Abstract
Finding solid school psychology consultation texts can be difficult. Many existing texts on consultation are oriented for clinical psychologists or other allied disciplines, and although they are helpful to understand underlying principles and skills, they do not always align with the context specific demands present in school settings. Although some school psychology-oriented texts exist, most align with a specific theoretical approach (e.g., Adlerian, Solution Focused, Mental Health approaches), and do not provide specific examples that can be useful to apply consultation skills in school-based settings. Consequently, instructors often need to significantly supplement course materials with school-based papers to ensure student have an adequate understanding of what school-based consultation looks like and how it can facilitate prevention orientations, as well as providing help for specific problems (at the secondary or tertiary level).
After years of teaching a course on consultation in a graduate program, this book is a welcome addition to enhance understanding and practice. Contributors to chapters in this book are well regarded in the field of school psychology, and thus bring credibility to the content included. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 introduces consultation in schools, outlining the key role it can play in systemic preventative and proactive approaches, as well as providing help for ongoing identified problems. Part 2, Addressing Student needs, elaborates on specific conditions with information provided specific to diverse diagnoses and learners. Finally, part 3 presents School-Level Interventions, which aim to provide efficient and effective supports for all students. Each chapter is structured to provide background information on the chapter topic, followed by information on school team roles, assessment considerations, and suggestions for approaching psychological consultations relevant to each topic. The content in each chapter includes a wide range of evidence-based information, making the content current and relevant for those who have been in the field for some time. Further, at the end of each chapter, the appendices for online resources (e.g., handouts, case studies, resource guides, templates, etc.) that can enhance learning and practical considerations for effective consultation strategies are summarized.
Part 1 consists of the introductory chapter, which provides a general overview of school-based consultation and presents a solid service delivery model highlighting consultation and linked interventions that clinicians and students alike can use to understand differing types, aims, consultee needs. This chapter also provides the general orientation of content highlighted in subsequent chapters, as well as an overview of key consultation considerations. Characteristics of effective consultations are explicitly provided, which can assist the clinician in determining how to modify existing practices and for new clinicians, can help them get the big picture of effective practices, so that they can begin their practice on solid ground. This orientation to consultation provides an essential foundation for students and practitioners, as defining and conceptualizing consultation is a major challenge for those first encountering the concept. Further, the first chapter highlights the importance of multi-disciplinary practice to fully respond to consultation needs, a stance that is sometimes overlooked in many settings, despite the importance of integrating multiple perspectives to fully understand a situation or person. The authors highlight important consultation skills and appropriately assert that the most important aspect of effective consultation is a relationship focus. They present a clear collaborative consultation model, which integrates ecological perspective and a problem-solving approach as an alternative to tradition deficit focused medical models. This orientation is essential to providing well received and effective service in schools. Further, the text provides an organizational approach based on systems theory that will undoubtedly be applicable to practitioners in complex school systems. Chapter 1 supplemental materials include a powerpoint presentation which sets the context for use and can be used to introduce the text to students or professionals. Additionally, a separate pdf download is provided, which outlines additional relevant resources (e.g., test descriptions, additional reading and online resources, and handouts that may be used for self-directed learning or instruction) for each chapter.
Part 2: Addressing Student Needs includes chapters 2 to 9, with each respectively presenting overviews of and intervention information for special populations commonly served by school psychologists. These chapters artfully integrate important clinical conceptualization considerations and outline the evidence base for interventions and key historical information on each condition. Further, recognizing that schools are unique settings, each chapter integrates important educational concepts, introducing the lexicon in an understandable manner. Chapters in this section provide coverage on Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, Anger and Self-regulation, Non-suicidal Self-injury, Learning Disabilities, and Gifted and Talented students. Some chapters (e.g., Chapter 2 on autism) provide specific information on available programs or interventions related to specific characteristics of children and youth. Students and practitioners alike will appreciate the coverage of high incidence conditions, as well as proactive and preventative approaches that can be shared with parents and teachers to improve overall well-being.
Part 3, School-Level interventions includes chapters 10 to 15, which highlight broad whole school applications to promote wellbeing and support students to navigate common and concerning school issues. It includes chapters on addressing the Needs of Immigrant and Refugee Students, Promoting Resilience in Cultural Diverse Youth, Fostering Student Engagement and Psychosocial Development, Responding to Mass Shootings, Bullying Prevention, and Social Emotional Learning. The proactive, preventative nature of this book is reflected in material included in this section. The inclusion of promoting resilience, fostering psychosocial development, and social emotional learning to enhance overall wellbeing, as well as improve academic outcomes is particularly important in enhancing school psychologists’ skills and moving beyond reliance on reactive approaches.
In addition to preventative orientations, Part 3 also includes high-risk/high-stakes consultations, which include preventing bullying, and responding to critical incidents (specifically, mass shootings). Chapter 13: Responding to Mass Shootings: Intervention Considerations following the Disaster Cycle provides some information related directly to the chapter title (Mass shootings) but also contains general theory, research, and practical information to understand various types of disasters in schools. Thus, while Canadian audiences may not have as much concern about school shootings as our American counterparts, this particular chapter presents information that can be generalized to other sorts of school crises, such as natural disasters and other emergencies. The chapter provides preventions and preparedness information, as well as a good focus on student, staff, and community members experiences and recovery processes.
The proactive and preventive orientation of this text is an important contribution to the field, as medical models and reactive approaches to treatment, have for many reasons, predominated in the available texts. However, this approach does not ignore the fact that sometimes we have to address crises and unpleasant situations in schools, and as such, it appropriately balances difficult issues with more proactive approaches. Moreover, in addition to the wide range of important, real issues in schools, one of the major strengths of this text is its proactive, preventative and practical orientation that balances the reality of school contexts with theory, research, and practice. This is particularly well accomplished with the appendices provided for each chapter, that not only provide links to online resources, research, and clinical considerations, but also provide resources that clinicians can use to improve their practice.
Overall, this text is an invaluable addition to teaching resources, as well as an excellent primer for new school psychologists and for those who have rich experience, but have not had formal consultation training. Although this text provides practical, clear and evidence-based approaches, no book is without limitations. As an instructor of a school psychology consultation course, one aspect I find central to understanding the consultation role is understanding different models of psychological service in order to identify your own personal orientation. For example, a solution focused practitioner may conduct consultation quite differently from a cognitive behavioral therapy-oriented practitioner. Further, some situations may call for a particular approach, while other problems may respond to more general approaches. Then students and practicing clinicians can cater their communications to the most appropriate responses and select techniques most likely to build relationships and address the problem. In this way, clinicians can ensure they implement practices that are relevant to a particular context or situation and ensure their practice is consistent with acknowledged practice models. Consequently, one addition that may be helpful in future iterations of this text would be direct information on consultations models based in particular theoretical orientations. To further enhance theory-grounded practice, it may also be helpful to provide more resources to help clinicians self-assess their skills, plan for growth, and monitor their activities (e.g., skill lists, checklists, and self-evaluation tools). Moreover, templates to help structure different types of consultation sessions would also be a welcome addition to future editions of this book. Further, while the text covers a large range of topics and includes a chapters on immigrant and refugee children (Ch.10) and promoting resilience in Culturally diverse youth (Ch. 12), future editions of this book would benefit from a direct focus on consultations with Indigenous students, staff, families and communities presented by Indigenous authors. For Canadian school psychologists, this is a growing need as we become more aware of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action (Sinclair, 2015), the CPA response to the Calls to Action (2018), and as we work to make schools a better place for all students.
