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Areas of service include:
Areas of service include:
Cognitive and socio-emotional assessments:
Cognitive and socio-emotional assessments:
The assessment often includes tests of cognitive ability, school achievement, adaptive behavior, and social-emotional adjustment. Such assessments also involve interviews with parents and teachers, observations and a review of school records. Each assessment is summarized in a written report.
Consultations:
Consultations:
This is an indirect method of providing services in which the psychologist makes recommendations about ways to improve learning experiences and the emotional wellbeing of young people while working closely with teachers and parents to help prevent problems arising.
In-service education:
In-service education:
Psychologists also devote their time to in-service education of divisional personnel or parents. This activity may be directed at many topics, including: executive function, attachment, reducing problems in child study, supporting teaching or parenting skills.
Quick Links:
Dr. Gordon Neufeld's Attachment Based Developmental Approach
https://www.neufeldinstitute.org/about/our-approach
Dyslexia Canada
https://dyslexiacanada.org/support/intervention/reading-intervention/
Canadian Psychological Association
https://cpa.ca/sections/educational/associations/
NASP -National Association of School Psychologists
An Attachment-Based Developmental Approach
By Dr. Gordon Neufeld
Attachment needs are our primary needs, and in the context of a safe and caring relationship, optimal growth and development occur.
Development is essentially the unfolding of human potential, a spontaneous process that occurs when conditions are conducive.
What is required for growth is sufficient rest and release from attachment hunger. This is when adults assume responsibility for providing children with a sense of togetherness, allowing them to rest from attachment work and for their potential to emerge spontaneously.
In other words, growth comes from Safety and Rest. Therefore, maturation is not inevitable. It occurs only under favorable conditions, as the prefrontal cortex begins to grow between ages 5 and 7 and continues well into the 20s and 30s. The area of the brain that controls executive functions, including weighing long-term consequences and controlling impulses, is the last to fully mature.
For example, when comparing 4- and 5-year-olds, we can see that at 4 years old, the prefrontal cortex has not yet begun to develop. At this age, children are not able to regulate their emotions; tears are very common, they have difficulty verbalizing their emotions, and their impulses come through without filtering. At 5 years old, prefrontal cortex development has barely begun (if the right conditions are in place). They also display big emotions (only one at a time) and are starting to verbalize them. Their impulses come through with little filtering, depending on the day and the emotion being triggered.
We can see that the prefrontal cortex matures and engages gradually, and that it is very difficult for a young child to truly get along with others, for example. Therefore, “Social skills” result from brain development. However, children who are stuck and do not feel their emotions will have difficulty developing this capacity.
Developmentally Friendly Discipline for the Immature
Impose order rather than trying to teach behavior.
Use structure and routine to orchestrate behavior.
Be proactive to prevent problems.
Be minimally reactive-just enough intervention to address the situation.
Avoid talking too much about behavior.
Assume responsibility for the child who often gets into trouble and ask yourself:
• When does this child have a difficult time?
• Where does this child have a difficult time?
• With whom does this child have a difficult time?
When a child frequently gets into trouble, adults need to find ways to keep the child out of trouble:
• Guide them to a different activity.
• Provide extra supervision.
• When misbehavior occurs, consider it a non-intentional “accident.”
Assume responsibility for maintaining a caring relationship.
When things are not going well and emotions are high, treat the incident as an accident by helping them rather than correcting them. When we take care of the upset child, we show others that we respect emotions, which further supports a culture of emotional safety in the classroom.
When adults respond to problematic behavior by imposing consequences for the child’s “poor choices,” they assume the child can choose to behave otherwise. However, this requires executive function capacity, and many vulnerable children, teens, and even young adults need years of experience to develop it.
Social-emotional development can be grown and cultivated. Children must first experience it through caring, attuned relationships with adults. If a vulnerable child hasn’t experienced the warmth of co-regulation, our efforts to teach them self-regulation will inevitably fall short.
Social Developmental Practices
· Provide the right social and environmental conditions to help children succeed more in their social interactions and stay out of trouble (intentional setup of the physical space, strong adult presence, consistent and predictable structures and routines, adequate supervision, accompaniment during transitions, outdoor opportunities to switch gears, etc.).
· Familiarize them with social concepts through play (being in line, listening to instructions, taking turns).
· Use playful ways to introduce, model, and prompt adults' expectations through cues, stories, chants, role-playing, games, etc.
· Use games and activities to practice a range of social situations by using: LEGO, puppets, masks, role-playing, adults modeling social expectations, and narrating positive examples.
The developmental approach is distinct from all socialization approaches that have societal fit as the highest priority and thus the primary responsibility of parents and teachers. To the societal approach, life is a skill to be learned, including conduct, self-control, caring, boundaries, problem-solving, resilience, empathy, courage, patience, autonomy, and so on.
The developmental approach is also distinct from the medical-disorder approach, which treats “normal” as the gold standard against which everyone is compared.
How to Handle Conflict Between Children?
Assume the lead in guiding interactions
· Do not expect young children to be able to sort out challenging conflicts
· Listen to each child, then decide what is best to do next.
· As an adult, indicate that you are in charge and that you will decide how to find a way through the difficult situation (e.g., whose turn is to play with the toy)
Do not try to figure out “who did what to whom” and who was in the “right”
The immature will insist on their perspective, as they lack the prefrontal cortex development that allows them to see the situation from the other person’s perspective.
Come alongside each child’s experience
Try to reflect back the EMOTIONAL experience.
“That really wasn’t working for you, not what you had in mind.” (Frustration)
“That was scary-you were worried.” (Alarm)
“You really wanted him to play with you.” (Pursuit)
“That was upsetting-you felt hurt and sad.” (Sadness)
Play
Why is play important?
It plays an essential role in children's healthy development. It provides the context for brain growth, especially in the early years, when the brain's hemispheres develop rapidly. The right hemisphere, in particular, requires experiences, not information, to grow, so play is what children need most to develop and be ready for what we later call “higher learning”.
· Helps children make sense of their world
· Builds the brain through experiences, not lessons
· Allows children to work through their emotions
· When children play, they stay selectively focused on the situation at present, tune out distractions, and hold the information in their heads.
· It allows children to develop the capacity to reflect, look, listen, and feel before acting on primary emotional urges.
· Play is the best way to learn. Play contributes to enjoyment and involvement in learning.
· When children play, all their senses are awakened, and their minds develop in extraordinary ways.
In summary, it is play, not stimulation or instruction, that makes a positive difference in brain development. Play builds the brain that can be used to receive instruction or solve problems. The most impressive brain growth occurs when play takes place within a warm human connection.
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