Tomorrow's School Psych

There are a few phrases that make me cringe as a school psychologist, and “we never” is right up there. We never test kindergarteners. We don’t look at SLD this young. We can’t find them eligible. But is that actually what the law says, or have we turned common practice into a rule that doesn’t really exist? In this episode, I’m looking at SLD eligibility for younger students and why the language...

Have you ever left a meeting where everyone talked, nobody really listened, and somehow nothing got resolved? I’m joined by licensed educational psychologist and coach Tracie Hewitt to explore why what looks like a communication problem may actually be a connection problem. Tracie shares her Three Pillars framework for moving difficult conversations away from power struggles and toward genuine inf...

In this episode, I’m sharing why I created The Prepared School Psych Community and why having a place to ask questions can make such a difference. I was lucky to begin my career surrounded by experienced school psychologists who shared resources, talked through cases and made it normal to ask for help. Not everyone gets that kind of support. So I’m walking through the office hours, content special...

In this episode, I’m talking about what you really want in front of you when it’s finally time to write that evaluation report. Scores, protocols, and input forms matter, but they’re only part of the picture. The real work is understanding what the data actually means for this student, in this school, in this life. We’ll look at attendance, behavior, anxiety, and educational impact, and why contex...

In this episode, I’m answering a question that came up during a professional development session: should I really have this many questions? My answer is yes. School psychology is a huge field, and there is simply too much to know for any one person to have every answer ready at all times. I’m talking about why curiosity is part of the job, not a sign that you are behind. From eligibility criteria...

In this episode, I’m joined again by Kelly Mobeck to talk about one of those team challenges that sounds simple until somebody stops doing what they agreed to do. We’re breaking down how to create clear agreements with evaluation team members, even when you are not technically anyone’s boss. Kelly shares how to get clear on purpose and outcome, bring agreements to the group without sounding contro...

In this episode, I’m joined again by Serena Renee, certified trauma coach, leadership coach and founder of Forward Thinking Trauma Coaching. We’re talking about what can happen to executive functioning when the brain is dealing with chronic stress or trauma, and why skills like working memory, planning, flexibility and emotional regulation can suddenly feel much harder. Serena explains the differe...

In this episode, I’m sharing a simple framework to help you figure out what is actually getting in the way of your workflow before you start throwing random productivity strategies at the problem. Because honestly, none of us has time to test 25 new hacks just because TikTok said they work. I’ll walk you through my GAP framework: gather the data, analyze the breakdown and prioritize one strategy t...

Before we start throwing strategies at our workflow, we need to know what problem we’re actually trying to solve. In this episode, I’m breaking workflow challenges into three key areas: knowledge, systems, and executive functioning. Because sometimes the issue isn’t that you need another planner, another app, or another color-coded system. I’ll walk you through practical questions to help you spot...

I’m looking at one of the biggest energy drains in school psychology: trying to change circumstances that simply are not ours to control. By sorting our workflow into three categories, control, influence, and no control, we can stop pushing against immovable walls and focus on where our effort can actually make a difference. I’ll walk through practical examples involving assessment deadlines, eval...

I’m exploring what workflow really means in school psychology and special education, because it is far more than a flowchart. From referrals and assessment plans to testing, communication, report writing, and meetings, every evaluation depends on systems that can either reduce friction or create more of it. I also look at personal workflow, including planning, procrastination, boundaries, and the...

In this episode, I’m sharing what I’m working on for the upcoming school year, including one big announcement I have not shared with many people yet: I’m writing a book. I’m talking about why I decided to do it, how I’m building in accountability, and why a long runway feels right for this project. I’m also sharing the four priorities guiding my year: writing, simplification, adventure, and health...

In this episode, I’m keeping things light with a rapid-fire round of school psychologist “Would You Rather.” We’re covering everything from full days of IEP meetings and jammed printers to awkward silences, oversized caseloads, and the unique horror of returning from vacation to 400 unread emails. Play along and see where your answers land. Some choices are practical, some are mildly painful, and...

Planning is one of my favorite topics, and in this episode, the second to last in my favorite resources series, I'm sharing the tool I use to plan, the steps I take to build a realistic plan instead of just a calendar full of meetings, and a story about a time I completely failed to plan properly. I explain why a date on a calendar without the groundwork laid out for it is just a deadline waiting...

Specific Learning Disability evaluations are rarely about one test score or one neat table in a report. In this episode, I’m sharing three resources that help me build stronger, more defensible evaluations: essentials books, ecological validity, and intervention data. I explain how each resource supports better decision-making, from translating complex processing terms into parent-friendly languag...

Other Health Impairment eligibility is not simply a diagnosis, a rating scale, and a struggling student sitting next to each other on the page. In this episode, I’m breaking the process into three practical questions that help teams move from collecting data to making a clear, defensible decision. I explore how to distinguish attentional concerns from ADHD-related characteristics, identify how lim...

In this episode, I’m kicking off a short series on some of my favorite resources and tools in school psychology. We’re starting with emotional disability, including the different names this eligibility category goes by and why the language can still feel so tricky to interpret. I share three things I return to again and again: a practical book on identifying and assessing emotional disturbance, th...

In this episode, I’m continuing our autism evaluation series and moving into the meeting itself, specifically how we explain results to families when autism is part of the conversation. Because yes, the data matters, but the family did not come to hear a performance review of your rating scales. They came to understand their child. I’m sharing three practical ways to make these conversations clear...

In this episode, I’m talking about what happens after an autism evaluation, the report. More specifically, why so many school psych reports technically include the right information, but still do not always land with the people who need them most. Parents, teachers and service providers are not ignoring reports because they do not care. Often, the report just does not feel useful yet. We’ll look a...

In this episode, I’m talking about a question that comes up all the time in school psychology: how do we choose the right tools when evaluating a student for suspected autism? Do we need the ADOS? Should we add cognitive testing? Which rating scales actually help, and when are we just creating more paperwork for everyone? I walk through why autism evaluations need to start with district expectatio...

In this episode, I’m talking with Stefanie Finney, a board-certified behavior analyst who went back to school, earned a second master’s degree, and stepped into the world of school psychology. And yes, even with all that experience, year one still came with a few “wait, nobody mentioned this part” moments. Stefanie shares what surprised her most about the role, how her BCBA background gives her an...

In this episode, I’m joined by Julie Waldschmidt, a newer school psychologist who began her journey in the field after years as a special education teacher. That classroom experience shows up in powerful ways, from how she connects with teachers during consultation to how she observes students, understands frustration and looks for strengths. We talk about preschool evaluations, English language l...

In this episode, I’m joined by Nicholas Shannon, a first-year school psychologist with a path into the field that is anything but predictable. Before reports, meetings and rating scales, Nicholas was working in hospitality, learning how to read people, stay calm under pressure and make strangers feel comfortable. Turns out, those skills travel surprisingly well. We talk about the real first-year s...

In this episode, I’m talking about what happens when your role no longer fits the way it used to. I sit down with Erin to explore her journey from a traditional school psychology role into mentorship, private practice, and university teaching, and how she found new ways to use her skills without leaving the field entirely. What I love about this conversation is how practical it is. We talk about c...

In this episode, I’m getting into something that deserves way more attention in our field, dyscalculia evaluations. We spend so much time talking about reading concerns, but math-based learning disabilities are just as real, just as impactful, and often a lot less understood. So today I’m walking through three practical tips to help you approach these evaluations with more clarity and confidence....