Psychological

Psychological services within the Elementary, Middle, and Legacy High School are designed to support the child, teacher and parent in coping with day-to-day problems in school and at home. We also work towards overall social-emotional adjustment and academic achievement. An emphasis is placed on educating teachers to provide the most appropriate climate to enhance each child’s learning in the classroom. The psychologist often goes INTO the classroom.  According to IEP mandates, students are pulled out for individual and small group counseling sessions. To increase consistency between the school and home life, there is also frequent communication, phone conferences, written/anecdotal communication and family support groups.

The goal of counseling is not to provide in-depth therapy, but rather to help your child function more effectively in the school environment. For each group session, we select children who demonstrate similar behavioral or emotional issues that are interfering with their success at school. The counselor targets specific areas during these sessions:

• Socialization: Teaching the skills necessary for establishing friendships and getting along in a group with the use of modeling, role-playing and coaching.
  
  
• Anger: Teaching children how to identify and understand feelings of anger, and to explore strategies to cope with anger-provoking situations.
  
  
• Feelings: Helping children identify, understand and appropriately express their wide range of emotional experiences.
  
  
• Self-esteem: Concentration on internalizing feelings of self-worth through focusing on strengths and positive attributes.
  
  
• Problem-solving/Decision-making: Equipping students with the skills necessary to assess and respond appropriately and effectively to resolve situations.

Parents are pivotal to working effectively with our children. We try to:

• Provide parents with alternative ways of observing, interpreting and responding to their child’s performance and behavior.
  
  
• Increase the family-school bond by actively incorporating parents and family members in school-related projects.
  
  
• Educate parents on the methods and materials utilized in academic remediation, providing guidelines for supportive at-home work.
  
  
• Decrease family isolation and frustration by helping parents share and solve problems.