Delivering Psycho-educational Evaluation Results to Parents A Practitioner’s Model

1: Introduction; 2: The Feedback Model’s Necessity; 3: Human Learning; 4: Parents and Special Education Meetings; 5: Prerequisite Practitioner Skills to Utilizing the Feedback Model; 6: Creating a Permanent Product with the Parent: Utilizing the Feedback Model; 7: Utilizing the Feedback Model with Diverse Populations; 8: Application; 9: Conclusion

Biography

Francis J. DeMatteo, EdD, NCSP, is a nationally certified school psychologist who has worked as a school psychologist practitioner and director of school psychology training programs. His research interests include family-school relations, providing feedback results to parents, and post-school transition.

"One of the challenges in teaching school psychology practice is to prepare graduate students how to become proficient in delivering evaluation results to parents in a way that answers the questions they have, provides clinically significant, meaningful, replicable data, and is delivered in a way that embodies empathy and conveys hopefulness for improvement in the next phase of their child’s educational career. In this text, DeMatteo offers a scaffolding process that can be used to launch novice school psychology students and practitioners into confident, helpful, humane, change agents. This book reduces the mystery as to why some feedback sessions are considered successes and others – much less so – in order for those learning the process to have a formula to follow when they need the most structure. I believe that trainers will find this book incredibly useful in structuring the process of delivering data to parents in a digestible and predicable way for students, and that students will rely upon this model to give them confidence in preparing and then delivering evaluation report data at feedback meetings."

Laura M. Crothers, D.Ed., NCSP, Rev. Martin A. Hehir, C.S.Sp. Endowed Chair in Scholarly Excellence, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, School of Education, and Professor of School Psychology, Department of Counseling, Psychology, and Special Education, Duquesne University

"Francis DeMatteo makes the point that the evaluation process does not end with generating a report and that, in fact, it is actually the starting point for a very complicated, emotionally laden, and potentially long-term relationship with parents. By using the framework, he espouses that the practitioner should be able to clearly convey evaluation results to the family with care and compassion while also reducing parental feelings of being overwhelmed with data and outnumbered by school staff. This book is a must read for all interning school psychologists."

R.M. Deguffroy, PsyD, certified school psychologist

"Sharing psycho-educational results with parents in a meaningful and understandable way is critical for several reasons.　 At times though, our best summaries and recommendations are lost in translation.　 Dr. Francis DeMatteo has written a must-read primer for school psychologists and other mental health professionals:　Delivering Psycho-educational Evaluation Results to Parents: A Practitioner's Model.　 Read this book, and you will find ways to share your findings through a concrete and parent-friendly model that can be adapted to many settings.　 We plan to incorporate Dr. DeMatteo's book in our school psychology program curriculum!"　

Richard VanVoorhis, DEd, NCSP, Program Director, School Psychology Program, and Associate Professor, Department of Counseling, School Psychology, and Educational Leadership, Youngstown State University

　

The Feedback Model’s 16 steps, as outlined by Dr. DeMatteo, provide a clear and necessary framework for providing evaluation results to parents. The additional information on how to structure evaluation result meetings and explain outcomes easily is beneficial to any practitioner. This book is a must have for all practitioners in training as well as those already practicing.

Katie Shemanski Moro, Psy. D., NCSP, BCBA

Nationally Certified School Psychologist
Board Certified Behavior Analyst

The Feedback Model is an invaluable resource for early career through seasoned school psychologists.　　The overall model and its 16 steps serve as a scaffold for school psychologists to foster a robust rapport with parents, as well as provide a clear and concise snapshot of their child’s functioning.　　This model is an important part of my toolkit, and it has proven its effectiveness time and time again with parents of varying levels of socio-economic status and cultural backgrounds.　

Whitney A. Jones, M.A., Ed.S.

PA Certified School Psychologist

This is the book every one of Dr. DeMatteo’s former graduate students wished he would write!　 If you aren’t lucky enough to take one of his family-school collaboration or practicum classes, I can honestly say this text is the next best thing.　 He has captured the nuisance of delivering feedback to families while ensuring practitioners have a set of skills they can immediately put to use. DeMatteo’s book is a must read　for all new practitioners　and I plan to gift　Delivering Psycho-educational Results to Parents: A Practitioner’s Model, to all of our future school psychology interns!

Niki Kendall, Ed.S.

Certified School Psychologist

PBIS Coach and Adjunct Instructor