The Episcopal School of Dallas is a private college preparatory school with approximately 1200 students from beginner to 12th grade. As part of your experience at the school, you will be working with 3 clinical psychologists from Children’s Medical Center and one intern from UT Southwestern. The psychologists serve as consultants to the school. They work with parents, teachers, and administrators to help identify students in need of services for learning, emotional, social or behavioral difficulties. The consultation model and the relationship between Children’s Medical Center, UT Southwestern and ESD represent a unique partnership that is a departure from the role of the more traditional school psychologist. On this rotation, you will attend meetings with the psychologists and school personnel in which concerns about students are discussed and appropriate recommendations are made. You may also have the opportunity to conduct classroom observation with elementary age children. Classroom observation is an excellent way to gather information useful in making helpful recommendations to the school.
One of the most valuable experiences gained at this rotation is learning how best to work with school personnel in the service of the child or adolescent. One of the ways this is accomplished is by attending the school’s “ABC” meetings. ABC stands for Addressing Behaviors or Concerns. The ABC team consists of the CMC psychologists, heads of school, chaplain, and teacher representatives who meet regularly to discuss an action plan for students of concern. Action plans may involve making appropriate referrals to parents for psycho-educational testing, or consultation with a psychologist or psychiatrist. The ABC team model has been very successful at ESD in early identification of students with mental health needs. This an excellent way to learn more about the types of concerns school personnel have about students and how mental health professionals can be helpful.
This second year rotation is for ½ day weekly for 2 ½ months.
