Bridges and barriers in behavioral consultation

Over the last decade, consultation has been increasingly recognized as an important role psychologists play in the schools. Although barriers to consultation have been investigated in the past, the changing tenor of the field of school psychology and changes in federal law may have modified the extent to which psychologists face barriers to indirect service delivery. The current study attempted to identify sources of support for consultation and barriers to this service delivery model. Responses to a consultation survey were analyzed for 339 members of the National Association of School Psychologist (NASP) using descriptive and nonparametric statistics. The majority of respondents reported that they were qualified to provide consultation services and that they received support from administrators and teachers. However, a lack of time and number of traditional assessments respondents were expected to complete continued to represent a major barrier to consultation. Interestingly, doctoral level psychologists were more likely to report a lack of support for consultation, both in terms of time and support from school personnel. The relevance of these findings in relation to changes in IDEA were discussed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.