School Psychology
Improving Outcomes for Students with Diabetes: The Role of the School Psychologist
Pediatric Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common chronic childhood illnesses and affects approximately 1 of every 550-600 school-aged children. Schools are increasingly identified as logical and practical sites for public health promotion, and school psychologists are ideally situated to advocate for students with chronic health issues that are at-risk for academic or behavioral difficulties. The purpose of this poster is to present information on pediatric diabetes, address findings from the current literature on diabetes and school outcomes, and review the literature on school-based efforts to address health- and school-related outcomes for this at-risk population. Session participants will gain knowledge and skills to effectively support and advocate for the educational success of students with diabetes.
Taking Strides in Family Involvement: Directions for Measurement and Intervention
Influenced by a multidimensional conceptualization, family involvement measurement and intervention is addressing an array of involvement behaviors that cross home, school, and community contexts in addition to examining the distinctions in involvement behaviors among mothers and fathers. This symposium will present an integrated discussion of three contemporary research endeavors, investigating the development of a family involvement measure for toddlers, father involvement, and home visiting as an intervention for promoting involvement. All three presentations share a focus on low-income and ethnic minority urban families. Implications for practice and future research will be discussed.
Helping Students with Chronic Illness: The Importance of School-based Data
This symposium explores the importance of including school-based data when researching or addressing health issues because clinic-based research often ignores classroom variables and teacher concerns. Presentation of four papers is the basis for discussion about pediatric school psychology intervention and prevention. Presenters summarize key points from their research, with projects investigating type 1 diabetes mellitus, childhood cancer, asthma, and HIV. Discussion will highlight the importance of including educational variables when examining health-related issues. Attendees will understand the limitations of clinic-based data in its application to school-based intervention while learning specific approaches to address chronic conditions. They will also hear about future directions of pediatric school psychology as a subspecialty.
A Multi-Component Goal-Setting Intervention to Improve Children’s Mathematics Skills
The current study examined the effects of goal setting on an intervention utilizing incremental rehearsal and performance feedback to teach multiplication facts to students with emotional and behavioral disorders using a multiple-baseline design across participants. Research indicates that drill models and performance feedback are effective for addressing mathematical difficulties. Further, the use of self-set goals is one way to enhance task performance. Results showed mild improvements in fluency for all three participants during performance feedback and incremental rehearsal, while two participants continued this growth during the goal-setting intervention. Two of the three participants demonstrated increases in their rate of improvement with the addition of the goal setting component to the intervention.