Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that impact many school-age youth. School psychologists are likely to encounter students with eating disorders. However, with limited training in this area, practitioners may feel intimidated about responding appropriately while practicing within the boundaries of their competence. Students and…

Reading and literacy skills are essential to fostering a child's development and academic success. Research has consistently highlighted the importance of early literacy proficiency as a strong indicator of later academic achievement, cognitive ability, and social-emotional well-being (Espinosa, 2002; Gottlieb et al., 2022). Unfortunately, reading…

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are a group of disorders directly caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. This spectrum of disorders cause neurodevelopmental, neurobehavioral, and mental health effects. The consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure are permanent, leaving children and adults with behavioral and learning difficulties throughout…

The terms equity, inclusion, diversity, and belonging, often present an assumption that the dialogue will center around school climate, culture, and psychological safety. While these are critical components of equitable practices, the educational process of providing sound academic instruction and assessment cannot be lost in the conversation.…

When students struggle with reading, school-based teams seek more information about why those students are struggling in order to provide instruction that will meet the students' needs. This process occurs for students needing Tier 2 or 3 instruction and students with disabilities who have reading goals. Reading specialists, special education…

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), including concussions, occur with relative frequency among youth (National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, 2016). TBI symptoms vary by severity but are generally categorized as emotional, cognitive, sleep, or physical difficulties. Common emotional symptoms reported by students include feelings of…

This article is the second of a series of articles appearing in "Communiqué" about how school psychologists can adopt and promote the evidence-based practices in math assessment and instruction. The focus of this article is on measuring math skills for screening, diagnostic decisions, and progress monitoring. [For the first article in…

Evidence-based practices (EBP) in psychology and education are necessary for the development of best practices and required by law. However, EBP is a term that is often freely applied in these settings without considering the implications of the meaning of "evidence-based." Evidence-based practices are defined as the process of…

Research suggests that children begin to internalize moral rules during the adolescent years when self-reflection and the desire to integrate and prioritize different core values is strongest (Blasi, 1983). Until then, they rely mostly on extrinsic forms of motivation in which they adopt the norms and rules of society, which they obey to avoid…

The integration of behavioral health services in primary care has become increasingly popular in pediatric settings in recent years. While there are various models of integrated behavioral health (IBH), the aim is constant: to increase access to behavioral and mental health care through collaboration between behavioral health providers and…

This article serves as the first in a series addressing comprehensive suicide prevention programming in the school context. Suicide is currently the second leading cause of death for 10- to 24-year-olds in the United States. As schools are a place where the majority of youth spend a significant amount of time, it follows that they are a natural…

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated school, state, and federal responses to curb infection and resultant fatalities, including extensive school closures and reliance on distance education for a substantial portion of the academic year. This article considers the equity issues laid bare by COVID-19, followed by the implications for MTSS, with a…

School psychologists are uniquely qualified to provide direct and indirect support to students, parents, educators, schools, and districts. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Practice Model outlines the 10 domains that interact with each other to meet the needs of students, schools, and communities, and demonstrate the broad…

Each year, the NASP Assistance to States (ATS) committee hosts regional leadership meetings (RLM) as part of the annual convention. In November 2021, state leaders across the country joined forces to learn about the process of implementation science and how to facilitate sustainable change. At the core, implementation science examines critical…

In education, there is a history of pitting philosophy against science. In mathematics, a similar divide exists between evidence-based practice and philosophy-based practice. Philosophy-based practices are very prevalent in math and are not simply benignly ineffective tactics. The science of math is a movement that focuses on using objective…