This interactive course focuses on the training and practice of interpersonal skills, which are vital to functioning as a professional psychologist or counselor. The course will be centered on a three- stage helping model which assists individuals in exploring their problems, gaining insights, and taking action. In developing this helping model, three counseling theories will be explored: person-centered therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and behavior therapy. The course will largely focus on the skill development necessary to initiate helping relationships with diverse populations.

This course is designed to build upon the basic counseling skills and knowledge developed in Clinical Foundations of Intervention I (GPSY 5030), in order to promote foundational competencies in evidence-based intervention. The content of the course includes: common factors and the therapeutic alliance; transtheoretical case formulation; selected theoretical models of therapy; and therapy process and outcome assessment. The practicum portion of the course focuses on the application of this material to clients, and the further development of counseling skills and competencies.

This course is introductory in nature and will review the evolution of School Psychology and explore the current and future demands that school psychologists are likely to encounter. The lens of social justice is used to examine principles for practice regarding ethics and law, advocacy and cultural responsiveness. Students will cover the broad history of the profession and special education law, examine primary roles, functions and responsibilities, look at models of practice, review credentialing requirements, and consider different models of practice. Key aspects of education law will be reviewed including the Individuals with Disabilities Act (2004), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (2008), the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as Part 200 of the NYS Regulations. Students will also learn to use a problem-solving model with which to identify and assess ethical dilemmas in professional practice.

Each student will be placed in a school district two days per week to practice skills in observation, counseling and individual assessment, as well as become oriented to school systems and profession as a school psychologist. Supervision will be provided by an on-site supervisor in addition to a faculty member within the program. Field will be graded Pass/Fail.

This course is designed as an introduction to testing and measurement. Primary emphasis will be placed on building a general understanding of elementary statistics and analysis of test scores in relation to the normal curve. An understanding of reliability, validity, and normative samples will be explored through an application process using a variety of standardized instruments, which are currently used. Students will gain a general understanding of both the purpose and practice of assessment through exposure to a wide variety instruments and procedures which are both traditional and non-traditional methods. It is important to note that this course only serves as an introduction to testing and assessment and that further courses/skills training are needed for students interested in specializing in assessment.

This course exposes the student to the administration, scoring, and interpretation of individually administered norm-referenced tests and measures. Primary attention is given to instruments, which primarily measure cognitive abilities in children ages birth to age eighteen. Instruments will be evaluated based on their level of sensitivity to culturally diverse populations. Implications for the learning process in school-age children and adults will be explored. Beginning report writing will be explored while expanding the students’ repertoire and mastery of these measures. Historical and contemporary theories of intelligence will be discussed.

This course provides a broad understanding of individual development. Study will focus on the major themes and issues of physical, cognitive, social, and moral development, with particular emphasis placed on foundational research and theory in these areas, and the interaction of self and social contexts in developmental processes.

This course is designed to explore the complexities of child and adolescent psychopathology, with a specific emphasis on the school setting. The content will focus on the epidemiology, symptomatology, etiology, comorbidity, and treatment of different psychopathologies experienced by children and adolescents. Common assessment strategies and classification systems, such as the DSM-5, will be examined, along with their strengths and weaknesses. Intervention and prevention approaches for specific disorders will be discussed, including a particular focus on school-based intervention programs.

This course is designed to introduce students to the basic principles of research and statistical analysis. Students will be exposed to the critical evaluation of research and will survey the process of research from the development of hypotheses to the interpretation of data. They will gain a broader understanding of descriptive and inferential statistics and various research design strategies.

This practicum experience is designed as a transition from formal coursework to learning experiences within a school setting, under the direct supervision by a licensed or certified school psychologist. Through this practicum, students are provided with the opportunity to apply their knowledge of child development, learning theory, assessment, direct and indirect interventions, and to experientially apply the theories and techniques learned in Clinical Foundations of Intervention I and II (GPSY 5040) while working with children, teachers, and parents in a public school setting. Under the supervision of the professor, each student will be placed in a school district for two full days each week to practice testing skills, develop observation skills, continue to develop counseling skills and to become oriented to working in the schools as a school psychologist.

This course provides information and training in the assessment of mental status and emotional well being in children, adolescents and adults. The course will cover more traditional projective measures as well as more recent norm-referenced thematic tools and techniques, which assess a broad range of social functioning areas. Students will be required to use these techniques both for administration and scoring, and begin interpreting results as a continuation of refining report writing skills.

This course provides knowledge and training in fundamental concepts of child and adolescent assessment guided by an understanding of brain-behavior correlates and child development. Students are instructed in the use of an integrated neuropsychological model with relevance for applied psychological practice. A special focus is placed on the assessment of neuropsychological factors that impact cognitive, academic and social-emotional functioning. Students will learn how to select appropriate evaluation techniques to answer referral questions to assess learning, administer and score those instruments, interpret the results, integrate information across sources, and communicate their findings orally and in writing.

Prerequisites: GPSY 5220 and GPSY 5420

Students will be exposed to the theory behind and practice of consultation as an indirect service delivery model for children, families, and schools. Although the class will utilize a lecture format, applied work will be provided via the students’ field practicum placements. Thus, as a pre-requisite, all students must also be enrolled in a field practicum class as well.

This is an introductory graduate level course in group dynamics and group counseling. The content includes an overview of group process, leader roles, member roles, and types of groups in school settings. A variety of therapeutic approaches are presented and specific group counseling techniques for working with students in school settings. Issues in working in an ethical manner with diverse student/client populations are presented.

Inclusion of exceptional children and youth in unrestricted learning environments, and their academic success and social adjustment, requires school personnel to develop expertise in the recognition of special needs and a broad knowledge of appropriate school-based strategies for ensuring academic success and social development. This course is designed as a graduate-level introduction to the history, major issues, and contemporary practices defining exceptionalities, their categorization, and demographic characteristics. The goal of this course to get students to know, understand and positively impact the various exceptionalities. By the end of the course, the students will have a firm idea of the legal definitions of the various exceptionalities, the differences between the exceptionalities and the ramifications of these exceptionalities on the child’s education. The student will demonstrate this knowledge and learn to develop intervention skills.

This course is designed to develop multicultural competency in professional mental health practice. The focus will be on increasing students’ awareness of their cultural values and biases, while also developing knowledge about how race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and social class have an impact on self and the helper-student or helper-client relationship. Additional emphasis will be placed on surveying culturally responsive skills that are necessary to evaluate and intervene with diverse client systems.

This provides the culminating experience of the School Psychology Program. It provides intensive supervision in roles and functions of a school psychologist. This will usually be a paid position and will require a full-time work week of 40 hours plus. Prerequisite: The student must have completed four semesters of course work with satisfactory performance and achieved a satisfactory score on the qualifying examination.

This is a continuation of the field-based experience described in GPSY 7200. This will require a submission of a professional portfolio.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with exposure to and an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in using play therapy with individuals, families and groups in diverse settings. Students will become familiar with various theoretical practice models and learn to apply those models with children experiencing a variety of problems across diverse populations. This course will expose the student to basic knowledge about play therapy as a component of services to children, including in mental health, child welfare, health and community based settings.

This course explores the rapidly expanding literature in the field of trauma and delineates its common concerns and practice guidelines. This course will provide students an overview of adverse childhood experiences and school-based trauma-informed approaches to interventions that treat trauma using the social ecological model. In this course, the causes and dynamics of conflict as well as ways to transform conflict into a constructive force in a school setting will be explored. In this interactive course, students will demonstrate trauma-informed school mental health treatment interventions on the development of school-based conflict transformation skills, with primary emphasis given to mediation, restorative practices and Life Space Crisis Intervention.