When I was in the second grade, I was diagnosed with ADD. A school pyschologist said that I would be doing well if I ever made it past the seventh grade. She was about to mail her suggestion that I be placed in a slow learner class, and had it not been for my father she would have done it. However, unknown to her at the time I was reading the great classics of Anna Sewell (Black Beauty) and M.K. Rawlings (The Yearling) at the time. Now I am here at a four-year college earning my degree to go into education. So are school pyschologists a great resource or a great pain? Had my dad agreed, there is no telling where I would be today.

I think that school psychologists can be great resources to a school and children. I had a wonderful school psychologist that put so much time into helping me deal with my father being sick and then dying. She cared for me and spent hours counseling me. I also had a good counselor in high school that helped me to take the right classes and worked hard to make sure that I got into the college that I wanted. I think that if the counselor does not like what they are doing or does not try to help kids that they can be a disadvantage but for the most part I think that they are a great addition to a school. I do however believe that in my highschool that they would have had more time to counsel people if there had been a testing coordinator and they werent having to do all the AP tests. I do understand what your frustration would be with your counselor though. I have ADD and I have had problems with some of my teachers over this.

I too have had some good and bad experiences with School Psychologists. When I was in second grade, I lost my father and the Psychologist was a great person for me to talk to. However, in high school, my School Psychologist told me that I wasn't meant to go to college and tried discouraging me from doing so. She was replaced mid-year with a person who was even more discouraging. This person went as far as not mailing transcripts to a couple of colleges because I wouldn't get into those schools and she didn't want to waste her time. I think if a school has a psychologist that actually cares about the students and wants to help them out, they are great. If a school has psychologists like the ones I had in high school, they are a problem.

Wow, what an interesting topic. To the above posts, I can not believe that someone actually told you that just because you had ADD that you would be luck yo make it past the 7th grade. That is rediculous and they definitely should find another job. I'm sure everyone knows this but ADD is just a set back and puts the children with it at a slight disadvantage to others but it does not mean that anyone with ADD will not succeed. MY experiences with school counselors have been relatively good. While looking for colleges, they encouraged me in all ways they could. But for those of you who had bad experiences, that must have been really tough. Anyone working in the public schools needs to encourage and lift up students spirits, not bring them down.

I think they can both help and hurt the school and students that they work for and there are several cases about. However in today's elem. schools they are lucky to spend a lot of one on one time with the students. I know in the school system my mom works for all the psychologists does is administering test. I feel that is a great waste of resorces.

I agree with the above posts. School psychologists can be a valuable asset to today's school system, but they can also hinder the learning experience for a lot of students.

I believe that school psychologists are a great resourse for schools. It sucks that Travis had a negative experience with his school's psychologist, but for the most part I think they do great things for both teachers and students. We are all going to be educators in the comming years; and weather it be elementary, middle, or high school level we have to know a great deal about numerous subjects so we can educate our students. With all of the courses I will need to graduate from Appalachian, I will only take 1 psychology class and this scares me. I feel that it is vital to have psychologists in our schools to help diagnose learning difficulties or other problems in our students because I know that I will not have the skills to do so. In my opionion, the only negative thing about school psychologists is that in many schools, they are only able to come once a week if that.

My counselor in high school was not concerned much with her students either. You see, she only began to call me Travis (my first name is Matthew) a few months before I graduated. In retrospect, the only person that I have really ever gotten help from was the secretary at the counseling office. She told me more about what to do than my very counselor who was concerned with students higher up on the food chain. On top of all this is the fact that my counselors always confused me to such a great deal that I found myself having to make crucial decisions that I should have had more information on. In addition, when I understood what the counselor said, it was to such a degree that I found myself bored to death. I have a very cynical view when it comes to counselors, and I am sure you can see why. I sure hope this is not the case when it comes to the experience of others.

I think that school psychologists can be a good resource. In my elementary school, our psychologists was able to help students with the problems that they were having even if they did not deal with academics. In some situations, like your's Travis, I think that they can diagnose problems that may not be present. However, in the long run the pros outweigh the cons.