Psychologist

The school psychologist provides a range of supportive services to assist children and adolescents in their learning, growth, and development. School psychological services consist of direct and indirect interventions that require involvement with the entire educational system including the students, teachers, counselors, administrators, other school personnel, families, community agencies, and a variety of others that may be important on an individual basis. Services are tailored to the particular needs of each student. Some of the core services the school psychologist provides include:

Consultation

• Provides positive and effective strategies to teachers, parents, and administrators for dealing with problems related to learning and behavior.
• Helps others understand child development and how it affects learning and behavior.
• Strengthens working relationships between educators, parents and community services.
• Works in close cooperation with mental health clinics, physicians, courts and other agencies capable of assisting schools with the problems of individual children.

Assessment

• Academic skills
• Learning aptitudes
• Personality and emotional development
• Social skills
• Adaptive skills
• Behavioral skills
• Learning environments and school climate
• Eligibility for Special Education services
• Eligibility for Gifted Support services
• Eligibility for accommodations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

Intervention

• Works directly with children and families.
• Helps solve conflicts and problems in learning and adjustment.
• Provides psychological counseling for children and families.
• Provides social skills training, behavior management, and other strategies.
• Helps families and schools deal with crises, such as separation and loss. Conducts suicide assessments, crisis counseling, and depression screenings.

Prevention

• Identifies potential learning difficulties.
• Designs programs for children at risk for failure.
• Provides parents and teachers with the skills to cope with disruptive behavior.
• Helps foster tolerance, understanding and appreciation of diversity in the school community.
• Helps develop school wide initiatives to make schools safer and more effective.
• Provides individual and/or group student counseling in areas such as social skills building, stress management, anger control, and nonviolent problem solving.

Education

• Offers in-service training on topics of interest based on school and/or community need, such as Attention Deficit Disorders, crisis intervention procedures, and behavior management.
• Holds membership on a number of school based teams such as student support teams and Individualized Education Program teams.

The primary intent of the provision of school psychological services is to promote mental and physical wellness and facilitate student learning. The school psychologist’s overall goal is to increase student capacity to overcome academic, personal, and social problems that could hinder their attainment of educational success and a satisfying and productive life.

The services of a school psychologist are available to all students within the District. These services may be requested by a teacher, guidance counselor, principal, parent, or student. Parent approval is necessary for any psychological testing. Following testing, a conference will be scheduled to discuss test results and recommendations with the parents, teachers, psychologist, administrators, and other staff members as needed.