PSY8235 prepares future school psychologists to assess the social, emotional, and behavioral domains that are equally as important to a child's school success as academic skill — and that frequently drive referrals for school psychological services. Students examine the full toolkit of assessment methods used to evaluate social-emotional functioning and behavior in school-age populations, building the assessment competencies needed to identify emotional/behavioral disorders, inform intervention planning, and meet legal requirements for special education eligibility determination.
Methods and frameworks for assessing social-emotional and behavioral functioning
Core topics
- Multi-method, multi-informant assessment: The best-practice standard for social-emotional and behavioral assessment — gathering data from multiple sources (parent, teacher, self-report when age-appropriate) and multiple methods (rating scales, observation, interview, record review) to build a comprehensive, cross-validated picture rather than relying on any single data source
- Behavior rating scales: Standardized, norm-referenced instruments widely used in school settings (Behavior Assessment System for Children/BASC, Conners Rating Scales, Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment) — their psychometric properties, appropriate use, and how to interpret discrepancies between informant ratings
- Direct behavioral observation: Systematic observation methodologies for quantifying behavior in naturalistic classroom settings — event recording, interval recording (partial/whole/momentary time sampling), and ABC (antecedent-behavior-consequence) data collection, and their role in both assessment and progress monitoring
- Functional behavioral assessment (FBA): The structured process for identifying the function a problem behavior serves for a student — indirect FBA methods (interviews, rating scales), descriptive FBA (direct observation of antecedents/consequences), and how FBA findings inform legally mandated Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) under IDEA
- Social-emotional learning (SEL) and screening: Universal screening approaches for identifying students at risk for social-emotional or behavioral difficulties before problems escalate, and assessment of social-emotional competencies (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision-making) within multi-tiered systems of support
- Diagnostic considerations and report writing: Integrating social-emotional and behavioral assessment data with DSM/educational eligibility criteria for emotional disturbance and other relevant categories, and writing clear, legally defensible psychoeducational reports that translate assessment findings into actionable recommendations for IEP teams
PSY8235 assignments include FBA case studies, rating scale interpretation reports, and psychoeducational report drafts
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FBA case studies, rating scale reports, psychoeducational reports.
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Frequently asked questions
School psychologists have a distinct legal and professional role that requires specialized competency in this exact assessment domain: they are typically the professionals responsible for conducting evaluations that determine special education eligibility under categories like emotional disturbance, and for designing functional behavioral assessments and behavior intervention plans that satisfy IDEA's procedural requirements. This is fundamentally different from clinical assessment in a private practice or hospital setting — it requires understanding school-specific legal frameworks, multi-tiered systems of support used in educational settings, and how to communicate findings to IEP teams that include teachers, administrators, and parents, not just other clinicians. Other psychology specializations (clinical, counseling, industrial-organizational) have their own specialized assessment courses tailored to their distinct professional contexts and legal requirements. Restricting PSY8235 to School Psychology students ensures the course can go deep into the specific instruments, legal frameworks, and report-writing conventions used in K-12 school settings rather than offering a generic assessment overview that would underserve the specific competencies school psychologists must demonstrate for licensure and practice.