A Book Review of \'Basics of Child Neuropsychology: A Primer for Educators and Clinicians\' by Stephen R. Hooper.

A Book Review of \'Basics of Child Neuropsychology: A Primer for Educators and Clinicians\' by Stephen R. Hooper.

School psychology professionals rely on professional literature to access information on scientifically supported practices. Counseling is certainly one of those practices. The purpose of this review was to determine how many articles published in prominent peer-reviewed school psychology journals have addressed providing effective counseling services to children and youth. We wanted to determine the types of counseling approaches that were described in those articles and which approaches garnered the most attention. Findings revealed that there were relatively few articles about counseling in prominent school psychology journals. Interestingly, most studies employed quantitative rather than qualitative designs and analyses. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) was the approach that was implemented the most in empirical studies across the school psychology journals. Empirical studies mainly included elementary and middle school students from diverse racial and ethnic groups who were receiving counseling services in a small group (tier 2) format. Implications for the profession of school psychology are provided.

Early childhood and the pre-school stage of development constitute a dynamic period for acquisition of social-emotional competencies. Yoga and mindfulness practices (YMP) have become increasingly used in schools for social emotional learning, but less is known about their utility in early childhood settings. A systematic review using PRISMA guidelines was undertaken to explore the effect of YMP on social emotional function among preschool-aged children (3-5 years). The review resulted in identification of 1115 records, of which 80 full text articles were screened, with final inclusion of 16 studies. Included studies evaluated the effect of YMP on social-emotional functioning, and identified the potential for YMP to improve regulatory skills such as behavioral self-regulation and executive function. Among studies reviewed, 13 reported improvements in these domains, but quality appraisal indicated significant variability in risk of bias across studies, and heterogeneity of outcome measurements hindered comparison. Programs appeared to produce better results when implemented for at least 6 weeks and among children who had lower baseline social-emotional functioning. YMP constitute a promising strategy for social emotional development in early childhood settings, but additional rigorously designed studies are needed to expand understanding of how and why these programs are effective.

School psychologists are asked to systematically evaluate the effects of their work to ensure quality standards. Given the different types of methods applied to different users of school psychology measuring the effects of school psychological services is a complex task. Thus, the focus of our scoping review was to systematically investigate the state of past research on the measurement of the effects of school psychological services published between 1998 and 2018 in eight major school psychological journals. Of the 5,048 peer-reviewed articles published within this period, 623 were coded by two independent raters as explicitly refering to school psychology or counseling in the school context in their titles or abstracts. However, only 22 included definitions of effects of school psychological services or described outcomes used to evaluate school psychological services based on full text screening. These findings revealed that measurement of the effects of school psychological services has not been a focus of research despite its\' relevance in guidelines of school psychological practice.

Although meta-analyses are often used to inform practitioners and researchers, the resulting effect sizes can be artificially inflated due to publication bias. There are a number of methods to protect against, detect, and correct for publication bias. Currently, it is unknown to what extent scholars publishing meta-analyses within school psychology journals use these methods to address publication bias and whether more recently published meta-analyses more frequently utilize these methods. A historical review of every meta-analysis published to date within the most prominent school psychology journals (N = 10) revealed that 88 meta-analyses were published from 1980 to early 2019. Exactly half of them included grey literature, and 60% utilized methods to detect and correct for publication bias. The most common methods were visual analysis of a funnel plot, Orwin\'s failsafe N, Egger\'s regression, and the trim and fill procedure. None of these methods were used in more than 20% of the studies. About half of the studies incorporated one method, 20% incorporated two methods, 7% incorporated three methods, and none incorporated all four methods. These methods were most evident in studies published recently. Similar to other fields, the true estimates of effects from meta-analyses published in school psychology journals may not be available, and practitioners may be utilizing interventions that are, in fact, not as strong as believed. Practitioners, researchers employing meta-analysis techniques, education programs, and editors and peer reviewers in school psychology should continue to guard against publication bias using these methods.

It is often surmised that school functioning is significantly impacted in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS); however, how this phenomenon manifests itself has rarely been characterized.
This systematic review synthesized and critically appraised methods, constructs, and instruments used to assess school functioning in students with CFS. Searches were conducted in electronic databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, ERIC, and PsycINFO) to locate empirical studies that measured school functioning in children and adolescents with CFS.
A total of 36 papers met the inclusion criteria. By far the most commonly reported school functioning construct measured related to school attendance. This was followed by academic functioning, achievement motivation, and educational services received. Little consistency was found in the measurement of these constructs across studies.
The current review revealed that the school experiences of children and adolescents with CFS have rarely been characterized beyond school absenteeism. Improvements in current assessment methods are required to comprehensively understand the impact of CFS on school functioning. Completely understanding the multiple aspects of school functioning will help to inform targeted strategies to optimize educational outcomes for students with CFS.