Educational psychology – parents and carers
Educational Psychologists (EPs) are professional psychologists with specialist training in child development, how children learn, their emotions, behaviour and how environments affect learning. They work closely with parents and carers, Early Years settings, schools and colleges to help children and young people aged from 0-25 who might be having difficulties with the concepts in the icons below. Click the icons for more information.
Learning
Managing emotions
Confidence and motivation
Communication and friendships
Learning
Children/young people (CYP) can have difficulties progressing across the curriculum due to a combination of factors. In partnership with key staff and parents/carers, the EP would take a holistic view to consider all of those factors, alongside the CYP’s response to well-founded interventions and targeted support. More specific learning skills considered might include reading, writing and spelling fluency, retention and recall of teaching (memory skills), problem-solving skills (reasoning), organisation, attention and ability to transfer learning from one area to another e.g applying rote learnt timetables to solving number problems. See Guide to EP Casework.
Managing emotions
EPs are interested in the connection between a young person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours. They can apply psychological models and tools to collaboratively explore and plan attuned support with key adults and the children/young people (CYP) themselves. When EPs discuss emotional states with CYP, they might define them as feeling sad, angry, scared, worried, surprised, calm, happy, confused, angry or bored. In this area the EP would consider how a young person is supported to express and manage their feelings before they become overwhelmed at school/college.
Confidence and motivation
In this area EPs are curious about how a child/young person perceives their strengths, what they feel they can do and how they are respected by others as unique individuals. EPs might explore how a young person experiences and attributes success in their lives, the level of independence they have over their learning in order to feel self-satisfaction and their sense of belonging to their peers and others.
Communication and friendships
When thinking about communication skills, EPs will consider a child/young person’s (CYP) expressive (spoken) and receptive (understanding) language skills alongside their social communication skills, such as gaining attention from others, understanding non-verbal cues, active listening and engagement in a reciprocal conversation. Maintaining authentic friendships can be a very important part of school and college life, so EPs may be curious about a CYP’s ability to negotiate, compromise, empathise, show patience and resolve disagreements.
All Southampton schools and colleges are linked to an EP (or a supervised trainee EP). Parents or carers should contact the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) at their child’s school or college to raise concerns. EPs may also be available for negotiated work commissioned from Early Years settings or from an alternative provision.
All EPs must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council.
How it works
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Step one – Request
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A member of staff from your child’s school or college will talk to you about whether a request for EP involvement should be made to support your child. Once this is agreed, the SENCo will ask for your signed consent before the EP becomes directly involved. If you are happy, a consultation will then be arranged. This is a joint problem-solving meeting between the EP, parents and carers, the class teacher and any key adults working closely with your child to share concerns.
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Step two – Psychological consultation
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This might be through a face-to-face meeting in school, a home visit, or a video call. During this meeting, the EP will listen and ask a range of questions to gather information from everyone so the group can gain a deeper understanding of your child’s needs and start to plan next steps.
We do not always need to see your child in order to help, but in some cases, the EP may need to carry out further assessment work. This could include classroom observations, analysis of schoolwork, questionnaires, curriculum-based assessments and use of recognised assessment tools. Children and young people often enjoy assessment activities with an EP as they are presented as fun and motivating activities.
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Step three – Action planning
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A discussion about jointly creating a realistic plan for your child might occur towards the end of the consultation or in a separate meeting following some further EP assessment work. This recorded action plan will include outcomes or targets for your child, along with potential strategies and interventions to help meet those targets. A date to jointly review this plan may also be agreed.
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Step four – Review meeting
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At this meeting, your child’s progress will be discussed and the action plan will be reviewed by everyone involved. The EP may then end their involvement and you and the educational setting will be provided with a written record.
EPs are also employed to deliver a statutory role on behalf of the Local Authority (LA), as outlined in The Children and Families Act, 2014. This happens when the LA considers that a child/young person (aged 0 to 25) may have Special Educational Needs or disabilities which require a level of support that is beyond what a typical mainstream educational setting can provide and/or for those who attend special schools, specialist colleges or an alternative provision.
If an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment has been agreed for your child, the EP will conduct an assessment in collaboration with you, key staff and other professionals involved. If appropriate, the EP will work directly with your child and will be keen to gain a clear sense of their views, wishes, strengths and needs. The EP will provide their psychological advice to the LA and to you in a written report. The EP Psychological Advice is one of a number of reports that are provided by professionals as part of the EHC needs assessment process.
More information on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)
More resources
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Or view the other Education and school services.
Contact us
All EP work is commissioned and negotiated with Southampton link schools and colleges, so if you are seeking involvement from an EP, please discuss this with the SENCo or Head teacher at your child’s school/college. Alternatively, please complete our form to submit an Educational Psychology enquiry.
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