Continuing Education for School Psychologists

School Psychologists

Click to view CE for School Psychologists

School psychologists work with students in early childhood and elementary and secondary schools. They collaborate with teachers, parents, and school personnel to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments for all students. School psychologists address students’ learning and behavioral problems, suggest improvements to classroom management strategies or parenting techniques, and evaluate students with disabilities and gifted and talented students to help determine the best way to educate them.

They improve teaching, learning, and socialization strategies based on their understanding of the psychology of learning environments. They also may evaluate the effectiveness of academic programs, prevention programs, behavior management procedures, and other services provided in the school setting.

School Psychologists are required to earn continuing education credits to maintain licensure and to stay up-to-date on best practices. State School Psychology CE Requirements

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists and school psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for all programs and content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of Psychology and Office of School Psychology (CE Broker Provider #50-1635).

Click here to view online CE courses for school psychologists.

Popular course topics for school psychologists include:

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New Child Therapy Continuing Education Courses for School-Based Health Professionals

Professional Development Resources has released a series of new online courses on school-based assessment and treatment of children in need of special services. The Florida company, which is accredited to provide continuing education to psychologists, school psychologists, social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, speech-language pathologists, registered dietitians and occupational therapists, has announced new courses addressing issues that will be occupying school professionals as the new school year begins.

The new continuing education (CE) courses are intended to equip school-based professionals with the tools they need to deal with back-to-school issues they are sure to encounter in the coming months. Among the new courses are topics providing up-to-date information on autism spectrum disorders, school refusal behavior, reading and literacy interventions, and the developmental effects of alcohol on children and adolescents.

Prepare for back to school

Click to view school-based CE courses

In the coming weeks, millions of children will return to school for the new academic year, many of them bringing not only pencils and books, but also a wide range of difficulties for which they will need attention from school-based professionals. Those with autism spectrum disorders will present learning and social behavior issues that can overwhelm teachers already challenged with overcrowded classrooms. Others may be suffering from the severe anxiety and avoidant behaviors that are part of school refusal patterns, posing major challenges for both parents and school professionals. Still other children will require screening and intervention for a wide variety of learning and developmental disorders, including those who will need specialized assistance with literacy and reading.

“Professionals who work with school-age children have a unique opportunity to identify those who have the need for services,” says Leo Christie, PhD, CEO of Professional Development Resources. “The classroom setting is where learning and behavioral difficulties are highlighted and also where they can be identified and remediated. If we can deliver new information on evidence-based assessment and intervention to the psychologists, social workers, school counselors, speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists who see these children every day, they can have a major impact on getting them the help they need.”

The need is great. In the case of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the most recent research data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network found that 1 in every 110 eight-year old children were diagnosable for an ASD. This is a very large number of children, and the incidence of autism seems to be on the rise.

School refusers are students who can’t – or won’t – go to school, for any number of reasons. Researchers offer a “best guess” that somewhere between 5% and 28% of children display some aspect of school refusal behavior at some point in their lives. This is a wide range, attributable to variations in the definition of school refusal. Again, this is a very large number, and the behaviors associated with school refusal are so challenging that they can monopolize the time of parents and teachers alike.

Among the new courses offered by Professional Development Resources are:

Other continuing education courses with children in mind can be seen here: http://www.pdresources.org/Courses/Other/NewCourses/CourseID/1/bts

About Professional Development Resources:

Professional Development Resources is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1992 by licensed marriage and family therapist Leo Christie, PhD. The company, which is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), and the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) – as well as many other national and state boards – has focused its efforts on making continuing education courses more cost-effective and widely accessible to health professionals by offering online home study coursework. Its current expanded curriculum includes a wide variety of clinical topics intended to equip health professionals to offer state-of-the art services to their clients.

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School Refusal Behavior – New 4-Hour CE Course

School Refusal Behavior: Children Who Can’t or Won’t Go To School

School Refusal Behavior: Children Who Can’t or Won’t Go To School

Click on image to view course webpage

School refusal is a problem that is stressful for children, for their families, and for school personnel. Failing to attend school has significant long and short-term effects on children’s social, emotional, and educational development. School refusal is often the result of, or associated with, comorbid disorders such as anxiety or depression. Careful assessment, treatment planning, interventions, and management of school refusal are critical to attainment of the goal of a successful return to school as quickly as possible. Interventions may include educational support, cognitive therapy, behavior modification, parent/teacher interventions, and pharmacotherapy.

This course will break down the distinction between truancy and school refusal and will examine a number of psychological disorders that may be causing – or comorbid with – school refusal, including separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, social phobia, panic attacks, major depression, dysthymia, ADHD, and oppositional defiant disorder. Completing the course will assist you in performing a functional analysis of school refusal to determine the motivation and particular reinforcement systems that support the behavior. Specific intervention strategies will be reviewed, with a focus on tailoring and adapting standard approaches to specific situations. Participants will be given the opportunity to review several case studies and develop a sample intervention plan for cases of school refusal. Course #40-29 | 2011 | 48 pages | 30 posttest questions

CE Credit
: 4 Hours
Cost: $56 (save 10% with blog coupon in upper right corner)


Learning Objectives:

  1. Identify the unique behavioral and clinical features of children who refuse to attend school
  2. Name the four types of school refusers
  3. Identify the functional purposes served by school refusal
  4. List comorbid disorders that frequently underlie school refusal
  5. Describe individual, family, and pharmacological treatment approaches to school refusal
  6. Develop individualized treatment plans for the various types of school refusal

About the Author:

George B. Haarman, PsyD, LMFT, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist currently in private practice. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Spalding University and is a member of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Haarman has been an instructor at Jefferson Community College, Bellarmine University, and Spalding University. He has presented seminars regionally and nationally on psychopathology, depression, and emotional disorders in children and adolescents. Dr. Haarman serves as a consultant to several school systems regarding the assessment of children. His prior experience includes working with youth detention centers, juvenile group homes, child protective services, and juvenile probation.


Accreditation Statement:

Professional Development Resources is recognized as a provider of continuing education by the following:
AOTA: American Occupational Therapy Association (#3159)
APA: American Psychological Association
ASWB: Association of Social Work Boards (#1046)
CDR: Commission on Dietetic Registration (#PR001)
NBCC: National Board for Certified Counselors (#5590)
NAADAC: National Association of Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselors (#00279)
California: Board of Behavioral Sciences (#PCE1625)
Florida: Boards of SW, MFT & MHC (#BAP346); Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635); Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635); Occupational Therapy Practice (#34). PDResources is CE Broker compliant.
Illinois: DPR for Social Work (#159-00531)
Ohio: Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501)
South Carolina: Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193)
Texas: Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) & State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678)
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