Assessing and supporting children and young people with EBD: The role of educational psychologists

Educational psychologists are employed in many countries around the world but have various titles and have different roles depending on local contexts, legislation, cultures and histories. This chapter describes and discusses a broad-based approach to the work of educational psychologists (EPs) with children and young peoplewhohave difficulties that are variously labelled, but generally falling under the category of having emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). The arguments around the terminology, taxonomies and approach to labels are discussed elsewhere in this book. Similarly, the complex interactional nature of EBD is described and debated elsewhere in this book and so this will not be covered in any detail, except that for EPs, the salient historical, contextual and cultural factors are of great importance when conducting an assessment and planning support for children with EBD. There are a number of key dilemmas that exist for EPs as they try to position themselves as effective practitioners. Four of these are described below.