I sometimes have disagreements with parents about the amount of service their child needs. How can I avoid providing services that I feel are unwarranted or ethically wrong?
Your decision should be guided by appropriate sections of ASHA’s Code of Ethics, district policies, and state and federal regulation. Usually, when professional and parent or clients disagree, the conflict is related to one of the following: dismissal, frequency and intensity of treatment, type of treatment/therapeutic approach, eligibility for services, or specific assistive technology. It is often helpful to review the evidence used to make decisions with parents. Information about some of the existing evidenced-based practices can be found on the ASHA Web site. Illustrative examples of typical scenarios, including when parents refuse dismissal from services for their child, insist on more services than recommended for their child, or demand a treatment approach that has not been proven effective, can be found in the article ” When Clinician and Parent Disagree ” by Polly B. Pooser. Additional information is in the article by Melanie Frazek, ” Ethics vs.
