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Psychological Evaluation/Consultation

For School Personnel: When and How to Request a Mental Health Evaluation
 
Brief Description
The Psychological Evaluation and Consultation Services Program was created in partnership with Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (KCMHSAS) to provide comprehensive mental health evaluation services and information to both the mental health and school systems in Kalamazoo County.  This collaborative effort occurs as part of Kalamazoo Wraps as the system of care values would have us all partner together for the welfare of our community children. 

Mental health evaluations are not school psychology or school social worker reports and do not replace Special Education evaluations.  Mental Health evaluations are designed to provide additional mental health data (in addition to intellectual and academic functioning data) to the school in order to help accommodate children’s mental health concerns that are having a negative impact on their functioning in an academic environment. 
 
When to Request
The intended recipients of this service are children where numerous interventions have been attempted, both in the school and community that have not been successful. These evaluations are not intended to substitute for special education evaluations, functional behavior assessments, or neuropsychological evaluations. They are intensive mental health psychological evaluations intended to identify the etiology/cause of a child’s struggles in the school and home setting, and then to determine the best intervention in both settings. 

Building team or district meetings are encouraged to identify students who would benefit from a mental health psychological evaluation. Consultation with Dr. Roger W. Apple is available to help determine appropriateness of referrals. Some schools have developed treatment / intervention meetings as a method to discuss referrals.

The following are suggested guidelines when considering a referral. A referral might be considered when:
 
bullet Interventions within the school have not been as effective as desired.
bullet School personnel are requesting additional mental health information.
bullet There is suspicion of a mental health concern impacting the student’s functioning at school that is above and beyond what has already been identified.
bullet An outside mental health evaluation has not been completed or available.
bullet IEP teams are evaluating a student with known mental health concerns.  By evaluating students collaboratively the IEP team will be able to utilize the mental health data for academic planning.
bullet A child is being considered for placement in a specialty school because behavior cannot be maintained in the local district or school building. 
bullet A child has been placed in a specialty school and a mental health psychological evaluation has not been completed or available.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
How to Request
The following guidelines for securing this service were defined by (KCMHSAS).
bullet At this time, this is a service available to those children currently receiving Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse (KCMHSAS) services.
bullet This service is targeted to those children at the peak of the triangle in PBLS schools (student does not need to be in a PBLS school to qualify) and will serve to provide evaluations bridging the gap between home and school.
bullet  In order to make a referral to this program, the KCMHSAS worker assigned to the child would contact the School-Based Early Intervention liaison assigned to the child’s school.  The School-Based Early Intervention liaisons work closely with schools and are the most prepared to identify the severity of the needs within the school setting and thus, identify students most in need of this intervention.
bullet When children do not have a specific liaison attached to their school, referrals would be directed to a KCMHSAS Services for Children and Families Intake worker, who will determine the need for the intervention.  Both school liaisons and Intake workers can be reached by contacting 553-8110.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Last Modified on January 24, 2011