Child Study

The Child Study Department in the Akron Public Schools is part of the Office of Special Education. The department is supervised by the Related Services Coordinator and comprises a diverse staff of school psychologists and support personnel.

School psychologists apply their expertise in learning, behavior and mental health to help identify students with special needs via a larger framework that is often termed as the “Child Find” process. School psychologists help to lead students, families, teachers, school administrators and other professionals through procedures that help determine the need for evaluations of students who are suspected of having a variety of disabilities.

In addition, school psychologists:

1. work with building teams to design and deploy interventions for students;
2. consult with teachers, families and other school personnel to improve support strategies for students; and
3. work with a variety of stakeholders to improve educational performance of students.

Every school has access to the services of a school psychologist, although some school psychologists serve two or more schools. As such, a school psychologist may not be onsite at a particular school every day. Most often, school psychologists can be reached by inquiring directly to a student’s assigned school building.