The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act allows three methods of determining whether a student qualifies for special education as a student with a specific learning disability (SLD). The first and most controversial is the Discrepancy model, which requires a significant discrepancy between the student's intellectual ability and…

The biopsychosocial-cultural framework is a systemic and multifaceted approach to assessment and intervention that takes into account biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors that influence human functioning and service delivery. Although originally developed to assess physical health and medical illness, this contemporary model can…

As Response to Intervention (RTI) models continue to be implemented, an important research question is how school psychologists are experiencing the transition to RTI practice. In order to better understand the experiences of school psychologists, interviews with seven practicing school psychologists regarding their perceptions of barriers and…

On average, natural disasters directly impact approximately 160 million individuals and cause 90,000 deaths each year. As natural disasters are becoming more familiar, it stands to reason that school personnel, particularly mental health professionals, need to know how to prepare for natural disasters. Current disaster preparation and response…

Implementing violence prevention programs has become a priority for schools; however, most programs used for this purpose are limited in the skills they teach. In this study, two different resiliency building/violence prevention models were evaluated to assess their effectiveness at preventing violent and maladaptive behaviors in youth. Data from…

Current assessments in the schools are based on a deficit model (Epstein, 1998). "The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Model for Comprehensive and Integrated School Psychological Services" (2010), federal initiatives and mandates, and experts in the field of assessment have highlighted the need for the comprehensive…

A qualitative grounded theory study examined how practicing professionals involved in the ED identification process reconstructed the category of "emotional disturbance" as it applied to students in an alternative educational setting. A grounded theory integrates six emergent themes and essentially reframes the existing ED criteria in contemporary…

This exploratory study examined (a) Integrated Systems Model (ISM) implementation levels, and (b) the effect of implementation of the academic and behavioral components of ISM on student academic outcomes. Participants included 2,660 students attending six suburban elementary schools. Hierarchical linear regression was conducted using a control…

As many schools move toward a three-tier model that incorporates a Response to Intervention (RtI) service delivery model in the social, emotional, and behavioral domains, school psychologists may provide leadership. The decision-making process for filtering students through multiple tiers of support and intervention and examining change is an area…