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SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST
How Does A School Psychologist Effect Education?
Donna Toreta-Greenman
Bethesda University
Abstract
School psychologists have many legal and ethical obligations to students and their parents. When
conducting counseling sessions and other therapeutic interventions in schools there may be some
concerns with confidentiality and privacy for the student. When working with children
explaining to them their rights explain to them their lack of rights if their parents want
information can be very difficult. Before conducting and providing treatment services, they must
inform the parents or legal guardians of the child to approve of the services planned by the
school psychologists. What is fortunate is that most families will respect their privacy of their
children and not question the school psychologists where there are a small percentage of parents
who may.
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SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST
How Does A School Psychologist Effect Education?
Psychologists are very important; helping many people who have struggles and problems
they deal with everyday. I would specifically want to focus on what a School Psychologist is:
they work with both individual and groups of students to help them deal with their academic
problems, disabilities they may have, behavioral problems and other personal issues. They most
importantly work with parents and teachers to develop techniques to help deal with both home
and classroom behavior. Some tasks may include training students, their parents and teachers on
how to manage crisis situations. School Psychologist is also educators as well; by helping teach
others to understand more about the aspects of behavior management, child development, and
behavioral problems. School Psychologists provide services through five major areas:
consultation, evaluation, intervention, prevention, and research and planning. Other than in
elementary and secondary schools, they can be employed with private clinics, state agencies,
hospitals, and also in universities. There are five concepts that will be covered throughout this
essay to support how a becoming a School Psychologist can help me achieve in my academics.
The first concept is the Biological process; the biological approach to psychology is one
way to conceptualize and explain the human experience. The biological approach seeks to
explain mental processes and behavior by focusing on the function of the nervous system at the
cellular and structural level. How this works for a School Psychologist they can talk to a student
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SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST
and evaluate their issue they may be having and determine whether it could be caused by an
experience or if there may be something structurally wrong with their brain. For example,