How to Get an ACT School to Follow Psychologist Recommendations

You paid thousands of dollars for a psychologist or occupational therapist to assess your child. The report is comprehensive. The recommendations are specific. You handed it to the school months ago. Nothing has changed.

This is one of the most common — and most infuriating — experiences for ACT parents of children with disability. A private assessment in Canberra can cost anywhere from $1,500 to over $3,000. Getting that report dismissed, ignored, or filed away without action is a particular form of institutional failure.

Here's what you can actually do about it.

What the School Is Legally Required to Do With Your Report

Under the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (DSE 2005), ACT schools — whether public, Catholic, or independent — are required to:

1. Consult with parents and students about the student's needs, including reviewing assessment documentation
2. Make reasonable adjustments based on those needs — adjustments that allow the student to participate in learning "on the same basis" as students without disability
3. Review those adjustments when they're not working

A school cannot simply receive a clinical report and ignore it. The DSE 2005 consultation obligation requires the school to engage with the content of clinical assessments. If the school doesn't formally respond to the recommendations in a report within a reasonable timeframe, it is not meeting its consultation obligation.

This gives you legal ground to stand on. Use it.

Step 1: Put the Ignored Report in Writing

If you've handed a report to the school and nothing has happened, the next step is a formal written request — not another verbal conversation.

Write to the school's principal or DECO (Disability Education Coordination Officer) by email. In your email:

• Reference the specific assessment report (psychologist name, date, type of assessment)
• List the specific recommendations in the report that have not been implemented
• State that you are formally requesting a Student Support Group (SSG) meeting to discuss how these recommendations will be incorporated into your child's ILP
• Cite the DSE 2005 — specifically the obligation to consult and to make reasonable adjustments
• Request a written response within 10 business days

This email transforms what was an informal conversation into a formal documented request. It also signals to the school that you understand your legal rights — which changes the dynamic.

Step 2: Demand Specific Actions in the ILP

At the SSG meeting, don't accept vague commitments. The ILP must contain specific, measurable adjustments that directly correspond to the clinical recommendations.

For example, if a psychologist has recommended:

• "Extended processing time for written tasks" → The ILP should state: "Student will be provided an additional 25% time on all timed assessments and classwork tasks"
• "Reduce environmental distractors" → The ILP should state: "Student will be seated in the front row, away from windows, with a physical barrier where possible during independent work"
• "Occupational therapy support for fine motor tasks" → The ILP should state: "School will provide access to [specific assistive technology] and request AHS OT assessment for fine motor support by [date]"

Vague goal language ("improve concentration," "develop study skills") is insufficient and largely unenforceable. If the school proposes vague goals at the meeting, push back explicitly: "That goal doesn't address the specific recommendation in the psychologist's report. Can we rephrase it to reflect what the report recommends?"

Bring the clinical report to the SSG meeting. Have it open. Reference specific page numbers. This forces the conversation to be grounded in the actual document rather than general school policy.

Step 3: Address Denial of Learning Support Assistant Time

Denial of LSA (Learning Support Assistant) time is one of the most contested points in ACT disability education advocacy. Schools frequently decline to provide dedicated LSA support by citing resource constraints or arguing that a student doesn't meet the threshold for a Disability Education-allocated LSA.

When LSA access is denied, two questions matter:

What NCCD level has my child been classified at? Ask this in writing. The federal government provides per-student loading: $6,076 at Supplementary, $21,122 at Substantial, $45,137 at Extensive. If your child has been classified at Substantial or Extensive and is not receiving LSA support proportionate to that level, the school is potentially claiming federal funding while failing to deliver the adjustments that justify it. This is a very powerful question to ask in writing.

Has the school sought a formal Disability Education assessment? Access to Disability Education-allocated LSA support in ACT public schools typically requires a formal assessment through the ACT Education Directorate's Disability Education division. If the school has not referred your child for this assessment, that is the first step to push for. A formal written request to the principal asking the school to initiate a Disability Education referral — citing the clinical report as supporting documentation — is the correct move.

For students with ADHD specifically: ACT public schools generally do not allocate a dedicated LSA for ADHD without a co-occurring intellectual disability or significant complexity. This is a systemic gap that the 2023 Auditor-General's report has highlighted. It doesn't make it acceptable, but it does mean the advocacy strategy needs to be framed around what the school can provide rather than what the NDIS cannot fund.

Step 4: Follow Up Every Meeting in Writing

After every SSG meeting or conversation with the school about your child's support, send an email summary that same day or the next morning.

Format: "Thank you for the meeting today. To confirm my understanding of what was agreed: [list of specific commitments with timelines and responsible staff]."

This email has two functions. First, it tests whether the school shares your understanding of what was agreed — if they push back, you catch the discrepancy immediately. Second, it creates a contemporaneous record that verbal commitments were made.

If the school does not follow through on commitments documented in these emails, you have clear evidence of non-compliance for any future complaint.

Step 5: If the School Still Doesn't Act

At this point, the matter has escalated beyond school-level advocacy. Your options:

ACT Education Directorate: For public school students, lodge a formal complaint with the Directorate's Enquiries and Complaints unit ([email protected]). Attach your chronology — the dates of your written requests, the SSG meetings, and the school's failure to implement agreed adjustments.

CECG or AISACT: For Catholic or independent school students, escalate to the CECG Student Services team or the school board respectively. The same documentation approach applies.

ACT Human Rights Commission: A school that has received a clinical assessment, been formally asked to implement its recommendations, and repeatedly failed to do so may be in breach of the ACT Human Rights Act 2004 (Section 27A) and the Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT). Filing a complaint with the HRC triggers a formal conciliation process that the school must participate in. Outcomes can include mandated adjustments in writing, staff training, and formal apologies.

Advocacy for Inclusion: If you need support navigating any of these processes, Advocacy for Inclusion (02 6257 4005) provides free, independent disability advocacy in the ACT, including assistance with HRC complaint preparation.

The Underlying Dynamic

Schools in the ACT are under genuine staffing pressure. The Allied Health Service faces high demand. Teachers are managing full classrooms with limited support. None of this changes what your child is legally owed.

The single most effective shift you can make as an advocate is moving from verbal to written — at every step. A parent who sends formal emails citing the DSE 2005, requests written SSG minutes, follows up meetings the same day, and documents non-compliance is operating in a fundamentally different advocacy environment than a parent who relies on goodwill and verbal reassurances.

The ACT Disability Advocacy Playbook contains the specific letter templates you need for each step of this process — from the initial formal report-implementation request, through the SSG meeting demand, to the Directorate complaint letter. Get the complete toolkit so you can start acting today rather than drafting from scratch.

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