Tomorrow's School Psych

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....

In this episode, I’m talking about a question that comes up a lot in school psych circles, do I need to include an occupational therapist for dysgraphia evaluations? I walk through three practical tips to help you feel more confident, more coordinated, and more prepared when this topic comes up in meetings. We get into why dysgraphia can mean very different things depending on who is using the ter...

In this episode, I’m talking about one of those questions school psychologists hear all the time, are you going to test my child for dyslexia? I walk through three practical tips to help you feel more prepared for that conversation, from understanding how dyslexia is defined today to knowing how to talk about it clearly in your report and at the eligibility meeting. I also get into what areas real...

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Karen Silberman to talk about the VMAT, the Visual Motor Abilities Test, and why this new digital assessment tool could make life a whole lot easier for school psychologists. We get into what makes it different, how the automatic scoring works, and why moving away from rulers, protractors, and hand scoring could be such a big shift for the field. We also talk abou...

In this episode, I’m talking about efficiency, but not in the usual way. Instead of throwing random productivity tips at an already overloaded schedule, I’m walking through a more useful approach, figuring out what the actual problem is first. Because sometimes you do need a better system, and sometimes the job is simply asking too much of you. I also share the four questions I use to spot where i...

In this episode, I’m joined by Tim to talk about report writing, efficiency, and why so many school psychologists need a better system. We get into the real frustrations behind writing thorough reports, the decision fatigue that builds up fast, and what inspired Tim to create a tool that feels more intuitive, supportive, and actually usable. We also talk about AI, workflow, mental health, and why...

In this episode, I’m breaking down one of the most useful lenses we can bring to student evaluation, executive functioning. I talk through when I start looking more closely at these skills, especially when the data is not lining up and a student’s classroom performance tells a very different story from their test results. I also walk through how I assess executive functioning, both with formal too...

Have you ever wondered what it would look like to use your school psych skills outside of a traditional K 12 role? In this episode, I’m continuing our conversation about alternative career paths and focusing on private practice, what it actually looks like and what it doesn’t. I share my journey of becoming a Licensed Educational Psychologist, keeping that license in my back pocket, and eventually...

In this episode, I sit down with Elizabeth Hamblet, a nationally recognized expert on the transition to college for students with disabilities. With more than two decades of experience working in college disability services offices, Elizabeth shares what really changes after high school and why so many students arrive on campus with expectations that simply don’t match reality. We talk about the b...

Have you ever quietly wondered, do I really want to be doing this exact version of the job for the next 20 years? In this episode, I’m kicking off a mini series exploring the different ways school psychologists can use their credentials beyond the traditional K–12 role, and I’m starting with what was possible inside my own district. I share how pursuing additional training in school neuropsycholog...

Interview season can feel intense, especially in school psychology where you’re often sitting in front of a full panel and being asked to explain complex, real world work on the spot. In this episode, I’m sharing three practical tips to help you feel clear, confident, and prepared whether you’re interviewing for internship, your first job, or a new district. We’ll talk about how to answer “tell us...

In this episode, I’m joined by Kelly Mobeck, also known as Coach Kelly, a certified performance and leadership coach with over two decades of experience supporting high achieving professionals. Together, we talk about overwhelm, that heavy, all consuming feeling so many of us carry, and why it’s not a sign that you’re failing or doing something wrong. Kelly shares practical, grounded strategies to...

This episode is a thoughtful, practical conversation for anyone working in schools who wants to support LGBTQ students without feeling overwhelmed or unsure where to start. I’m joined by Katie Pettersen, a school psychologist with deep experience advocating for students, families, and staff in an increasingly complex educational landscape. We talk about what affirming support can actually look lik...

Today’s episode is part three of my series on knowing your tools and strengthening eligibility practices, and we’re focusing on low incidence disabilities. I’m walking through three practical tips to help you evaluate students with hearing impairments, visual impairments, or orthopaedic impairments in a way that’s accurate, equitable, and truly team-based. We talk intentional tool selection (with...

Today I’m talking autism evaluations, specifically how to do them thoughtfully, collaboratively, and in a way that actually reflects the whole student. This is part two of my eligibility series (part one was learning disabilities), and I’m sharing three practical tips you can put into play immediately. We’re getting into why your speech-language pathologist is not an “extra” on the team, how under...