The mission of the Department of Psychological Services is to provide quality, broadly based psychological services to the entire school district through a comprehensive service delivery system. To meet this end, the department has targeted the following needs/goals: To encourage programs and provide services that result in prevention of mental health and educational difficulties.

To maximize the impact of psychological services by emphasizing indirect services to large populations of students considered at risk for emotional/behavioral interference with their education and to the families of those students

To provide direct services to small targeted groups of students who are determined to be in most extreme risk of school failure due to emotional/behavioral factors, to the families of these students, and to staff who are responsible for their education.

To coordinate with and compliment the community health and educational system through participation in local, state, and national professional and service organizations.

The Department of Psychological Services plays a significant role in the development, implementation, training, and on-going operation of preventative programs such as…

Provision of teacher, counselor, and administrator in-service training in areas related to the psychological needs of staff and students.

Development and implementation of a crisis intervention policy which involves the education of administrators, counselors, and teachers regarding the need for advanced preparation for crises and applying the district plan in every building.

Emphasis of suicide prevention as a district priority. Efforts include in-service training for school staff and administrators on assessment of lethality. The policy and methods for early detection of suicidal behavior have been distributed to every teacher in the district.
 

The Department of Psychological Services emphasizes the use of indirect services including…

Consultation with teachers in programs such as PPCD (early childhood), Pre-Kindergarten, Life Skills, and Adaptive Behavior(AB)/ACCESS classes. Consultation also is available to help planning for students with Autism, Traumatic Brain Injury, Tourette’s, Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, and Conduct Disorder.

Liaison with outside agencies and practitioners to ensure continuity of care as students move between the school and hospitals, private therapy, juvenile justice system, and other school districts.

The Department of Psychological Services provides direct services to at-risk students, their families, and district staff through…

Provision of regularly scheduled individual and/or group counseling as well as on-going case management for students identified as having an emotional disturbance.

Administration of comprehensive psychological evaluations for the purpose of qualifying students under Texas Education Agency (TEA) criteria for handicapping conditions such as Emotional Disturbance or Autism.

Intervention in crisis situations that necessitate emergency response to assist students seriously affected by the situation.

Presentation of parent education/training workshops for those parents dealing with their children's poor grades, emotional disturbance, Autism, ADHD, or adolescence.