Exactly what does a child psychologist DO?

[BWVDenise]

I have to make an appointment for my dd(8) and I am really nervous and don't know what to expect. The reason I am taking her is b/c her abilities in school vary so greatly from day to day (lots of other reasons that I won't get into now). We have an appointment with a pediatric neurologist in February b/c the school suggested she be tested for ADD, but since we have to wait so long the pediatrician suggested we see a psychologist in the meantime.
What will a psychologist do and what will they look for?

 

[janette]

Would really depend on the type of psychologist. My youngest went to play therapy for a while when she was about 4yo and although it seemed like just playing it really did help her deal with some stress she had at that time.

edited to add: The play therapist met with us before the sessions started to tell us what they would be doing and the structure. I'd expect the same from a psychologist.

 

[dcentity2000]

The different types of psychology are as follows:

• Structionalism - Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) used introspection to break down consciousness into it's component parts or structure. People trained to report conscious experience to stimuli. Behaviourists attacked structionalism, suggesting that there was a problem of subjective bias in the reports. First experimental laboratory in psychology.
• Functionalism - William James (1842-1910) wrote Principles of Psychology. He was influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution. Looked to organisms function to understand their behaviour.
• Behaviourism - the scientific study of behaviour; focuses exclusively on response to stimuli. Examples include Pavlov, Watson and Skinner. Watson reacted against the subjective, possible biased, schools of structionalism and functionalism. The mind became known as the "black box".
- Classical Conditioning - Pavlov and Watson.
• 1. Conditioned stimulus (CS)
• 2. Unconditioned stimulus (US)
• 3. Conditioned response (CR)
• 4. Unconditioned response (UR)
- Operant Conditioning - Skinner. Behaviour shaped by the consequences of behaviour - reinforcement and punishment. Focuses on the outcome of the response. The conditioning is known as "shaping".
• Cognitive - early researchers (Ebbinghaus) and modern researchers (Tulving and Roediger). This is the scientific study of mental processes, so the so-called black box is the part that's interesting! It took Wundt and James and applied rigorous control procedures in order to reduce possibility of subjective bias. Now very prevalent in many different areas of psychology - the "cognitive revolution". Processes as opposed to outcomes.
• Humanistic - Rogers and Maslow. Emphasis moves away from the reduction of the human being to an "organism" that "responds to environmental stimuli". Humanism reminds us that we are still people with needs and goals. The emphasis moves towards free will; Rogers came up with the client centred therapy (the self) and Maslow came up with the hierarchy of needs.
• Psychodynamic - Freud and Jung. Unconscious motivating forces that guide behaviour and produce our personality. The human personality consists of an identity, an ego and a superego. Has strong statements regarding human development and the particular stages that children go through. It was very influential at one time - not so much today. It has been criticised because of the difficulty in testing the theories it presents. Some of the notions are also a bit far fetched.
• Physiological - Hebb. All behaviour and mental processes can be traced to physical causes. It's all about the brain and the nervous system - behaviour is tied to activity in the brain. Nowadays, we know a great deal about the brain, it's structure, the cells and their fuction, the role of chemicals in the brain.
• Evolutionary - Darwin, Dawkins, Wilson. We try to understand human behaviour in the light of genes. Genetics and sociobiology; the reason for our existence is to perpetuate our genes. Sociobiology applies these ideas to human behaviour and psychology. Controversial - sexual selection. Three things for evolution to work:
- 1. A self replicating unit (a gene)
- 2. Some random variability in it's replication (mutation)
- 3. Pressure to select on that variability

I'll bet they're a cognitive psychotherapist - that's the most popular type at this moment in time.

Hope that helps!



Rich::

 

[Texan Mouseketeer]

We've seen one twice and I must say I am kind of disappointed. She hasn't been really discussing things with my son but has been asking me how he is doing in school, etc. Then she says come back next time and we'll talk about how he is doing? I am thinking, huh??? I thought I would be telling her a little about what his weak areas were and she would be talking and interacting with him about those things. We haven't gone back and I am researching to find someone who will do something more like I had in mind.