Building a Partnership Between Psychology and Your School
Academics and school success are difficult for many students
for a variety of reasons. Through the services of Dr. Struiksma
PDS can provide support for individual students, teachers,
school support personnel, and your school community to best
support all students, and in particular, students at risk.
The following information outlines some of areas of support
that may be of interest to your school.
Direct Support for Individual Students
If academics are challenging for individual students, they
will likely benefit from an individual psychoeducational assessment,
which identifies the learning profile of the student including
relative strengths and weaknesses and recommendations to support
further learning. Knowing a student's cognitive profile provides
valuable information for programming and allows the student
to become a self-advocate. With parental consent, Dr. Struiksma
can assess individual students and determine their learning
potential. Individual assessments can also determine if the
student has a diagnosis or specific profile including, but
not limited to:
- Learning Disability including Nonverbal Learning
Disability
- Slow learner and low cognitive functioning
- Gifted (and gifted at risk)
- Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder
Students may have previously received a psychoeducational
assessment but may benefit from an updated educational assessment,
which provides information on current academic ability. Other
students may come to your school with a recently completed
psychoeducational report. This report may appear foreign to
you but likely contains beneficial information that can be
critical to programming. With parental consent, Dr. Struiksma
can interpret for you this report and provide specific recommendations.
Many students (recent research suggests 1 in 4) suffer from
some form of mental illness. Dr. Struiksma can provide individual
social-emotional testing and/or suggestions to assist with
programming taking into account the individual needs of the
student.
Regardless of the experience of teachers and school personnel,
it is difficult to determine whether a student has a Learning
Disability without individual psychoeducational testing. Many
colleges and universities require recent psychoeducational
testing to provide accommodations at the post-secondary level,
suggesting that your high school students may need a new or
updated assessment. Additionally, many students do not know
what courses to take in post-secondary school and/or what
type of job to pursue. Dr. Struiksma can complete a career
inventory and/or assist in course selection to ensure students
are taking the necessary steps to follow their dreams.
Direct Support for Teachers and School Staff
Do you have students in your school who do not seem in control
of their behaviour or emotions? Are there students who you
know suffer from a mental illness and you do not know how
to support them academically? What about students who have
been diagnosed with a Learning Disability or other disorder
who are not responding to typical teaching methods? Teaching
is a difficult job at the best of times, but trying to adapt
to the unique needs of your students seems impossible at times.
It is important to have successful and empirically supported
strategies for all students. Dr. Struiksma can provide support
to your staff about individual students and/or common profiles
that are frequently seen in all schools. In particular, she
can provide workshops and in-services on the following topics
(or others that would be beneficial to your school). The in-services
include information about the disorder and practical classroom/teaching
strategies.
- Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (including recent
research by leading experts outlining changes in the conceptualization
of the disorder)
- Learning Disabilities and Nonverbal Learning Disabilities
(which are largely misunderstood and under diagnosed)
- Anxiety/Depression and other Mental Health Illnesses
- Bullying
- Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders (including Asperger's
Disorder)
- Assistive Technology (which is becoming an important aspect
for all high school students)
- Self-Advocacy
There is an exciting new area of research suggesting that
Response to Intervention (RTI) is an effective
model for identifying and supporting primary students at risk.
The RTI model is a response to reactive methods of "Wait to
Fail" models that do not provide additional support until
a student is significantly behind academically. The research
is clear in outlining that early intervention is the most
beneficial for students with learning difficulties. Adopting
this model in your school will meet the needs of many students
and will provide the parents with on-going information about
aspects of their child's academics. Dr. Struiksma is available
to teach this model to your staff and provide support in implementing
the short assessments and interventions.
Students from other countries often attend private schools.
There are many considerations when teaching ESL students.
Dr. Struiksma can provide support and assessments that reduce
the cultural and language barriers.
Some students do not necessarily require an individual psychoeducational
assessment, however, brief screening measures can provide
a class profile to assist with differentiated instruction
(grouping similarly able students together for optimal learning).
Support for your School Community
In addition to the above services, Dr. Struiksma can also
provide in-services or presentations to your school community
(including parents) on all of the topics listed above. The
presentations differ from the teacher presentations and include
signs to look for and recommendations for home. These presentations
allow the school community to become better informed, which
leads to better parent-school relationships and support.
For further information and contact
with Dr. Struiksma, please call
PDS office: (905) 332-3444
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