Importance of an educational psychologist in a school

According to a report from NCLD (National Center for Learning Disabilities) 'Today 57% of students with disabilities spend more than 80% of their day in general education classrooms, yet general education teachers consistently report that they do not have the skills they need to effectively instruct diverse learners, including students with disabilities.
So general education teachers must understand how to work with a growing population of diverse students. As students with learning disabilities are often overlooked or misunderstood. Understanding the implications of learning disabilities, preparing to teach students with diverse characteristics, and learning to accommodate students with learning disabilities are essential for general teachers.


School psychology began with the concept of intelligence testing leading to provisions for special education students, whom could not follow the regular classroom curriculum.
Primary goal of a school psychologist is to encourage, support, and foster positive academic, career, social, and personal development in child and youth in schools.

Our psychologist observing students in class

An educational psychologist is concerned with helping children or young people who are experiencing problems within an educational setting with the aim of enhancing their learning.

Role of an educational psychologist:

• A psychologist or educational counselor works to provide help and guidance to teachers and parents by observing child's behavior.
• Writing reports to make formal recommendations on action to be taken, including formal statements; 
• Advising, persuading, supporting and negotiating with teachers, parents and other education professionals
• Developing and applying effective interventions to promote psychological well being, social, emotional and behavioral development

The psychologist hired for our 'Earth House Alternative School' is doing her masters in 'School related psychological issues'. She was asked to study the behavior of few students. She was asked to look for ADHD symptoms if any, among our students and then suggest us useful strategies to cope with these symptoms to enhance their learning habits so that they can be more focused to their studies.

The counselor (or psychologist) organized a session with children and asked relevant questions from class teachers, then observed the students in classroom. Her observation list was really helpful for teachers, as she noted that here were many attention deficit triggers around the classroom. If we could control those environment factors, it could help children be more focused during studies.

She hopes that it will help the teachers deal with the children in a better way. She might suggest some helpful strategies for parents to deal with the child at home. I believe that parents and teachers together can make a difference in the lives of children who face problems in learning processes in school. By learning and adapting the strategies offered by professionals in learning and education fields, we can deal in a better way with the children having difficulties in general schools.

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