Nick Bozic

Consultation Groups: Participants' views

Over the past 30 years, there have been a number of attempts to show how group consultation can function in school settings. The present study used the group consultation approach developed by Hanko (1999) in a set of schools in a large Shire County. Evaluation measures assessed the views of participant teachers on a number of dimensions, including perceived value, perceived main effects and the need for an external consultant. Results were positive, adding to the evidence that group consultation can be an effective form of educational psychology service delivery.

Using Letters to Support Consultative Work in Schools.

This paper reports how consultative work with teachers can be supported by the use of letters. Letters were written by an educational psychologist (EP) after a consultation meeting with a teacher. Features of therapeutic letter writing and solution‐focused brief therapy were used to increase the collaborative intent of the letters. Follow‐up questionnaires indicated that teachers valued this kind of letter highly, rating it as contributing to over 50% of the positive impact of EP involvement. There is discussion of the role consultative letters play in the joint work of teachers and EPs.

Visually impaired children: Development and implications for education

This paper examines some of the models used for conceptualizing the possible developmental implications of blindness and severe visual impairment. It takes up the question of the significance in infancy of certain skills and proficiencies, especially motor, that may be impeded by the lack of vision. The paper then addresses such issues for the school age child as access to literacy, with the emphasis being on ways of mitigating the potentially educationally handicapping consequences of visual disability. Educational technology is cited as one of the principal means available to teachers for meeting these challenges, and examples are given of procedures and devices that are being explored. A central argument is that for psychologists, teachers, and educational technologists the search must be to pinpoint the specific and changing needs of the individual learner.RésuméLes auteurs examinent quelques-uns des modèles conceptuels utilisés à propos des implications développementales de la cécité et des déficits importants de la vision. Ils s’interrogent sur les types d’habiletés et compétences, en particulier motrices, qui, pendant la petite enfance, peuvent être perturbées par le manque de vision. Ils se posent ensuite les mêmes questions, à l’âge scolaire, et mettent l’accent sur les manières de réduire les conséquences négatives des difficultés visuelles sur l’accès à la langue écrite. La technologie éducative leur apparait comme un des principaux moyens utilisables par les enseignants pour répondre à ces défis et ils donnent des exemples de procédures et de plans d’intervention ayant fait l’objet d’explorations. Un argument central est que les psychologues, les enseignants et les techniciens de l’éducation, doivent chercher à reprérer les besoins spécifiques et changeants de l’élève débutant.

Teacher Assessments: How EPs Respond to them in Routine Meetings

Summary This discourse and conversation analytic research examined audio‐recordings of conversations between EPs and teachers during routine meetings. Several patterns were detected. It was found that teachers produced a large number of assessment statements largely concerned with the construction of abnormality. EPs tended to respond to these statements in ways which preserved their neutrality, by using acknowledgement tokens, requests for clarification and formulations. The meaning of these patterns is discussed and some ideas for future research suggested.

Online problem-based and enquiry-based learning in the training of educational psychologists

Over the past 40 years, problem-based learning (PBL) and enquiry-based learning (EBL) approaches have been used in a variety of professional training courses. More recently online versions of these pedagogies have been developed. This paper explains how online PBL and EBL activities have been incorporated into the professional training of educational psychologists, at the University of Birmingham, UK. Three examples of such activities are presented, together with data gathered during implementation which has helped to evaluate this work. There is a discussion of some of the emerging themes that have been generated and implications for the future use of online PBL/EBL in the training and continuing professional development of educational psychologists.

Microcomputer-based joint activities in communication intervention with visually impaired children: a case study

The limited perceptual abilities of visually impaired children can make the use of conventional toys problematic in naturalistic communication interventions with this client group. This study examined the feasibility of basing joint activities around more easily perceivable microcomputer software. A 4-year-old language-delayed visually impaired girl engaged in three different computer-based joint activities with her teacher — each one designed to give her opportunities to practise the expression of specific semantic relations. Results indicate that two out of the three activities were successful in eliciting their target forms.

Exploring the context of strengths – a new approach to strength-based assessment

Abstract Since the 1990s many strength-based assessments (for example, inventories, checklists, interview schedules) have been developed for use with children and young people, but these have offered a limited appraisal of the contexts in which strengths are present. In this study a new form of contextualised strength-based assessment was used within the routine practice of an educational psychologist. A multiple case study explored how this approach worked with eight children and young people referred to a local authority educational psychology team, ranging in age from 6.9 to 19.2 years. Qualitative data were analysed holistically using a story-board method. In all cases, participants identified situations or contexts which they associated with the presence of specific strengths. In some cases they highlighted aspects of a situation which might be hypothesised to have pedagogical value. There is discussion of the tensions that can arise in using this approach in schools when a more negative view of a pupil has already emerged. Nevertheless, the introduction of fresh information, about the type of contexts which suited specific children and young people, was helpful in providing ideas and recommendations which may have otherwise been missed.