When our practice leadership asked us to find the most robust, HIPAA-compliant, and user-friendly AI platform for our school psychology practice, we knew we had our work cut out for us. Our practice creates comprehensive psychological assessment reports that often run 30-80 pages, include multiple standardized tests, and sometimes end up in court. We needed an AI tool that could handle complexity without sacrificing quality or compliance.
Our practice evaluated six different platforms over several weeks, using real case data to compare how each one handled the demanding work we do every day. What we discovered surprised us and ultimately changed how our entire practice approaches clinical documentation.
The Challenge: More Than Just Report Writing
Before diving into what we found, it helps to understand what makes school psychology reports unique. When parents disagree with their school district about special education services, our reports become legal documents. They go to trial. Attorneys scrutinize every sentence. A single mistake (like mentioning "Shannon" when you're writing about "Billy") can discredit an entire evaluation and cost a family the services their child needs.
These reports require us to:
- Analyze multiple assessment tools (behavioral rating scales, cognitive tests, achievement measures)
- Integrate data from parents, teachers, and direct observations
- Explain technical results in narrative form, not just list scores
- Connect test findings to real-world classroom functioning
- Provide evidence-based recommendations that hold up under legal scrutiny
- Meet strict timelines while maintaining forensic-quality standards
Record reviews could take significantly longer than the three hours we typically bill for. Analyzing extensive IEPs, cross-referencing services, pulling relevant information, and synthesizing it into a coherent narrative was time-consuming work. Our clinical supervisor emphasized the need for efficiency without sacrificing accuracy. That's when we started looking at AI solutions.
The Platforms We Tested
Our practice evaluated six platforms designed for psychological assessment work: Assessment Assistant, Psychassist.ai, Schoolpsych.ai, Leitner AI, Professionalpsyctools.com, and Sophia Report Writer. For each, we used the same approach: take a completed report we'd already written, input the raw data, and compare outputs.
What We Found
Several platforms used dropdown menus and pre-formatted fields. While this sounds efficient, it created significant limitations. These platforms only accepted specific assessments from predetermined lists. If we needed to analyze major cognitive measures like the WISC-V or WAIS-IV, achievement batteries like the KTEA-3, or behavioral assessments like the BASC and TONI, we could only proceed if those exact tests were in their database. Any specialized measure we administered? Not supported.
The output came in tables or bullet points. We write narrative reports in paragraph form because parents find them clearer and courts expect comprehensive explanations. Converting bulleted data into flowing prose meant starting from scratch anyway.
Setup created barriers too. One platform required downloading a browser extension. Another made us enter complete demographic information before we could even test features. Compared to just opening a chat and asking a question, these felt like unnecessary obstacles.
A couple of platforms offered chat interfaces, but had critical flaws. During free trials, some capped interactions at 2-5 queries. One system stopped us after two submissions with "You've reached the end of your free trial." Even when the format was right, the content wasn't there. We'd get generic summaries that listed scores without explaining what they meant for classroom functioning.
Why BastionGPT Stood Out
From our first interaction with BastionGPT, we noticed fundamental differences:
1. Immediate Usability
No downloads. No demographic data entry. No restricted test lists. We uploaded our assessment reports, pasted in IEP sections, or simply typed our prompts. The platform worked with whatever we gave it.
2. Depth and Detail
BastionGPT generated comprehensive narrative content that matched the complexity we needed. When we asked it to analyze the BASC results, it didn't just spit back scores. It explained what elevated anxiety scores typically indicate, how they might manifest in classroom behavior, and what interventions research supports.
The platform understands medical and psychological terminology. When we needed to explain how ADHD connects to academic underachievement, BastionGPT provided evidence-based explanations with sources, something we rarely got from generic AI tools like Gemini (which would essentially say "it affects it because it affects it").
3. Iterative Refinement
This became our favorite feature. We could build reports section by section, refining as we went:
- "Include scores in parentheses"
- "Write in past tense"
- "Incorporate the teacher's results into the paragraph I already wrote"
- "Remove the word 'suggesting' and use 'demonstrating' instead"
Each request worked. We could scroll back through our conversation to see what data we'd already provided. We could add information as it came in (like when a teacher submitted rating scales late). The chat format meant we weren't locked into a rigid workflow.
4. No Artificial Limits
Unlike competitors that restricted trial users to a handful of queries, BastionGPT let us fully test every feature we needed. We could process multiple documents, try different prompting strategies, and really understand whether it worked for our use cases.
5. Time Savings We Could Measure
Record reviews that took 12 hours manually now take 3-4 hours with BastionGPT handling the initial analysis. We still review everything carefully (we have to, especially for cases going to trial), but we're starting from a comprehensive draft rather than a blank page.
Report edits dropped from 3-4 hours to about an hour. When our supervising psychologist gives feedback like "this section needs more declarative language" or "you can't use tentative phrasing here," we can tell BastionGPT exactly what needs to change and get refined text in seconds.
For our practice, this translates directly to cost savings. We bill record reviews at 50 pages per hour, capped at three hours. When reviews took six hours manually, the practice absorbed that cost. Now we consistently stay within the estimated time, which means better margins without charging families more.
What About the Other Use Cases?
Beyond report writing and record reviews, we use BastionGPT for IEP summarization (even 120-page documents), edit implementation when we receive feedback on drafts, test interpretation guidance, and meeting prep. Some colleagues ask it strategic questions before IEP meetings about how to present findings or address parent concerns.
The Learning Curve
Getting the best results from BastionGPT requires understanding how to prompt effectively. We learned to be specific about format ("Write in paragraph form"), build incrementally rather than asking for an entire report at once, provide examples of our preferred style, and always review critically.
We've created a shared document of effective prompts our team uses, like: "Please create a concise summary paragraph using clear and firm language, referring to absolute weaknesses and absolute strengths" or "Incorporate the teacher's results into the paragraph I already wrote, including T scores in parentheses."
Why Healthcare-Specific AI Matters
One thing we didn't fully appreciate until this evaluation: general-purpose AI tools don't understand healthcare contexts the same way. BastionGPT has built-in knowledge about medical conditions, psychological constructs, and evidence-based interventions. It's not just accessing the same information as ChatGPT or Gemini; it's accessing it through a healthcare lens.
When we ask about how working memory deficits affect reading comprehension, BastionGPT understands we need research-backed explanations suitable for clinical documentation, not a Reddit summary or general definition. It knows to cite sources, use appropriate terminology, and maintain professional standards.
Our Recommendation
After testing six platforms, BastionGPT was the clear choice for our practice. It's the only tool that combines:
- Flexibility to handle any assessment or document type
- Depth to support forensic-quality reporting
- Speed to save meaningful time on every case
- Healthcare-specific intelligence that understands clinical contexts
- No artificial usage barriers
The other platforms might work for simpler use cases or practices with different workflows. If you only use three standardized tests and prefer bulleted outputs, a structured platform might suffice. But for comprehensive psychological assessment work, especially when reports might go to trial, we needed something more capable.
BastionGPT saves us hours per case, supports our complex reporting needs, and helps us provide the detailed evaluations that families and courts require. For our work, that makes it invaluable.
What We Tell Other Practices
If you're evaluating AI tools for clinical work:
- Test with real cases: Use actual completed reports to compare outputs
- Look beyond features lists: A platform that claims to do everything might do nothing well
- Consider your workflow: Chat interfaces offer more flexibility than structured forms
- Evaluate depth, not just speed: Fast but shallow outputs don't save time if you have to rewrite everything
- Check usage limits: Some "free trials" barely let you test basic functionality
- Think about edge cases: Can it handle your most complex reports, not just average ones?
For us, those criteria led to BastionGPT. We love that we found a tool that actually makes our work better, not just faster.
About the Authors
Kiley Cuene and Symone Gelay are doctoral candidates in clinical psychology specializing in school-based psychological assessment. They conduct comprehensive evaluations for children with suspected learning disabilities and developmental differences.
Related Resources:
BastionGPT Use Cases for Mental Health Professionals
Healthcare AI Prompts: Building Your Clinical Library
Video: How to Write Complex Reports with BastionGPT
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- Email: [email protected]
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