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The primary
mission of Psychoeducational Services is to assist in
identifying, minimizing, resolving, and/or preventing learning
and school adjustment difficulties of students through the
Educational Planning Team (EPT) model of service delivery,
primarily, and/or through direct and concomitant consultative
services to students, parents, and administrators.
The stateD
"job goal" for each school psychologist is "to provide a quality
program of psychoeducational services to the students; to assist
teachers and administrators in making decisions about students."
Additionally, Psychoeducational Services maintains a cooperative
relationship with the University of Florida Multidisciplinary
Diagnostic and Training Program (UF-MDTP), a joint program of
the College of Medicine and the College of Education, in seeking
to provide the most effective and highest quality of services to
students, teachers, administrators, and staff.
Psychoeducational Services has adopted a "consultation model" of
delivery of services in the schools. This model relies
heavily on the use of the Educational Planning Team (EPT), which
provides teachers, administrators, parents, and staff with a
resource for planning intervention strategies for students who
may be experiencing learning and/or behavior problems. The
EPT serves as a "resource team" within each school and is an
integral part of both Instructional Services and Student Support
Services. Each EPT is composed of at least five members:
the referring teacher or parent, the school principal or
designee, the school counselor, the Curriculum Resource Teacher
(CRT) or assistant principal, and the school psychologist
assigned to the school. Others may also participate in the
EPT as needed, such as other previous or current teachers of the
student, representatives of community or government agencies,
school nurse, etc.
The members
of the EPT review records, previous test results, and other
relevant information made available to the team. The team
jointly develops an appropriate intervention strategy,
responsibilities for the implementation of the strategy are
assigned specifically, and a follow-up meeting is scheduled.
The monitoring of the results of the intervention is assigned to
a specific school-based team member. The involvement of
school-based personnel in the development, implementation, and
monitoring of interventions is of crucial importance.
Since the present student-to-school psychologist ratio in our
district is approximately 2,900-to-1, the involvement of the
school psychologist in the daily implementation and monitoring
of most interventions would be impractical and, at best, of
minimal effectiveness.
The members
of the EPT review and discuss the results of the interventions
in subsequent follow-up meetings and determine the most
advisable course of action. It is then that the decision
is made jointly to either terminate the case (close case),
change strategies, or refer the student for a formal evaluation
by the school psychologist in order to determine eligibility for
placement in an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) program. |
