Consultation
The School Psychologist is available for consultation for all children residing in the district regarding any aspect of the student's development. The School Psychologist typically works with parents and teachers to identify a specific area of concern, gather baseline data regarding that targeted area, develop and implement an intervention plan, and conduct progress monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention plan. Upon parental request, the School Psychologist may also provide recommendations or referrals for help outside of the school district as well.
Problem Solving Team (PST)
The Problem Solving Team (PST) is a team of educators that meets weekly to discuss the academic and behavioral concerns of students. The PST is most often the first line of defense in working to improve student performance. The PST team consists of the Principal, General and Special Education Teachers, Reading Specialist, School Psychologist, Speech Pathologist and School Counselor. Students are referred to the PST by their general education teachers or parents. At the initial meeting, a goal is identified and intervention suggestions are presented to the general education teacher. A method of monitoring the intervention is chosen and the team is scheduled to meet in 4-8 weeks to discuss the student's progress. At the second and subsequent PST meetings, the team meets to decide if the intervention was successful and should be continued, if the intervention needs to be altered, if the student should be dismissed from the PST process, or if the student should be referred for Special Education assessment.
Functional Behavior Assessment
School Psychologists are often times key personnel involved in the implementation of a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA). FBA involves a process of identifying a problem in observable terms, collecting data to make hypotheses about the function of a behavior (the reason the child engages in a particular behavior), and the development and monitoring of an accompanying Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) based on the information gleaned from the FBA. Students typically engage in a behavior (either desirable or non-desirable in nature) for just a few specific reasons: to gain something (such as attention or sensory stimulation) or to avoid something (for instance, an undesirable task or sensory experience). FBAs help educators to know how they can change the environmental variables that are maintaining a problem behavior so that the student will engage in an alternative, more desirable replacement behavior.
Much of the information below is shared from the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice.
Much of the information below is shared from the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice.