Maria Psarrou
Chartered Educational and Child Psychologist
Private Consultant
 IB Psychology Teacher

 

   BSc in Psychology, University of Crete
   MEd in Educational Psychology, University of Exeter
   Employed by the Warwickshire Educational Psychology Service    (1998- 2000)
   British Psychological Society
        -Division of Educational & Child Psychology
        -Chartered Educational Psychology Status (2000)
   Member of the Association of Greek Psychologists                                                                    

 Who is the educational psychologist?

 

          The educational psychologist is a psychologist who has teacher training, teaching experience and specialist training in applying psychology to education.

 

          The educational psychologist is particularly concerned with how children and young people think, how they learn and understand and how they develop relationships with others. She works with children and young people aged between 4-16, parents, teachers and other professionals involved in education.

 

          The work of an educational psychologist can either be:

	directly with a child (assessing progress, giving counselling)
	indirectly (through their work with parents, teachers and other professionals).

 

          Direct work involves some form of assessment to uncover the problem through consultation with professional colleagues, observation, interview, or use of test materials. Interventions might plan learning programmes and collaborative work with a teacher. Recommendations are then made to determine the most appropriate education provision for children experiencing educational difficulties. Indirect work requires consultation and careful discussion.

 

          A range of services are provided, including: 

	consultation and support for youngsters, parents and teachers
	psychological assessment of children’s special educational needs
	advice on learning difficulties, dyslexia, behaviour management issues, attention difficulties, study strategies, access arrangements, etc.

           When an educational psychologist does become involved, she may: 

	arrange to talk with you, as parents, before and after the involvement
	observe your child and use various approaches to complete an individual assessment
	talk with your child’s teacher
	talk with other professionals involved in your child’s education, e.g. the Head Teacher, a speech therapist, etc.
	write a report to make formal recommendations on action to be taken