Global migration: The need for culturally competent school psychologists

Abstract

Never before have more children lived away from their home countries. Given the unique social, emotional, and academic needs of children who have migrated, school psychologists must be well prepared to meet these growing demands. Consequently, school psychology training programs must invest in the preparation of culturally competent future school psychologists. In this article, we review relevant literature regarding children, migration, and school psychology and then describe a model training program that was developed to prepare school psychologists in Texas, where there are a significant number of migrant children from Mexico and South America. Broader implications for training school psychologist in the areas of cultural and linguistic diversity are discussed.