Consultation is a key competency area for school psychologists, though much is unknown about how school psychologists develop the competency to consult. Deliberate practice (DP) is a promising approach to enhance use of communication skills, thereby supporting consultation competence. DP training included multiple opportunities for video-recorded consultation practice in response to a consultee’s request for assistance, self-reflection on skill application, and corrective supervisory feedback. In this randomized controlled trial, 109 school psychology graduate students across 45 training programs received either consultation training as usual delivered through their first consultation course (control group; n = 61) or a supplemental DP training intervention in addition to their first consultation course (treatment group; n = 48). Students who completed the DP training significantly increased their use of communication skills during a simulated practice opportunity, while the control group participants did not. Students in the DP condition also reported significantly greater self-efficacy than students in the control group, although students in both groups reported significantly greater self-efficacy over time. DP participants also reported high levels of training satisfaction. Implications of these findings for the design and delivery of consultation training and supervision are discussed.
A primary hypothesized outcome of consultee-centered consultation, including instructional consultation (IC), is that consultees will become more skilled. However, these claims have not been well researched. Data from 274 teachers implementing IC were analyzed to investigate perceptions of satisfaction and skill development. Results indicated that teachers were highly satisfied, perceived outcomes to meet or exceed their expectations, and felt confident about handling similar problems in the future. The majority reported learning one or more skills or strategies from participating and indicated generalization of skills learned from IC to other students. Relationships between satisfaction, generalization, and perceived outcomes are also presented. Although based on descriptive methodology, this analysis of teachers' perceptions of IC provides a window into their experiences.
Consultation is a pivotal competency area for psychologists, yet little is known about how graduate training supports psychologists in consultation competency development. This study reports on the application of a deliberate practice approach to consultation training for 13 school psychology trainees, with a focus on communication skill development and application. Over 4 weeks, trainees viewed a series of four brief videos of a teacher consultee describing actual school-based problems and applied explicitly defined communication skill responses (i.e., paraphrasing, clarifying, and reflecting feelings). Responses were recorded and uploaded by trainees weekly on the Flipgrid online platform, shared with the instructor, and supervisory feedback provided regarding the accuracy and quality of final responses. Pre and posttraining data indicated trainees’ increased communication self-efficacy and overall satisfaction with the training. Areas for training improvement were also noted, including the supervision feedback process. The promise of a deliberate practice approach in supporting psychological consultation competency development is discussed, as are the future directions for training and research.
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