Perceived effectiveness of school psychological services: A comparative study

In order to isolate variables present in school psychologists which may enhance effective delivery of school psychological service, supervisors of psychological services, classroom teachers, and building principals within the state of Iowa were asked to evaluate the performance of their school psychologist in 10 functional areas. Both supervisors and classroom teachers perceived those school psychologists with 4–9 years experience as the most effective. Teaching experience, as a requirement for school psychology certification, did not receive support. The level of training for the psychologist (degree) yielded conflicting results among the raters.     

A consultation model for school psychological services

This paper proposes a consultative model for school psychology which includes several techniques that have been independently presented in the past. The primary contribution is the integration of these different methods into a model which is specifically designed for school psychologists. The proposed model is adapted from Caplan (1970), and it includes four levels of functioning: I) Direct Service to the Child; II) Indirect Service to the Child; III) Direct Service to the Teacher; and IV) Service to the School System; a distinction is made between the content and process of consultation, and a shift in emphasis from level I to the remaining levels is suggested.     

Call for redirection: A vocational educator views school psychological services

This article was written in an effort to stimulate greater interest and active involvement in vocational and career education on the part of school psychological services. Several functions for the school psychologist were proposed, including assistance in the selection of students for vocational programs designed for the handicapped and disadvantaged, teacher consultation, and consultation in the development of career education programs.     

The development of school psychological services in Taiwan

This article reviews the historical development of psychological services in Taiwan schools, identifies some contemporary problems, and suggests possible directions for future developments.     

Establishing psychological services in a community-based,health care setting: A 3-year case study

Health care practitioners are being challenged to reorganize service delivery and psychology providers are emerging as important participants in shaping the development of primary health care practices. The article outlines the 3-year process of a community/academic/health care center partnership to develop a new model for providing interdisciplinary health care services. The authors describe the process of integrating psychological services into an interdisciplinary, primary care community-based health care center, outline specific planning strategies, and identify the roadblocks and barriers encountered.     

Stress-management training: Evaluation of effects on school psychological services

School psychologists participated in a cognitive-behavioral stress-management training program. The data showed decreases in self-reported anxiety and increases in job satisfaction of school psychologists as a result of the training. In addition, teacher satisfaction with school psychological services increased after participation in teacher inservice workshops generated as a result of training the school psychologists.     

A case study approach to delivering and evaluating services by a school psychologist

Two interrelated problems in delivering school psychological services by one school psychologist acted as a motivating force behind this study: the problem of how to plan and render services to a school system where the ratio of students to school psychologists is high, and the problem of how to determine the degree of effectiveness of these services. This study describes an approach which consisted of three distinct services rendered by a school psychologist. Evaluative measurements of the services were made in two areas: the effect of the services on the ongoing operations of the system, and the evaluation of the services by school personnel exposed to the services directly or indirectly. The relative merits and the limitations of such an approach are discussed.     

Teachers' perceptions of school psychological services

Teachers from two schools responded to a structured interview designed to reveal their perceptions of the roles and functions of school psychologist-psychometrists. Responses of teachers grouped according to degree of teaching experience and amount of contact with school psychologists or psychometrists were compared on five sets of variables pertaining to the psychologist's role and functions. Results illustrate that teachers view the psychologist as a specialist in emotional problems whose major diagnostic procedure is testing, who recommends treatment but does little himself. Statistical analysis indicates that both the factors of teaching experience and contact with psychologists differentiate between teachers' percpions of the school psychologist's functioning. Teacher recommendations for change in psychological services are outlined.     

Politics and school psychology: A case study

School psychology is one of several professions in education which offer services beyond the regular school curriculum and program. Psychologists who work in school systems have long recognized the need to cooperate with these other professionals in school settings. In addition, they have been aware of the pressures from parents, teachers, and community groups which can impinge upon their jobs. However, limited availability of funding, federally mandated services, and legislation regarding certification are rapidly placing local, state, and national politics into prominance for school psychologists. An example is provided using the Commonwealth of Kentucky.     

Dyslexia and the school counsellor: A Maltese case study

Aim: This paper seeks to understand whether Maltese school counsellors are equipped to deal with dyslexic clients, considers whether specific strategies need to be used, and what positive effects, if any, counselling has on these clients. Previous studies: A literature review on self-concept and techniques on how to improve the self-concept of children with Learning Disabilities (LD)/Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) will place the current study in context. Method: Questionnaires (available from the authors on request) were distributed to all school counsellors on the island and analysed using content analysis. Findings: Findings from respondents indicate a need for more training, evidence-based knowledge of specific techniques when dealing effectively and successfully with dyslexic clients, specific specialised training to understand dyslexic clients and that counselling has a positive effect on dyslexic clients.     

Psychological services for children: using family therapy in the setting of a school psychological service

An attempt is made to evaluate the results of using family therapy in the setting of a school psychological service over a period of about two-and-a-half years. Seventy-two children were involved, referred by teachers, with a variety of behavioural difficulties and learning problems. The difficulties of involving parents in regular clinic sessions for problems which they either saw as school-based or did not see at all are discussed. It is suggested that the technique of family therapy has been insufficiently exploited to help children seen to have 'a special educational need'. This includes children who are developmentally immature, as well as those who show more overt signs of emotional disturbance.     

Beliefs underlying modal choice in school trips: A case study in Brazil

Various factors can influence the choice of transportation mode such as the urban layout, land use and occupation patterns, and the services offer. In recent years, however, research studies have investigated the influence of psychological aspects on personal decision-making associated to modal choice, thereby contributing towards the elaboration of more sustainable public policies. This study investigates the beliefs that are subjacent to modal choices regarding school commute trips, based on the opinions of students attending a senior high school institution in Brasilia, Brazil. Using procedures suggested by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) a set of beliefs was obtained by means of a focus group activity and used to support the elaboration of a School Trips Modal Choice Scale (STMCS). The scale was subjected to Principal Components Analysis to verify the consistency of factors related to the beliefs and the direct measurements of the TPB constructs. Following that Generalized Linear Models (GLM) were elaborated using the Quasi-likelihood estimation method to investigate the correlation between the beliefs obtained and the said constructs. In addition to identifying the principal beliefs related to the modal choice, the results showed that different TPB constructs can be correlated with the same belief and so attributing specific beliefs to each construct based on an initial intuitive classification can actually be an impediment to understanding them. Those findings regarding the beliefs identified as subjacent to each construct are specific for the school community that was studied. However the question of some beliefs significantly affecting more than one construct is a more generalizable and corroborates what has previously been verified in other contexts where TPB has been applied.     

Between the analytic and the arbitrary: A case study of psychological research

It is argued that psychological theories must be seen as attempts to explicate the conceptual network embedded in ordinary language and that psychological data must be seen as historically constituted. Hence, psychological theory is regarded as, potentially, a system of logically necessary (analytic) theorems, analogous to, e. g., Euclidean geometry, and psychological data are seen as determined by the historical (arbitrary) circumstances that happen to prevail. An instance of published psychological research is shown to contain many unrecognized analytic and arbitrary elements. Its pretensions to generality are contradicted by its highly situation- and culture-bound assumptions, and its pretensions to being empirical are contradicted by the prevalence of necessarily true and necessarily false assumptions. The level of theoretical precision is seen as very low.     

Behavior modification of aggressive behavior on a nursery school bus: A case study

A case study is presented in which aggressive behavior of two preschool boys on a nursery school bus was modified by the introduction of a negative punishment contingency in which the Ss were told they would be detained on the bus until the second time the bus passed their house (delay of reinforcement) if abusive behavior occurred. The practical implications of the study and the relative merits of choosing negative punishment over positive punishment as therapy with children are discussed.