School Psychology symposium report

ONE DAY SYMPOSIUM ON

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY: CRITICAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

MAY 30, 2016

Organized by

Psychology Research Unit

INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE

&

INDIAN SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY ASSOCIATION, (InSPA)

A REPORT

One day symposium on school psychology was held at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata on 30th May, 2016. The symposium was organized by the Psychology Research Unit in collaboration with Indian School Psychology Association (InSPA).

Goals of the symposium were not only to generate awareness of school psychology profession but also to explore some critical challenges of school psychology. Almost 45 research fellows/scholars, faculties, project workers and school counsellors were present in the symposium. There were six technical memorial sessions with names of six statisticians and ex-heads of the Psychology Research Unit.

They were Prof.Edwin Harper(Jr.), Prof.Shib Mitra, Prof.Rhea Stagner Das, Prof.S.Chatterjee, Prof.Manjula Mukerjee and Prof.Purnendu Kumar Bose. Their contributions were presented before deliberations in respective sessions.

After the Invocation by Dr. D. Dutta Roy, Professor Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, the Director of the Indian Statistical Institute, inaugurated the symposium. In her inaugural speech, she gave special emphasis on research in School Psychology. She observed rapid incidence of mental health problems among the children and youth in schools and colleges. Prof. Amita Majumdar, the Head of the Psychology Research Unit, highlighted the school psychology related research activities of the unit. As Convener of the symposium, Dr. Debdulal Dutta Roy justified relevance of the symposium and his design of symposium. In the justification, he highlighted the contribution of Professor P.C. Mahalanobis, the founder of the institute in assessing mental abilities of school children.

Professor Anjali Ray, the Professor of the Department of Applied Psychology, University of Calcutta and Regional Convener of InSPA gave keynote speech. She highlighted some key issues as well as challenges of school psychology in India. The key issues are psychosocial change and challenges, nutrition and reproductive health care, mental health status, learning disabled and special children, crimes, violence and legal protection, communication and interpersonal relationship, life skills, career counseling and readiness, curriculum updating, etc. for the students. In order to reach the objectives, the major Challenges of Indian School Psychology is to sensitize the policy makers and administrators for creation of posts of school psychologists, development of their desirable training modules, implementation of uniform principles for their qualification, professional ethics for psychologists, provision of mental health, and academic support services for all students, nurturing of partnership and development of networking among different agencies.

Professor Ravindranath Rai, Professor of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong and the Vice President of InSPA discussed the prospects of school psychology in North-East India. He pointed out high dropout rates and recent failure of school leaving examinations of schools in Manipur. The inaugural session was ended with vote of thanks by Dr. Rumki Gupta of the Psychology Research Unit.

After inauguration. in the Prof.Edwin Harper(Jr.) memorial session, Dr. D. Dutta Roy observed that sustainability of school psychology in India depends on the professional ethics of school psychology. The professional ethics should follow the fundamental rights of the Indian Constitution for its acceptability. He discussed professional ethics in light of 5 fundamental rights of Indian Constitution (Right to Equality, Right to Freedom, Right against Exploitation, Right to Freedom of Religion, Educational and Cultural rights) and the four principles of National Association of School Psychology(respecting the dignity and rights of all persons; professional competence and responsibility; honesty and integrity in professional relationships ; and, responsibility to schools, families, communities, the profession and the society). This session was chaired by professor Anjali Ray.

In Prof.Shib Mitra memorial session, Prof. Ravindra Nath Rai, of Centre for Distance Education,NEHU,(Bijni Campus) discussed prospects of School Psychology in the North-East India. He stated that the states of North-East India have both private and public schools in urban and rural areas. The schools need proper psychological guidance to overcome number of problems in the areas of substance use, self-esteem, social competence for students with disabilities. This session was chaired by professor Anjali Ray.

At  Prof.Rhea Stagner Das memorial session, Prof. Saurabh Ghosh of  Human Genetics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, discussed about identifying genes underlying Autism.  He believed that irregularities in serotonin reuptake and its homeostasis could be the basis of behavioral impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) patients. He discussed two competing study designs namely population based and family based through which he observed that the prevalence of ASD is very high among males. This session was chaired by Professor Pritha Mukhopadhyay

At  Prof.S.Chatterjee memorial session, Professor Pritha Mukhopadhyay of Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta, discussed about Learning and Adaptive brain. Professor Mukhopadhyay stated that in(Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), with cognitive training the change could be brought in P3 latency in the frontal, central and posterior parts of the brain, which is associated with the improvement in speed of processing of attention task. Adaptation could have both positive and negative consequence. If an organism recovers after a stroke to normal levels of performance (spontaneous recovery), that adaptiveness could be considered as "positive plasticity" but an excessive level of neuronal growth leading to tonic paralysis that may be considered "negative plasticity". This session was chaired by Professor Saurabh Ghosh.

At Prof.Manjula Mukerjee memorial session,Dr.Koel Das of Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata, discussed about using Brain Computer Interface(BCI) to treat mental health disorders in children. According to Dr. Das a BCI is a communication link between brain and an external device like computers which facilitates individuals to control and communicate with the external world. In a BCI system, the brain activity acts as an independent variable and by using neurofeedback, the user can learn to control his or her brain activity and thereby perform intended task. Recently, BCIs are used for treating mental health disorders like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder. Using neural training, ADHD children can retain their attention for longer period and can avoid distraction. Professor Ravindra Nath Rai was the Chair Person in this session.

Prof.Purnendu Kumar Bose memorial session, Dr.Santoshi Halder of Department of Education, University of Calcutta, discussed about Applied Behaviour Analyses for children with diverse behavioural needs. She presented the application of applied behaviour analyses(ABA) conducted in three behaviour modification strategies- trial based functional analysis of self-injurious behaviour, echoic and exemplar training in children having phonological disorder, and video modelling to teach play skills to ASD children. This session was chaired by Dr. Rumki Gupta.

After all the technical sessions, participants were asked for their feedback about the symposium. It was noted that they were happy as all the topics were very much interesting to them and had wide application in school psychology. They were satisfied with the refreshments, working lunch and the hospitality. Some of them felt the need for school psychology training. After the feedback session certificates were distributed to the speakers and participants by Professor Anjali Ray and Professor Ravindra Nath Rai.