What do educational therapists do

In addition, an educational therapist may consult with outside professionals involved in a student's treatment, such as teachers or school counselors, to assist with the assessment process. Once an assessment has been completed, an educational therapist formulates a strategy for addressing the student's identified needs. Treatment may involve focusing on specific areas of concern, such as increasing a student's comprehension abilities, working on problems related to communication such as building confidence in receptive and expressive language, addressing specific academic subject weaknesses, assisting with concentration and focus, and providing memory training to help with information recall.

Educational therapists provide case management services to help with service coordination. This means that an educational therapist examines not only potential learning difficulties, but also helps to arrange for additional services, if needed, that might be able to address other issues that have an indirect impact on academic performance.

Educational therapists must be prepared to refer clients to other professionals if an issue is outside of their professional area of expertise. So an educational therapist can help to coordinate outside services such as physical therapy, psychology, social work, occupational therapy, speech therapy and counseling. Additional duties of an educational therapist often vary based on the work setting. Some settings require educational therapists to provide services in the area of crisis intervention and behavior management.

These can include learning programmes, behaviour management strategies, relaxation techniques and collaborative work with teachers or parents. Your work will involve consultation with parents, teachers, social workers, doctors and other people involved in the child's education in a variety of ways. You may also provide in-service training for teachers, teaching assistants and other professionals on issues such as behaviour and stress management.

A further aspect to the job is research and advising on educational provisions and policies. Working hours are usually 37 hours per week, Monday to Friday. This can include some evening work for parent-teacher meetings. Flexibility is common provided the job requirements are met.

For full information and details of eligible courses, see AEP - Training. Self-funded places are occasionally available. Entry onto an accredited Doctorate course is becoming increasingly competitive and requires a good first degree, usually a or higher, as well as a minimum of one year's full-time experience working with children and young people in an education, health, social care, youth justice or childcare setting.

Entry requirements vary between courses, so contact admissions tutors for full details. Most of your first year on the Doctorate is university-based, while in your second and third year you'll spend three to four days a week on a practice-based placement with a local authority educational psychology service or other approved provider. You'll also need to complete a substantial piece of research and a dissertation. To qualify as an educational psychologist in Scotland, you'll need to complete a BPS-accredited two-year Masters degree followed by a year of supervised practice in an accredited local authority psychological service.

The course is offered by the University of Dundee and is funded via a partnership between the Scottish government and Scottish local authorities. The conditions for funding for the Doctorate England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the QEP Scotland include a requirement to practise for a minimum of a two-year period as an educational psychologist three years in Northern Ireland post-qualification.

To be accepted onto a postgraduate course, you'll need at least one year's full-time experience or part-time equivalent working in an education, health, social care, early years or youth justice setting, although two years are sometimes required. Experience as a teacher is valuable, and many successful applicants are experienced teachers.

However, other relevant roles include education social worker or social work assistant, assistant psychologist, teaching assistant, learning mentor or literacy tutor, careers adviser, community education officer, residential child care officer, care worker, speech and language therapist, or early years worker.

Course providers will be looking at how you've applied your knowledge of psychology, what you've learnt from your experience and how it is relevant to the role of an educational psychologist. Find out more about the different kinds of work experience and internships that are available.

Most educational psychologists in England and Wales are employed by local authority children's services. In Scotland, most newly qualified educational psychologists are employed by the local authority educational psychology service or psychological service. In Northern Ireland, the main employer is the Education Authority. There are also opportunities for experienced educational psychologists to work on a self-employed basis as a sole practitioner or in a private practice partnership.

You might also work in a research establishment or university and become involved in teaching as well as research. But what is educational therapy? And how can it help kids with learning and thinking differences? Educational therapy is a general term for when an educator works one-on-one with your child, typically outside of school. This can cover a lot. It could mean a reading specialist who works with kids with ADHD.

Or a counselor who helps kids learn study and organization skills. And there is no state licensing for educational therapists. This makes it different from more specialized areas like occupational therapy. Traditional tutors focus on academics. Educational therapists use a broader approach. And educational therapists may have more experience working with kids with learning and thinking differences. For example, if your child has dyscalculia and math anxiety , a tutor might practice math problems over and over.

An educational therapist, on the other hand, might see that your child struggles with number sense. She might teach your child strategies for recognizing basic number facts, or suggest accommodations. She might also teach your child coping skills for anxiety. The work they do can be quite varied. And they come from a wide range of professional backgrounds. They may be:. General or special education teachers. Speech therapists. Educational therapists tend to specialize in one or more areas.

Some also work with students of a certain age, like grade-schoolers.