Assignment Code: BPCS-184/ASST/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BPCS-184

Assignment Name: SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Total Marks: 100

NOTE: All questions are compulsory.

Assignment One

Answer the following questions in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks. 3 x 20 = 60

1. Define school psychology. Discuss the need and relevance of school psychology.

Ans) School psychology is similar to educational psychology in that both focus on the environment in which a child learns and try to make sure that a child's academic journey is a good one. School psychologists also need to know enough about developmental and childhood disorders, which makes their jobs more like those of clinical psychologists. They also talk about how school affects children’s mental health.

A counselling psychologist has the skills to help with student-centered and individual sessions that are usually done by a school psychologist. School psychology is a branch of professional psychology that focuses on the science and practise of psychology with children, teens, and families, as well as learners of all ages and the schooling process. School psychologists get a basic education and training that prepares them to provide a range of psychological assessment, intervention, prevention, health promotion, programme development, and evaluation services, with a focus on how children and teens develop in schools, families, and other systems.

Need and Relevance

Several government programmes are designed to help children in this country get the education they need. like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Right to Education Act. This means that more students will enrol in school and fewer will drop out. So, the school is a good way to reach out to a lot of kids in the area. Having a big community base, like a school, could also help with mental health programmes. In the last few decades, people's interest in psychology courses has gone up sharply. There are also more schools that now offer psychology at the high school level. But in college classes, the choices of subjects have followed the same pattern for decades. Most students who want to major in psychology are interested in the specialised field of clinical psychology.

The Indian education system is changing, and changes are being planned based on the National Education Policy 2020. Even though curriculum development is expected to change a lot, NEP will also help the ongoing movement toward inclusive education in Indian schools. The Policy also puts a lot of emphasis on teachers getting good training, which would help the kids and make the school psychologists' jobs easier. One of the best things about NEP 2020 is that it puts a lot of emphasis on health checks that look at both the child's physical and mental health. Even though NEP 2020 is still in its early stages, the huge task of assessing the mental health and well-being of school children in India is already a good thing.

Because the kids were sent home to school for almost an entire school year, new problems are likely to come up. Along with the schoolteachers, the school psychologists will have to be more aware of new ways that students might act after COVID-19, when the schools go back to offline learning. Also, as we rely more and more on online platforms to deliver services, it will be different to get mental health services. Online counselling and/or therapy that works well can help break down the stigma that kept many students from talking to school counsellors during school hours.

2. Explain internalizing behavioural problems in children.

Ans) Internalizing disorders are a type of emotional and behavioural problem in children and teens that were often misunderstood and not taken seriously until the 1980s. It has problems that have to do with "over-controlled symptoms". It means that these problems show up when kids don't have a good handle on their own internal mental and emotional states. So, we can say that these problems start and stay within the person, which makes it hard to diagnose or find them by looking at or measuring them from the outside.

Depression

Children, teens, and even adults feel sad when bad things happen or when they don't get what they want. But as they learn to deal with it, it goes away or gets less bad over time. Depression is not just a bad mood or a few times when you feel sad or down. Parents should be worried and talk to a professional when a child's sadness and other related symptoms (which will be talked about in more detail) last for weeks, months, or even longer, making it hard for the child to go about their daily lives.

Anxiety

Some of us often feel upset and worried in our everyday lives, like before a test or exam, before a competition, when we're stuck in traffic and already running late, etc. As we get out of these situations, our worry and stress go down. But if the person (adult or child) stays anxious no matter what is going on and can't handle it, it could be a sign of an anxiety disorder and they should see a psychologist.

Social Withdrawal

Social withdrawal has always been linked to things like shyness, isolation, rejection, inhibition, passivity, social reticence, and not paying attention to peers. It is now thought of as an umbrella term for a pattern of behaviour that has many different causes. So, behaviour inhibition has been thought of as a biologically based fear of new people and situations caused by being exposed to them. Shyness is the way people act when they think other people are judging them. Children who show signs of social withdrawal avoid being with other people on purpose. Most of the time, they don't respond to other children's attempts to start conversations. They may also act differently in different social situations, especially when it comes to making and keeping friends. It can cause people to think too highly of themselves in social situations and is made worse by too much fear. Social withdrawal could be a short-term problem, or it could be a long-term problem that affects other parts of life.

Eating Disorders

We live in a culture that cares a lot about how people look, and the media tell us what the "right look" is. People, especially teens, worry a lot about how they look in the mirror, what they eat, and whether or not they are fat or overweight. It also helps people stay at a healthy weight and lowers their risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and other long-term illnesses. When people worry about their weight, they often feel overweight even when they are not. Even if the person is already thin, they may talk about working out hard because they want to lose weight. They might work on a certain part of their body that they need to tone up or get smaller.

3. Discuss play therapy as an intervention for emotional and behavioural problems in children.

Ans) Play is an important part of a child's growth because it lets them show what's in their hearts. It is important for healthy mental, physical, linguistic, social, and communication development. Playing is a way to show how you feel and express your emotions. For example, playing with a doll and then locking it up or putting it behind bars as a punishment. This kind of play helps us understand how a child's mind is growing and how they organise their experiences. It also gives them a sense of being in charge of their life. At first, play was used to gain the child's trust and build a relationship with them. Later, it was used to figure out how the child felt and make an assessment. Landreth says that play therapy is a dynamic relationship between a child or person of any age and a therapist.

The therapist gives the child or person selected play materials and helps the child build a safe relationship so that the child can fully express and explore his or her feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviours through play, which is the child's natural way of communicating. This helps the child grow and develop in the best way possible. It was understood that a child's natural way of communicating is through play, which gives them a chance to talk about how they feel and deal with emotional problems. Winnicott wrote that "playing is itself a therapy," which shows how important play is for healing. Play therapy gives the child a safe place to talk about their fears, worries, conflicts, and pain, as well as their hopes, dreams, and fantasies. Children and adults talk about things in different ways, so playing gives them a chance to "act out" their feelings. The main idea behind play therapy is that, given the right relationship and environment, a child can use real things like toys, dolls, and other play-based experiences to talk about their feelings.

This method lets the child work through trauma and problems at his or her own pace. It also lets the child's situation and progress in treatment be checked on all the time. Play therapy looks at the unique problems that children face when it comes to therapy. Alexine said in 1947 that a child has the ability to change and grow, and that the way to do that is to change oneself. For example, play therapy can help a child feel better about himself or herself. For the same reason, the child should be able to make mistakes and take part in important events, both of which can make people happy. One last idea is to give the child a chance to make their own decisions about what to do, and the therapist should talk with the child about these choices.

People think that make-believe play is important for a child's development because it helps the child understand and talk about social experiences. It can be used to help the child try on different roles by adding things like character development, the use of sets and clothes, dialogue, and the development of the storey through natural staging. For example, playing as a leader or a helper, using puppets and involving family members in dramatic pretend play, and using superheroes and cartoon characters as symbols. These techniques help people learn how to solve problems and improve their relationships, social creativity, positive feelings, and ability to keep going when they face a challenge.

Assignment Two

Answer the following questions in about 100 words each. Each question carries 5 marks. 8 x 5 = 40

4. Assessment of children with disability

Ans) Disability is any condition that makes it harder for a person to do certain things or get fair access in a society. Disabilities can be caused by one or more of the following: cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, sensory, or a mix of these. People can be born with disabilities, or they can get them later in life. In the past, disabilities were only recognised if they met a small list of criteria. However, disabilities are not black and white and can show up in different ways for each person. A disability may be easy to see, or it may be hard to tell. Throughout history, people have had different ideas about how people with disabilities should be seen. The medical model and the social model are the two main ways that people try to explain disability in our society.

5. Negative outcomes of substance use and dependence

Ans) Research shows that kids who drink a lot at once are more likely to have bad things happen to them as a result. Also, as their behaviour gets worse, students who are seen as heavy drinkers usually face consequences that are progressively worse. Some of the most common bad things that happen to students who drink and use drugs are bad grades, blackouts caused by alcohol, physical injuries and assaults, sexual assaults, driving after drinking, getting in trouble with the police, alcohol overdoses and their synergistic effects, death, and the development of an Alcohol Use Disorder. Abuse of drugs is a big public health problem all over the world, and it affects young people in particular.

6. Lifespan development is multi-directional

Ans) People thought that development was very quick and fast during infancy and childhood, peaked during adolescence, and stopped after adolescence. In late adulthood, development slowed down after reaching a plateau during adulthood. But as medicine and technology got better, people's life expectancies went up from 60 years to 80 years and more. Also, the number of older people was going up, and many of them were living healthy, productive lives. Lifespan Developmental Psychology tries to figure out how psychological traits stay the same or change over the course of a person's life. It focuses on how people change both within and between themselves.

7. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory

Ans) Urie Bronfenbrenner came up with ecological systems theory, which is also known as development in context theory or human ecology theory. It gives community psychologists a way to look at how people relate to each other in their communities and in society as a whole. People also often call this theory the ecological/systems framework. It talks about five environmental systems that a person interacts with. 1979's seminal work on ecological systems theory says that environmental systems play a role in how people grow and change. His theory said that a child's ecology is made up of different levels of environmental contexts, from the most nearby to the farthest away. With the person in the middle and other systems forming layers around him or her, the structure is like a Russian nesting doll, with each level opening into the next.

8. Psyoeducation

Ans) Psychoeducation, which is a portmanteau of the words "psychological education" and "education," is a therapy that helps patients, and their loved ones understand and deal with illness by giving them information and support. Psychoeducation is usually associated with serious mental illnesses like dementia, schizophrenia, clinical depression, anxiety disorders, psychotic illnesses, eating disorders, personality disorders, and autism. However, the term has also been used for programmes that treat physical illnesses like cancer. Patients and their families can get psychoeducation, which teaches them how to solve problems, talk to each other, and gives them information and resources in a caring and supportive setting. More than 30 studies show that psychoeducation makes families happier, lowers the number of relapses, and helps people get better.

9. Child labour

Ans) Child labour is not only a form of exploitation, but it also ruins a child's early years. Children need to go to school and learn skills that are right for their age so they can fit in with their peers. Children often work before they turn 18 because their parents are poor, they don't know any better, their current socioeconomic and cultural situation, and there aren't enough education services. Article 24 of India's Constitution makes it clear that no child younger than 14 can be hired to work in a factory, mine, or any other dangerous job. So, the Child Labour Act of 1986 tries to control the hours and conditions of work for children. It also says that children younger than 14 can't work in any dangerous job.

10. Role of school psychologist in special education

Ans) Psychologists who work in schools in India are often called "school counsellors" or "school psychologists." In India, there isn't yet a clear set of rules about what a school psychologist's roles and responsibilities are. The job duties are very different and always changing, thanks in large part to the vision of the school principal and management. School psychologists are very important because they help kids and teens grow academically, socially, and emotionally. When it comes to kids with special needs, school psychologists have to do a lot of different things. A school psychologist can create a safe, healthy, and supportive learning environment for all students by working with teachers, parents, and other professionals like special educators, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech and language therapists.

11. Gilligan’s view on moral development

Ans) Gilligan thought that moral and psychological traits of men and women are different. Women focus more on care and relationships than men do on rules and fairness. In other words, she thought that women were not less important than men, but rather different, and that their behaviour was based on ethics of care instead of ethics of justice. Gilligan's theory is made up of three stages: pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. From the selfish stage to the social stage to the principled morality stage, people change. Gilligan said very strongly that the change from one stage to the next is not caused by changes in cognitive skills, as Kohlberg and Piaget thought, but by changes in a person's sense of self.