rather than a mental-health treatment, therapeutic, medical or crisis service. It does not provide medication consultation or prescribing, psychiatric management, psychotherapy, crisis intervention, ongoing behavioural intervention, or the range of continuing multidisciplinary supports available through larger health and disability services. Where a child's needs extend substantially beyond a focused assessment pathway, another service may provide a more appropriate or sufficiently comprehensive response.

A.D.H.D. Assessment Within the Practice

A.D.H.D. assessment is available for children and adolescents whose A.D.H.D.-related support needs fall within the low-to-moderate range, where a Psychology-led assessment is considered appropriate and a medication consultation is not being sought.

Moderate support needs are considered case-by-case following the Parent Consultation. Relevant considerations include the young person's developmental history, the nature and pervasiveness of their attention and regulation differences, everyday functioning across settings, co-occurring needs, existing supports and the purpose for which assessment is being sought.

“Low-to-moderate support needs” describes suitability for this particular service. It is not a diagnostic severity category, does not minimise the significance of the young person's experiences and does not lower the threshold for an A.D.H.D. diagnosis. Where A.D.H.D. is identified, the full applicable diagnostic criteria must be met.

A.D.H.D. is not diagnosed solely from rating-scale scores or observational data. Current NICE guidance similarly requires a full clinical and psychosocial assessment, evidence of meaningful impact and characteristics occurring across two or more important settings.

Combined Autism and A.D.H.D., S.L.D. and A.D.H.D., and broader combined pathways are also available where clinically appropriate and where the relevant suitability requirements are met.

Clinical Psychologists can undertake diagnostic assessment of A.D.H.D. where appropriately trained and experienced, but they do not prescribe or medically manage A.D.H.D. medication. Where a family is specifically seeking medication consultation or management, a psychiatry- or medically led A.D.H.D. pathway is therefore more appropriate.

Similarly, where the young person's A.D.H.D. presentation is sufficiently substantial or complex that ongoing psychiatric or multidisciplinary assessment and support are likely to be required, another service may provide a more appropriate pathway. The current H.S.E. C.A.M.H.S. Operational Guideline includes a clinical presentation of moderate-to-severe A.D.H.D. within its referral criteria, subject also to the wider C.A.M.H.S. criteria concerning severity, complexity and the appropriateness or effectiveness of Primary Care treatment.

Where a young person's needs appear to fall within this range, families may therefore be advised to discuss with their G.P. whether an H.S.E. C.A.M.H.S. referral is appropriate or to consider an appropriate private psychiatry-led service. All Kinds of Minds does not determine eligibility for or acceptance by another service.

Considering Overlapping and Differential Presentations

Neurodevelopmental differences frequently overlap, and similar outward experiences can arise for different reasons. Autism and A.D.H.D. assessments therefore consider relevant co-occurring and alternative explanations rather than assuming that every reported experience arises from the neurodevelopmental profile initially queried.

Within an Autism assessment, relevant considerations may include A.D.H.D., Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder, cognitive and learning differences, language and communication needs, sensory experiences and emotional or mental-health factors that may coexist with Autism or contribute to aspects of the young person's presentation. Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder is considered separately from Autism where appropriate because the two diagnoses are not made concurrently.

Similarly, an A.D.H.D. assessment considers whether reported differences may be associated with A.D.H.D., Autism, learning differences, mental-health experiences, environmental demands or a combination of influences.

A standalone S.L.D. assessment has a more specific remit, focusing on the cognitive and attainment information relevant to dyslexia and/or dyscalculia. It does not constitute a formal Autism or A.D.H.D. assessment. Where meaningful indicators of another neurodevelopmental difference emerge, these may be described and an appropriate additional, combined or alternative assessment pathway recommended.

Detailed clinical differentiation and decisions about formal diagnosis are governed by Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes.

When Another Service May Be More Appropriate

The most appropriate assessment pathway depends on the young person's overall developmental profile, complexity of need, current wellbeing and the supports likely to be required following assessment. There are circumstances in which a focused private assessment would provide too narrow a service even where Autism, A.D.H.D. or another neurodevelopmental difference forms part of the clinical picture.

Where there are indicators of significant global developmental or adaptive needs, Intellectual Disability or wider complex disability-related needs, a broader multidisciplinary disability pathway may be more appropriate. H.S.E. Children's Disability Network Teams support children and young people under 18 with complex needs associated with disability, while children with less complex needs generally access Primary Care services.

Cognitive Assessment at All Kinds of Minds can provide useful information about a young person's learning and cognitive profile. However, where findings raise a broader question concerning Intellectual Disability, substantial adaptive support needs or complex developmental disability, a multidisciplinary pathway may be required so that intellectual and adaptive functioning, communication, health, everyday participation and ongoing support needs can be understood together.

The presence of mental-health needs does not automatically make neurodevelopmental assessment inappropriate. Autism and A.D.H.D. frequently coexist with anxiety, low mood, distress and other emotional experiences.

There are circumstances, however, in which significant current mental-health or safety concerns should take priority over elective neurodevelopmental assessment. This includes presentations requiring active psychiatric treatment, stabilisation, urgent risk assessment or multidisciplinary mental-health care, such as substantial mood or anxiety difficulties, significant self-harm or suicidal ideation, psychosis, a significant eating disorder, or another presentation in which current mental-health or safety needs are the primary clinical concern.

The current H.S.E. C.A.M.H.S. Operational Guideline identifies moderate-to-severe mood and anxiety disorders, psychosis, moderate-to-severe eating disorders, significant self-harm or suicidal ideation in the context of mental disorder, and moderate-to-severe A.D.H.D. among presentations that may meet the clinical threshold for C.A.M.H.S., subject to the complete referral criteria.

This does not mean that neurodevelopmental assessment can never occur alongside mental-health needs. The question is one of clinical priority and suitability. Where immediate mental-health or safety needs require active treatment, stabilisation or crisis response, those needs take precedence. Neurodevelopmental assessment can be considered when it can be undertaken safely, meaningfully and within an appropriate overall care context.

All Kinds of Minds is not an emergency or crisis service. The confidentiality, safeguarding and professional responsibilities that apply if significant safety information becomes known during professional involvement are addressed under Confidentiality, Safeguarding and Required Disclosures.

Presentations Outside the Formal Diagnostic Scope of the Practice

A comprehensive psychological assessment may identify or describe experiences and needs that fall outside the formal diagnostic scope of All Kinds of Minds. These are not disregarded simply because the practice does not provide the corresponding diagnosis. Where relevant, they can contribute meaningfully to the formulation, and appropriate further assessment or professional input may be recommended.

• Developmental Coordination Disorder (D.C.D./Dyspraxia): Motor-coordination differences may be reported or observed during psychological assessment, but D.C.D. is not formally diagnosed through this practice. Assessment ordinarily requires direct evaluation of motor skills and their functional impact and may involve Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Paediatric input according to the child's presentation.

• Sensory Processing Differences: Sensory experiences are routinely explored where relevant and are particularly important within Autism assessment. Differences in sensory responsivity may substantially influence regulation, participation, comfort and everyday functioning. “Sensory Processing Disorder” is not diagnosed as a separate D.S.M.-5-TR presentation through this practice. Where sensory differences require more detailed functional assessment or intervention, Occupational Therapy input may be recommended.

• Persistent Demand Avoidance / P.D.A.: A strong or persistent need to resist, negotiate, defer or avoid demands can be highly significant for an individual child and should be understood rather than dismissed. “Pathological Demand Avoidance” is not a recognised standalone diagnosis within either the D.S.M. or I.C.D., there is no standardised diagnostic assessment for P.D.A., and its status as a distinct clinical entity remains contested. At All Kinds of Minds, demand-avoidant experiences are described and formulated individually, considering the young person's need for autonomy and predictability, neurodevelopmental profile, anxiety or threat responses, sensory and cognitive load, executive demands, environmental expectations, relationships and accumulated stress. This allows the experience itself to be taken seriously without imposing an additional diagnostic label that is not clinically established.

• Oppositional Defiant Disorder (O.D.D.): O.D.D. is a recognised diagnostic category but is not a primary diagnostic focus of this practice. Where behaviours described as oppositional or defiant are reported, the assessment considers what these behaviours may communicate or reflect, including distress, unmet needs, communication differences, executive or emotional regulation demands, autonomy, predictability, environmental mismatch, relationship patterns and other developmental or mental-health factors. Where O.D.D. or broader behavioural and emotional needs remain an important diagnostic consideration, or where substantial ongoing intervention is required, a more comprehensive mental-health or multidisciplinary pathway may be recommended.

• Eating Disorders: Formal assessment and treatment of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and other specified feeding or eating disorders, fall outside the scope of All Kinds of Minds. These presentations can involve significant psychological and physical-health needs and require an appropriate specialist mental-health, eating-disorder or medical pathway. Where there is an immediate concern about physical stability or safety, urgent medical assessment may be required.

• Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (A.R.F.I.D.) and Significant Restrictive Eating: Restrictive or highly selective eating may occur for many reasons, including sensory differences, anxiety, interoceptive differences, predictability, previous adverse experiences with food or wider neurodevelopmental needs. These experiences may be explored and described where relevant to an Autism or broader neurodevelopmental formulation. A.R.F.I.D., however, is a recognised feeding and eating disorder and is not formally diagnosed or treated through this practice. Where the pattern raises concern about A.R.F.I.D., nutritional adequacy, growth, physical health or substantial interference with everyday life, further medical, Dietetic, mental-health or multidisciplinary assessment should be considered.

• Childhood Apraxia of Speech and Other Speech Disorders: Speech and motor-speech disorders require assessment by an appropriately trained Speech and Language Therapist. Childhood Apraxia of Speech, in particular, requires relevant paediatric motor-speech expertise, with Paediatric, Neurology, Occupational Therapy or other input where the wider presentation indicates this.

• Auditory Processing Differences: Formal assessment and diagnosis of Central Auditory Processing Disorder fall primarily within Audiology. Speech and Language Therapy, Psychology, educational information and other disciplines may also contribute to differential assessment because listening difficulties can overlap with language, attention, cognition, hearing and learning differences.

• Attachment-Related Disorders, including Reactive Attachment Disorder (R.A.D.) and Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (D.S.E.D.): These diagnoses require detailed consideration of developmental and caregiving history, relationships, context and alternative explanations and are not formally diagnosed within this specialist neurodevelopmental practice. Where they are a significant diagnostic consideration, specialist child mental-health and/or broader multidisciplinary or social-care assessment may be more appropriate.

• Repetitive or Unusual Movement Presentations: Repetitive movement and stimming can be meaningful forms of sensory or emotional regulation and may appropriately be described within an Autism or neurodevelopmental assessment. Where there is concern about involuntary movements, tics, loss of previously established motor control, seizures or another possible neurological or medical presentation, Paediatric or Neurology assessment may be recommended.

• Personality Disorders and Other Complex Enduring Emotional or Relational Presentations: Formal assessment of Personality Disorder falls outside the scope of this child and adolescent neurodevelopmental practice. This is a scope decision rather than a statement that Personality Disorder can never be diagnosed before adulthood. Where a young person presents with substantial and enduring difficulties involving emotional regulation, identity, relationships, behaviour, self-harm or risk that require specialist mental-health formulation and ongoing intervention, an appropriate child and adolescent mental-health pathway is recommended.

This list is not exhaustive. A presentation falling outside the diagnostic scope of All Kinds of Minds does not mean that the experience is unimportant or that it cannot contribute meaningfully to the child or young person's formulation. Where another professional discipline or service is better placed to provide the necessary diagnostic assessment, medical care, intervention or ongoing multidisciplinary support, this will be explained and appropriate signposting provided.

The P.S.I. Code requires psychologists to recognise the boundaries of their competence and to consult or refer where another professional is more likely to provide the competent service required.

Forensic and Court-Directed Assessment

All Kinds of Minds provides clinical and educational psychological assessment. It does not provide forensic, court-directed, parenting-capacity, child-welfare, voice-of-the-child or other specialist assessments whose primary purpose is litigation, family-law proceedings or determination of a legal dispute.

The practice does not accept instructions to undertake Section 32, Section 47 or other court-directed family-law assessments or to act as an expert witness within the ordinary assessment pathway.

This does not prevent a family from lawfully using an existing clinical report in legal proceedings. The purpose and limitations of an existing report, and the distinction between a clinical report and forensic expert evidence, are addressed under Reports, External Use and Third-Party Decisions.

H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments

The private scope described above defines the services that All Kinds of Minds elects to offer through its private pathway. H.S.E.-commissioned referrals are separately governed by the professional service and assessment scope authorised by the H.S.E.

The same core standards concerning professional competence, clinical independence, consent, safeguarding and responsible assessment apply. The detailed arrangements governing H.S.E.-commissioned work are addressed under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

All Kinds of Minds Assessments reviews private referrals before they are accepted because a specialist assessment pathway should be appropriate to the child's age, referral question, current circumstances and needs, and to the professional and service scope of the practice.

Suitability review is not a diagnostic assessment and does not predetermine the eventual assessment outcome. Its purpose is to decide whether the requested private pathway is an appropriate service to offer at that time.

Initial Suitability Review

A private referral begins with the Assessment Suitability Form. The information requested is intended to establish whether the referral appears to fall within the age range and Scope of Practice, whether there are factors that require another service or pathway to take priority, and whether there is a reasonable basis for proceeding to the next stage of the private assessment process.

Where the information provided indicates that the referral appears appropriate, the family will ordinarily be asked to complete the required Intake and Consent documentation. These documents must be received and reviewed before a child or young person is accepted onto the relevant private wait list.

Completion or submission of forms does not itself mean that the referral has been accepted. The contractual effect of an enquiry, suitability review, wait-list position, Parent Consultation or later assessment booking is addressed under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract.

Factors Considered in Determining Suitability

Suitability is considered individually. Relevant considerations may include:

• whether the child or young person is within the age range and the referral question falls within the Scope of Practice;

• the nature and complexity of the assessment being sought;

• the child's current neurodevelopmental, learning and support needs insofar as these affect whether this particular service is an appropriate assessment setting;

• whether current mental-health or safety needs require another assessment or support pathway to take priority;

• whether the assessment can reasonably and safely be undertaken within the physical, clinical and multidisciplinary resources of the practice;

• whether meaningful participation appears achievable with appropriate reasonable adjustment;

• whether another current or planned assessment substantially overlaps with the proposed work;

• whether sufficient relevant information is available, or can reasonably be obtained, to undertake the proposed assessment responsibly;

• whether the required consent position can be established under Consent, Guardianship and Family Circumstances;

• whether family or legal circumstances create a material concern about valid consent, confidentiality, professional objectivity, or the use of the assessment within an unresolved dispute; and

• whether the purpose for which the assessment is being sought is consistent with the clinical and educational purpose of the service rather than a forensic or court-directed purpose.

No single consideration is treated mechanically where an individual clinical judgement is required. Reasonable adjustments are considered before a disability-related participation need is treated as making the service unsuitable.

The P.S.I. Code requires psychologists to work within the boundaries of their competence and to refer or consult where another professional is more likely to provide the competent service required. Irish equality law separately requires reasonable accommodation of disability-related needs, subject to the statutory limits, and permits differential treatment only to the extent reasonably necessary where a disability could cause harm in the particular circumstances.

Suitability Is Distinct From Diagnostic Outcome

Acceptance of a referral means that the requested pathway appears appropriate to pursue on the information reasonably available at that stage. It does not mean that a particular diagnosis is expected or that the evidence will ultimately support progression through every possible assessment component.

For Autism and A.D.H.D. pathways that include a Parent Consultation, the Parent Consultation provides a further clinical decision point. Information gathered before and during that consultation may show that a full assessment is indicated, that another pathway is more appropriate, or that further assessment is not clinically justified at that time.

This does not make the Parent Consultation incomplete or unsuccessful. Its separate contractual status is addressed under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract. Diagnostic conclusions are addressed only under Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes.

Changes in Circumstances or New Information

Suitability is determined from the information reasonably available at the relevant time. A referral that was appropriate when first reviewed may need to be reconsidered if material circumstances change or significant new information becomes available before the assessment begins.

Families are therefore asked to inform the practice of material changes that could affect the appropriateness or safe planning of the assessment. This may include a substantial change in mental-health or safety needs, a new assessment or diagnosis, involvement of another service in substantially overlapping work, a significant change in family or legal circumstances affecting consent or professional boundaries, or other information that would reasonably have been relevant to the original suitability decision.

The emergence of new information is not treated as wrongdoing merely because it was not known previously.

Where new information indicates that the private pathway is no longer appropriate, the position will be reviewed and explained. If an active professional service has already begun and formal discontinuation becomes necessary, that is governed under Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries.

Information That Is Unavailable or Withheld

Families are expected to provide information reasonably required to determine suitability and to undertake the assessment responsibly.

Not every historical record or potentially useful source must be available before a referral can proceed. The relevant question is whether sufficient information is available to make an appropriate suitability decision and, later, to undertake the agreed assessment to an appropriate professional standard.

Where information necessary to establish suitability, consent or safety is unavailable, the referral may need to remain pending or may be unable to proceed.

A different issue arises where material information known to be relevant to suitability, consent or safety is knowingly withheld or materially misrepresented. Where this affects whether the private service can appropriately be offered, the referral may be declined or reconsidered. The consequences after an active assessment has begun are addressed under Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries.

Where a Private Referral Is Not Suitable

Where the available information indicates that the requested private assessment is not appropriate within the scope of All Kinds of Minds, the referral will not proceed through that pathway.

The family will ordinarily be given a brief explanation of the reason. Where another pathway appears reasonably identifiable, appropriate signposting may be provided. This may include advising the family to discuss Primary Care, C.D.N.T., C.A.M.H.S. or another specialist service with their G.P., or to consider an appropriately qualified private professional.

Signposting does not mean that All Kinds of Minds can determine eligibility for another service, secure acceptance by that service, or assume ongoing case-management responsibility.

Current H.S.E. pathways distinguish Primary Care services for non-complex needs from C.D.N.T. services for complex disability-related needs, while C.A.M.H.S. provides specialist mental-health care for children and young people meeting its referral criteria.

Private Wait-List Management

A child or young person is added to the relevant private wait list only after the required preliminary information and consent documentation have been received, reviewed and accepted.

A wait-list place reserves a position within the relevant private pathway; it does not guarantee an exact appointment date or mean that the eventual assessment outcome has been determined. Waiting times can be affected by available Clinical Psychology capacity, the type of assessment required and, where relevant, multidisciplinary scheduling.

The practice may close a wait list to new referrals when available capacity has been reached and may reopen it when further capacity becomes available. Closing a wait list to new referrals does not, by itself, remove children and young people who have already been accepted onto that wait list.

Families already on a wait list may be contacted to confirm that they still wish to proceed, obtain updated information where reasonably necessary, or arrange the next stage when capacity becomes available. Families are responsible for keeping their contact details reasonably up to date.

Where reasonable attempts to contact a family receive no response, the practice may give a reasonable opportunity to reply before closing the wait-list position.

Where the family later seeks assessment after a wait-list position has been closed, the request may need to enter the suitability process again according to the scope and capacity applying at that time.

Changes to future published fees while a family is waiting are governed under Fees and Payment, and changes to the Terms themselves are governed under Changes to These Terms.

H.S.E.-Commissioned Referrals

H.S.E.-commissioned referrals are separate from the private suitability, purchasing and wait-list pathway described above. A private wait-list position does not create priority or entitlement within an H.S.E.-commissioned pathway, and an H.S.E.-commissioned referral does not place a family on the private wait list.

The H.S.E. determines the authorised referral and commissioned scope in accordance with the applicable arrangements. Those provisions are addressed under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

Valid consent is a fundamental requirement of psychological assessment. Consent must be informed, voluntary and given by a person who has the legal authority and decision-making ability required for the particular assessment. It is an ongoing process rather than a single signature: the person giving consent must have sufficient information about the nature and purpose of the assessment, what it is likely to involve, its relevant limitations and possible outcomes, and their right to ask questions or withdraw consent.

A completed Consent Form records the consent process but does not replace it. Where clarification is needed, consent will be discussed before assessment proceeds. Consent relates to the assessment service that has been agreed. Material changes to the agreed service that require further consent will be discussed appropriately; the way in which an assessment pathway may be clinically refined within its agreed scope is addressed under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract. The H.S.E. National Consent Policy similarly treats consent as an ongoing process and requires valid consent for health and social-care interventions.

Children Under 16

For every planned assessment of a child under the age of 16, All Kinds of Minds requires informed consent from all legal guardians before the assessment proceeds, unless a court order, statutory authority or another valid legal arrangement establishes a different consent position.

This requirement applies to elective assessments undertaken through the practice irrespective of whether legal guardians live together or separately, whether the child primarily lives with one guardian, or whether one guardian ordinarily takes greater responsibility for healthcare or educational arrangements. Where more than one legal guardian exists, each legal guardian must provide their own informed and voluntary consent.

Consent is not inferred from silence, lack of response, previous involvement in another service, payment for the assessment, the consent of another guardian, or an assumption that another guardian would probably agree. Where the practice requires the consent of a legal guardian, inability to contact that guardian does not itself remove the requirement.

The practice requires all known legal guardians to be identified accurately before assessment. Where the guardianship position is unclear, disputed or unusual, the practice may request information or documentation sufficient to establish who has legal authority to consent. Assessment will not proceed while the consent position remains materially uncertain.

A child under 16 is not expected to assume the legal responsibility for consenting to their own assessment through this practice. Their own views, wishes, questions and developing autonomy remain important, however, and they are involved in decision-making in a manner appropriate to their age, maturity, communication and developmental profile. Legal consent from an adult does not mean that a child is expected to participate passively or be compelled through an assessment activity. Meaningful participation, assent, distress, breaks and stopping an assessment activity are addressed under Assessment Process, Participation, Access and Reasonable Adjustments. The H.S.E. National Consent Policy likewise recognises both the legal role of parents and guardians for children under 16 and the child's right to be involved in decisions affecting them.

What Legal Guardianship Means

Legal guardianship concerns responsibility for a child's upbringing and welfare and includes authority in relation to significant decisions affecting the child, including healthcare and education. It is distinct from custody, access and ordinary day-to-day care. Custody concerns where and with whom a child lives and their day-to-day care; access concerns contact with a parent or another person. A person may therefore remain a legal guardian even where the child does not live with them or where their contact with the child is limited.

For the purposes of establishing consent, the following are particularly relevant:

• A child's birth mother is ordinarily an automatic legal guardian, subject to later legal arrangements such as adoption.

• Where a child's parents are married, both are legal guardians. If the parents marry after the child's birth, the other parent acquires guardianship accordingly. Separation or divorce does not, by itself, end either parent's guardianship.

• Adoptive parents are the legal guardians of a child whom they have jointly adopted.

• Where a child's mother and father are not married, the mother is an automatic legal guardian. An unmarried father may also become a legal guardian automatically where the statutory cohabitation requirements are satisfied: the parents must have lived together for at least 12 consecutive months from 18 January 2016 onwards, including at least three months during which both parents lived with the child after the child's birth. An unmarried father who does not acquire guardianship through that route may become a guardian through a statutory declaration agreed with the mother or through appointment by the Court.

• Parentage and guardianship arising through donor-assisted human reproduction are determined by the statutory requirements applicable to the family circumstances. Under the framework described in the H.S.E. National Consent Policy, where the statutory requirements for donor-assisted human reproduction are satisfied, a mother's spouse or civil partner may be a legal parent and guardian, while guardianship for a cohabiting parent may depend upon the applicable residence requirements.

• A step-parent, civil partner or qualifying cohabitant does not acquire guardianship merely by living with or caring for a child. An adult who is married to, in a civil partnership with, or has cohabited for the required period with a parent may apply to the Court for guardianship where the statutory care and relationship requirements are met.

• In specified circumstances, another adult who has provided the child's day-to-day care for the required period may apply to the Court for guardianship where no parent or guardian is willing or able to exercise guardianship responsibilities.

• A guardian may nominate a temporary guardian where serious illness or injury prevents them from exercising their guardianship responsibilities, but the appointment requires the applicable legal process and Court approval.

• A guardian may also appoint a testamentary guardian to take effect following their death, subject to the applicable statutory arrangements.

• Adoption, donor-assisted reproduction, surrogacy, testamentary arrangements, temporary guardianship and individual Court orders can produce more complex legal arrangements. Where these circumstances arise, All Kinds of Minds will rely upon the legal status and authority actually established for the individual child rather than assuming guardianship from a person's family role or description.

The current H.S.E. National Consent Policy contains a detailed summary of these principal guardianship routes, including married and unmarried parents, adoption, donor-assisted reproduction, court-appointed guardians, separation and divorce, temporary guardians and testamentary guardians. The Courts Service similarly distinguishes guardianship from custody and access and identifies automatic, agreed and court-appointed routes to guardianship.

Being a biological parent, being named on a birth certificate, having custody or access, paying maintenance, caring for the child on a day-to-day basis, or being the person who normally brings the child to appointments does not necessarily establish the complete legal guardianship position. Equally, a guardian does not cease to be a guardian merely because they no longer live with the child, have separated from the other parent or have limited involvement in the child's day-to-day life. Where this distinction matters to assessment consent, further confirmation may be required. Separation and divorce do not themselves remove existing guardianship.

Establishing the Guardianship Position

Parents and legal guardians are responsible for providing complete and accurate information about the child's guardianship circumstances. This includes identifying every known legal guardian and disclosing any circumstance that materially affects who has authority to consent to the assessment.

Depending on the circumstances, All Kinds of Minds may request a birth or adoption record, statutory declaration, guardianship order, custody or family-law order, care order, written confirmation from Tusla, or another document relevant to establishing authority. The practice is entitled to satisfy itself that the person providing consent has the legal authority they represent themselves as having.

Where a person states that they are the child's sole legal guardian, the practice may seek sufficient information to understand the basis for that position. A declaration that another biological parent has no involvement with the child is not, by itself, equivalent to confirmation that the other parent has no guardianship rights.

Any Court order affecting guardianship or the authority to make healthcare, assessment or educational decisions must be disclosed where relevant. If an order limits the authority of a particular guardian, gives another person authority to make the relevant decision, or otherwise alters the usual guardianship position, the practice will act according to the operative legal arrangement.

Knowingly withholding or materially misrepresenting information about guardianship or another person's objection to assessment can prevent valid consent from being established and may result in the assessment being unable to proceed or continue. The consequences for an active assessment are addressed under Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries.

Separated or Divorced Parents

Separation, divorce, living in different households, custody arrangements and levels of contact do not in themselves determine guardianship. Where both parents are legal guardians, both remain legal guardians following separation or divorce unless a Court order or other lawful arrangement changes that position.

All Kinds of Minds therefore requires the consent of both legal guardians for a planned assessment of a child under 16 where both remain guardians. This applies even where the child lives primarily or exclusively with one parent, one parent ordinarily makes appointments, or the other parent has limited contact.

Where parents are separated, divorcing or involved in family-law proceedings, the existence of those circumstances does not itself prevent assessment. The relevant issue is whether the legal guardianship and consent position can be established clearly and the necessary consent can be obtained.

The practice does not mediate disputes between legal guardians and does not determine which guardian's view should prevail. Where one legal guardian consents and another does not consent, or where the practice is informed that another guardian objects to the assessment, the assessment will not proceed on the basis of the consenting guardian's agreement alone. The guardians must resolve the consent issue independently, including through legal advice or the Courts where necessary. A guardian may apply to the Court for directions concerning a question affecting the welfare of a child.

Similarly, where an unresolved dispute makes it unclear whether a guardian has authority to consent, the practice will not make its own determination of the family-law issue. Appropriate documentary clarification or other lawful resolution will be required before assessment can proceed.

Young People Aged 16 and 17

A young person aged 16 or 17 can provide legally effective consent to procedures undertaken for the purposes of diagnosis. Section 23 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 provides that the effective consent of a person aged 16 or over to treatment, including a procedure undertaken for diagnosis, does not require additional parental or guardian consent. The H.S.E. National Consent Policy adopts the same position for young people aged 16 and 17.

All Kinds of Minds therefore requires the young person's own informed consent for an assessment undertaken when they are aged 16 or 17. A parent or guardian may make the initial enquiry, assist with arrangements, provide relevant developmental information or pay for the service, but none of these actions replaces the young person's own consent.

Parents and legal guardians can remain important sources of history and support, and their involvement will often contribute substantially to a useful assessment. Their involvement is nevertheless undertaken in a way that respects the young person's autonomy and confidentiality. Where ordinary sharing of assessment information with a parent or legal guardian requires the young person's consent, that consent will be sought.

A parent or guardian does not obtain an unrestricted entitlement to the young person's confidential assessment information merely because they initiated the referral, completed forms, attended an appointment or paid the assessment fee. In general, confidential information concerning a 16- or 17-year-old will not be shared with a parent or legal guardian without the young person's consent unless another lawful basis or professional obligation permits or requires disclosure. The H.S.E. National Consent Policy similarly provides that information about a 16- or 17-year-old should generally not be shared with a parent or guardian without the young person's consent.

The limits of confidentiality, safeguarding disclosures, serious-risk situations, Court requirements and other lawful or required disclosures are addressed under Confidentiality, Safeguarding and Required Disclosures and in the Child Safeguarding Statement.

Consent from a 16- or 17-year-old must be informed and voluntary in the same way as other valid consent. Where there is a specific reason to question whether the young person can understand, use and weigh the information relevant to the assessment decision and communicate a choice, appropriate support will be provided and the consent position considered individually. The H.S.E. National Consent Policy applies a functional approach to decision-making capacity for 16- and 17-year-olds and recognises parental or guardian authority where a young person cannot provide valid consent. Where this issue also raises a question about whether the proposed assessment can appropriately be provided within the practice, suitability will be reconsidered.

If a 16- or 17-year-old does not consent to the proposed assessment, All Kinds of Minds will not undertake that elective assessment. If they withdraw their consent after assessment has begun, further assessment activity will cease subject to any immediate professional steps necessary to bring the involvement to an appropriate end.

Children and Young People in the Care of Tusla

The authority to consent for a child in the care of Tusla depends upon the child's age and legal care status. All Kinds of Minds will therefore establish the relevant care arrangement and the authority of the person giving consent rather than assuming that a foster carer, relative, social worker or parent automatically has authority in every situation.

Where a child is in voluntary care, the ordinary legal rules concerning parental or guardian consent continue to apply. Where a child under 16 is subject to a full care order, Tusla has statutory authority to consent to necessary assessment, examination or treatment. All Kinds of Minds will require consent from an appropriately authorised Tusla representative and may require confirmation that the person providing consent has authority to do so.

Emergency and interim care orders can involve different legal arrangements. Where assessment is proposed under such circumstances, the relevant Court order and any specific authority granted under it must be established before assessment proceeds. The practice will not infer consent authority merely from the fact that a child is known to Tusla or is currently residing outside the parental home.

Foster carers do not automatically acquire legal guardianship solely because they provide day-to-day care. In some circumstances, a foster carer may have obtained a Court order giving them authority to make specified decisions for the child. Where a foster carer or relative asserts authority to consent, the practice may request the relevant order and will act within the authority that the order actually confers.

For a young person aged 16 or 17 who is in care, their own consent remains central. The H.S.E. National Consent Policy provides that the ordinary consent rules applying to young people aged 16 and 17 continue to apply to young people in care.

An H.S.E. or Tusla referral does not, by itself, substitute for valid consent to assessment. Where the H.S.E., Tusla, a Court or another statutory body has lawful authority relevant to the assessment, that authority will be recognised according to its legal effect and the documentation applying to the individual child.

Court Orders and Other Legal Authority

A Court may make orders concerning guardianship or another question affecting a child's welfare. An operative Court order can therefore alter the ordinary consent arrangements by appointing or removing a guardian, restricting a guardian's authority, granting another person defined decision-making powers, or determining that a particular assessment may or may not proceed. The best interests of the child are the paramount consideration in Court proceedings concerning guardianship, custody and upbringing.

Where reliance is placed upon a Court order or another formal legal arrangement, All Kinds of Minds may require a complete copy or sufficient documentary evidence to establish its current effect. The practice will comply with the authority actually conferred by the order and will not assume powers that the document does not grant.

A solicitor's involvement, pending family-law application or assertion by one party that they are entitled to make the decision does not itself alter the legal guardianship position. Where the effect of an order or legal arrangement is materially unclear and cannot reasonably be established, assessment will not proceed until the consent position is clarified.

Withdrawal and Changes in Consent

Consent may be withdrawn.

For a child under 16, where the practice requires the consent of all legal guardians, withdrawal of consent by any legal guardian whose consent is required means that the assessment can no longer continue on the existing consent basis. Where a Court order or statutory arrangement provides a different lawful consent structure, that arrangement applies.

For a young person aged 16 or 17 whose own consent provides the authority for assessment, withdrawal of their consent means that the elective assessment will not continue.

Withdrawal of consent to continue an assessment is distinct from consent or another lawful basis for processing records and personal information already created or received. Information handling following withdrawal is governed by the Privacy Policy. Any financial consequences arising from withdrawal are governed exclusively by Cancellation, Withdrawal, Non-Attendance and Refunds.

Where the identity or authority of a legal guardian changes during an assessment, a relevant Court order is made, a care status changes, or another material change affects the legal basis on which assessment consent was obtained, the practice must be informed promptly. The consent position will then be reviewed before further professional work proceeds.

Assessment at All Kinds of Minds Assessments is undertaken in a manner intended to obtain clinically meaningful information while respecting the rights, dignity, communication, comfort and individual needs of the child or young person. Different parts of an assessment may require different forms of participation. The evidential basis of assessment and the way information is integrated are addressed separately under Assessment Evidence, Previous Assessments and Reassessment.

Meaningful Participation by Children and Young People

Children and young people are not required to communicate, move, interact or regulate themselves in a neurotypical manner in order to participate meaningfully in assessment.

Anxiety, uncertainty, communication differences, sensory needs, A.D.H.D.-related movement or regulation differences, reduced or variable eye contact, stimming, limited speech, a need for additional processing time, a need to move, initial reluctance or difficulty remaining seated do not, in themselves, make a child unsuitable for assessment.

Children and young people may require breaks, movement, sensory supports, reassurance, additional processing time, reduced unnecessary verbal or social demand, clearer preparation, or other individualised supports. The aim is to create conditions in which the child or young person can participate as naturally and comfortably as reasonably possible while allowing the assessment to remain clinically meaningful.

The child or young person's own experience of the assessment matters. The legal and practice requirements concerning consent are addressed under Consent, Guardianship and Family Circumstances. Within this elective assessment service, however, valid guardian consent does not mean that a child will be pressured or coerced through an assessment procedure where they are communicating significant distress, sustained unwillingness to continue or a clear wish for the activity to stop.

Children and young people will be supported to understand what is happening in a manner appropriate to their age, development and communication style. Their verbal and non-verbal communication will be taken seriously throughout the assessment.

Difficulty participating is not treated as misconduct or non-attendance. A child who becomes tearful, needs to move, seeks sensory regulation, requires a break, declines a task, shuts down, communicates frustration or otherwise finds part of the assessment difficult will be responded to according to their individual needs and the clinical context. The first consideration will be whether the assessment can appropriately be supported, adapted, paused, rescheduled or approached differently.

Reasonable Adjustments and Assessment Validity

Parents, caregivers and young people are encouraged to tell All Kinds of Minds about communication, sensory, physical-access, regulation or other needs that may affect participation. Early information can assist with planning, but failure to identify a need in advance does not prevent an adjustment being considered when that need becomes apparent.

All Kinds of Minds will consider disability-related reasonable accommodation in accordance with applicable equality law and will also use clinically appropriate adjustments more broadly where these support fair and meaningful participation.

Depending on the individual child or young person and the assessment being undertaken, adjustments may include planned or additional breaks, movement opportunities, sensory supports, additional processing time, clearer preparation about what to expect, adjustments to pacing or sequencing, reduced unnecessary social or verbal demands, or other individualised arrangements.

Reasonable adjustment does not require a child or young person to suppress their natural communication, movement or regulation differences simply to conform to a standardised assessment environment. Equally, some psychological procedures have standardised administration requirements that cannot be substantially altered without changing what is being measured or affecting the validity or interpretability of the results.

Where a proposed adjustment could materially affect a standardised procedure, the Clinical Psychologist will determine whether the procedure can still be used and interpreted appropriately. Depending on the circumstances, this may involve using an alternative source or method of obtaining relevant information, modifying the sequence or setting where this can be done appropriately, interpreting findings more cautiously or qualitatively, or deciding not to complete that particular procedure.

The purpose of assessment is not simply to obtain a score or complete every planned procedure. Information relied upon in reaching a clinical conclusion must be sufficiently valid, meaningful and fair to the child or young person.

Parent-Focused Appointments and Child Attendance

Parent Consultation Appointments, parent developmental-history or interview appointments and Parent Feedback Appointments are ordinarily intended to take place without the child or young person present.

These appointments may involve detailed developmental history, family circumstances, health or mental-health information, different observations or concerns reported by adults, and other information that may be sensitive or developmentally inappropriate for a child to hear discussed about themselves in that format. Parents and caregivers also require an appropriate private space in which to speak openly, ask questions and provide relevant information.

Unless expressly agreed in advance, the child or young person being assessed should therefore not attend or be within hearing of a parent-focused appointment. This applies to both in-person and remote appointments.

For remote appointments, the participating adult should arrange a sufficiently private environment in which the discussion cannot ordinarily be overheard by the child or young person. If appropriate privacy cannot be achieved, or a child or young person is unexpectedly present throughout a parent-focused appointment, the appointment may need to be rearranged.

This arrangement does not exclude children and young people from their own assessment or diminish the importance of their perspective. Their experience and views are considered through developmentally and clinically appropriate parts of the assessment process.

For an older adolescent, participation in a parent-focused discussion or feedback appointment may sometimes be appropriate. This should be discussed and agreed in advance and must be consistent with the young person's own consent and confidentiality rights.

Clinic Access and Physical Accessibility

All Kinds of Minds operates by prearranged appointment only and does not provide a walk-in service. Families are asked to attend at the scheduled appointment time and ordinarily no more than five minutes beforehand. This supports privacy between families and reduces unnecessary overlap within the clinic.

The current clinic premises are located on the first floor and do not have lift access. Families are asked to consider this before arranging an in-person appointment and to contact the practice where stairs or another aspect of physical access may create difficulty.

Some parent or caregiver components can appropriately be undertaken remotely. Certain child-focused psychological assessment components require in-person administration because of the materials involved, the nature of the procedure or the conditions required for clinically appropriate administration.

Where physical access creates a barrier to an essential in-person component, the circumstances will be considered individually. All Kinds of Minds will consider whether a reasonable and clinically appropriate alternative arrangement can be made without compromising the purpose, validity or professional standard of the assessment.

There may be circumstances in which the essential in-person requirements of a particular assessment cannot reasonably be provided within the available arrangements. Where this occurs, the position will be explained and, where appropriate, another service or assessment pathway may be recommended. Any associated financial adjustment is governed solely by Cancellation, Withdrawal, Non-Attendance and Refunds.

Communication, Language and Interpreting

Clinical appointments and Psychological Reports at All Kinds of Minds are ordinarily provided in English. Communication used during assessment must nevertheless be sufficiently accessible to support valid consent, meaningful participation and clinically reliable information gathering.

Where a parent, caregiver, child or young person requires an interpreter or another form of communication support, the practice should be informed as early as reasonably possible. The appropriate arrangement will depend on the person's needs and on the nature of the assessment component.

Where spoken-language interpretation is required for a private assessment and the need does not arise from a disability-related communication requirement, the family will ordinarily be asked to arrange a suitably qualified and independent professional interpreter, unless another arrangement has been expressly agreed. Any associated interpreter cost will ordinarily be the responsibility of the family in those circumstances.

Communication support required because of disability will be considered separately in accordance with applicable reasonable-accommodation obligations.

Children and young people will not be expected to interpret clinical information for a parent or another adult. Family members and friends are not ordinarily appropriate substitutes for a professional interpreter during informed-consent discussions, developmental or diagnostic interviews, feedback involving sensitive clinical information, or other substantive assessment procedures. Accuracy, independence, confidentiality and the ability of participants to discuss sensitive information freely may otherwise be compromised.

Any interpreter participating in an assessment must be able to work accurately, impartially and confidentially within the clinical context.

The use of an interpreter in direct standardised assessment requires particular consideration. Some tests and procedures cannot validly be translated, interpreted or modified in real time. Where interpreting would materially alter what a procedure measures or prevent responsible interpretation of the results, that procedure will not be administered in that form. Another appropriate source or method of assessment will be considered where available.

Psychological Reports are prepared in English. Where a family independently arranges translation of a report, the English-language report remains the original report issued by All Kinds of Minds. The practice cannot verify the accuracy or completeness of a translation produced independently by another person or service. Where a translated report is required for formal use, an appropriately qualified translator should be used.

Interpreter and communication-support arrangements for H.S.E.-commissioned assessments are additionally subject to the requirements applicable to the commissioned referral.

Accompanying Adults During Child Appointments

For an in-person assessment appointment involving a child under 16, a parent or other responsible caregiver must ordinarily remain on the premises and be readily available throughout the appointment unless a different arrangement has been expressly agreed in advance.

The accompanying adult will usually remain in the adjacent waiting area while direct assessment takes place unless their presence in the assessment room is clinically appropriate or specifically requested by the clinician.

Parents and caregivers remain responsible for the child outside periods of direct clinical assessment and for supervising any other child whom they bring to the premises.

Young people aged 16 or 17 may attend appropriate assessment appointments independently where this has been agreed and is consistent with the arrangements for their assessment.

Safety During an Assessment Appointment

The presence of distress, dysregulation, movement, refusal, shutdown, sensory needs, frustration or differences in communication is not, in itself, treated as dangerous or unacceptable behaviour.

If physical behaviour arises during an appointment that creates an immediate or escalating risk of harm to the child, young person or another person, the assessment activity will stop. The immediate priority will be safety and regulation rather than completion of the planned procedure.

A parent or caregiver may be asked to assist the child to leave the assessment space or premises where this can be done safely. Where an immediate danger cannot safely be managed within the clinic, appropriate emergency assistance may be sought.

Stopping an assessment activity because of an immediate safety concern is not a judgement about the child's intentions, character or neurodevelopmental profile. The broader circumstances in which significant safety concerns or patterns of behaviour may affect whether the practice can continue an assessment are addressed under Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries.

When an Assessment Cannot Be Completed

Participation can be difficult to predict in advance. An unexpected difficulty during assessment is not treated as a failure by the child or family.

Where participation becomes difficult, the Clinical Psychologist will first consider whether reasonable adjustment, additional preparation, a pause, rescheduling, a different sequence or another clinically appropriate approach could allow the assessment to continue.

There may nevertheless be circumstances in which an assessment or particular assessment component cannot be completed safely, meaningfully or to an appropriate professional standard. This may occur where continuing would place the child or young person under unreasonable distress, where they clearly communicate that they do not wish to continue, where sufficient participation cannot be achieved despite appropriate support and adjustment, or where the available conditions would not permit sufficiently valid and responsible conclusions to be drawn.

Where this occurs, the reasons will be explained to the family and, where appropriate, another assessment, review or support pathway may be recommended. The Clinical Psychologist will not force completion of a procedure merely because it formed part of the original assessment plan.

Any decision about formal discontinuation of the assessment relationship is governed by Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries. Any resulting fee, outstanding balance or refund is governed by Cancellation, Withdrawal, Non-Attendance and Refunds.

Psychological assessment at All Kinds of Minds Assessments is based on the careful integration of relevant information rather than on any single test, questionnaire, observation, informant or source.

The nature and amount of evidence required will depend on the assessment question, the child or young person's age and developmental history, the clarity and complexity of the presentation, the information already available and the requirements of the particular assessment pathway. Assessment is therefore individualised rather than governed by an inflexible requirement to collect the same information or administer the same measures in every case.

Sources and Weight of Assessment Evidence

Depending on the assessment pathway and clinical question, relevant evidence may include the child or young person's own account and communication; information from parents or legal guardians; developmental, educational, medical and clinical history; information from teachers or other people who know the young person well; previous professional reports and records; direct interaction and observation; standardised psychological measures; cognitive or attainment assessment; questionnaires and rating scales; and information contributed by other clinicians involved in a multidisciplinary assessment.

These sources provide different kinds of information and are not treated as votes for or against a particular conclusion. No source automatically determines the outcome simply because it agrees or disagrees with another source.

The Clinical Psychologist considers the relevance, quality and limitations of the available information, including the context in which it was obtained, the person's opportunity to observe the experiences being described, the purpose and psychometric properties of any measure used, the conditions under which assessment occurred, and any other factor materially affecting interpretation.

Standardised scores and classification thresholds are interpreted within this wider evidential context. They are not treated as self-interpreting facts, and a questionnaire, screening measure, individual psychometric score, observation or automated output is not used in isolation to establish or exclude a diagnosis.

The professional interpretation of the resulting evidence and the application of diagnostic criteria are addressed separately under Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes.

Information Across Settings

Understanding a child or young person's experiences across relevant contexts can be important in neurodevelopmental assessment. Information from an educational setting is therefore commonly sought where it is likely to add meaningful evidence to the assessment.

This does not mean that a teacher questionnaire, school report, school observation or direct contact with a school is an inflexible requirement in every assessment. The information required is determined clinically according to the assessment question, the applicable diagnostic framework, the evidence already available, the young person's circumstances and whether further information is reasonably likely to improve the quality of the assessment.

Where sufficiently informative evidence about relevant contexts is already available through other sources, additional school contact or repeated information gathering may not be necessary. Conversely, where information about functioning or presentation in another context is necessary to answer the assessment question responsibly, the Clinical Psychologist may need to obtain further evidence before reaching a conclusion.

Professional guidelines and assessment protocols inform these decisions but do not operate as a rigid checklist independent of the individual child or young person. Where a clinically justified assessment approach differs from a general guideline recommendation, the Clinical Psychologist remains responsible for ensuring that the resulting evidence is adequate for the conclusion reached.

Differences Between Sources of Information

It is common for children and young people to present differently across home, school, clinical and social environments and for parents, young people, teachers and professionals to report different experiences.

A difference between sources is not automatically treated as evidence that one person's account is inaccurate or that one source should override another. Different people may observe the young person under different demands, relationships, supports and environmental conditions and may have access to different aspects of their experience.

Where accounts or findings differ materially, the Clinical Psychologist will consider whether the discrepancy can be understood from the available evidence or whether additional information is required. This may involve clarification with an informant, review of another source, further observation or assessment, or recognition that a limitation remains in the available evidence.

Where material evidence remains unavailable or cannot adequately be reconciled, this may affect the extent or confidence of the conclusions that can responsibly be drawn. The diagnostic significance of conflicting or incomplete evidence is addressed under Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes.

Previous Assessments, Diagnoses and Reports

Previous psychological, educational, developmental, medical, Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy or other relevant assessments may provide important information about the child or young person's developmental history, previous functioning, identified strengths and needs, earlier diagnostic conclusions and changes over time.

Families are therefore asked to disclose relevant previous assessments and, where reasonably available, provide copies of relevant reports. The purpose is to support an informed assessment and avoid unnecessary repetition rather than to require families to reconstruct every previous contact with a professional.

Previous reports are considered as part of the evidence available to the current assessment. They are informative but do not determine the outcome of a different assessment question, and the Clinical Psychologist remains responsible for the conclusions reached within the present assessment.

An established diagnosis made by an appropriately qualified professional is ordinarily recognised as part of the child or young person's clinical history. It is not automatically invalidated because a later questionnaire, observation or individual assessment measure produces a different result, or because the young person presents differently at another point in development or in another context.

Equally, the existence of a previous diagnosis or professional opinion does not require the Clinical Psychologist to reproduce that conclusion where the purpose of the current service legitimately requires the relevant question to be reconsidered and the evidence supports a different formulation. The principles governing later diagnostic revision and reasonable differences of professional opinion are addressed under Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes.

Where an earlier report is unavailable, this does not automatically prevent assessment. The Clinical Psychologist will consider whether sufficient alternative information is available. If a missing previous assessment or record is materially necessary to answer the current assessment question responsibly, further information may need to be obtained before the assessment can be completed.

Avoiding Unnecessary Duplication

Assessment should add useful information rather than unnecessarily repeat professional work that has already been completed.

Where suitable recent assessment findings are available, they may be incorporated into the current assessment rather than repeated. This may include cognitive, attainment, adaptive, language or other relevant findings where the earlier assessment remains sufficiently applicable to the current clinical question.

Whether previous findings remain suitable for use is determined individually. Relevant considerations may include the measure used, the child's age and developmental stage when it was administered, the time that has elapsed, the purpose of the original assessment, the quality and completeness of the available report, significant developmental or educational change, subsequent intervention, and whether the earlier findings answer the present assessment question.

There is no general rule that a psychological assessment ceases to have value simply because a particular period of time has passed. Equally, older findings should not be relied upon uncritically where meaningful change or the purpose of the current assessment makes updated evidence necessary.

Repeat administration of psychological measures may also be affected by practice effects, familiarity with test content, publisher-specified retest guidance and other psychometric considerations. These factors will be considered when deciding whether repeating a measure is clinically appropriate.

The 2026 H.S.E. Autism Protocol similarly adopts a continuing-assessment approach in which additional assessment builds on existing information rather than unnecessarily repeating it.

Concurrent or Overlapping Assessments

Families are asked to tell All Kinds of Minds where another professional or service is currently undertaking, or is about to undertake, an assessment addressing the same or a closely related clinical question.

Concurrent assessment is not automatically inappropriate. There may be legitimate reasons for different professionals to assess different aspects of a young person's profile at the same time.

However, unnecessary duplication of the same assessment procedures can create additional burden for the child or young person and may affect the interpretation or validity of some standardised measures. Where overlapping work is identified, the Clinical Psychologist will consider whether coordination, review of existing findings, adjustment of the assessment plan or deferral of a particular component is clinically preferable.

This does not prevent a family or young person from seeking an independent professional opinion.

Reassessment

Reassessment is not automatically required because an earlier assessment exists, because a particular period of time has elapsed, or because a child or young person has moved to a different educational stage.

A reassessment should have a defined clinical, developmental, educational or functional question and a reasonable prospect of providing useful additional information.

Reassessment may be appropriate where, for example, substantial new information has emerged; the young person's presentation or functional needs have meaningfully changed; an earlier assessment could not reach a sufficiently clear conclusion; the original evidence was materially limited; updated cognitive, attainment, adaptive or other information is genuinely required for a new assessment question; or the purpose of the reassessment is to reconsider a previous formulation in light of meaningful new evidence.

The extent of reassessment will be determined by the question being asked. A full repetition of the original assessment pathway is not automatically necessary. Existing valid information should be retained and built upon wherever clinically appropriate.

All Kinds of Minds may decline to repeat recent or equivalent assessment procedures where doing so would not be clinically justified, would add little meaningful information, or could compromise interpretation because of retesting effects. Where another organisation requires evidence of a particular type or recency for its own administrative purposes, the effect of those external requirements is addressed under Reports, External Use and Third-Party Decisions.

Second Opinions

A family or young person may seek a second professional opinion concerning an assessment or diagnostic conclusion.

Where All Kinds of Minds is asked to provide a second opinion, the purpose and scope of the requested service must be clear. Depending on the clinical question, this may involve review of an earlier report and available evidence, collection of additional information, limited additional assessment or a more substantial reassessment. It does not automatically require every element of the original assessment to be repeated.

The previous assessment remains part of the relevant evidence and will be considered fairly and in its proper context. A second-opinion assessment is an independent professional assessment rather than an appeal process in which the earlier conclusion is presumed either correct or incorrect.

Where secure psychological test records are required for legitimate professional review, their transfer and use are governed under Intellectual Property and Assessment Materials. Reasonable differences of professional opinion and later revision of a diagnostic formulation are addressed under Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes.

Where Necessary Evidence Is Unavailable

Not every potentially useful source of information will be available in every assessment. The absence of a particular questionnaire, school report, historical record or previous professional report does not automatically make an assessment invalid or prevent it from proceeding.

The relevant question is whether the evidence that is available is sufficient to answer the assessment question responsibly.

Where information that would be clinically important is unavailable, the Clinical Psychologist will consider whether another source can reasonably address the same question and whether the limitation can be appropriately reflected in the interpretation of the assessment.

Where information necessary for a sufficiently informed and professionally responsible assessment cannot be obtained, the assessment may be unable to proceed to completion. Formal discontinuation in those circumstances is governed under Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries.

All Kinds of Minds Assessments uses a formulation-led approach to psychological and neurodevelopmental assessment. The purpose of assessment is not simply to obtain scores or determine whether a diagnostic label applies. It is to develop a clinically coherent understanding of the child or young person, including their strengths, neurodevelopmental differences, areas of need, developmental course, everyday functioning, relevant context, and any co-occurring or alternative explanations that are important to understanding their presentation.

A diagnostic conclusion is one part of that formulation. Where a formal diagnosis falls within the Scope of Practice, it will be made only where the Clinical Psychologist concludes that the applicable diagnostic criteria are met and that the conclusion is adequately supported by the assessment as a whole.

Participation in an assessment does not guarantee a diagnosis. All Kinds of Minds provides an independent professional assessment and clinical opinion; it does not provide a predetermined diagnostic outcome.

How Diagnostic Conclusions Are Reached

Diagnostic conclusions require professional clinical judgement. Standardised assessment measures, questionnaires, rating scales, structured interviews and observational tools provide important information, but none determines the diagnosis independently.

The sources of evidence considered, the relevance and quality of that evidence, the treatment of previous assessments and diagnoses, and the approach to differing or incomplete information are addressed under Assessment Evidence, Previous Assessments and Reassessment. Diagnostic formulation is the subsequent clinical process of determining what the assessment evidence means when considered together and whether it supports a particular diagnosis, a different explanation, more than one co-occurring diagnosis, or no formal diagnosis.

The Clinical Psychologist considers both evidence that supports a possible diagnosis and evidence that may point away from it. A diagnostic formulation is not produced by counting supportive observations, averaging questionnaire scores, requiring every source to say the same thing, or giving automatic priority to one test, informant or setting. Relevant evidence is interpreted according to the diagnostic question, the applicable criteria and the clinical meaning of the overall pattern.

This is consistent with P.S.I. professional standards, which require psychologists to distinguish evidence from opinion, avoid distortion of assessment findings, acknowledge alternative hypotheses and not suppress evidence that does not support their initial view.

Diagnostic Criteria and Clinical Thresholds

Neurodiversity-affirmative practice does not mean lowering, broadening or informally redefining diagnostic criteria. A child or young person's differences are approached respectfully and without requiring them to appear impaired, deficient or more visibly distressed than they are. Where a formal diagnosis is made, however, the applicable diagnostic requirements must still be satisfied.

The presence of some characteristics associated with Autism, A.D.H.D., dyslexia, dyscalculia or another neurodevelopmental profile does not necessarily mean that the complete diagnostic criteria for that profile are met. Equally, absence of a particular characteristic in one setting, on one assessment measure or during one appointment does not automatically rule out a diagnosis.

The distinction between recognising a child's genuine experiences and determining whether a formal diagnostic threshold is met is important. A child can have meaningful sensory, communication, attention, executive-functioning, social, learning or emotional needs without necessarily meeting the criteria for every diagnostic category that might initially have been considered.

Autism Formulation

Autism assessment considers whether the child or young person's developmental pattern meets the applicable diagnostic criteria for Autism when their history, current presentation and wider context are considered together.

Autism does not require an identical presentation in every environment or agreement between all informants. Children and young people may communicate, regulate, interact or manage demands differently according to familiarity, structure, sensory environment, social expectations, relationships, perceived safety, level of support and the effort involved in coping within a particular setting.

Autistic characteristics may also be less externally visible in some children and young people because of masking, learned strategies, highly supportive environments or the nature of the demands placed upon them. NICE specifically recognises that Autism may be under-recognised, that characteristics may previously have been masked by coping mechanisms or supportive environments, and that discrepant reported and observed presentations should lead to further clinical consideration rather than automatic exclusion of Autism.

The developmental requirement for Autism does not mean that Autism must have been obvious or formally recognised in early childhood. Relevant characteristics originate in the developmental period, but their significance may become clearer only as social, organisational, communication or environmental demands increase.

No Autism-specific instrument is interpreted as a diagnostic test in isolation. The P.S.I. Autism Guidelines expressly describe standardised diagnostic measures as structured methods of collecting clinical information rather than stand-alone determinants of outcome, while NICE requires information from all relevant sources to be integrated with clinical judgement.

Where Autism assessment is multidisciplinary, the diagnostic formulation draws upon the respective professional contributions of the clinicians involved. Each clinician remains responsible for their own professional work, and the multidisciplinary conclusion is reached through integration of the relevant assessment findings rather than through any single assessment component.

A.D.H.D. Formulation

A.D.H.D. assessment similarly requires a clinical formulation rather than reliance on rating-scale elevations alone.

The assessment considers whether the applicable diagnostic characteristics are developmentally inappropriate, persistent, evident across the required areas of everyday life, associated with meaningful functional impact, and better explained by A.D.H.D. than by another account of the presentation.

Current NICE guidance requires A.D.H.D. diagnosis to be based upon a full clinical and psychosocial assessment, developmental and psychiatric history, observer information and assessment of functioning across the person's everyday settings. NICE expressly states that A.D.H.D. should not be diagnosed solely from rating scales or observational data and requires relevant characteristics to occur in two or more important settings.

This does not require every A.D.H.D.-related characteristic to be equally visible in every environment. Structure, interest, novelty, individual support, consequences, environmental stimulation, effortful compensation and differing demands can affect how attention, activity level, impulsivity and executive functioning present. The diagnostic question is whether the overall evidence satisfies the applicable cross-context and functional requirements, not whether two rating forms produce matching scores.

Specific Learning Disability Formulation

A diagnosis of S.L.D., including dyslexia or dyscalculia, is also based on formulation rather than a single score or discrepancy.

The Clinical Psychologist considers the pattern and significance of the child's academic difficulties in the context of their developmental and educational history, standardised attainment findings, learning opportunities, relevant cognitive information where required, response to previous teaching or support where known, and other factors that could reasonably account for the difficulty.

A low score can be clinically important without automatically establishing a diagnosis, while a broader pattern of evidence may remain diagnostically meaningful even where performance is not uniformly weak across every related task. The purpose is to determine whether the child's learning profile is consistent with the applicable diagnostic framework and whether another explanation provides a more appropriate account.

Where cognitive or attainment findings indicate broader learning or developmental needs beyond the formal diagnostic scope of the practice, those findings may contribute to the formulation and appropriate onward assessment may be recommended as described under Scope of Practice.

Differential and Co-Occurring Formulation

Neurodevelopmental and mental-health presentations frequently overlap. Similar outward experiences may arise from different underlying processes, and more than one explanation may be relevant for the same child.

Diagnostic formulation therefore considers whether the identified pattern is most coherently understood as:

• the neurodevelopmental diagnosis originally queried;

• another diagnosis or developmental explanation;

• two or more co-occurring neurodevelopmental or mental-health presentations;

• a combination of neurodevelopmental differences and environmental or contextual factors; or

• a meaningful profile of strengths and needs that does not currently meet criteria for a formal diagnosis.

Differential formulation is not intended to force a child into a single explanatory category. Autism and A.D.H.D., for example, can coexist. Learning differences may coexist with either. Anxiety or other emotional experiences may arise independently, may coexist with a neurodevelopmental profile, may partly reflect the demands placed upon the young person, or may contribute to aspects of how they present.

The Clinical Psychologist therefore remains open to alternative and co-occurring explanations throughout the assessment rather than treating the original referral question as the conclusion to be confirmed. The H.S.E. National Protocol for Autism Assessment and Intervention Pathways similarly places formulation, differential assessment and diagnosis within the assessment pathway and emphasises understanding the person's lived experience and support needs.

Where a potentially relevant diagnosis falls outside the formal diagnostic remit of All Kinds of Minds, it may be considered as part of the formulation without being formally diagnosed through the practice. The diagnostic boundaries applying to such presentations are set out under Scope of Practice.

Context, Masking and Variation in Presentation

A child or young person is not expected to present in a uniform way across home, school, clinical assessment and other settings.

Clinical formulation considers context. A child may function relatively comfortably where expectations are predictable and support is strong, yet experience substantial difficulty in environments requiring greater independence, flexibility, sustained attention, social interpretation or sensory tolerance. Another child may hold themselves together at school and show the cumulative effects of effort predominantly at home. Some young people describe substantial internal effort that is not readily apparent to observers.

The fact that a characteristic is less visible in a particular environment does not make that information irrelevant; nor does information from another environment automatically override it. The significance of contextual variation depends upon the diagnostic requirements and the overall formulation.

Masking is considered where clinically relevant, but it is not assumed simply because reported characteristics are not directly observed. It is one possible explanation that must itself be understood in the context of the wider evidence.

Non-Diagnostic Outcomes

An assessment may appropriately conclude that the criteria for the diagnosis being considered are not met.

This does not mean that the referral was inappropriate, that the assessment has failed, that reported experiences were not genuine, or that the child or young person has no support needs. Neurodevelopmental assessment can remain useful where it clarifies why a diagnosis is not supported, identifies important strengths and needs, distinguishes between possible explanations, or indicates that another form of assessment or support would be more appropriate.

Where the evidence supports a clear non-diagnostic conclusion, that conclusion will be communicated rather than a diagnosis being given because it was expected, requested or considered desirable for access to a particular support or scheme.

Where clinically relevant characteristics are present but do not reach the threshold for formal diagnosis, they may still be described and reflected in the formulation. NICE similarly recognises that some children and young people may show features associated with Autism without meeting full diagnostic criteria and that their individual profile and support needs should nevertheless be considered.

Diagnostic Uncertainty

There are also circumstances in which the most professionally responsible conclusion is that genuine diagnostic uncertainty remains.

Psychological and neurodevelopmental diagnoses are clinical classifications rather than results of a single definitive biological test. They depend upon interpretation of developmental patterns, current functioning and clinically relevant information within established diagnostic frameworks. Even a careful and comprehensive assessment therefore cannot remove every element of uncertainty.

Uncertainty may remain where the available picture does not yet support a sufficiently confident distinction between competing explanations, where important diagnostic characteristics are emerging but the full threshold is not presently established, where a complex co-occurring presentation makes interpretation more difficult, or where the assessment evidence does not permit a sufficiently confident conclusion.

In these circumstances, All Kinds of Minds will not resolve the uncertainty by giving a diagnosis merely because a definite answer is preferred. The conclusion will reflect the level of certainty that can responsibly be supported.

Depending on the circumstances, it may be appropriate to recommend further assessment by another discipline, additional information, review after further development, or a later reassessment. NICE expressly recognises that uncertainty may remain following an Autism assessment and that review or a second opinion can be appropriate in some circumstances.

False-Positive and False-Negative Outcomes

No competent neurodevelopmental assessment process can guarantee absolute diagnostic accuracy.

A false-positive outcome occurs where a diagnosis is made even though the full diagnostic criteria are not in fact met. A false-negative outcome occurs where a diagnosis is not identified even though the diagnostic criteria are in fact met.

All Kinds of Minds seeks to reduce these possibilities through comprehensive assessment, appropriate use of established diagnostic frameworks, consideration of alternative explanations, professional integration of the available evidence and avoidance of reliance upon any single assessment measure. Nevertheless, the possibility of either type of diagnostic error cannot be eliminated entirely. This limitation is inherent to clinical assessment and is not removed simply by undertaking a larger number of tests. The practice has long expressly recognised both false-positive and false-negative possibilities in explaining diagnostic outcomes.

Factors that can affect diagnostic clarity include the inherent sensitivity and specificity limitations of available assessment methods, the complexity of overlapping presentations, contextual variation, masking or compensation, developmental stage, the limits of what can be observed during a finite assessment process, changes in diagnostic knowledge or classification systems, and the professional judgement required to distinguish between plausible explanations.

Recognition of these limitations does not reduce the standard of professional care owed in conducting the assessment. The diagnostic conclusion must still be one that the clinician can reasonably and professionally support on the evidence available at the time.

Developmental Change, New Information and Later Diagnostic Revision

A diagnostic formulation represents the professional understanding reached at a particular point in a child or young person's development. It should therefore be treated as clinically meaningful, but not as incapable of later refinement.

Children and adolescents continue to develop. Environmental expectations change. Supports may increase or decrease. A young person's own capacity to describe their internal experience may develop substantially. New historical or contextual information may emerge. Co-occurring needs can become clearer. Later assessment or the person's response to support may provide information that was not available previously.

The H.S.E.'s current Autism Protocol expressly recognises formulation as something that may develop over time and states that subsequent information and response to intervention can support, refine or question an earlier formulation or diagnosis.

Accordingly, a later clinician may sometimes appropriately confirm an earlier diagnosis, refine the formulation, identify an additional diagnosis, or conclude that a previous diagnostic understanding should be revised.

The fact that a diagnosis is later revised does not, by itself, establish that the earlier assessment was wrong in the sense of having been negligently or inadequately undertaken. The appropriate question is whether the earlier conclusion was professionally supportable on the information and diagnostic framework available at that time.

Equally, an earlier diagnosis is not automatically invalidated because one later measure is below threshold, a child presents differently at a later appointment, or another professional takes a different view. Previous diagnoses and assessments are considered in the manner described under Assessment Evidence, Previous Assessments and Reassessment.

Reasonable Differences of Professional Opinion

Clinical formulation involves professional judgement. Appropriately qualified clinicians considering a complex presentation may sometimes reach different conclusions even where each has acted competently and considered substantial evidence.

A reasonable difference of professional opinion is not the same as an arbitrary conclusion. Each clinician should be able to explain the evidence, diagnostic criteria and professional reasoning supporting their view, including relevant evidence that does not fit neatly with the conclusion reached.

A family or young person is entitled to disagree with a diagnostic opinion and may seek an independent second opinion. A later difference of opinion does not retrospectively require All Kinds of Minds to change its recorded professional conclusion where the original conclusion remains the Clinical Psychologist's professionally held view.

Where meaningful new evidence is subsequently provided, it may be considered in accordance with Assessment Evidence, Previous Assessments and Reassessment and Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries. The existence of diagnostic uncertainty or reasonable professional disagreement also does not prevent a family or young person from raising concerns about the quality, accuracy or professional conduct of an assessment through the Feedback and Complaints Policy.

Clinical Independence

Diagnostic conclusions remain the independent professional responsibility of the clinician or clinicians undertaking the assessment.

A diagnosis will not be made, withheld, added, removed or altered because a parent, legal guardian, school, referring professional, solicitor, insurer, funding body, H.S.E. commissioner or another person wants a particular outcome.

Similarly, the perceived usefulness of a diagnosis for accessing educational accommodations, disability supports, services, financial benefits or another external entitlement does not alter the diagnostic threshold. The assessment conclusion must remain the conclusion supported by the clinical formulation.

Families and young people are entitled to question the reasoning, identify factual information they believe is incorrect, provide additional relevant evidence and seek another professional opinion. Those actions do not compromise clinical independence. What cannot determine the conclusion is pressure to reach a result that the clinician does not consider professionally supportable.

The P.S.I. Code requires psychologists to report assessment findings accurately, acknowledge alternative explanations and avoid suppressing evidence that does not support their view.

H.S.E.-commissioned assessment does not alter this principle. The authorised commissioning arrangements determine the professional service requested; they do not predetermine the diagnostic conclusion. The wider arrangements applying to commissioned work are addressed under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

Confidentiality is fundamental to psychological practice. Information obtained through an enquiry, consultation or assessment is treated as confidential and is handled with respect for the privacy, dignity, autonomy and welfare of the child or young person.

Confidentiality is not absolute. Information may be shared where this forms an appropriate and understood part of the agreed professional service, where valid consent or another lawful authority permits the sharing, or where disclosure is required or otherwise lawfully justified for safeguarding, serious safety, legal or professional reasons.

The Clinical Psychologist will take reasonable care to ensure that children, young people, parents and legal guardians understand the relevant limits of confidentiality from the outset. The P.S.I. Code of Professional Ethics requires psychologists to treat information obtained in the course of their work as confidential, subject to applicable legal requirements, and to explain relevant legal limits on confidentiality.

The collection, storage, retention, data-subject access and other processing of personal information are addressed in the Privacy Policy.

Ordinary Information Sharing

Information is not ordinarily shared outside the assessment relationship simply because another person or organisation would find it useful. There must be an appropriate professional purpose and a lawful basis for the disclosure.

For privately arranged assessments, information may ordinarily be shared with a school, G.P., health or social-care professional, educational professional or another relevant person where the appropriate consent has been obtained or another lawful authority permits the disclosure.

Where Autism assessment includes multidisciplinary Speech and Language Therapy input, clinically relevant information may be shared between the clinicians contributing to the agreed multidisciplinary assessment so that each clinician can undertake their professional role and the findings can be considered together. This information remains subject to professional confidentiality.

Where appropriate professional supervision or clinical consultation is required to support competent practice, relevant assessment information may be discussed with an appropriately qualified professional who is themselves subject to confidentiality obligations. Identifying information will be minimised wherever reasonably practicable.

Information may also be disclosed confidentially to an appropriate legal adviser or professional indemnity insurer where this is reasonably necessary to obtain professional or legal advice, respond to a complaint or claim, or establish, exercise or defend legal rights, provided that the disclosure is lawful and limited to information reasonably necessary for that purpose.

A request for information from a family member, school, solicitor, insurer, employer or other third party does not, by itself, override confidentiality or create an entitlement to confidential clinical information.

The separate question of how a completed assessment report may subsequently be used by a family or considered by an external organisation is addressed under Reports, External Use and Third-Party Decisions.

Children Under 16

For a child under 16, parents or legal guardians ordinarily have an important role in the assessment and in receiving information necessary to understand the assessment, its findings and the child's needs. That involvement takes place within the consent and guardianship arrangements described under Consent, Guardianship and Family Circumstances.

Legal guardianship does not mean that every statement made by a child, every item of raw assessment material or every piece of information supplied by another person must automatically be disclosed to every guardian. The child's privacy, welfare and developing autonomy, the purpose for which information was provided, the rights of other people, professional obligations and any applicable legal requirements remain relevant.

Children are given developmentally appropriate information about confidentiality and its limits. A clinician will not promise a child absolute secrecy where information may need to be disclosed for safeguarding or another lawful reason.

Where information shared by a child can appropriately remain confidential, that privacy will be respected. Where the information raises a safeguarding concern, serious safety issue or another circumstance in which disclosure is required or justified, the clinician will act according to the applicable professional and legal responsibilities rather than treating the information as confidential without qualification.

Young People Aged 16 and 17

A young person aged 16 or 17 who consents to their own assessment has corresponding rights to confidentiality concerning that professional relationship.

A parent or legal guardian does not obtain an unrestricted entitlement to the young person's confidential information merely because they initiated the enquiry, arranged appointments, supplied developmental information, attended part of the assessment or paid for a private service.

Parents and legal guardians may remain closely involved where the young person agrees and their information may be important to a comprehensive developmental assessment. Ordinary sharing of confidential assessment information with a parent or legal guardian will nevertheless respect the young person's own consent and confidentiality rights.

The H.S.E. National Consent Policy similarly recognises that information concerning a 16- or 17-year-old should generally not be shared with a parent or legal guardian without the young person's consent, subject to the applicable limits on confidentiality.

Where safeguarding, serious risk, a Court requirement or another lawful basis justifies disclosure without the young person's consent, the relevant information may nevertheless be shared as described below.

Safeguarding and Children First

Safeguarding obligations are distinct from ordinary consensual information sharing. Refusal of consent by a child, young person, parent or legal guardian does not prevent a safeguarding disclosure where reporting is required or otherwise lawfully justified.

The Clinical Psychologist and Speech and Language Therapist undertaking relevant assessment work through All Kinds of Minds are Mandated Persons under the Children First Act 2015. Where the statutory reporting threshold is met, a Mandated Person has an individual legal obligation to report the relevant knowledge, belief or reasonable suspicion to Tusla. The Act also requires reporting of certain direct disclosures by a child and permits Tusla to require proportionate information and assistance from a Mandated Person in connection with its assessment.

The statutory mandated-reporting threshold is not the only circumstance in which a child-protection or welfare concern may appropriately be reported. Where information does not reach the statutory threshold for a mandated report but nevertheless gives rise to a reasonable child-protection or welfare concern, reporting may be appropriate in accordance with Children First National Guidance and the practice's safeguarding procedures.

Safeguarding information may arise through any part of the assessment process, including referral information, developmental history, questionnaires, school or professional information, previous reports, direct observation, electronic communication or information communicated by the child or another person. The absence of a formal disclosure does not prevent relevant information from being considered from a safeguarding perspective. The practice's Child Safeguarding Statement explains these responsibilities and procedures in greater detail.

The assessment itself does not become an investigation into whether abuse or neglect occurred. Where safeguarding information emerges, the clinician's role is to listen appropriately, avoid unnecessary or leading questioning, record relevant information objectively, consider immediate safety and fulfil the applicable reporting or disclosure responsibilities.

Informing Families About a Safeguarding Disclosure

Where appropriate, a parent, legal guardian or young person will ordinarily be informed that a safeguarding report or disclosure is being made and, where appropriate, the reason for it.

There are circumstances in which informing the person beforehand, or providing full details of the disclosure, would not be appropriate. This may include circumstances in which doing so could increase risk to the child or another person, impair Tusla's ability to assess the concern, interfere with a lawful safeguarding process, or create a relevant risk to the person making the report.

Consent is not required before a disclosure that the clinician is legally required to make.

These principles are also set out in the Child Safeguarding Statement, which distinguishes ordinary consent-based information sharing from safeguarding disclosure and provides for proportionate disclosure of information where safeguarding duties apply.

Serious Risk to the Child, Young Person or Another Person

Confidential information may also need to be disclosed where there is a serious and sufficiently immediate risk of significant harm to the child or young person or to another identifiable person and disclosure is necessary and lawfully justified in order to respond to that risk.

Where circumstances allow, the clinician will ordinarily seek the person's involvement in obtaining appropriate support and will explain the proposed disclosure. Consent may not be sought, or refusal of consent may not prevent disclosure, where the nature or immediacy of the risk requires action.

Any such decision will be made on the circumstances actually known at the time. Relevant considerations include the seriousness and immediacy of the risk, the person or people who may be affected, whether disclosure is necessary to reduce that risk, the appropriate recipient of the information, and whether the same protective purpose can reasonably be achieved through a less intrusive measure.

Where disclosure is necessary, information will be limited as far as reasonably practicable to what the recipient needs for the relevant safety purpose. P.S.I. professional guidance similarly recognises that disclosure without consent may be necessary in situations involving immediate risk or threat of harm, protection of a child, overriding public interest or a legal obligation, and requires such disclosure to be necessary and proportionate.

Where a child may be in immediate danger and the appropriate child-protection service cannot be contacted in time, information may be provided to An Garda Síochána or another appropriate emergency or statutory service where necessary. The detailed safeguarding arrangements are set out in the Child Safeguarding Statement.

Retrospective Disclosures of Childhood Abuse

An adult may sometimes provide information concerning abuse experienced during their own childhood. A historical disclosure is not automatically treated in the same way as a current allegation involving a child, but it may have present safeguarding implications.

Where such information gives rise to a concern that a child may currently be at risk, or that there may be a future risk to a child, the information will be considered in accordance with the applicable Children First guidance and the practice's safeguarding responsibilities.

The Child Safeguarding Statement addresses retrospective disclosures within the practice's safeguarding framework.

Court Orders, Statutory Requirements and Other Compulsory Disclosure

Confidentiality does not override a valid legal requirement to disclose information.

All Kinds of Minds may therefore disclose information where required by:

• a valid Court order or another binding direction having legal effect;

• a statutory reporting or information-sharing obligation;

• a lawful requirement of Tusla, An Garda Síochána or another competent statutory authority acting within its powers; or

• another applicable enactment or rule of law requiring disclosure.

A request from a solicitor or another person involved in legal proceedings does not, without more, have the same status as a Court order or other compulsory legal requirement.

Where a legal demand for confidential information is received, the practice may seek appropriate legal, professional or indemnity advice concerning its validity, scope and the information that must be supplied. Where disclosure is required, information will be confined to the scope of the lawful requirement as far as the circumstances permit.

The Children First Act itself expressly preserves other legal obligations to disclose information, including obligations arising under other enactments or rules of law.

The fact that information may be capable of compulsory disclosure does not convert an ordinary psychological assessment into a forensic or court-directed assessment. The separate limitations applying to the purpose and subsequent legal use of an assessment report are addressed under Reports, External Use and Third-Party Decisions.

Necessary and Proportionate Disclosure

Where confidential information is disclosed without ordinary consent, the existence of a lawful reason to disclose does not mean that the entire clinical record should automatically be shared.

Except where the applicable legal process requires otherwise, the practice will seek to disclose only information that is relevant and reasonably necessary for the purpose concerned. Particular care is taken with psychological and health information because it constitutes sensitive special-category personal data. The G.D.P.R. principle of data minimisation requires personal information to be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose for which it is processed.

The identity of the recipient, the reason for disclosure, the nature of the information shared and any applicable legal or professional basis for the disclosure will be documented as appropriate.

H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments

H.S.E.-commissioned assessments involve information sharing required by the authorised assessment pathway, including provision of the assessment report and other information required under the applicable H.S.E. arrangements.

The detailed H.S.E. information-governance, reporting and contractual arrangements are addressed under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments. Those arrangements do not remove the clinician's independent duties of confidentiality or their statutory and professional safeguarding responsibilities.

Where a safeguarding issue arises during H.S.E.-commissioned work, any H.S.E. notification or governance requirement applicable to the case is followed in addition to, rather than instead of, the clinician's independent Children First and other legal obligations.

Confidentiality After Assessment or Case Closure

Professional confidentiality continues after an assessment has been completed, discontinued or otherwise closed. Ending the active professional relationship does not make clinical records or information freely available for disclosure.

Information may continue to be retained, used or disclosed after closure where this is necessary for lawful record keeping, safeguarding, responding to a complaint or legal process, complying with an applicable statutory or H.S.E. requirement, or another legitimate professional or legal purpose.

The continued storage and processing of records, the rights of data subjects and the circumstances in which records may be accessed are addressed in the Privacy Policy.

The Psychological Report is the formal written record of the assessment completed by All Kinds of Minds Assessments. It brings together the assessment findings, clinical formulation, diagnostic conclusions where applicable, identified strengths and support needs, and recommendations arising from the assessment.

The report is prepared for the purposes of the assessment that was agreed. Its findings and recommendations should be understood within that purpose, the information available at the time and any limitations expressly identified within the report.

The Report as an Integrated Professional Opinion

A Psychological Report is intended to be read as a whole. Individual scores, observations, statements, diagnostic conclusions or recommendations form part of an integrated professional opinion and may be misleading if separated from the context in which they are interpreted.

Feedback provided during the assessment process is intended to explain and contextualise the findings. The final issued report is the practice's formal written account of the completed assessment. Where an informal or preliminary explanation given during the assessment is subsequently refined through the final process of clinical integration, the final report represents the concluded professional opinion.

Where another person or organisation quotes, summarises or extracts information from a report, the meaning of the original report should be represented accurately and in context. A summary, form, letter or other document created by a third party is that party's document and should not be represented as an opinion issued by All Kinds of Minds unless it accurately reflects the report.

Copyright, permitted copying and sharing, secure assessment materials and related intellectual-property matters are addressed separately under Intellectual Property and Assessment Materials.

Factual Accuracy, Corrections and Clarification

All Kinds of Minds takes responsibility for preparing reports accurately and with appropriate professional care and skill.

Where a confirmed factual, transcription, attribution or administrative error is identified in a report issued by the practice, it will be corrected appropriately. This may include matters such as an incorrect date, name, school, score, transcription of information or attribution of information to the wrong source.

A distinction is made between a factual error and disagreement with a professional interpretation, formulation, diagnostic conclusion or recommendation. A request to change a clinical opinion because a family, professional or third party disagrees with it is not a request to correct a factual error.

Similarly, where a report accurately records that a particular person or source provided specified information, a later disagreement with that account does not necessarily make the report factually inaccurate. Where appropriate, clarification can be considered regarding the source or status of the information.

Requests involving material information that becomes available only after the assessment has been completed are different from correction of an error in the original report. The significance of later information, reassessment and possible later diagnostic revision are addressed under Assessment Evidence, Previous Assessments and Reassessment and Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes.

Recommendations

Recommendations contained in a Psychological Report are based on the child or young person's assessed profile, demonstrated functional needs, strengths, developmental circumstances and the environments in which they are expected to participate.

Recommendations are intended to translate the assessment findings into practical, individualised supports. They are not based on diagnosis alone, and the presence of a diagnosis does not automatically determine which accommodations, resources or services are appropriate for an individual young person.

Where a particular educational, healthcare or other support appears clinically or educationally justified, All Kinds of Minds will state this clearly. Recommendations will not be withheld merely because another organisation ultimately controls access to the support.

Equally, a professional recommendation is not itself a direction to another organisation and does not create an entitlement where the relevant organisation has statutory responsibilities, eligibility criteria or independent decision-making authority.

Decisions Made by Schools and Other Organisations

Psychological reports can provide important evidence to schools, the H.S.E., the National Council for Special Education, the State Examinations Commission, higher-education institutions, Government Departments and other relevant organisations. Those organisations remain responsible for decisions falling within their own functions.

This distinction applies, for example, to school-based supports and accommodations, Special Education Teacher or Special Needs Assistant provision, assistive technology, exemptions from the study of Irish, R.A.C.E. examination accommodations, D.A.R.E. eligibility, access to public healthcare or disability services, and applications for statutory payments or supports such as Domiciliary Care Allowance or Disability Allowance.

All Kinds of Minds may identify a need, provide relevant assessment evidence and make a clear professional recommendation. It cannot determine eligibility or require the responsible body to approve, fund or implement that recommendation.

The criteria applied by external organisations may also differ from clinical diagnostic criteria. A diagnosis or psychological recommendation therefore does not necessarily establish eligibility under a separate educational, administrative or statutory scheme.

This is reflected in the operation of current Irish schemes. For example, school management determines applications for exemption from the study of Irish under the applicable Department of Education and Youth circulars; D.A.R.E. applications are assessed against the scheme's own disability and educational-impact criteria; and Domiciliary Care Allowance is decided by the Department of Social Protection on the statutory care-related criteria rather than diagnosis alone.

Nothing in this distinction reduces the practice's responsibility for the professional quality, accuracy and evidential basis of its own assessment and recommendations.

External Criteria and Changes Over Time

Where a report addresses an external scheme, accommodation or application, any relevant recommendation is made in light of the information and requirements reasonably available at the time of assessment.

External organisations may subsequently change their eligibility criteria, evidential requirements, application procedures or requirements concerning the age or recency of supporting documentation. All Kinds of Minds does not control those changes.

A Psychological Report does not acquire a universal expiry date merely because time has passed. Its clinical findings remain a record of the assessment completed at that time. However, another organisation may require more recent evidence for a particular purpose, and the relevance of older assessment findings may change as a young person develops or as the question being asked changes.

Whether updated psychological assessment is clinically justified is addressed under Assessment Evidence, Previous Assessments and Reassessment. The existence of an external administrative requirement for newer documentation does not, by itself, mean that the earlier report was clinically invalid.

This distinction is particularly relevant because external schemes do impose their own evidential rules. Current D.A.R.E. requirements, for example, vary by disability category and can include specific recency requirements for professional evidence.

Use of Reports in Legal Proceedings

Reports produced by All Kinds of Minds are clinical and educational psychological assessment reports. They are not prepared as forensic, medico-legal, parenting-capacity, custody, welfare, voice-of-the-child or other specialist reports for litigation or family-law proceedings.

All Kinds of Minds does not accept instructions to undertake Section 32, Section 47 or other court-directed family-law assessments, and the ordinary assessment service does not include acting as an expert witness, providing litigation strategy, preparing reports specifically for legal proceedings or offering an opinion on questions outside the purpose and scope of the assessment undertaken.

A family cannot be prevented from providing a report that they lawfully hold to a solicitor, court or other relevant person. If an existing clinical report is subsequently used in legal proceedings, however, its original clinical purpose, scope and limitations do not change simply because it has been placed before a court.

The use of an existing report in proceedings does not, by itself, place All Kinds of Minds or the Clinical Psychologist in the role of an instructed expert witness or create an obligation to prepare additional statements, answer legal questions, attend court or undertake further professional work.

Any legally binding requirement to provide records, information or evidence is dealt with in accordance with applicable law and the provisions under Confidentiality, Safeguarding and Required Disclosures.

H.S.E.-Commissioned Reports

Reports arising from H.S.E.-commissioned assessments are prepared and provided in accordance with the reporting requirements applicable to the commissioned referral. The H.S.E.-specific arrangements concerning report format, authorised scope, recipients, information governance and case completion are addressed under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

Clinical conclusions and recommendations remain the independent professional responsibility of the clinician or clinicians involved. H.S.E. commissioning does not predetermine a diagnostic conclusion or require a particular recommendation.

Fees and Payment

All Kinds of Minds Assessments aims to ensure that families understand the cost of a private service and the applicable payment arrangements before committing to it. The fee, assessment pathway and payment arrangement applicable to an individual service will be confirmed before the relevant professional work begins.

Current fees are published on the Website and are also set out below. Published fees may change from time to time for future services, including while a family is waiting for assessment capacity to become available. Placement on a wait list does not fix the assessment fee. The applicable fee is the fee confirmed and accepted when the relevant appointment or assessment service is booked or otherwise agreed.

Once a private service and fee have been agreed, a later change to the generally published fee will not retrospectively alter that agreement. Where an assessment pathway is subsequently expanded by agreement, any additional work and associated fee will be explained and expressly agreed before that additional work is undertaken.

The fees described below relate to the agreed professional service rather than only to time spent in direct appointments. Assessment fees reflect the professional work required across the relevant pathway, which may include review of information and records, assessment administration and scoring, clinical analysis and formulation, multidisciplinary input where applicable, preparation and integration of recommendations, feedback where included within the pathway, and preparation of the Psychological Report.

Current Private Assessment Fees

• Parent Consultation: €200. A Parent Consultation is required before private Autism, A.D.H.D. and related combined neurodevelopmental assessment pathways proceed. It is paid in full when booked. Its status as a separate professional service is explained under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract.

• Autism Assessment: €2,200. Together with the required €200 Parent Consultation, the overall cost is €2,400.

• Autism Assessment with Cognitive Assessment: €2,700. Where Cognitive Assessment is clinically indicated or agreed as an additional component of the Autism pathway, the combined-pathway Cognitive Assessment fee is €500. Together with the required Parent Consultation, the overall cost is €2,900.

• A.D.H.D. Assessment: €1,400. Cognitive Assessment is incorporated into this pathway and does not attract an additional Cognitive Assessment fee. Together with the required €200 Parent Consultation, the overall cost is €1,600.

• Combined Autism and A.D.H.D. Assessment: €2,700. Cognitive Assessment is incorporated into this pathway. Together with the required €200 Parent Consultation, the overall cost is €2,900.

• Autism and S.L.D. Assessment: where a new Cognitive Assessment is required, the assessment fee is €3,000, comprising the Autism pathway together with the combined-pathway Cognitive and S.L.D. components. Together with the required €200 Parent Consultation, the overall cost is €3,200. Where sufficiently recent and clinically suitable Cognitive Assessment findings are already available and do not need to be repeated, the applicable reduced fee will be confirmed before the family proceeds.

• A.D.H.D. and S.L.D. Assessment: €1,700. Cognitive Assessment is already incorporated into the A.D.H.D. pathway, and the additional S.L.D. component is €300. Together with the required €200 Parent Consultation, the overall cost is €1,900.

• Combined Autism, A.D.H.D. and S.L.D. Assessment: €3,000. Cognitive Assessment is incorporated into this pathway. Together with the required €200 Parent Consultation, the overall cost is €3,200.

• Standalone S.L.D. Assessment: €800. This includes assessment for dyslexia and/or dyscalculia. The fee is divided across the two principal assessment appointments, with €400 payable when each appointment is booked. An optional Parent Feedback Appointment may be booked separately following receipt of the report for €200.

• Standalone Cognitive Assessment: €600, payable in full when the assessment is booked. An optional Parent Feedback Appointment may be booked separately following receipt of the report for €200.

• Adaptive Behaviour Assessment: €400 when added to a Cognitive Assessment where clinically indicated or agreed. A standalone Cognitive Assessment with Adaptive Behaviour Assessment therefore has an overall fee of €1,000, excluding any optional Parent Feedback Appointment.

Where Cognitive, S.L.D., Adaptive Behaviour or another assessment component forms part of a broader agreed pathway, the applicable combined fee may differ from the standalone fee because professional information and assessment work can be integrated across the pathway. Any fee not already specified above will be confirmed before the additional work is undertaken.

No additional assessment component carrying an additional charge will be undertaken without the express agreement of the person responsible for the private payment arrangement.

Payment Arrangements

The Parent Consultation is payable in full when booked.

For Autism, A.D.H.D. and related combined assessments, the subsequent assessment fee may be spread across an agreed payment schedule rather than being paid in full at the outset. Invoices are ordinarily issued monthly over four months, although a different reasonable timeframe may be agreed where appropriate.

The payment schedule will be confirmed before the assessment proceeds so that the family knows the overall assessment fee, the amount of each payment and the relevant due dates. Payments made under an instalment arrangement are payments towards the one agreed assessment service rather than payments for separate monthly clinical services.

Standalone S.L.D. and Cognitive Assessments follow the payment arrangements specified above rather than the monthly instalment arrangement. Optional Parent Feedback Appointments are separately booked and paid for when requested.

Invoices, Due Dates and Receipts

Invoices are issued electronically and should be paid by the due date stated on the invoice or booking request.

Receipts can be provided for payments made, including individual payments made under an agreed instalment arrangement. Where a receipt is required for a private health-insurance or tax-relief claim, the practice can provide appropriate factual information concerning the payment, child or young person, professional service and practitioner.

Overdue Payments

Where an agreed payment becomes overdue, All Kinds of Minds may pause further non-urgent professional work, defer subsequent assessment appointments or defer completion or release of the final Psychological Report until the outstanding payment arrangement has been addressed.

Any decision to pause work will be made reasonably and with regard to the stage of the assessment and the professional work already undertaken. Where there is an unresolved payment issue, the practice may contact the person responsible for payment to clarify the position and, where appropriate, agree how the outstanding balance will be addressed before further work proceeds.

The cancellation, withdrawal, discontinuation and refund consequences of a partly completed assessment are governed separately under Cancellation, Withdrawal, Non-Attendance and Refunds.

Release of the Psychological Report

The final Psychological Report is ordinarily released once the agreed assessment has been completed and all fees then due for that assessment have been paid in full.

Where an agreed instalment schedule continues beyond completion of the clinical assessment, the report will ordinarily be retained until the final agreed payment has been received. Families who choose an extended payment arrangement should therefore take this into account when agreeing the payment schedule.

This provision concerns release of the report as the final professional deliverable under the private assessment contract. It does not remove or restrict any separate right arising under applicable data-protection or consumer law.

Private Health Insurance and Tax Relief

Private health-insurance reimbursement and tax relief are arrangements between the family or person making the claim and the relevant insurer or Revenue. They do not form part of the assessment contract and do not alter the agreed fee or payment schedule.

Eligibility varies according to the individual insurance policy, the nature of the assessment, applicable practitioner or referral requirements and the rules in force at the relevant time. All Kinds of Minds can provide appropriate receipts and factual information about the assessment and practitioner but cannot determine a person's eligibility, interpret an insurance policy or Revenue rules on their behalf, obtain prior authorisation, submit a claim for the family or guarantee reimbursement or tax relief.

Assessment fees therefore remain payable in accordance with the agreed private payment arrangement irrespective of whether an insurance or tax-relief claim is subsequently accepted, partly accepted or declined. More detailed general information about insurance and tax relief is provided separately on the Website.

Payment Processing and Personal Information

Private payments are made through the electronic payment arrangements provided by the practice. Personal and payment-related information is handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy and applicable data-protection requirements.

H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments

The private fees and payment arrangements above do not apply to professional work commissioned and funded by the H.S.E. Families are not charged a private assessment fee for work falling within the authorised H.S.E. commission.

Where a genuinely separate private service is subsequently requested and can appropriately be provided, it must be separately agreed before any private charge arises. The relationship between private and H.S.E.-commissioned work is addressed under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

All Kinds of Minds Assessments recognises that illness, family circumstances, school commitments and other unexpected events can affect a family's ability to attend or continue an assessment. Families may cancel or request to rearrange appointments, and may decide not to continue with an assessment. Where possible, as much notice as reasonably practicable should be given so that clinical time can be reorganised and, where appropriate, offered to another family.

The financial consequences of cancellation, withdrawal or discontinuation depend on the professional service that has actually been supplied and the work that remains to be provided. Payment for a service does not become non-refundable merely because it has been paid in advance. Equally, withdrawal from an assessment does not retrospectively undo professional work that has already been properly supplied as part of the agreed service.

Cancelling or Rearranging an Appointment

A family who cannot attend a scheduled appointment should contact All Kinds of Minds as soon as reasonably possible using the contact details provided with the booking.

All Kinds of Minds does not impose a separate late-cancellation charge. An appointment may be rearranged subject to clinical availability, but a replacement appointment cannot be guaranteed within the same timeframe as the original booking. Cancellation or rearrangement may therefore delay subsequent assessment appointments, formulation, feedback or completion of the report.

Where an appointment has been paid for in advance and no professional service attributable to that payment has been supplied, the payment may be transferred to an agreed replacement appointment. If the appointment is not being rearranged and the corresponding service will not be supplied, the amount attributable to that unprovided service will be refunded.

Psychological assessment also involves professional work outside direct appointments. Depending on the assessment pathway and the stage reached, this can include review of developmental and clinical information, consideration of previous reports and records, review and scoring of questionnaires or assessment measures, preparation for assessment procedures, clinical analysis and formulation, multidisciplinary consultation, integration of findings and report preparation. Where such work has already been undertaken as part of the agreed contracted service, an appropriate amount attributable to the professional service already supplied may remain payable even though a subsequent appointment is cancelled.

Non-Attendance and Late Arrival

All Kinds of Minds does not impose a separate non-attendance or no-show charge. A missed appointment does not automatically close an assessment pathway.

Where a family wishes to continue following a missed appointment, another appointment may be offered subject to availability. The practice is not required to preserve the original assessment timetable or provide an immediate replacement appointment.

A family arriving late will be seen where sufficient time remains to undertake the planned work appropriately. Some psychological assessment procedures require adequate uninterrupted administration time and particular standardised conditions. Where the remaining appointment time is insufficient to complete the planned work responsibly, the affected component may need to be rearranged. No separate late-arrival charge is imposed.

Repeated cancellation, non-attendance or inability to progress required appointments may eventually make it impracticable to continue reserving clinical capacity for the assessment. The circumstances in which an assessment pathway may then be paused or closed are addressed under Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries.

Attending an appointment but finding an assessment difficult to complete is not treated as non-attendance. Participation, distress, communication differences, sensory or movement needs, reasonable adjustments and circumstances in which a child or young person cannot appropriately continue an assessment are addressed under Assessment Process, Participation, Access and Reasonable Adjustments.

Withdrawal From an Assessment

A family may decide not to continue with a private assessment after it has begun. A child or young person's valid withdrawal of consent must also be respected in accordance with the provisions under Consent, Guardianship and Family Circumstances. Clinical assessment will not continue where the consent legally required for that assessment has been validly withdrawn.

Where an assessment ends before completion, the financial position will be determined by reference to the assessment service as a whole, the professional work already supplied and the work that will no longer be undertaken.

Payments made under an instalment arrangement are payments towards one agreed assessment contract and are not treated as the price of individual monthly services. The fact that a particular instalment has or has not yet fallen due therefore does not by itself determine the amount payable following withdrawal. The account will instead be reconciled reasonably by reference to the contracted service and the professional work actually supplied up to the point at which the assessment ends.

Where the value attributable to professional work already properly supplied is less than the amount paid, the appropriate balance will be refunded. Where professional work already supplied exceeds the amount paid to date, an appropriate outstanding amount may remain payable, subject always to the agreed overall assessment fee and applicable consumer law. No charge will be imposed for assessment work that will not be supplied.

Once an agreed professional service has been fully supplied, any outstanding agreed balance for that completed service remains payable. A completed assessment is not refundable merely because the diagnostic formulation or assessment outcome differs from what had been anticipated or because another professional later reaches a different opinion. The clinical principles governing diagnostic conclusions and reasonable differences of professional opinion are addressed under Diagnostic Formulation and Assessment Outcomes.

This does not restrict any right or remedy arising where the service itself was not supplied in conformity with the contract or with the standard required by law.

Cancellation or Discontinuation by All Kinds of Minds

All Kinds of Minds may occasionally need to cancel or rearrange an appointment because of clinician illness, multidisciplinary availability or another unforeseen circumstance affecting the ability to provide the appointment appropriately. The family will be informed as soon as reasonably practicable and a replacement appointment will ordinarily be offered.

Where All Kinds of Minds cancels an appointment and the family does not wish to, or cannot reasonably, rearrange it, any amount paid for professional work that will not be supplied will be refunded or otherwise adjusted as appropriate.

Different considerations apply where the practice pauses or discontinues an assessment for a substantive clinical, consent, safety, professional-boundary, non-engagement or other reason described under Case Closure, Discontinuation, Conduct and Professional Boundaries.

Where an assessment is discontinued by the practice, professional work already properly supplied may remain chargeable. Fees attributable to assessment work that will no longer be supplied will be refunded or removed from any outstanding balance. The financial adjustment will reflect the actual stage reached and the professional work supplied rather than automatically treating the entire assessment fee as either payable or refundable.

Where discontinuation results from a failure by All Kinds of Minds to supply the contracted service in accordance with applicable consumer law, the family's statutory rights and remedies take precedence over the ordinary withdrawal arrangements described above.

Online Booking and the 14-Day Cancellation Rule

The clinical psychology assessment and consultation services provided by All Kinds of Minds are healthcare services. The Consumer Rights Act 2022 treats contracts for the supply of healthcare differently from ordinary distance contracts. The general statutory 14-day change-of-mind cancellation regime that applies to many services purchased online does not apply to healthcare contracts.

Online booking therefore does not create a separate statutory 14-day cooling-off period for these clinical services. Families nevertheless remain free to cancel an appointment or withdraw from a private assessment under the arrangements set out in this section.

This distinction does not affect the separate statutory rights that apply where a service is not supplied, is not supplied in conformity with the contract, or otherwise gives rise to a remedy under applicable consumer law.

Refunds and Financial Adjustments

Where a refund or account adjustment is required, All Kinds of Minds will explain the basis on which it has been calculated. In a partly completed assessment, this may require consideration of professional work undertaken across more than one component of the assessment rather than simply counting appointments attended.

Any refund due will be processed without undue delay and ordinarily returned through the method by which the original payment was made unless another arrangement is agreed. Where legislation requires reimbursement within a particular period or by a particular method, the statutory requirement applies.

Nothing in these Terms requires payment for a professional service that has not been supplied, imposes a blanket non-refundable payment, or excludes any statutory right or remedy available under applicable Irish consumer law.

H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments

Families do not purchase or pay the private assessment fee for work commissioned by the H.S.E. The private refund provisions above therefore do not apply to the H.S.E.-funded assessment itself.

Cancellation, non-attendance, withdrawal and discontinuation within an H.S.E.-commissioned pathway are managed in accordance with the clinical requirements of these Terms and the applicable H.S.E. referral, scheduling, contractual and case-closure arrangements. Any separately agreed private service remains subject to the private provisions applicable to that distinct service.

All Kinds of Minds Assessments provides defined, assessment-focused professional services rather than an open-ended clinical-care relationship. An active case therefore continues for the particular consultation or assessment service that has been agreed and closes when that service has been completed or is otherwise brought to an end.

Where an assessment has begun, All Kinds of Minds will not discontinue it arbitrarily. Where circumstances reasonably allow, the Clinical Psychologist will consider whether a difficulty can be resolved before ending the professional service. There are nevertheless circumstances in which continuing would be unsafe, unlawful, inconsistent with valid consent, outside the appropriate scope of the practice, incompatible with professional obligations, or otherwise not in the child or young person’s interests.

Case Closure Following Completion

A case closes when the professional service agreed under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract has been completed. A Parent Consultation that does not proceed to a separate assessment contract is a completed professional service in its own right. Where an assessment contract has been formed, the active case closes when the agreed assessment service has been completed.

Case closure does not prevent reasonable administrative communication concerning the completed service. A child, young person, parent or legal guardian may still raise a concern or complaint, request correction of a confirmed factual error, exercise applicable data-protection or statutory rights, or seek reasonable clarification of a specific matter contained within the completed assessment.

Closure does not create an indefinite entitlement to further clinical work. Later review of new information, further assessment, new recommendations, meetings, liaison with schools or other professionals, advocacy, additional letters, addendum opinions or other substantive professional activity may require a separate service where that work falls within the scope and capacity of the practice.

Factual corrections and the status and use of the final report are addressed under Reports, External Use and Third-Party Decisions. Continuing obligations concerning records, confidentiality, safeguarding and required disclosure remain in effect after case closure.

Where a Family or Young Person Ends an Assessment

A family may decide not to continue with a private assessment. An assessment will also end where consent legally required for the assessment has been validly withdrawn.

The consent position is governed under Consent, Guardianship and Family Circumstances. Where a child or young person is communicating that they do not wish to continue with an assessment activity, the participation provisions under Assessment Process, Participation, Access and Reasonable Adjustments also apply.

Withdrawal brings the active assessment relationship to an end once any clinically or administratively necessary closing arrangements have been completed. Any resulting fee, outstanding balance or refund is governed solely under Cancellation, Withdrawal, Non-Attendance and Refunds.

When All Kinds of Minds May Discontinue an Assessment

All Kinds of Minds may discontinue an active assessment where the agreed professional service can no longer appropriately be provided.

This may arise where:

• valid consent required for the assessment has been withdrawn or can no longer be established;

• material new information shows that the assessment no longer falls appropriately within the Scope of Practice or the suitability requirements applying to the referral;

• information necessary for a sufficiently informed and professionally responsible assessment cannot be obtained;

• the objectives of the agreed assessment can no longer reasonably be achieved;

• a safety boundary described in this section is met;

• material information relevant to consent, suitability, safety, professional boundaries or the integrity of the assessment was knowingly withheld or materially misrepresented;

• threatening, intimidating, harassing, discriminatory, personally abusive or otherwise seriously inappropriate conduct by an adult involved in the assessment makes continued professional involvement untenable;

• there is persistent coercion, threat or improper pressure intended to require a clinician to reach, remove or alter a diagnosis, score, formulation, recommendation or other professional conclusion contrary to the evidence and professional judgement;

• a dual relationship, conflict of interest or other professional-boundary issue arises that cannot appropriately be managed without compromising the interests of the child or young person;

• prolonged non-engagement prevents the agreed assessment from progressing; or

• unresolved non-payment means that further professional work cannot reasonably continue under the agreed payment arrangements.

Except where the nature of the issue itself requires the service to end, the existence of a difficulty does not automatically require discontinuation. Where the matter can appropriately be resolved without compromising professional standards, confidentiality, safety or the child or young person’s interests, reasonable steps may be taken to allow the assessment to continue.

Clinical difficulties relating to a child or young person’s participation are considered separately from adult conduct. Distress, sensory or regulation needs, shutdown, refusal, movement, communication differences and other participation difficulties are addressed under Assessment Process, Participation, Access and Reasonable Adjustments and are not treated as misconduct.

Non-Engagement

All Kinds of Minds does not apply an automatic rule that an active assessment closes simply because a fixed period has passed without contact.

Assessment nevertheless requires sufficient engagement to allow the agreed professional work to progress. Where information, questionnaires, appointments, consent documentation or another necessary step remains outstanding, the practice may contact the family or young person, explain what is required and provide a reasonable opportunity to respond.

Where reasonable attempts to progress the assessment have been unsuccessful and the steps necessary for the assessment to continue remain outstanding, the practice may conclude that the assessment can no longer reasonably progress and close the case.

Where assessment is sought again following closure, previous appointment availability, sequencing or capacity cannot be guaranteed. Depending on the circumstances and the time that has elapsed, a new suitability review or service arrangement may be required.

Physical Aggression, Violence, and Injury to Others

All Kinds of Minds is a specialist outpatient assessment practice. It does not provide behavioural crisis management, physical intervention, specialist violence-management support, security staffing or a clinical environment designed to manage physical aggression or violence towards others.

For this reason, a private referral will not be accepted where the child or young person has a known meaningful history of physical aggression or violence towards another person, or behaviour that has caused injury to another person.

A meaningful history may involve a pattern of such behaviour or an individual incident of sufficient seriousness to create a genuine safety consideration for assessment within this setting. This boundary is not intended to encompass developmentally ordinary minor conflict or behaviour that does not create a meaningful physical-safety concern.

The boundary does not include ordinary emotional dysregulation, verbal frustration, crying, refusal, shutdown, avoidance, restlessness, sensory distress, movement, difficulty remaining seated or differences in communication. These experiences are not equated with physical aggression or violence.

Physical aggression may arise in a context that is developmentally, emotionally, environmentally or neurodevelopmentally understandable. The context remains important to understanding the child or young person. It does not, however, remove the practice’s need to maintain a clear physical-safety boundary appropriate to the setting and resources available.

Where a history meeting this boundary is known during the suitability process, the private referral will not be accepted. Where information establishing such a history becomes apparent only after professional work has begun, the assessment will be discontinued.

This boundary is applied according to the actual behaviour and its safety implications rather than according to diagnosis or an assumption about a neurodevelopmental profile.

Disclosure of Safety-Relevant Information

Parents and legal guardians are required to provide accurate information about a known history of physical aggression, violence, credible threats of physical harm or behaviour resulting in injury to another person where that information is relevant to the safety or suitability of the proposed assessment.

Relevant information should not be withheld because the behaviour occurred in another setting, has reduced over time or has an understandable developmental, emotional or neurodevelopmental explanation. These factors may be relevant to understanding the behaviour, but the practice still requires the information in order to determine whether the private assessment setting is appropriate.

Families are not expected to predict future behaviour or to attach clinical significance to ordinary childhood incidents. Information that genuinely becomes known only after the assessment has begun is not treated as having been withheld.

Where material safety information was already known and was knowingly omitted or substantially misrepresented, this may independently affect the professional basis on which the assessment was accepted. Where the information also establishes the physical-safety boundary above, the assessment will be discontinued.

Conduct of Parents, Legal Guardians, and Other Adults

Parents, legal guardians and other adults involved in an assessment are entitled to ask questions, request clarification, disagree with a professional opinion, question an administrative decision or invoice, identify a possible error, provide critical feedback, seek another professional opinion or make a formal complaint. None of these actions is, in itself, inappropriate conduct or a reason to discontinue an assessment.

Professional work must nevertheless be able to proceed safely and appropriately. Threatening behaviour, threats of violence or retaliation, physical intimidation, harassment, discriminatory or personally abusive communication, deliberate interference with another family’s privacy or safety, deliberate damage to property, or other conduct that materially prevents professional work from being undertaken will not be accepted.

The practice will also not accept coercion, threats or improper pressure intended to require a clinician to reach, remove or alter a diagnosis, score, formulation, recommendation or other professional conclusion contrary to the evidence and professional judgement. This is distinct from appropriately questioning the evidential basis of a conclusion, disagreeing with it, seeking a second opinion or requesting correction of a factual error.

Where conduct is inappropriate but does not require immediate discontinuation, the relevant boundary will ordinarily be explained and the person will be given a reasonable opportunity to alter the conduct. Where appropriate, communication may be restricted to a designated professional channel or another proportionate communication boundary may be introduced.

Where conduct is serious, threatening, intimidating, persistently abusive after an appropriate boundary has been made clear, or otherwise makes continued professional involvement untenable, the assessment may be discontinued. The practice is not required to continue in-person contact where doing so would create a genuine safety concern.

Professional Boundaries and Dual Relationships

The relationship between the Clinical Psychologist and the child, young person and family is a professional relationship established for a defined assessment purpose. Appropriate boundaries are necessary to protect confidentiality, professional objectivity and the interests of the child or young person.

Where the Clinical Psychologist has any pre-existing or concurrent personal, familial, social, financial, supervisory, employment or other relationship with the child, young person, parent or legal guardian that could create a dual relationship, conflict of interest or reasonable concern about professional objectivity or confidentiality, the referral will not be accepted.

The P.S.I. Code recognises that dual relationships are problematic and should be avoided where possible, while also recognising that incidental familiarity cannot always be avoided, particularly in smaller communities. Accordingly, merely recognising a person, living in the same locality, or having a distant connection does not automatically amount to a disqualifying dual relationship. The nature, closeness, recency, and likely effect of the connection will be considered.

Where a meaningful dual relationship is identified before assessment begins, the referral will be declined. Where it becomes apparent only after professional work has begun, the Clinical Psychologist will consider whether the conflict can be appropriately managed without compromising the child’s interests. If it cannot, the assessment may need to be discontinued.

A clinician contributing to a multidisciplinary assessment must similarly identify any relationship or conflict that could reasonably affect professional objectivity, confidentiality or the interests of the child or young person. That clinician will not participate where the resulting dual relationship or conflict cannot appropriately be avoided or managed.

Personal and Social Boundaries

The professional relationship does not extend to friendship, social involvement, private business arrangements, personal advocacy unrelated to the agreed assessment or other personal arrangements that could blur or compromise the professional role.

Communication concerning the assessment should ordinarily take place through the designated professional channels. The Clinical Psychologist will not use the professional position, the assessment relationship or trust arising from it for personal benefit or to establish another relationship that is inconsistent with the professional role.

Appropriate professional boundaries continue after the active assessment relationship has ended.

Incidental encounters outside the clinic will be handled discreetly. To protect confidentiality, the Clinical Psychologist may not initiate acknowledgement of a child or family in a public or social setting unless the family first does so.

Non-Payment

Invoices, payment schedules, due dates and the management of overdue payments are governed under Fees and Payment.

Where an outstanding payment remains unresolved after reasonable notice and further professional work cannot reasonably proceed under the agreed payment arrangement, the assessment may be discontinued.

Any resulting financial reconciliation is governed solely under Cancellation, Withdrawal, Non-Attendance and Refunds.

How Practice-Initiated Discontinuation Is Managed

Where All Kinds of Minds determines that an assessment cannot appropriately continue, the family or young person will ordinarily be informed of the decision and the reason for it. Written confirmation will be provided where appropriate.

Where the circumstances permit, reasonable notice will be given and reasonable steps will be taken to minimise avoidable harm arising from the ending of the professional service.

Where another professional or service appears better suited to the child or young person’s needs, appropriate signposting may be provided. Signposting does not itself create an ongoing referral or case-management responsibility.

Where All Kinds of Minds makes a formal professional referral to another service, rather than providing general signposting, any professional responsibilities associated with that referral will be managed in accordance with the applicable ethical and professional requirements.

More immediate discontinuation may be necessary where valid consent no longer exists, the physical-safety boundary in this section is established, serious threatening or violent conduct has occurred, an unmanageable conflict of interest has arisen, or another legal or professional circumstance means that continuing the assessment would itself be inappropriate.

Effect of Closure or Discontinuation

Case closure or discontinuation ends the active professional assessment relationship. It does not remove continuing obligations concerning confidentiality, safeguarding, record keeping or required disclosure, and it does not prevent a child, young person or family from exercising applicable data-protection, complaint or statutory rights.

Where an assessment ends before sufficient evidence has been obtained to support a responsible final assessment conclusion, All Kinds of Minds is not required to issue a completed diagnostic report representing an assessment that was not completed.

Depending on the professional work undertaken and the stage reached, it may sometimes be appropriate to provide a limited written summary, record of findings to date or another document that accurately reflects the work actually completed. Any such document will be confined to information and conclusions that can responsibly be supported and will not imply that the full assessment pathway was completed where it was not.

Any fee, outstanding balance or refund arising where an assessment ends before completion is governed solely under Cancellation, Withdrawal, Non-Attendance and Refunds.

All Kinds of Minds takes reasonable care to ensure that information published on the Website about the practice and its services is accurate, clear and appropriately maintained.

General educational or explanatory Website content is not an individual psychological assessment, diagnosis, clinical opinion or recommendation concerning a particular child or young person. Individual clinical opinions are provided only within an agreed professional service and on the basis of information sufficient to support that opinion.

Information describing a particular assessment service should be read together with these Terms and any service-specific information or individual arrangements provided in connection with that service. Where a statement about a service forms part of a private service contract under applicable consumer law, nothing in this section excludes or diminishes its contractual effect. Irish consumer law expressly recognises that statements made by or on behalf of a trader may form part of a service contract where the consumer relied upon them in deciding to enter into, or subsequently make a decision concerning, that contract.

Visiting the Website, reading its content, submitting an enquiry or contacting the practice does not, by itself, establish an assessment relationship or a contract for professional services. Contract formation is governed under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract.

Website content may be updated as the practice, services, professional guidance, legal requirements or other relevant arrangements develop. Changes to these Terms and their effect on an existing service contract are governed under Changes to These Terms. Changes to published fees are governed under Fees and Payment.

The Website may occasionally be unavailable or affected by maintenance, technical problems or circumstances outside the reasonable control of the practice. Temporary Website unavailability does not alter an existing service contract or any applicable statutory right.

E-Mail and Electronic Communication

E-mail is used for routine professional and administrative communication, including enquiries, appointment arrangements, assessment correspondence and other communication reasonably connected with an agreed service.

E-mail and other electronic communication may also be used as part of booking, agreeing or varying a professional service where this occurs in accordance with Formation and Scope of the Service Contract. Irish law recognises that contracts and related communications may be concluded electronically.

Sending an e-mail or other electronic message does not, by itself, create an entitlement to clinical advice, assessment, consultation, review of information or another professional service that has not been agreed.

E-mail and Website enquiries are not monitored continuously and should not be relied upon for urgent mental-health, safeguarding or safety needs. The practice is an assessment-focused service rather than an emergency or crisis service, as described under Scope of Practice.

Electronic communication carries inherent risks, including delay, non-delivery, misdirection and unauthorised access. All Kinds of Minds uses appropriate professional and data-security measures in handling electronic information. The Data Protection Commission identifies misdirected e-mail as a recurrent source of personal-data breaches and emphasises the need for appropriate safeguards when personal or health information is transmitted electronically.

Where the practice provides a secure client portal, document-upload facility or other designated secure method for submitting sensitive documents or information, families and professionals should use that method where reasonably practicable rather than sending the same material through ordinary e-mail.

All Kinds of Minds may verify a person's identity, authority, e-mail address or other relevant details before releasing confidential information or acting on an instruction where this is reasonably necessary to protect the child or young person, another person, or the confidentiality and security of the information concerned.

The collection, use, storage, disclosure and security of personal information received through the Website, e-mail or other electronic systems are governed by the Privacy Policy and applicable data-protection law.

External Links and Third-Party Information

The Website may contain links to the H.S.E., Government Departments, professional organisations, educational bodies, support services, published guidance, research or other third-party websites and resources.

External websites are operated independently of All Kinds of Minds. Unless expressly stated otherwise, inclusion of a link means that the external resource has been provided as a potentially useful source of information or access to another organisation. It does not mean that All Kinds of Minds owns or controls the external website, endorses every statement or service available through it, or assumes responsibility for decisions subsequently made by the external organisation.

External organisations may change their content, eligibility criteria, procedures, services, privacy practices, terms or Website availability without notice to All Kinds of Minds. Families should therefore refer to the relevant organisation itself where current information about its services, criteria or procedures is required.

Where All Kinds of Minds describes or relies upon an external source in its own Website content, the practice remains responsible for representing that source appropriately within the context in which it is used. The separate responsibilities of schools, public bodies and other organisations for decisions concerning supports, accommodations, services and eligibility are addressed under Reports, External Use and Third-Party Decisions.

Intellectual Property and Assessment Materials

All Kinds of Minds Assessments uses both original materials created in the course of the practice and standardised psychological assessment materials developed and owned by third-party publishers. Different intellectual-property, professional and test-security requirements apply to these materials. These requirements are separate from the rights of a child or young person in relation to their own personal data.

Practice-Created Materials and Psychological Reports

Unless otherwise stated, copyright in original Website content, explanatory materials, forms, templates, written guidance and other original materials created by All Kinds of Minds remains with the relevant author or other rights-holder. Material provided to a family for the purpose of an assessment may be used, completed, downloaded or printed as reasonably required for the purpose for which it was supplied. This does not transfer ownership of the underlying material or authorise its republication, sale, commercial adaptation or use as the basis for another service or product without permission.

Copyright in the original wording and presentation of a private psychological report remains with its author or authors, subject to any rights belonging to third parties in material incorporated within it. Receipt of a report does not transfer that copyright.

This does not restrict the ordinary legitimate use of the report for the child or young person for whom it was prepared. The child or young person and those lawfully acting on their behalf may retain, print, copy and share the report for their own healthcare, educational, support, welfare, administrative or legal purposes in accordance with the provisions under Reports, External Use and Third-Party Decisions. This permission does not extend to commercial republication, public posting, use of the report or substantial parts of it as a template for another person or service, or other unrelated reuse without the permission of the relevant copyright owner.

For H.S.E.-commissioned assessments, any additional requirements concerning ownership, use, transfer or retention of reports and other materials are governed by the applicable H.S.E. commissioning arrangements. Nothing in this section alters those requirements.

Secure Psychological Assessment Materials

Many of the standardised psychological instruments used by All Kinds of Minds contain copyrighted, proprietary and security-sensitive material supplied under conditions governing who may access, administer, reproduce and interpret them. Secure assessment material may include test items and questions, stimulus books and materials, administration instructions, manuals, record forms, response forms, scoring keys, scoring algorithms, item-level content, restricted publisher-generated outputs and other material from which protected assessment content can be identified or reconstructed.

Access to assessment material for the purpose of completing a questionnaire or participating in an assessment does not transfer any right to reproduce, retain or distribute the assessment itself.

Copies of secure or proprietary psychological test materials are not ordinarily provided to parents, guardians, children or young people, schools or other persons who are not appropriately qualified and authorised to receive them. This includes completed record or response forms where supplying a copy would reproduce secure test content. The restriction protects the intellectual-property rights of test publishers, the security and continuing validity of psychological instruments, the fairness of future assessment, and the child or young person's responses from inappropriate or unqualified interpretation.

This does not mean that assessment findings are withheld from families. Standardised scores and clinically relevant results are reported and interpreted within the psychological report, together with the information necessary to understand their significance within the overall assessment.

Secure test content must not be photographed, filmed, audio-recorded, screen-captured, copied, transcribed, uploaded, posted online or otherwise reproduced or distributed without appropriate authorisation. This applies equally to paper and digital assessment materials. Where recording or reproduction during an assessment would compromise test security or the validity of the procedure, that activity must stop and the Clinical Psychologist may discontinue the affected assessment component.

Access to Personal Assessment Information

Test security and copyright do not remove a person's rights under G.D.P.R. and applicable Irish data-protection law. Requests for access to personal data are considered in accordance with the Privacy Policy and the applicable legal requirements.

Some assessment records contain both personal data relating to the child or young person and copyrighted, proprietary or security-sensitive material belonging to a test publisher or another third party. Where these rights intersect, All Kinds of Minds will consider the person's right of access alongside the rights and freedoms of others, including relevant intellectual-property and test-security rights.

Where necessary, personal data may therefore be provided in an extracted, redacted, transcribed or otherwise intelligible form rather than by supplying a reproduction of the secure assessment document itself. The aim is to provide the personal data to which the person is entitled while avoiding unnecessary disclosure of protected test content.

Professional Review and Required Disclosure

Where an appropriately qualified professional requires assessment material for a legitimate professional review or second opinion, secure material may, where clinically appropriate, lawful and permitted under the applicable publisher requirements, be transferred directly from professional to professional. Any such transfer must preserve confidentiality and appropriate test security. Secure materials will not ordinarily be routed through a parent, family member or other unqualified intermediary.

Nothing in this section prevents disclosure that is required by law, a valid court order or other binding legal process. Where such a requirement involves secure psychological assessment material, All Kinds of Minds will comply with the applicable legal obligation while taking reasonable steps, where lawful and practicable, to limit unnecessary dissemination and preserve the confidentiality, intellectual property and security of the assessment material.

H.S.E.-commissioned assessments are additionally subject to the reporting, information-governance, audit and record requirements applicable to the relevant commissioned service, as described under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

Changes to These Terms

All Kinds of Minds Assessments may review and update these Terms from time to time. Changes may be made to reflect developments in applicable law, professional or ethical requirements, H.S.E. arrangements, evidence and professional guidance, the organisation of the practice, the services offered to future clients, administrative processes, or to improve the accuracy and clarity of the Terms.

Changes to these Terms are intended to operate prospectively. The current version will be made available on the Website and will identify when it was last updated.

Terms Applicable to a Private Service Contract

A private service contract is governed by the version of these Terms applicable when that particular contract is formed, together with the other information and specific arrangements that form part of the agreement under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract.

Publication of revised Terms on the Website does not, by itself, alter a private service contract that has already been formed. Continued use of the Website, continued correspondence with the practice or attendance at an appointment under an existing contract will not, by itself, be treated as agreement to a material change in that contract.

Where a later private service forms a separate contract, the Terms applicable to that later service will be those made available before that contract is formed.

Changes Affecting an Existing Private Contract

Where All Kinds of Minds proposes a material change to an existing private service contract that is not required by law or another binding professional or legal obligation, the proposed change will be explained and will take effect only where it is validly agreed.

A material change to the agreed assessment scope or the addition of separately chargeable professional work is governed by Formation and Scope of the Service Contract and Fees and Payment. A revised version of these Terms cannot, by itself, impose a new private charge, materially expand the service purchased, or remove a contractual or statutory right relating to a service already agreed.

Where a proposed change is not agreed, the existing contract will continue on its existing terms where this remains lawful, clinically appropriate and reasonably practicable. If circumstances mean that the agreed service can no longer appropriately be provided, the relevant provisions concerning discontinuation and any resulting financial adjustment will apply.

Changes Required by Law or Professional Obligations

Nothing in an existing version of these Terms requires All Kinds of Minds or a clinician contributing to an assessment to act contrary to applicable law, safeguarding obligations, professional or ethical requirements, or another binding requirement that applies when the professional service is being provided.

Where such a requirement changes during an active assessment and materially affects how the agreed service can lawfully or professionally be provided, the family or young person will be informed as soon as reasonably practicable. Any change will be limited to what is reasonably necessary to respond to the relevant requirement.

Ordinary clinical refinement of an assessment plan within the agreed assessment pathway is not treated as an amendment of these Terms. The circumstances in which an assessment plan may be clinically refined, and the distinction between refinement and a materially different or additional service, are addressed under Formation and Scope of the Service Contract.

Publication and Notice of Changes

The latest version of these Terms will be published on the All Kinds of Minds Website. Families entering into a new private service contract will be given a reasonable opportunity to review the Terms applicable to that service before the contract is formed.

Material changes that are intended to affect an existing private contract will not be communicated solely by expecting the family to monitor the Website. Where such a change is relevant to an active service, it will be communicated directly where reasonably practicable.

Minor editorial corrections, formatting changes, updated links, corrections of typographical errors, updated contact information and other changes that do not materially alter the parties' rights, obligations or the agreed professional service may be made without individual notification.

Changes to generally published fees are addressed under Fees and Payment. Changes to general Website information are addressed under Website Use, E-Mail and External Links.

H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments

Changes to these public Terms do not amend, replace or override the contractual or commissioning arrangements between All Kinds of Minds Assessments and the H.S.E., nor do they alter the scope of an H.S.E.-commissioned referral.

Where an applicable H.S.E. requirement changes during a commissioned assessment, the commissioned service will be managed in accordance with the relevant H.S.E. arrangements and the provisions under H.S.E.-Commissioned Assessments.

These Terms and private service contracts entered into with All Kinds of Minds Assessments are governed by Irish law.

All Kinds of Minds remains responsible for complying with the legal and professional obligations that apply to the services it provides. Nothing in these Terms should be interpreted as requiring the practice, the Clinical Psychologist or another clinician contributing to an assessment to act contrary to applicable law or to the professional and ethical obligations governing their work.

Statutory Consumer Rights

Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or replaces any statutory right, protection or remedy available under Irish law.

Private services provided by All Kinds of Minds are subject to applicable Irish consumer law, including the Consumer Rights Act 2022. The agreed service must be supplied in conformity with the service contract and with the professional skill and reasonable care and skill required by law. A contractual term cannot exclude or restrict the practice's liability for the statutory service obligations protected by the Act.

The clinical and professional boundaries described elsewhere in these Terms define the nature and scope of the service being provided; they do not remove responsibility for supplying that service to the standard required by law.

Where a statutory right or remedy applies, it takes effect irrespective of any provision of these Terms that would otherwise purport to exclude or restrict it.

Professional and Legal Obligations

Psychological assessment is also undertaken within applicable professional, ethical, safeguarding, confidentiality, data-protection and equality obligations.

Where a mandatory legal requirement applies to the professional service, that requirement takes precedence over any inconsistent contractual provision to the extent required by law. Similarly, nothing in the service contract requires a clinician to depart from a professional or ethical obligation applicable to their work in order to comply with a request or contractual expectation.

Concerns, Complaints and Legal Remedies

All Kinds of Minds provides a Feedback and Complaints process through which a child, young person, parent or legal guardian may raise a concern about the service.

Use of that process is not a condition of exercising a statutory right or legal remedy. A person remains free to seek independent advice or to bring proceedings before a court of competent jurisdiction where they are entitled to do so.

These Terms do not require a consumer to submit a dispute to private arbitration or otherwise restrict lawful access to a court or other legal remedy. The Consumer Rights Act 2022 expressly protects consumers against contractual terms that exclude or hinder access to legal action or remedies.

If a Term Is Unfair, Unlawful or Otherwise Not Binding

If an individual provision of these Terms is found to be unfair, unlawful, invalid or otherwise not binding, that provision will not bind the consumer to the extent required by law.

Where the contract is capable of continuing without that provision, the remaining terms will continue to apply. This reflects the Consumer Rights Act 2022, under which an unfair consumer term is not binding while the remainder of the contract continues where it is capable of doing so.

An unfair or invalid provision will not be interpreted, modified or applied in a manner that would deprive a consumer of a statutory protection that would otherwise apply.