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Date of Graduation
Summer 2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Educational Specialist (EdS)
Department
Department of Graduate Psychology
Advisor(s)
Deborah Kipps-Vaughan
Timothy Schulte
Dannette Allen-Bronaugh
Tiffany Hornsby
Abstract
This study serves as an investigation into the role of school psychologists within the problem solving process, intervention selection, and the role assessment in guiding intervention selection. School psychologists have many different roles that they can carry out and the roles of assessment and intervention tend to be the two largest. Assessments are designed for clinical decision-making and interventions are designed to target the specific needs of a student. As problem solvers and decision makers, it would make sense to use the tools that school psychologists have, including assessment and intervention, in combination in order to help students succeed. The current study provides insight into the current practices of school psychologists in using assessment to inform intervention and their functional role in pre-referral meetings. In this study, school psychologists were asked to complete a survey specific to their current role in pre-referral meetings, intervention selection, and the role that assessment has in this process. Overall implications of this study suggest increasing use of assessments to inform intervention during pre-referral meetings is worthy of more consideration. Assessment continues to play a large role within the field of school psychology, especially when it comes to understanding the individual needs of a child. Interventions also play a large role in pre-referral meetings and are designed to target a child’s needs, which was agreed on amongst school psychologists as best practice. Therefore, using assessment to inform intervention may be a direction for school psychological services to move toward as more systems develop multi-tiered systems of support for intervention.
Recommended Citation
Larkin, Rachel, "The school psychologist’s role in the problem solving process: How assessment can inform intervention" (2018). Educational Specialist, 2009-2019. 135.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/edspec201019/135
