What exactly does an education psychologist do?

teabag29

Finally the ed.p will be seeing me next week to discuss my daughter and i've been told will probablly be seeing her at home. What exactly do they do, is it just observation and what are the results, what i mean is are they able to make a diagnosis or do they just make recommendations to school?

daska

Brilliant news! Don't worry, yes it quite possibly will just be observation at the first appointment, it might depend how your daughter reacts. Ed Psychs also use interviews and tests where appropriate. They can diagnose, but what is more valuable is that they can suggest suitable interventions and training that might help your daughter, her teachers etc - but please don't expect miracles overnight. As with DLA, a diagnosis isn't the be all and end all.

LadyMorticia

When I saw an educational psychologist at 14 (I was in the care system, not sure if that makes a difference ) he did some tests to test what age my reading, comprehension, spelling, maths etc were at and then I had to fill in a questionnaire that had various questions about my attributes and then my foster carer had to fill in the same questionnaire about what she thought my attributes were, and then we all discussed my strengths and difficulties and then a plan was drawn up from there.

That's just my experience though so it may well be different for your DD. I was newly in care, had been out of school for 3 years and was being integrated back into full-time education so what my appointment was like might differ greatly from that of your DD. That was 10 years ago now.

It's really not as daunting as it sounds. It's all about trying to help you DD.