School psychology and medical diagnosis: The fragile X syndrome

A fragile site on the X chromosome has been implicated in developmental disabilities among both males and females who possess learning disabilities, mental retardation, attention deficit disorders, and behavior problems. For the most part, medical diagnosis has been of little value to the school psychologist or educator. The diagnosis of fragile X syndrome does possess specific educational implications, especially during the early school years. Data on the characteristics and treatment of patients that can assist the school psychologist in program planning and appropriate referral are presented. The school psychologist is in a most advantageous position to recognize children who are in need of medical consultation and chromosomal analysis. Treatment includes appropriate educational programming, trials of folic acid among prepubescent males, and medical treatment for those manifesting an attention deficit disorder. Family counseling is available for “at-risk” families and should include prenatal diagnosis.     

Gender differences in factors associated with how parents communicate with school in Korea

The authors explored different factors that were associated with mothers' and fathers' choice between two forms of parent–school communication: school briefing sessions and parent–teacher conferences. A total of 585 parents—295 mothers and 290 fathers from different households—who had at least one child enrolled in middle school in Korea were surveyed. Analytic results indicated that there were gender differences in how mothers and fathers were motivated to communicate with school. More educated and affluent mothers who positively assessed their child's academic achievement but were less confident in the child's ability and dissatisfied with the school-provided information were more likely to communicate with the school, whereas fathers were influenced by the employment status of their wives and communication with the child. Perception of positive child–teacher relationship predicted both mothers' and fathers' engagement in communication. Based on the findings, the authors discuss ways to promote parental involvement in communication with school.     

Responding to children’s answers: questions embedded in the social context of early childhood education

This article presents analysis of question–answer sequences during problem inquiry between a teacher and two children in an early childhood crèche in New Zealand. Conversation analysis is used to reveal which questions the teacher asks, how children answer the questions, and the teacher’s responses to the child’s answers. Although adults’ ‘effective’ questions were identified and promoted in the REPEY study much less attention has been given to how adults respond to children’s answers. It is imperative to investigate the sequences of talk which follow a question in order to establish how teaching and learning is co-constructed in context, one utterance at a time and as a joint project between teacher and child. The findings suggest that task problems and emotional problems are treated in a similar way during problem inquiry, highlighting the complexity of interactions when teachers are providing both emotional care and educational support for young children.     

A comparison of teacher referral and pupil self-referral measures relative to perceived school adjustment

This study investigated the relationship between teacher referral and pupil self-referral relative to perceived school adjustment of 417 4th grade pupils. Two major questions were focused upon: (a) To what extent do teachers and pupils agree relative to perceived learning and/or adjustment problems within the classroom? and (b) What are the relationships between teacher referral and pupil self-referral relative to sex of the child and type of problem indicated? The results suggest that a significant relationship exists between teacher referral and pupil self-referral (p <,001). Further, a disproportionate number of males in the sample were referred by their teachers as compared to female students (38% to 12%). However, relative to pupil self-referral, a much higher percentage of females (33%) “referred themselves.” It is suggested that greater consideration should be given by local school districts to including a pupil self-referral component within their overall screening mechanism for the identification of children in need of special education services. Further, school personnel should consider the possibility that their screening results may reflect teacher bias relative to “pupil sex stereotyping” in that males may be over-referred and famales under-referred.     

Processing Fluency in Education: How Metacognitive Feelings Shape Learning,Belief Formation,and Affect

Processing fluency—the experienced ease with which a mental operation is performed—has attracted little attention in educational psychology, despite its relevance. The present article reviews and integrates empirical evidence on processing fluency that is relevant to school education. Fluency is important, for instance, in learning, self-assessment of knowledge, testing, grading, teacher–student communication, social interaction in the multicultural classroom, and emergence of interest. After a brief overview of basic fluency research we review effects of processing fluency in three broad areas: metacognition in learning, belief formation, and affect. Within each area, we provide evidence-based implications for education. Along the way, we offer fluency-based insights into phenomena that were long known but not yet sufficiently explained (e.g., the effect of handwriting on grading). Bringing fluency (back) to education may contribute to research and school practice alike.     

Problem‐Solving Model for Decision Making with High‐Incidence Disabilities: The Minneapolis Experience

The problem‐solving model (PSM) is used in the Minneapolis Public Schools to guide decisions regarding: (1) interventions in general education, (2) referral to special education, and (3) evaluation for special education eligibility for high‐incidence disability areas. District implementation was driven by four themes: the appropriateness of intelligence tests and the IQ‐achievement discrepancy for determination of eligibility, bias in assessment, allocation of school psychologist time, and linking assessment to instruction through curriculum‐based measurement. This article describes how the PSM was designed as a three‐stage process to measure response to intervention and used in the special education eligibility process. Program evaluation data collected since initial implementation in 1994 is reported in the areas of child count, achievement, referral, eligibility, and disproportion. The authors discuss the limitations of conducting PSM research in school settings, barriers to implementation of PSM, and make suggestions for enhancing treatment integrity.     

Visual tests for the school psychologist

The cover test and the near point of convergence test are quick, easy tests to help the school psychologist determine if a child should be referred for professional vision care. Negative results from these tests do not mean that the child does not have a visual problem. There is no single test which gives that information. Positive results from these tests, however, are evidence that the child may have a visual problem. This information, along with the results of other performance tests given by the school psychologist, should be reported to the vision care professional to facilitate the accurate determination of the child's visual status.     

School matters: how context influences the identification of different types of special educational needs

Despite dramatic changes in Irish special education policy during the last decade, there is little understanding of the factors influencing how special educational needs (SEN) are identified and whether identification varies across different school contexts. International research has tended to focus on how individual child characteristics influence SEN identification. Less attention has been given to other factors such as teacher characteristics or school social mix. Using data from the nine-year-old cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland study, this article examines which children are most likely to be identified with different SEN types taking into account student social background characteristics, teacher characteristics and school social mix. Findings show that children attending highly disadvantaged school contexts are far more likely to be identified with behavioural problems and less likely to be identified with learning disabilities than children with similar characteristics attending other schools. It seems that ‘behavioural’ issues take precedence over learning difficulties in these schools pointing to a culture of care/containment rather than academic progress.     

The impact of treatment development process,intervention type,and problem severity on treatment acceptability as judged by classroom teachers

This study expands upon the treatment acceptability literature by investigating the impact of various processes through which interventions are developed. Specifically, teachers were presented with a case study and informed that the recommended treatments for the presenting problem were developed in one of three ways: (a) by a teacher and school psychologist collaborating with each other, (b) by a teacher alone, or (c) by a school psychologist alone. The type of treatment recommended (positive versus reductive) and the seriousness of the presenting problem (mild versus severe) were also investigated. Results indicated that teachers found interventions developed via a collaborative model to be more acceptable than those developed by either a teacher or a school psychologist working in isolation from each other. As has been reported in prior studies, positive interventions were found to be more acceptable than those that were reductive in nature. Unlike prior investigations, however, treatments recommended for severe problems were not found to be any more acceptable than those recommended for mild problems. Implications of the findings for service delivery and limitations of the study are discussed.     

PARENTING PROGRAMMES: Do generalist parenting programmes improve children's behaviour and attendance at school? The parents’ perspective

Previous research has demonstrated that parenting programmes can be an effective intervention in changing behaviour and parent/child interactions. However, less attention has been given to the impact of these programmes in relation to improving attendance and behaviour at school. Lynne Rogers, lecturer in teacher education specialising in the post-14 sector, Susan Hallam, Professor of Education and Dean of the Faculty of Policy and Society, and Jacquelene Shaw, educational psychologist, all working in the University of London, set their debate in this article in the context of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 and the Respect Action Plan 2006. These authors use their article in order to describe parents' perceptions of the impact of parenting programmes on their own and their children's behaviour, with particular reference to behaviour at home and at school. The perceptions reported here, and enlivened with direct quotes from parents, are based on questionnaire data from 142 parents and interviews with a sample of parents and teachers. Parents were broadly positive about the benefits of parenting programmes. However, where the child's problem was rooted in school-related issues, some concerns about behaviour and attendance remained. Lynne Rogers, Susan Hallam and Jacquelene Shaw close their article with a call for parenting programmes to be more closely aligned with activities in school and with educational processes.     

Correspondence in cooperating teachers' and student teachers' interpretations of classroom events

Using the concept of well remembered events, we examined how members of 13 elementary school cooperating teacher/student teacher dyads interpreted the same teaching events. Members of a dyad remembered the same events and the same “visible” students but thought about them in qualitatively different ways. These differences are discussed in terms of expert-novice studies, a conception of teachers' knowledge as event-structured, and recent inquiry into personal narrative in teaching. Particular attention is given to the consequences of these differences for communication between cooperating teachers and student teachers and for understanding the process of learning to teach.     

Learning to Mentor as Learning a Second Language of Teaching

This paper describes and interprets the process by which two novice mentors of English teachers, who are experienced high school teachers of English, learnt to construe their new role by articulating differences and similarities between their practice as teachers of children and as mentors of teachers. The evolving competencies that the focal mentors attributed to their learning are interpreted through the metaphor of 'learning to mentor as learning a second language of teaching'; an organising framework that emerged from the findings of a qualitative case study that investigated the learning process experienced by two veteran teachers of English in their passage from teaching English to school children to becoming mentors of teachers of English (Orland, 1997). The study suggests that although the passage from being a teacher of children to becoming a teacher of teachers is shaped by strong emotional and motivational dispositions, it is also a highly conscious and gradual process of developing communicative competencies, whereby the mentor learns to redefine his/her context of teaching in order to make sense of his/her new context of mentoring. At an operational level the study indicates that there is a definite need to prepare teachers for this passage by providing opportunities to voice and articulate these connections in teacher education programmes.     

Two alternative roles for the school psychologist in the treatment of emotionally disturbed and autistic children

This paper will describe two alternative roles for the school psychologist working with programs for autistic children or programs for emotionally disturbed children. The first approach is concerned with behavior management of children either by consultation to program staff or by direct work with the child, as well as support of staff through continuous feedback of classroom behavior management techniques. The second approach encompasses all of the first approach, in addition to the psychologist serving as corrdinator for the program and thereby assuming greater responsibility for cooperation between the school and the home, as well as for ongoing program development. A major difference in these two roles of the school psychologist, compared to the traditional role, is an intense involvement with a small number of children and a high level of input into the management, structure, and techniques used in a small number of classrooms. The paper will present a model for both of the two alternative approaches for the school psychologist. The model will include: a format for ongoing behavior assessment, suggestions for the structure of teacher-psychologist feedback sessions, methods of school and home cooperation, and a proposal for a horizontal administrative structure of programs for emotionally disturbed and for autistic children. The concept that is advocated is a team of professionals (teacher and psychologist) planning for the holistic development of the child.     

Pilot evaluation of the Whole Inclusive School Empowerment (WISE) project in kindergartens in Hong Kong: A mixed method approach

This pilot study used a quasiexperimental design to evaluate the Whole Inclusive School Empowerment (WISE) project providing educational psychology services to kindergartens to support students with diverse learning needs. There were eight intervention kindergartens that received WISE educational psychology services and eight control kindergartens without the service. The intervention kindergartens were provided with a 0.125 educational psychologist and 0.7 teacher coordinator. In January and June 2017, teachers in intervention and control kindergartens completed questionnaires assessing student behavior, school readiness, and their own teaching efficacy. Focus group sessions involving teachers and school principals were conducted in July 2017. The results indicated a greater improvement in prosocial behavior and school readiness in intervention kindergartens compared with control kindergartens. Teachers and principals reported that they were better equipped in supporting diverse learning needs. The results provided initial evidence supporting the effectiveness of educational psychology services for kindergartens in improving student outcomes.     

A Change in Teacher‐Child Interaction Through Paradoxical Intervention

The aim of this case study is to describe an intervention program using paradoxical strategies to help a teacher cope with hyperactivity in the classroom. In line with the ecological model, the focus of change is not the hyperactive child, but the teacher; the study provides a novel perspective on the work of the school psychologist.     

Reification of instructional materials as part of the process of developing problem‐based practices in mathematics education

This teacher development study closely examined a teacher's practice for the purpose of understanding how she selected and implemented instructional materials, and correspondingly how these processes changed as she developed her problem‐based practice throughout a school year. Data sources included over 20 hours of planning and analysis meetings with the teacher and 27 video‐taped lessons with discussions before and after each lesson. Through qualitative analysis we examined the data for: students' cognitive demand for curricular materials the teacher selected and implemented; teacher's beliefs and practices for students' engagement in mathematical thinking; and teacher's and students' communication about mathematics during instruction. We found that the teacher shifted her views and use of instructional materials as she changed her practice towards more problem‐based approaches. The teacher moved from closely following her traditional, district‐adopted textbook to selecting problem‐based tasks from outside resources to build a curriculum. Simultaneously, she changed her practice to focus more on students' engagement in mathematical thinking and their communication about mathematics as part of learning. During this shift in practice, the teacher began to reify instructional materials, viewing them as instruments of her practice to meet students' needs. The process of shifting her views was gradual over the school year and involved substantial analysis and reflection on practice from the teacher. Implications include that teachers and teacher educators may need to devote more attention and support for teachers to use instructional materials to support instruction, rather than materials to prescribe instruction. This use of instructional materials may be an important part of transforming practice overall.     

图式理论在高职英语教学中的应用

图式理论是认知心理学家用于解释心理过程的一种理论。这一理论在教学中的实施,就是在教学中把教师与学生的认知最大化的统一,突显了文化背景在英语学习当中的重要。因此,教师在英语教学中应该注意文化背景的讲授。同时,应该善于应用启动图式的方法,即猜想法。     

Factors influencing the decision to administer psychoeducational tests

Ninety-nine NASP members participated in a study designed to investigate bias in the early stages of the referral process (i.e., in the decision to administer psychological tests). Each school psychologist received one of eight case studies, which described a child referred for academic learning problems. The case studies included typical referral information and varied student race (Black, White), socioeconomic status (higher, lower), and group achievement test scores (average, below average). The decision to administer individual psychoeducational tests was not influenced by the student's race or socioeconomic status. School psychologists were influenced by the group achievement test data. Students who showed lower achievement test results were more likely to be recommended for testing than were those who showed average performance levels. Thus, these school psychologists were not biased by knowledge of a child's race or socioeconomic status, but were influenced by instructionally relevant data (i.e., achievement test scores). In addition, when objective test data indicated average achievement levels, the psychologists did not generally recommend subsequent individual psychoeducational testing. The findings suggested that, under certain conditions, testing may not automatically follow receipt of a referral.