THE USE OF ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE MEASURES WITHIN SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

School psychologists work directly with children in educational settings to support their academic success. Adverse childhood experiences interfere with a child’s ability to be successful academically. The present study examines the extent to which practicing school psychologists are familiar with the literature about adverse childhood experiences and the extent to which they utilize measures to capture adverse childhood experiences. Through semi-structured interviews, study participants (N = 3) acknowledge varying degrees of familiarity, while also recognizing that their students often are negatively impacted by adverse childhood experiences. Relatedly, all participants reported additional training would be helpful to them concerning the utilization of adverse childhood experience measures but acknowledge the feasibility of such efforts would be restricted given the limitations of their current position. Collectively, results suggest school psychologists are interested in the literature concerning adverse childhood experiences as it can help inform their practices supporting children in academic settings.