Purpose
The center is designed to:
- Serve as a training facility for graduate students in the School Psychology Program
- Provide a service to children, families, and schools
- Assist faculty in contributing scholarship to the field of school psychology
Services:
- Educational and psychological assessments of children, adolescents, and young adults with learning and/or behavioral problems
- Consultation and counseling to parents concerning remediation and treatment of children’s academic difficulties and/or problem behaviors
- Consultation to schools, outside agencies, and other concerned professional personnel
- Short-term treatment of children’s learning and behavior problems
- Identification of disability and giftedness
The primary role of the Child Study Center is to provide pre-service practicum experience and training in psycho-educational assessment and intervention to school psychology graduate students. Under the direct supervision of the school psychology faculty,
graduate students complete educational and psychological evaluations and interventions as a service to children and parents.
The Child Study Center provides direct service from mid-January to mid-August each year and takes referrals at any time during the year. The center is open Monday through Thursday (call the center for hours of operation) to:
- Accept referrals
- Schedule appointments
- Communicate with parents and schools
Clinic evaluations are typically conducted on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday afternoons during the Spring semester and Tuesday through Thursday mornings in the summer. Evening appointments with parents are scheduled as needed.
For assistance, parents should call the CSC during normal business hours; administrative assistants will be available to accept new referrals. School personnel wishing to refer a student should recommend that parents contact the center for an appointment.
All information is strictly confidential.
The Child Study Center has a fee of $75 to cover basic operations costs; however, the fee may be waived and donations are accepted.
Call
724-357-2445 for more information on services provided by the Child
Study Center. Office hours for the Child Study Center are Monday through
Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.
Brief History of the Child Study Center
The school psychology post-masters program began around 1968. During the early 1970s, the dean of the College of Education, George A.W. Stouffer, suggested that Dr. J. W. Bahn consider a clinic for children. At the time, Bahn was the director of the school
psychology program and had concerns about where students could gain clinical experience. During this time, the university had only two clinics: Speech and Hearing Clinic and Psychological Clinic.
A child study clinic would serve two primary roles. First, it would serve as a place where school-aged children could be evaluated and counseled. Second, it would serve as a facility for school psychology students to receive experience.
The Child Study Center was initiated without a budget and was housed in Davis Hall. There were several testing rooms, but no one-way glass for observation purposes. The clinic was only open on Saturday and in the evenings. All of the young students from
the University School were tested for school readiness, as well as testing and counseling students who were having educational and/or behavioral problems. Parents began seeking clinics outside the school system to test their children. Testing and
counseling children as well as counseling parents soon became known throughout the county.
The Child Study Center moved from Davis Hall to Stouffer Hall, where it now resides, at the time Dr. Bahn left the Educational Psychology Department.