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How Does Educational Psychology Help Children’s Learning?

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

When you mention psychology most people think of counselling as a treatment for emotional issues, such as anxiety or depression…

And while all psychologists have training in these areas, our team has specific postgraduate training in Educational and Developmental Psychology, which is a branch of psychology focused on learning and development.

Educational Psychology draws from other fields such as neuroscience and often involves standardised testing to obtain information about children’s learning skills and abilities.

This information enables us to gain insight into how children learn and process information and what their learning potential might be.

And it enables us to recommend specific learning strategies and supports for home and school to help them to reach that potential.

So what does this actually involve and how can it help children with learning?

NEPSY: Assessments for improving your child’s learning potential — Part 3

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

In part 1 and 2 of our blogs on our learning assessments, we taught you about the WIAT-III and WISC-V assessments.

We have invested in the most update-to-date versions of these assessments so that they can best identify your child’s learning potential and their educational needs.

And now we’d like you to learn about another invaluable assessment tool that we recently acquired — the NEPSY.

It’s a unique and effective test, offered by only a few psychology clinics in Melbourne, and designed to assess the neuropsychological development of children aged 3 to 16.

But before we get into the nitty gritty of the assessment, you’re probably wondering…

What is neuropsychological development?

WIAT-III: Assessments for improving your child’s learning potential — Part 2

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

Learning assessments help to ease the frustrations or concerns parents may have about their child’s academic performance.

And importantly, learning assessments can help your child to achieve their full potential during their school years.

By assessing the major areas that impact learning, our psychologists get a comprehensive insight into your child’s ability, potential, and any barriers stopping them from achieving it.

From there, the best approaches and solutions can be put in place to help a child thrive school.

In our first post of this series, we delved into one of the key tools for assessing learning potential — the WISC-V assessment.

In this post, we’ll give you a run down of one of our other core assessment tools — the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test — and how it can help your child.

WISC-V: Assessments for improving your child’s learning potential — Part 1

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

We are always looking for new technologies to help our patients be their best selves.

And this is particularly important when it comes to educational intervention.

A learning assessment helps to identify a child’s learning potential, and address any barriers stopping them from achieving it.

The WISC — the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children — is a tool for assessing a child’s academic progress and potential.

We have been using the WISC for years, and recently invested in the updated version, the WISC-V.

It’s been reevaluated, redesigned and retooled to provide a more comprehensive picture of a child’s learning ability.

But what is it, exactly, and how will it help your child?

Teaching Your Kids ‘Social Media Smarts’

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

For most parents these days, there’s no avoiding social media.

You probably have it yourself, as do all your friends, and if you’re among the vast majority of parents in Australia — your kids will have it too.

According to the ACMA, 4 years ago only 45 per cent of 8-11 year olds were using social media….

That proportion has now risen to at least 60 per cent, with many of the platforms in question being age restricted (generally for users aged 13+).

So while trying to eliminate social media from your family’s life would be fighting an increasingly steep up-hill battle, there are some easy, preventative ways to help keep your children safe on these platforms.

What you need to know about 13 Reasons Why

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

If you have teenagers — or even if you don’t — you’ve probably heard about the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why.

It is one of the most talked about television shows on social media ever…

Generating 3.5 million social volume impressions in its first week of release alone.

And while the show has resonated with audiences, and been very positively received by critics, it has been heavily criticised by mental health and youth organisations around the world.

The show is based on the best-selling novel by Jay Asher, and depicts the suicide of 16-year-old Hannah, who creates a series of audiotapes addressing the 13 reasons why she committed suicide.

It ends with an incredibly graphic and distressing depiction of the act itself.

And parents, educators and critics around the world are asking the question:

Is this show dangerous?

Why We Need Empathy, and How We Teach it to Children

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

There is an increasing dialogue in social organisations — in schools, workplaces, court rooms, governments — on the importance of empathy.

Empathy is what sets us apart from machines and even from many other animals.

It’s what enables us to relate to other people and their experiences…

It’s what enables us to understand them.

And it’s what makes us compassionate.

So it’s little wonder why it’s so integral to the social experience of schooling and childhood.

But empathy is not innate — it’s learnt.

And like most things, it’s best learnt during childhood.

And the best teachers are adults.

How to Help the Negative or Pessimistic Child

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

We’ve all encountered a ‘Negative Nancy’ in our lives — the type of person who is constantly expecting the worst out of any given situation.

While many such people consider themselves ‘realists’, in reality, there’s not a whole lot of benefit to this kind of negative thinking.

And for the relatively sheltered and protected time of childhood, this attitude is particularly unproductive.

So how can we help a pessimistic child to take a more positive approach to life?

A New Way to Look at Depression

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

Evolutionary psychology proposes ways of helping us to understand our cognitive processes by looking to the past.

Just like human beings have physically adapted to our environment in order to survive, evolutionary psychology suggests that we adapted cognitively the same way…

And that many mental and emotional reactions have served an important evolutionary purpose.

Now some psychologists are offering a new way to look at depression through an evolutionary lens.

How Can We Engage Our Students in the Classroom? Part 2.

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services

We recently wrote about new research that shows that up to 40 per cent of Australian students are bored or disengaged at school.

And this disengagement is having wide-ranging implications on academic performance.

Not only does it inhibit a school teacher’s ability to control a classroom, the disengagement of some students has a trickle down effect to other students too…

It’s what has been called the ‘hidden issue’ in Australian schools.

So what does this actually involve and how can it help children with learning?

But what is it, exactly, and how will it help your child?

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