School Psychologist

 7:30am - 4:00pm OR by appointment

Meet Your School Psychologist!

Jessica Berger joined Allen Academy on July 1, 2024. Jessica has supported a variety of school districts throughout central Texas, from rural to urban, from low to high socioeconomic status, serving children aged three years through twelfth grade (21 years, 11 months). Prior to school psychology, Jessica served in the U.S. Air Force and was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She is married to Matt, and they are parents of two girls attending Allen. 

What is a School Psychologist?

School psychologists obtain extensive training in psychology, pedagogy, and education, completing a minimum of a specialist-level degree program (at least 60 graduate semester hours), post baccalaureate, that includes a year-long supervised internship. This training emphasizes preparation in mental health and educational interventions, child development, learning, behavior, motivation, curriculum and instruction, assessment, consultation, collaboration, school law, and school systems.

What is Allen Academy’s School Psychologists role?

The intended purpose of Allen Academy’s School Psychologist is to be a resource to students, parents and staff, promoting social, emotional, behavioral, mental health, and academic success. The supportive role is one aspect to graduate responsible and self-reliant citizens, with self-determination, resiliency, and overall well being. The most important rule in the practice is confidentiality for all stakeholders at all times. There are four specific situations when confidentiality will be breached: reporting you want to hurt yourself, you want to hurt someone else, someone is hurting you, or explicit permission to share is obtained. 

There are four domains of practice to meet the mission to help students, each are detailed.

Mental Health

The school psychologist is equipped to provide on-going direct and indirect counseling services to students in need.  Direct counseling sessions are in either the individual or group setting, depending on goals and needs. Indirect counseling includes working with others to facilitate growth, to include but not limited to: parent(s), teacher(s), coach(es), and/or outside agencies.

Additionally, the role is a point of contact for mental health/social/emotional/behavioral crisis response and management.  The role encompasses response in the incident, development of a short and long-term plan, and connection to outside agencies. 

Finally, the school psychologist is tasked with professional development in the area of identifying concerning behaviors, identifying those at risk of concerning behaviors, and supporting the staff in response to concerns. Holistically:

• Promote wellness and resilience by reinforcing communication and social skills, problem solving, anger management, self-regulation, self-determination, and optimism

• Provide counseling, instruction, and mentoring for those struggling with academic, social, emotional, and behavioral problems

• Increase achievement by assessing social/emotional barriers to learning and determining the best instructional strategies to improve learning

Consultation and Collaboration

Within academic, behavior, and mental health challenges, the school psychologist works in conjunction with stakeholders to problem solve situations to the best resolution possible for the child. This may include direct and indirect support, data collection in the area of concern, implementing intervention(s), and analyzing effectiveness. Within this domain, the school psychologist also provides professional development to community members in areas of interest and/or personal/subject/institutional instructional challenges when requested. Encompassing the following:

• Identify and resolve academic barriers to learning

• Identify and resolve behavioral barriers to learning

• Design and implement student progress monitoring systems

• Design and implement academic and behavioral interventions

• Support effective individualized instruction

• Create positive classroom environments

• Motivate all students to engage in learning

• Support students' social, emotional, and behavioral development

• Teach parenting skills and enhance home–school collaboration

• Make referrals and help coordinate community support services

• Bridge the information barrier between secondary and college academic supports (in coordination with the College Counselor)

Program Evaluation

School Psychologists collect and analyze psychoeducational data related to school improvement, student outcomes, and accountability requirements.  The position is a resource to implement individual and school-wide prevention/intervention programs to establish positive school climates conducive to learning. The School Psychologist promotes practices and policies that ensure safety of all students by reducing school violence, bullying and harassment. 

Assessment of Educational Disabilities

At Allen Academy, the School Psychologist serves as a main point of contact when struggles in the school setting escalate to an atypical severity or frequency, resulting in the need for formal assessment in one of the 14 IDEA psychoeducational disability conditions. Drawing upon a multidisciplinary team approach, the role collects, analyzes and provides recommendations to the student, family, teachers, and administrators for a successful path forward. 

Helpful Links:

Texas Association of School Psychologists  

https://www.txasp.org/

National Association of School Psychologists

https://www.nasponline.org/

Intervention Central (academic and behavior support)

https://www.interventioncentral.org/

Information on ADHD

https://medlineplus.gov/attentiondeficithyperactivitydisorder.html

Information on Learning Disabilities

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/learningdisabilities

Information on Autism Spectrum Disorder

https://www.autismspeaks.org/