Teacher Consultation – The School Psychologist works with teachers to address individual student concerns and needs or provide strategies for class instruction. Consultation is a vital role within services because it allows cooperative effort to resolve student need at the most logical point of intervention. In turn, many students have opportunity for improvement prior to consideration of referrals for special education services.

Parent Conferences – The School Psychologist works in conjunction with the schools in communicating with parents. Conferences may be arranged to discuss a student’s academic, behavioral or emotional need and the School Psychologist will work to connect parents with appropriate school resources or outside agencies.

Individual Student Services – Students may present emotional or behavioral need that requires more individual contact and support. The School Psychologist may be involved in individual or small-group, short-term counseling or intervention as a school-level service.

Coordinating Evaluation Procedures – Comprehensive evaluations or special education services require the collection of multi-disciplinary components. The School Psychologist will serve as ‘Case Manager’ to direct efforts with school and central office personnel to collect components within the provided timelines. As Case Manager, the psychologist is also responsible for conducting the eligibility meetings.

Service Liaison – Many students and families receive services from outside agencies. The School Psychologist often serves as the contact person for these agencies to coordinate educational services. Cooperative effort with Social Services, Mental Health Services, physicians and other resources is essential to support students and families.

Crisis Intervention – With regret, situations often surface in schools which require some level of global intervention. In situations of student or staff death, suicidal threats or community traumas, the Crisis Intervention Team may assemble to provide immediate counseling services to the student body and staff. Crisis Intervention may also involve coordinating communications and referrals pertinent to the specific crisis.

Staff-Development – The School Psychologist works in cooperation with school administration to provide relevant materials and In-Service training for teachers and support personnel. In-Service training is often the direct outcome of teacher requests for additional information or preparation.

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS

School Psychologists are individuals specifically trained in intellectual, personality, behavioral and achievement assessment. Beyond assessment, the School Psychologist has further specialization in developmental psychopathology, teacher consultation, student intervention and programming for special education. The training program required the earning of a Master’s level degree followed by the Educational Specialist degree in School Psychology. One essential component of the Educational Specialist degree is a 1200-hour Internship experience.

Pittsylvania County Schools currently has four School Psychologists with two serving dual roles as Psychologist and Supervisor of Special Education. 

The School Psychologists are assigned to primary schools but work cooperatively in providing services for the division:

The most substantial and consuming role for the School Psychologist is the administration of psycho-educational evaluations. These evaluations are the outcome of referrals that direct the consideration of the individual student for special education services. Referrals are most likely to present in one of the following ways:

• Teacher Request through Child Study Intervention Team – Teachers work through defined procedures at the school level to articulate a need for special education evaluation. The teacher will present the request for interventions first to the Student Intervention Team (CSIT) to generate ideas for assistance. If the student need persists, the referral is then considered by the school-level IEP Action Team. The IEP Action Team will designate target areas for assessment. This procedure allows for full regard of student variables and provides for school-level expertise to be applied prior to referral consideration.

• Parental Request – Any parent within the county attendance zone may request, in writing, a comprehensive evaluation to determine their child’s educational need. This opportunity applies to parents of children in the public school system and those who have selected alternatives to public schooling. Parents of students in the public schools are encouraged to work through school-level referral procedures.

• Referral from Outside Agency – Students may have participated in evaluation or intervention procedures through other agencies and the results are forwarded, on parental request, for consideration of special education services.

• School-Level Evaluations – The Student Intervention team may request the student participate in a school-level evaluation. This not considered a part of the special education process and intended as a school-level intervention. This will involve the collection of observation, behavior rating scale, interview and achievement data to help define student strengths and needs. This collaborative effort is intended to enhance further interventions and recommendations for parents and teachers. The School Psychologist is the primary professional involved with a typical 3-5 hour case commitment for evaluation and reporting of data.

• New Referrals – This initial referral for special education services involves the collection of multi-disciplinary components that will always include a social history, vision/hearing screening, education report and psychological evaluation. Additional components will be collected based on specific student need as seen by parent or school and may include speech/language evaluations, medical examination, developmental evaluations or specialized consult for audiological, ophthamological, or neurological concern. The School Psychologist conducts the psychological evaluation with a 6-8 hour case commitment for evaluation and reporting of psychological data.

• Triennial Review – Each student receiving any level of special education services is provided the opportunity for a comprehensive re-evaluation every three years. This is intended as a means of monitoring student progress within special education programs. Essential components will be collected as determined by the IEP Action Team. The psychological evaluation will involve a 4-6 hour case commitment for evaluation and reporting of psychological data. The IEP Action Team may determine that no additional assessment is required to justify continued eligibility.

• Review of Eligibility – Student circumstances may indicate a need for a review of evaluation data prior to the triennial. These circumstances may present through student academic, behavioral or emotional issues or may stem from the outcome of causal deliberations (a committee finding that indicates student misconduct is a manifestation of their disabling condition). The psychological evaluation will involve a 4-6 hour case commitment for evaluation and reporting of psychological data.

Each of the previously described comprehensive, multi-disciplinary evaluations culminates in an Eligibility Meeting. This meeting is intended to review the evaluation data and make a determination as to the presence or absence of a disabling conditioning. Eligibility Committee meetings are typically held in the appropriate school and may be comprised of the following professionals:

• Principal of Assistant Principal

• Supervisor of Special Education

• School Psychologist

• School Nurse (when appropriate)

• Visiting Teacher

• Regular Classroom Teacher

• Appropriate Special Education Teacher

• *Speech Therapist (when appropriate)

• *Guidance Counselor (when appropriate)

Parents are always invited participants and are voting members. Eligibility decisions are determined by a vote of committee members in light of all information shared within the context of Eligibility deliberation.

The School Psychologist coordinates the scheduling and component collection and then serves as the Chairman within the Eligibility proceedings. The outcome of the Eligibility proceedings will be indication of a disabling condition which necessitates special education services or the conclusion that a disabling condition, as defined by criteria, does not exist. In the instance of the identification of a disabling condition, the committee will work cooperatively to recognize specific student strengths and needs to direct the development of the Individualized Education Plan.