I'm feeling unsure....

You might feel a bit nervous before you go to work with a new person. Here is a bit of information about what an Educational Psychologist does. You can ask your teachers any questions if you aren't sure.

The most important thing is you won't have to do anything that you don't want to do.

We will aim to have fun!

What does an Educational Psychologist do?

An Educational Psychologist's job is to HELP to understand what is happening for a child or young person. They look at things that are going well, and things that might be tricky. Educational Psychologists offer advice to teachers to help children to make progress and to feel happier. They might look at some of the skills below:

Learning

An Educational Psychologist can help you and your teachers to understand how you learn. This might look at the type of help you need in your classroom and how to help you enjoy learning and stay focussed.

Communication

Sometimes Educational Psychologists might look at how you talk and communicate to other people. This can include how you communicate your feelings. We might also look at how much talking there is in your classroom and whether it is easy or hard to understand all the instructions and discussions.

Social and Emotional

An Educational Psychologist might look at your resilience and how happy you feel in school. We might look at how you manage tricky emotions in your behaviour. We also might think about how easy or hard it is to make friends and what other people think about you.

Will I have to come out of my classroom?

Sometimes..... but not always! An Educational Psychologist is here to help you and would not make you feel upset or worried.

We work in lots of different ways to find out about your learning and your wellbeing. This might include:

Observation

Sometimes we will spend time watching in your classroom or during break time. This can be a way to see how you learn, but also to see what your classroom is like and why things may be tricky for you.

Working with you in your classroom

Sometimes we might join you in your classroom learning and see what kind of help you need. We might chat to you and your friends to find out more.

Talking with your teachers or parents

Sometimes we might talk to your teachers or parents to find out how you are in your classroom and what they think you do well.

What will you ask me to do?

An Educational Psychologist will plan activities based on your interests and what your needs might be. Activities and discussions will be different for different children. Some of the things we might do could include:

Talk about school

We might talk about what you like and don't like in school, as well as what you find easy or hard. If you don't like to talk we can use pictures or cards to put into piles. This is all so that I can start to learn about what is important to you.

Try a range of puzzles

Sometimes we might do some puzzles, questions or games. These can help me to understand how you learn and so we can find the best way for your teachers to teach you.

Draw some pictures

We might draw some pictures about you perfect school or about your feelings about different things.

If you have any questions you can ask the Educational Psychologist when they are in school

The most important thing is to be honest. We are here to help, NOT to catch you out!