PSYCHOLOGY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE 615
Psychological Clinic in 1923 deals with the work of the school psycholo-
gist. A symposium1 on the school psychologist in the Journal oj
Consulting Psychology in 1942 describes the many and varied functions
of psychologists who practice in schools. One writer2 in the symposium
describes the work of the school psychologist as primarily educational,
rather than clinical, psychology.
The type of work done by the school psychologist depends some-
what upon the organization of the psychological services in the schools,
but in this chapter we shall limit our discussion to the clinical phase of
his work. The following types of problems of school children are
commonly referred to the school psychologist:
1. Problems of the exceptional child, including mentally retarded,
physically handicapped, and the mentally superior
2. Problems involved in the analysis and correction of school-
subject disability
3. Problems involved in the analysis of abilities for the improve-
ment of guidance
4. Problems of behavior and habit adjustment
THE EXCEPTIONAL CHILD
The identification, classification, appropriate school placement, and
continued guidance of the exceptional child is a never-ending task for
the school psychologist. Table 182 gives some idea of the extent of the
problem of the exceptional child in school.3
TABLE 182.—ESTIMATION OF NUMBER OP EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN IN XEED OP
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICE
Blind and partially seeing........................... 65,000
Deaf and hard of hearing............................ 400,000
Mentally deficient.................................. 500,000
Behavior problems.............................«----- 750,000
Physically delicate.................................. 300,000
Crippled.......................................... 100,000
Speech defective.................................... 1,000,000
Mentally gifted.................................... 500,000
Total........................................... 3,615,000
In 1940, 385,180 exceptional children were reported enrolled for
special educational services. This represents approximately one-tenth
of the need met in any reasonable degree. Handicapped children
1 The School Psychologist, J". Consult. P&ychoL, 1942, Vol. 6, !NTQ. 4,
* Baker, G. Derwood, What the Public School Needs from the Psychologist,
J. Consult. Psychol, 1942, 6,177-180.
3 Statistics of Special Schools and Classes for Exceptional Children, (Yol II),
Chap. 5, p. 6, Federal Security Agency, U.S. Office of Education, 1940,