"Resources must give hope to people, not just categories their problems"

"IF A CHILD has low self esteem in learning, we find that this permeates throughout every aspect of the child's self concept. So a remedial teacher, for instance, would concentrate on the amount of reading ability the child has and build on that, rather than concentrating on what the child can't do.

"This way the child sees himself as a learner, instead of having a sort of learned helplessness, believing that he can't do anything."

Addressing low self esteem in learning is something that Paddy O'Dwyer, an educational psychologist working in the west Tallaght and Clondalkin areas of Dublin sees as a crucial part of his job.

He is one of five psychologists taken on by the Department of Education in a pilot scheme of educational psychologists based in Dublin and Tipperary primary schools.

Since last year the service has been extended to include 10 more educational psychologists working in primary schools in Limerick, Cork and Dublin.

Each psychologist has between 10 and 12 schools in his or her catchment area, dealing with problems that range from general or specific learning difficulties to behavioural and emotional difficulties - or a combination of the two.

Instead of complaining about the lack of educational psychologists available to schools until recently, O'Dwyer prefers to see their advent as part of a growing recognition of the need for the psychologist's input into education.

He also believes that, as educational psychologists become more familiar people within schools, the old stigmas about seeing a psychologist will dissipate.

"Sometimes people don't know the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist. We always stress that we are the school or educational psychologist - as opposed to social or health service. Every child we see, we do so with written permission from the parents.

"We also have plenty of contact with the teachers, so it is not threatening for a child to come out of a class to see us," O'Dwyer says.

ONE NEW INITIATIVE in schools to which psychologists may refer children is the "social adjustment programmes". In such programmes, teaching counsellors take small numbers of children into groups to help develop their socialisation skills and self esteem.

Groups are specifically designated for disruptive children, withdrawn children and those who are in need of bereavement counselling.

Educational psychologists also refer children to reading schools (if their principal problem is literacy), speech therapists or child and family centres.

"Problems may arise in the area of behavioural difficulties because such children are less likely to use services such as child and family centres. There is a need for a more imaginative response to such children," O'Dwyer says.

"It is a well known fact that children with difficult behaviour are not amenable to one to one counselling. Their problems are more related to poor interaction within groups. Sometimes, if the teacher establishes a behaviour modification programme which encourages good behaviour through the use of rewards as well as sanctions, this can be helpful," he explains.

"Primary schools are beginning to take a more holistic look at discipline, which involves parents and teachers in an attempt to accept and acknowledge each child in a positive way," he adds.

According to O'Dwyer, balancing the need for preventative work with children and dealing with individual cases is a crucial aspect of the educational psychologist's role.

"Sometimes the mere focus on an individual child can bring about a remission, because the problem was one of attention seeking. The earlier the intervention, the better; but this doesn't mean that such children won't need help at a later stage. Human beings are more complex than that.

O'Dwyer believes that early intervention is important as much for creating the right atmosphere for dealing with problems as for the help itself.

"Psychologists don't have all the answers. They have lots of questions that can only be dealt with through collaboration with other professionals.

"Society's problems cannot be dealt with by schools, though schools have to cope with them. Resources have to be put in to provide hope and shape for people's future, not simply to categorise their problems.