How can hiring a school psychologist help your child? These professionals offer services like annual education reviews for homeschooled students. They perform psychoeducational evaluations, which reveal ADHD or learning disabilities. They also administer IQ tests, behavioral assessments and screenings. When children are having behavioral and/or academic difficulties, they support their parents with behavioral plans and training. Lastly, they perform executive functioning coaching and work with kids who have test-taking anxiety. This is quite a bit more than you imagined, right?
The National Association for School Psychologists recommends that schools have one psychologist for every 500 students; in reality, you’re more likely to see a 3000-student high school with one school psychologist. Luckily, these professionals can (and do) hang up their own shingles and make their valuable services available to our communities. School psychologists are licensed psychologists—which is required for some of their scope of work—and they are specialists as well. Join us as we explore all the areas in which a school psychologist can help your child achieve academic success.
Education Reviews for Homeschooled Children
One area school psychologists can assist outside of traditional learning institutions is to evaluate children who are homeschooled, a practice that has increased within families in the past several years. Here in Florida, homeschooled children must get a a yearly Education Review. Hiring a licensed school psychologist is not necessary (there are teachers that work with homeschooled students) but the benefit to hiring these professionals is that they stay current with national norms to obtain the most accurate assessment of whether children are meeting the educational expectations of students their age. If you have a child who’s distracted, or on the autism spectrum and needs more attention, this testing can be done on an individual level, which would yield the most accurate comparison.
The State of Florida prefers certain tests; the Kauffman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA) is on that list. The KTEA is a test that helps measure how well students, from kindergarten through high school, are doing in different academic areas. It looks at skills like reading, math, writing and language to get a sense of where a student might excel or need some extra help.
Schools often use the KTEA to figure out if a student has a learning disability, to check how well certain interventions are working, or to understand why a student might be having trouble in certain subjects. It gives teachers and psychologists valuable insights, helping them decide what kind of support or special plans, like an IEP (individualized education plan), a student might need to do their best.
Behavioral Screenings
Behavioral screenings are quick check-ins to see if a child is showing signs of emotional or behavioral issues that might need extra attention. These screenings typically involve questionnaires or short assessments filled out by parents, teachers, or even the child themselves, covering areas like mood, behavior, social skills and attention.
There is no diagnosis given. The goal is to catch potential issues early, like anxiety, ADHD or conduct problems, so that if needed, the child can get support before things become more serious. It’s a way for schools or healthcare providers to get a sense of whether further evaluation or intervention might be helpful. At the parents’ request, the psychologist can devise a behavioral plan and train the parents how to implement it themselves. If the issue can be resolved by showing parents what to do at home, there’s no need for regular counseling for the child.
For example, tantrums, problems with life transitions and even toilet training issues can come from emotional dysregulation that parents can learn to resolve at home with help from a psychologist. School psychologists can also work with teachers to implement certain aspects of a behavioral plan at the child’s school. Sometimes, these professionals conduct a part of the behavioral screening in the classroom (if the school/teacher permits) in order to observe the child with her peers. For example, if the parents of a 4-year-old are concerned that she has ADHD, it is preferable to observe her with her class before drawing a conclusion. If a psychologist thinks it is necessary, a psychoeducational evaluation may be recommended.
Psychoeducational Testing
Psychoeducational testing is done when there’s the question of whether a student has a learning disability, or if they have a known learning disability, and they’re transitioning from, for example, middle school to high school or high school to college. For students with a history of a learning disability, this testing is required to qualify for accommodations under Section 504 of the American Disabilities Act. Even adults returning to school or students who plan to take the LSAT or GRE may need updated testing.
Psychoeducational testing is an assessment process used to understand how a person learns and what might be affecting their academic performance. It’s especially helpful for kids who might be struggling in school or showing signs of learning difficulties. During the testing, a psychologist will use various tools, like IQ tests, achievement tests and sometimes interviews, to get a full picture of the individual’s strengths and weaknesses in areas like reading, math, memory or attention. The therapist also observes how the child handles the stress of the test taking experience. Typically, the testing process is about four hours, which is usually either broken into two separate days, or into morning and afternoon sessions on the same day.
The results can help identify issues like learning disabilities, ADHD, or other challenges—like anxiety or depression—that may be affecting academic success. Once the testing is done, the psychologist provides recommendations for strategies or accommodations—like tutoring or counseling—that can support a person’s learning. This helps parents, teachers and even the students themselves better understand how to approach learning in a way that works best for them. Licensed psychologists, like a school psychologist or a clinical psychologist, can administer psychoeducational testing.
Test Anxiety Counseling
Test anxiety is not a diagnosis, but its effects are very real. Oftentimes, for test anxiety, strategies are all students need. They need to be taught preparation skills, grounding techniques like positive self-talk and how to create a plan when they’re stressed so that they can prepare for the test in advance. These skills can be taught in four to six sessions. When they are not effective, that could be a sign that the test anxiety is really a manifestation of something else, like an anxiety disorder.
Executive Functioning Skills Coaching
Helpful to both children and adults, executive functioning skills coaching supports all the skills we need to get through our day, including prioritization, organization, planning and metacognition, which is “thinking about thinking.” For example, after experiencing a “failure,” instead of just feeling bad, you can say to yourself, “Wow, that was a total bomb. That was a poor plan. I won’t do that again.” This is much more constructive and positive way forward than dwelling in shame or self-pity and allows you to be (wait for iiiiit…) RESILIENT.
Resiliency has been a big topic of discussion in self-help books lately, which is probably in response (rightly) to how fast things seem to change in today’s world. It’s a true challenge to us all. Kids with ADHD especially have a hard time with executive functioning; however, some people without ADHD have a hard time with executive functioning. Think of your school psychologist as a sort of professional organizer, teaching you skills you’ll need to talk yourself through life’s challenges, rather than doing it for you. Given the skills, you can put yourself on the proverbial couch for everyday setbacks!
Play Therapy
Play therapy is a type of therapy that helps children work through their emotions by using play to express themselves. Since kids often struggle to put their feelings into words, play offers them a natural and comfortable way to communicate what they’re going through. To conduct play therapy sessions a professional must be registered. A registered play therapist is a licensed mental health professional who has participated in additional training and supervision over and beyond a graduate degree.
During a session, a trained therapist provides a safe and supportive space where the child can use toys, games, art or even a sandbox to explore their emotions. The idea is that through play, kids can better express feelings they might not be able to talk about directly.
Play therapy can help children deal with a wide range of challenges, like anxiety, depression, trauma or family issues. It’s an effective way for kids to process their emotions, develop coping skills and improve their overall well-being. Play therapy is commonly used with children between ages 3 and 12, though it can be adapted for adolescents or adults when appropriate.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that helps people understand how their thoughts, feelings and behaviors are connected. The idea behind CBT is that negative or unhelpful thinking patterns can lead to unwanted feelings and behaviors, so by changing the way you think, you can also change how you feel and act. It’s practical and focused on the present, helping people develop healthier ways to cope with challenges.
In CBT, you work with a therapist to identify negative thought patterns and replace them with more positive or realistic ones. It’s commonly used to treat anxiety, depression and other emotional challenges. The best part is, CBT gives you tools and strategies you can use in your everyday life to manage stress and emotions better. This is empowering because it gives you a feeling of control, which is important for reducing stress. You can see how this method might be especially beneficial to kids, who (let’s face it) have very little control over what happens in their lives! Getting this kind of help can teach children to regulate their thoughts and emotions themselves before things spiral out of control.
This is another area where parents can be trained by a therapist to conduct this kind of guidance at home. For younger children, a therapist works with the family so the parents may model the desired behaviors at home.
Behavior Therapy
Behavior therapy is a type of treatment that focuses on determining the function of the behavior and teaching appropriate replacement behaviors so the child may receive the same type of results. For instance, a student who does not enjoy math may leave his seat and remain in the restroom for 15 minutes to avoid completing a math assignment. The function of the behavior (leaving his seat) is escape, and a new replacement behavior might be for the student to be rewarded with reinforcement for completing work. The reinforcement might be a break to participate in a preferred task.
Gifted Assessments
A gifted assessment is a process used to determine if a child has advanced abilities compared to other kids their age. It usually involves cognitive assessments that look at things like problem-solving skills, memory and learning speed. The goal is to see if the child might benefit from more challenging work or specialized programs in school. It helps teachers and parents understand how best to support the child’s unique learning needs. Gifted screenings are traditionally done through the public school in second grade. Kids that perform to a certain level are sent to a school psychologist for a full evaluation.
Does Insurance Cover Hiring a School Psychologist?
Typically, school psychologists do not take insurance, but you can ask them to provide a superbill which you can submit to your insurance carrier.
A consultation with a licensed school psychologist can give guidance to the parents of a child who’s struggling. They can let parents know whether the child would benefit from extra tutoring or testing. You can ask your pediatrician, your child’s school or other parents for a referral to one of these professionals.
Special thanks to Angela Perry, Ed.S., NCSP, RPT, for her help with this article. Angela is a neighbor to CIPC and The Salt Room Longwood. Her practice is located in our building. For nearly 30 years, Angela has worked to improve the lives of individuals with special needs. She began her career as an exceptional student education (ESE) teacher and transitioned to a school psychologist in 2002 after earning a specialist degree from the University of Central Florida (UCF). She is certified to administer all the testing and therapies outlined in this article. Call 407.963.7470 to ask for a free 15-minute consultation so that she can make a recommendation on the best way to assist your child’s success in school and in life. You can also contact her through her website here: https://www.agperry.com/
