School psychologists in early childhood settings

In this chapter, we discuss the evolving role of the school psychologist working in early childhood settings, and highlight the importance of early learning and early intervention, standards for training and education of school psychologists to work with young children, and the role of the school psychologist in transitioning young children to kindergarten. We believe that early learning and early childhood education are critical to a healthy, thriving society, including the United States. However, most school psychology graduate programs do not offer knowledge of or experience in early childhood learning, assessment, diagnosis, or intervention. Given the importance of early childhood education and school psychologists' evolving roles and responsibilities, they are strongly encouraged to engage in professional development activities around early childhood learning, education, assessment, and intervention in order to serve young children optimally. Multiple resources are provided at the end of the chapter to assist school psychologists in increasing their knowledge base regarding early childhood topics.