Aylmer resident contests l'Ordre des psychologues

“The letters of support I’ve received since the charges were made public are encouraging”, said Aylmer resident Louise Brazeau-Ward. She is fighting two charges made by the l'Ordre des psychologues du Québec, the provincial professional association of psychologists.

Krystelle Larouche, spokesperson for the L'Ordre des psychologues, told the Bulletin that Ms Ward is accused of leading someone to believe a mental health evaluation has been done, plus a charge of evaluating a mental health disorder. The college claims $5,000 for each charge.

“When I conduct my tests I’m only screening for characteristics of dyslexia. I don’t give a diagnosis,” said Ward, who operates the Canadian Dyslexia Centre in Ottawa, and which previously had offices in Aylmer. The incidents occurred while the Centre operated in Aylmer.

“L'Ordre hired an actress who called me to schedule a test for dyslexia. Before we got started (on April 14, 2015) I made it clear that I was not a psychologist, and that I was unable to provide her with a proper psychologist assessment report. She told me that she did not need the report and that the assessment was just for her employer who wanted to help her out with reading and writing,” recounted Ward.

Larouche declined to comment on Ward’s case since it is heading to court. She was also unwilling to confirm whether the Ordre had received other complaints about Ms Ward, since such information is confidential.

“Generally, the public lets us know if someone is carrying out professional activities without a psychologist’s permit,” said Larouche. The Ordre conducts roughly 400 professional inspections yearly.

Ms. Ward insists she never claimed to be a psychologist, “but the Ordre says that I suggested I was. They also reproach me for saying that I’ve trained many psychologists, but it’s true -- I have! Also, I would like to make it clear that I did not move my offices from Aylmer to Ottawa to avoid the Ordre, as some have suggested. I’ve always had a property in Ottawa. The majority of my clientele was and is from Ottawa -- which is why I moved my office there.”

Ms Ward claims she has been conducting the same tests for the past 25 years. “I’ve taught these tests at various universities,” she added. “The question is not to know if the child reads or not, but rather how well he reads.”

According to the Centre’s website, the service “offers you all our expertise to help you identify characteristics of dyslexia in children and adults. We provide training sessions on screening for the condition.” The website also states that “though we are not psychologists, we evaluate the characteristics of dyslexia to teach to read and write with an appropriate method.”

According to the Canadian Dyslexia Association website, Brazeau-Ward is an internationally renowned expert in the field of dyslexia. Ward said her trial was scheduled for December, but has been postponed to April as she unsuccessfully attempted to obtain audio proof.