School Psychologists have knowledge of varied models and strategies of consultation, collaboration, and communication applicable to individuals, families, groups, and systems and methods to promote effective implementation of services. As a part of a systemic and comprehensive process of decision making and problem solving that permeates all aspects of service delivery, school psychologists demonstrate skills to consult, collaborate with others during design, implementation, and evaluation of services and programs. (2010 National Association of School Psychology standards)
Demonstration of Knowledge and Evidence of Professional Competency:Courses that I have taken that demonstrates knowledge and evidence of data-based decision making and accountability includes: Consultation (PSY 660) In this course we learned various effective consultation designed to help students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Practicum (PSY 749) and Internship (PSY 750&751) We demonstrate skills in assessment, intervention and consultation in our field work.
Demonstration & evidence of professional competency: As evidence of professional competency, the samples provided below are some examples of consultation and collaboration. The samples include two consultation reports done for class. The consultation included identifying the problem, data collection and hypothesis, evaluation, assessment of effectiveness, and evidence based intervention. These samples include a consultation interview with teachers that experience problems in the classroom that are identified as multilevel problems. More specifically, the students in the class experience both academic delays and hyperactive behaviors, both making it difficult to maintain classroom structure. I provided information the teacher called Trouble-Shooting Behavioral Interventions which teach step by step processes for identifying and resolving issues and focus on four major domains such as problem and monitoring, fundamentals of classroom instruction and behavior management, intervention integrity, and intervention design. We focused on interventions for the student with emotional disturbance. I mentioned positive peer reporting interventions known as “tootling” to reduce the number of disruptive behaviors in the classroom. A follow-up meeting with the teacher was scheduled to review the effectiveness the intervention had on the students. The teacher noted that she took advantage using the intervention strategy (Tootling) in her classroom. She began describing her positive experience with “tootling.” She noted that it enhanced social interaction among her students. I suggested that she continue and maintain consistency, especially since she had only utilized this system for less than 3 weeks. For both consultation reports, students were recommended for counseling; one student showed some improvement by using strategies that he learned in counseling in the classroom such as breathing exercises and self-talk. The second student still exhibits disruptive behavior. Specifically, he appeared to exhibit low frustration tolerance which increases his behavior. I recommended that the student learn self-control techniques in the classroom and utilize appropriate emotional responses (i.e., take a break, talk with teacher, take a deep breath, replace frustration with good thoughts, etc).
Finally, I conducted a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) that generated a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) to improve the student's disruptive behavior. Behavior consisted of constant noise making and calling out, tantrum behavior (e.g., crying, yelling, running around the classroom, crawling around the floor and under desks and tables, hiding in corners and under furniture, rolling around on the floor and taking his shoes off) and self-injurious behaviors (e.g., banging his head on the floor or on a chair, slamming his hands on the floor, hitting his head with the eraser end of a pencil). I collaborated with my supervising school psychologists, social worker, and behavioral therapist for assistance in analyzing the data. Together a behavioral plan is set up to improve this student's disruptive behavior, and he is assigned to a social worker to help maximize his social skills in counseling. In the classroom, the teacher was asked to implement token economy. Currently, student’s behavior has worsened and is being evaluated for out of school placement.