The role of the psychologist in the kindergarten is enormous. In his hands, literally, mental health and the harmonious development of our children, because they spend most of their time in the kindergarten. Therefore, probably, you do not need to explain to your parents that it is not superfluous to ask what kind of specialist works in your kindergarten as a teacher-psychologist, what kind of a teacher he is and how he carries out his activities.
Depending on the requests and settings of the kindergarten administration, a psychologist can play different roles:
- a consultant on demand, who occupies a separate office and, if necessary, provides assistance to children and parents on the development of children;
- an observer attending classes in groups diagnosing children and counseling caregivers on working with specific children;
- an active participant in the educational process, developing programs with educators, conducting classes for children;
- the leading consultant on the organization of the educational process, improving the work of educators, conducting seminars for the teaching staff, etc .;
- The researcher who observes the whole educational process as a whole.
From which of these roles is chosen for the psychologist in the kindergarten, both its main responsibilities and its functions depend. They can
- be very different in different kindergartens, but in general they can be reduced to several items:
- information function - providing specialized information;
- diagnostic - the definition of the general and individual characteristics of children's development, their readiness for school, etc .;
- preventive - creating conditions for the harmonious development of children, protecting their mental health;
- correctional - help in solving existing psychological problems in children;
- propaedeutic - training of pedagogical personnel, improvement of its work.
Before the psychologist in the kindergarten there are the following tasks:
- Interact with the kindergarten educators in order to familiarize them with the psychological aspects of teaching children; to develop development programs with them; help in the formation of the game environment; assess their work and help in improving it, etc.
- Communicate with the parents of pupils of the kindergarten: advise on the issues of teaching children; help in solving private development problems; to diagnose mental development and individual abilities of children; support families with children with developmental disabilities, etc.
- To work directly with children in order to determine the level of their emotional development, psychological health; provide an individual approach to children who need it (gifted children and children with developmental disabilities); prepare children of preparatory groups for school, etc. A psychologist can conduct special developmental activities with children in kindergarten, group and individual.
Ideally, a psychologist in a kindergarten should act as a coordinator for the activities of educators and parents aimed at creating optimal, psychologically comfortable conditions for harmonious development and successful learning of each child. Therefore, bringing the child to a kindergarten, parents not only can, but also should get acquainted and communicate with the teacher-psychologist. Such communication will increase the effectiveness of the diagnostic, preventive and corrective work of a psychologist: having become acquainted with the environment in which a child grows up, he will be able to understand more clearly the nature of his individual characteristics. In addition, it will enable parents to understand what position the psychologist takes in the kindergarten and in what format works, what kind of help he can provide.