Informed Consent

Informed consent is a legal term used to describe how parents and adolescents agree to procedures or processes aimed at improving the child's/adolescent's education. It is a prerequisite to initiating special education decision making, including the development of individualized educational plans. The four essential features of informed consent are competence, disclosure, free will, and accountability. To agree to assessment, consultation, or intervention procedures the parents/ adolescents must be competent or able to understand the service to be provided. Informed consent addresses areas in school psychology ranging from receiving permission (consent) from a parent to assess or intervene with their child to requesting permission to participate in a research project. Specifically, informed consent is a protection of participants that requires that they are not harmed in any way and that they participate only if they freely agree to do so. Additionally, complete and factual knowledge must be given about a procedure in order for one to independently agree to it. Finally, informed consent is documented via a written agreement that indicates compliance with these four features. Obtaining both children's assent and a parent's informed consent is an important ethical consideration when working with school-age populations.