If you have a concern regarding your child first raise your concern with one of your child’s teachers. The teacher will then put into place steps to help your child. This process may or may not involve a referral to a school psychologist.

The level of involvement the school psychologist will have with your child will be dependent on their role in the school, the time available to work on individual cases and the extent of your child’s level of need.

If necessary, the school psychologist will conduct a psychological assessment of a student that has been referred to them for support. The person referring the child will be consulted to establish a clear understanding of the reason why the child was referred.

If your child is referred to the school psychologist the school psychologist should contact you and discuss the referral with you. If your child refers themself to a school psychologist in a secondary school, a parent is unlikely to be routinely contacted. The school psychologist will only contact the parent if appropriate, depending on the issue.

Psychological Assessment – the process

The nature of the concern will determine what information is gathered as part of the assessment. Data may be gathered from teachers, parents and the child. The data may be in the form of past records, historical information, direct observations, interviews or specific testing.

The assessment should lead to an action plan being developed and implemented to address areas of concern highlighted in the assessment.

When an assessment is undertaken parents should be consulted, contribute to the assessment and the development of the action plan and be informed of the results of the assessment and implementation of the action plan.