Educational Psychology Case Study
A school has referred Lois (aged 4 years 2 months) to their school Educational Psychologist (EP), with concerns about her social skills and language. The teaching assistant has told the parents that the child may have special educational needs, and this has caused the parents to be very worried and confused.
The school sent a 30-minute video of the child in nursery.
As an assistant psychologist, you are asked to analyze the data from the observation, and write a report for the EP, with your hypothesis and recommendation for next steps.
For the purpose of this assignment, your report should include the following:
Section A:Theoretical background (750 – 950 words)
This should be written in an academic essay style and include reference to relevant legislative or policy contexts and a critical review on relevant methodologies or approaches used in your report, with references. This section should end with an outline of what data you intend to collect and the purpose of the data collection.
Section B:The report (1250-1050 words)
This should be written in a report style, using clear headings, accessible language and bullet points, and include the following:
i) An introduction which may include:
• Original reason the nursery has raised the child to the EP (i.e., Reason for concern/referral).
• The purpose of your involvement – what is the aim of your investigation and report?
• Sources of information (including fictional data such as information gathered from teachers/parents/medical reports etc that you may wish to include in “Relevant Background Information” to support your report)
• Reference to any assessment tools including checklists, charts or observational methods used.
ii) Relevant background information
This should include a brief overview of relevant background information that you refer to in your analysis.
iii) A summary of your behavioral observations:
a. A brief description of the learning environment.
b. Observations of the child – analysis and description.
iv) Analysis of overall findings
v) Conclusions. This section summarizes and integrates the information that you have gathered in this report. It should include a psychological formulation which draws on the psychological theory and research set out in Part A to provide a framework for describing the child’s needs and how they may have developed.
vi) Recommendations to the EP for next steps. This may include:
i. Areas where further data may need to be collected. These should clearly link to your formulation and hypotheses.
ii. Suggested interventions and strategies for the nursery and/or parents/carers including:
• Changing the organization and structure of the learning environment for the child.
• 2-3 learning targets for the child.
iii) A review dates
