School Psychology

What is a School Psychologist?

School psychologists help children and youth succeed academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally. They collaborate with educators, parents, and other professionals to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments that strengthen connections between home, school, and the community for all students.

School psychologists are highly trained in both psychology and education, completing a minimum of a specialist-level degree program (at least 60 graduate semester hours) that includes a year-long supervised internship. This training emphasizes preparation in mental health and educational interventions, child development, learning, behavior, motivation, curriculum and instruction, assessment, consultation, collaboration, school law, and systems. School psychologists must be certified and/or licensed by the state in which they work. They also may be nationally certified by the National School Psychology Certification Board (NSPCB). The National Association of School Psychologists sets ethical and training standards for practice and service delivery.

What do School Psychologists Do?

Provide counseling, instruction, and mentoring for those struggling with social, emotional, and behavioral problems.
Increase achievement by assessing barriers to learning and determining the best instructional strategies to improve learning.
Promote wellness and resilience by reinforcing communication and social skills, problem solving, anger management, self-regulation, self-determination, and optimism.
Enhance understanding and acceptance of diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Evaluation Services Offered:

ADHD/ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder is a neurological and behavioral disorder. The identification and diagnosis of children with ADHD requires a combination of clinical judgment and objective assessment. Since there is a high rate of coexistence of ADHD with other psychiatric disorders of childhood and adolescence any comprehensive assessment should include an evaluation of the individual's medical, psychological, educational and behavioral functioning.
Reading Disorders: Effective reading intervention begins with assessment. Individual children come to class with such diverse literacy backgrounds, it is not safe to assume that they will all learn to read the same way and that they will all benefit equally from classroom lessons. Students with reading problems are most often referred to the Child Study Team by their classroom teacher. Following targeted classroom-based interventions, the student may be referred to the school psychologist for a comprehensive evaluation.
Behavior Disorders: A behavior disorder is a psychological problem in which the affected person appears indifferent to social norms or to the feelings of others. This lack of empathy or conscience can lead to problem behaviors in school-aged children, and criminal behavior in older children and adults.

How are students referred for evaluations?

The Weiser School district provides, when appropriate, comprehensive education and behavior evaluations to its students.
Students are usually referred by educators who observe the student on a regular basis. Also, parents are welcome to call or come in to discuss their child's academic or behavior problems.