Psychometrist - Fte 1.0

**Title**: Psychometrist

**Reports to**: Senior Manager and Clinical Lead - Psychological Services

Job Purpose

To promote student achievement and well-being, Psychometrists with the DDSB provide a variety of services, including behavioral consultation, clinical assessments, direct services and support to students, crisis response and capacity building of educational staff. They adhere to professional standards of practice in keeping with the College of Psychologist of Ontario, privacy legislation, and other requisite statutes to ensure quality of services.

Accountabilities

**CONSULTATION**: Provide consultation services to problem solve around maintain students’ behavior challenge, immediate safety, or crisis response; instruct principals and school staff on best practices and school-based interventions; direct and guide educators, parents, and community, using specific knowledge of psychometrics, child development, learning and behavioural principles, academic curriculum, mental health, family systems and trauma.

**ASSESSMENT**: Administer a variety of standardized psychological assessments to assess cognitive abilities, mental health, behaviour disorders, adaptive behaviours/developmental disabilities, social communication, or neurodevelopmental disorders to support student achievement in the classroom, access to special education programs, specialized equipment, Ministry funding, and community resources; provide Functional Behaviour Assessments by conducting a formal, comprehensive analysis of a student’s behaviour using a variety of different assessment methods to determine the function of the behavior; interpret data to contribute to a diagnosis and write clinical reports which included intervention plans to reduce unsafe/maladaptive behaviours and teach safe/prosocial behaviours in a school setting.

**PROVIDE DIRECT SERVICE**: Provide individual counselling and skills-based training to support and address mental health needs of students using clinical intervention skills; Develop and teach group instruction on developing skills in areas such as self-regulation, conflict resolution, social pragmatic skills, anxiety management, etc.; and directly intervene to support students and staff during threats to student safety, such as student suicidality or mental health crises.

**CRISIS RESPONSE**: Provide crisis response, as a member of the intervention team, by assessing student risk for violent behaviours/threats using DDSB board protocol (Violence Threat Risk Assessment), assessing risk for suicide and providing ongoing monitoring and/or counselling and referrals to community mental health service providers to ensure safety of student; providing direct counselling to students and staff during and after tragic or traumatic events.

**CAPACITY BUILDING**: Prepare, develop and present workshops to train educators, parents, and/or other support staff or community groups regarding areas of specific expertise, such as functional behaviour assessment, specific diagnoses, mental health, etc.; train and certify school staff on Behaviour Management Systems (BMS); and train special education staff on the administration and interpretation of system-wide psychometric measures.

Knowledge and Skills

Knowledge and experience with administration and interpretation of standardized and non-standardized assessments to evaluate cognitive ability, social-emotional functioning, and academic skills.

Knowledge in child and adolescent development

Knowledge in the foundational content areas of Psychology, are required i.e., the biological bases of behaviour, the cognitive affective bases of behaviour, the social bases of behaviour, and the psychology of the individual.

Knowledge of learning, all relevant ethical, legal and professional issues, research design and methodology, statistics, psychological measurement, intellectual, social, behavioural and emotional assessment, psycho-diagnostics, exceptional learners, normal lifespan development and cross-cultural differences in learning and socialization, developmental and general psychopathology, instructional and remedial techniques, multidisciplinary team approach for case management, counselling, psychoeducational and early intervention techniques, systems and group behaviours within, and related to, the school organization.

The ability to perform an appropriate Psychological assessment, formulate a differential diagnosis, the ability to plan, execute and evaluate an appropriate psychoeducational intervention, plan, execute and evaluate appropriate prevention programs, establish therapeutic rapport, elicit information through interviewing, skill in assessing fundamental psychological processes such as mental state, cognition, emotions and behaviours.

Skill in assessment of change in relevant psychological processes.

Organizational, communication, conflict resolution, and cultural sensitivity skills.

Education and Experience

Education

Completion of a Master’