| Historically, educational services for preschoolers were developed to meet the needs of working parents and the requirements of Public Laws 94-142 and 99-457. Such laws mandated that school districts locate and serve preschool children who demonstrated developmental concerns as a preventative measure to reduce the risk of increased delay. As a requirement of this process in New York State, psychologists are required to conduct assessments, make recommendations concerning services, and provide interventions. Yet, there is limited research concerning the characteristics of psychologists who are employed in preschool settings and their assessment practices. In a preliminary effort to examine these factors, surveys were sent to a sample of evaluation sites in New York State. Since preschool sites may employ non-school psychologists, a broader range of psychologists was tapped with this method than in traditional surveys of school psychologists employed in public educational settings. The results indicated that the typical preschool psychologist was a female, full time employee of a not-for-profit agency in an urban setting. Most commonly, she held a doctoral degree and had training in school psychology. Frequently, her credentials included state certification in school psychology and licensure in psychology. Typical preparation included in-service training, on-the-job training, and fieldwork. On average, the respondents reported that they conducted 10 initial assessments per month which required 5.5 hours per assessment. The typical assessment relied heavily on other techniques such as review of records, social history, interviews, and observations. The most common domains assessed were adaptive behavior, cognition, and social/emotional/behavior. Team process may be limited as most psychologists performed assessments without other team members present and wrote separate reports. The most common recommendation was for related services (e.g., speech therapy), not for psychological services (e.g., counseling, functional behavioral assessment). However, psychologists reported frequent involvement with preschool interventions such as classroom consultation and individual counseling. Discontent with professional preparation, assessment materials, and administrative support were evidenced through general comments. Clearly, the current findings endorse the need for findings research in this field. |