What Is a “RASED”?
During my first year of masters degree, I completed two internships. Among them, the one which allows me to validate my first year of masters degree took place in a “RASED”. A “RASED” is a kind of network of professionals specialized to take care of children who have difficulties in school whatever the reason. During this internship, I was supervised by an educational psychologist. I feel concerned by the difficulties related to the children schooling (behavioral difficulties, learning difficulties, etc.), that is why I wanted to know if the profession of educational psychologist could match with my career plans. A “RASED” is a public service from the National Education system. This device is under the responsibility of the education inspector of the district. The various professionals who practice within this structure (an educational psychologist and a specialized teacher) intervene with pupils of kindergarten and elementary school from public schools of the district. The educational psychologist, the specialized teacher and the teachers of the different schools work together to find the better care to each pupil reported to the “RASED”. Teachers or parents ask help to the “RASED” thanks to a document called “request of assistance” which describe precisely the child’s difficulties, that they are behavioral and/or school.
The Psychologist’s Tasks in a “RASED”
First Interviews With Parents
During this internship, I went with the educational psychologist for the various tasks which were assigned to him. First, he received the parents of a child reported to the “RASED” during an interview. The purposes of this kind of interview are to explain the role of the psychologist and the function of the device (“RASED”). Moreover, this interview is used to bring the parents to speak about the problems faced by the child in school, but also at home and in everyday life. During these first meetings, I have observed the psychologist’s posture and the behaviors of the parents. Each interview was followed by a conversation between the psychologist and I, so I could speak and think about what had happened. More specifically, I could ask questions about what is at stake in the relationships between every protagonist of the interview.
Classroom Observations
On another side, I have observed children in their classroom to collect clinical clues. These elements enable us to better understand children’s troubles and better target the psychologist’s future actions. Indeed, by observing a child in his school environment, we can notice the child’s behavior (is the child calm, quiet, restless, chatty, careful, listening, hostile, “obedient”, etc.) and the characteristics of the child’s interactions with peers and adults, etc.
All these elements can refer to the capacity of the child to have a pupil behavior. Sometimes, the troubles the child faced prevent him to adapt to school, and to invest learnings. Thanks to these clinical clues, the psychologist can elaborate hypothesis about the causes of the child’s troubles, and keep it in mind when he will evaluate the child’s intelligence.
Psychological Evaluation
To be able to make a child take a psychological test, I first observed the psychologist making it. As a second step, I did it myself. For example, I tested an eleven years old child with a Wechsler Intelligence Scale which is usually called WISC (Wechsler, 2005). I used the 4th edition because at that time the fifth one did not exist. This child had important learning difficulties and school wanted to know if he could follow a normal education. The purpose of the psychological evaluation was to explain the child’s difficulties and give an opinion regarding his education. I also tested an eight years old child, thanks to the NEMI-II (“Nouvelle échelle métrique d’intelligence”, second edition ; Cognet, 2006).This child also had learning difficulties and teachers wanted to know if he could benefit from a personal assistant (“auxiliaire de vie scolaire”). This person could help him understanding guidelines, getting organized, following lessons, etc. in order to improve the quality of his learnings. After conducting the psychological evaluation, I wrote the test report for each child. Thanks to this exercise, I learnt how to explain the cognitive processes involved in each task, and how they are linked with learnings. I also tried to answer the request of the psychological evaluation.
The “Feedback Interview”
After the psychologist tests or meets every child, he has to meet the parents again. This other interview serves to explain to the parents the results their child obtained to the psychological evaluation. To this end, the psychologist has to adapt his language to be sure that parents understand. By observing the specific dialogue between the psychologist and the parents, I learnt how it was possible to talk, explain and reassure anxious parents about their child.
Interviews With Teachers
The educational psychologist is also expected to meet regularly the teachers. First, he might present the function of the “RASED” and speak about his role in it, second he might listen teachers about what happens in their classroom. Indeed, the teachers sometimes feel really alone and lost about what to do with children who have troubles. One of the main task of the educational psychologist is to listen to them and bring them support. It can prevent teachers to give up, or to adopt bad behavior toward children, etc. The psychologist supports the teachers to find solutions to help children. He also gives advice to facilitate the teaching conditions. Moreover, the educational psychologist needs the teacher‘s collaboration. They know a lot about children, because they meet them every day: how they behave, their relations with parents/ family, important life event, etc. It means that the teachers opinions, beliefs, worries or fears are generally well-founded. It makes them able to help the psychologist to have a global vision of children. Finally, the collaboration between professionals facilitates the creation of links by children between their parents, the school institution, the teachers and the psychologist. These links enable children to make sense, and it takes part in the resolution of troubles faced by children.
What This Internship Provided Me
I learnt about the essential skills to be a competent psychologist. A good psychologist should be flexible, because requirements are varied. He should be able to put restrictions of scope and competence, because it’s really easy to be overwhelmed by the various requests. He also should be always listening, to be able to welcome the word of other individuals. He should have strong conceptual knowledge bases, to be able to understand and read children results to test, for example.
Arielle Dunais
