School Psychologist And Students’ Behavioural Pattern In Colleges
A school psychologist is an expert in both psychology and education. Training varies state-by-state; but, in most cases, they are the schools’ expert in psycho-educational assessment. See Samples Of Undergraduate Projects & Research Ideas For Colleges Students
A school psychologist is a professional psychological practitioner whose general purpose is to bring a psychological perspective to bear on the problems of educators…from a broad base of training in educational and psychological foundations…resulting in the provision of comprehensive psychological services of a direct and indirect nature.
SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST
School psychologists provide a unique contribution to the educational system. They are dually trained in the areas of psychology and education. With such a background, they are able to provide input to school personnel and parents regarding both the social/emotional and learning challenges facing children, as well as provide expertise in the area of systems change. Far too often school psychologists are relegated to the area of special education, spending much of their time assessing students to determine eligibility. This is in part due to funding models utilized by many districts. However, these models fail to make full use of the wealth of information and expertise that school psychologists can offer. A school psychologist is a credentialed professional whose primary objective is the application of scientific principles of learning and behavior to ameliorate school-related problems and to facilitate the learning and development of children in public schools.
THE NEED FOR SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST
School psychologists can serve as valuable consultants to support many aspects of schooling. Most importantly, since they are uniquely trained in the understanding of thinking, memory, and cognitive and motivational processes, school psychologists can also offer their knowledge base in a variety of other issues including: social-emotional development; positive pro-social skills; conflict management; and crisis recovery. With the increasing emphasis in schools on testing, psychologists can consult with teachers and parents to deal with test anxiety in students, and to assist in understanding the psychometric results of various assessments. School psychologists have the expertise to assist individual students, classrooms, and entire schools to enhance the schooling experience for all. School psychologists can serve as valuable consultants to support many aspects of schooling. Most importantly, since they are uniquely trained in the understanding of thinking, memory, and cognitive and motivational processes, school psychologists can also offer their knowledge base in a variety of other issues including: social-emotional development; positive pro-social skills; conflict management; and crisis recovery. With the increasing emphasis in schools on testing, psychologists can consult with teachers and parents to deal with test anxiety in students, and to assist in understanding the psychometric results of various assessments. School psychologists have the expertise to assist individual students, classrooms, and entire schools to enhance the schooling experience for all.
SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST AND STUDENTS’ BEHAVIOURAL PATTERN
School psychologists support general education staff to include all children in their educational program. When behavioral challenges occur, the school psychologist can lead the problem solving process. This entails: (a) the identification of the problem impeding the child’s progress academically and/or socially; (b) analyzing the collected data, and © assisting and collaborating in the development of a plan to help the student succeed. Once the plan is in place, the school psychologist supports the general education staff by developing a progress monitoring process for the student’s behavioral support plan. There is more information now than ever on why students fail. Students drop out of school for a myriad of reason including grade retention, illiteracy, failure to form important bonds with school staff and/or lack of achievement motivation. Less is known about the exact ingredients for achieving school success except that prevention and early intervention are more likely to curb school failure than later attempts. School psychologists’ knowledge of the academic and affective skills that contribute to school success is an invaluable resource for developing preventive and early intervention initiative. For example, school psychologists can assist schools and districts in establishing multi-gating screening procedures that identify and direct interventions to students at-risk for school failure. Early detection of difficulties in acquiring skills such as reading or social skills is essential to intervening before the delays become entrenched and difficult to remediate. School psychologists can assist in selecting appropriate screening instruments and interpreting this assessment information to ensure that the focus and intensity of the interventions match the individual needs of the students
