School Psychology/Guidance at Cushing School
School Psychology/Guidance services are provided on a consistent basis throughout Cushing School. It is the goal of the School Psychologist to ensure that children are safe and happy while in school. In addition, guidance services also include helping with the management of children’s academic progress. Mrs. Derr, our School Psychologist, has identified areas of guidance and school psychology that are important. Those are:
- Providing counseling to children
- Providing consultation to teachers regarding children’s behavior
- Testing children for special services
- Providing assistance in children’s academics through involvement in Kinder-garten Screening, MCAS testing, MAPS testing, and other testing situations
- Attending meetings regarding children’s needs
- Assisting in identifying children with need through Child Study meetings
School can be a wonderful place for children and the goal of our School Psycholo-gist/Counselor is to make sure children are happy and are learning. Academic monitoring is essential to ensuring children are having a successful year. Mrs. Derr participates in Child Study, Student Update Meetings, and consults to teachers on a frequent basis. Cushing School provides a multi-disciplinary team of educators who evaluate children eligible for extra services. Mrs. Derr is part of this team as well.
Issues arise during the school day that sometimes impact school learning. These issues include separation problems, difficulty with schoolwork and social skills challenges. Mrs. Derr is responsible for providing individual and group counseling in reference to school-related problems. Sometimes there are problems that arise during the day that require problem solving. In those cases, Mrs. Derr provides quick “problem solvers” so that chil-dren can resolve issues and return to schoolwork as fast as possible.
Mrs. Derr also provides social skills development through lunch bunch and friendship groups. Each group session focuses on a specific topic of the day, usually related to school problems. Mrs. Derr is particularly interested in the area of prevention of bullying and teasing in school.
