SOCIAL WORK MENTAL HEALTH AND
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT PRACTICE TEST
2026
◉ Assessment & Decision-Making
Answer: some students can be well served in the school
environment through social skills groups, individual counseling, and
crisis intervention. Others require referrals to outside providers for
psychiatric evaluations, long-term mental health care, and family
counseling; the SSWer must determine which students have the
most pressing needs and which interventions would be most
efficient and effective
When to refer out - children at risk for suicide, child maltreatment,
or criminal justice involvement
◉ pre-referral process
Answer: (1) review of records including past and current
interventions (2) interviews with teachers, student, and parent (3)
observations with the student in multiple environments/settings (4)
testing and determining a hypothesis as to why the problem
behavior is occurring from information collected through the record
review, interviews, and observations; ICEL & RIOT assessments
before problem-solving team has the problem-solving meeting
, ◉ problem-solving team
Answer: multidisciplinary team members that use a systematic
approach to solving problems with the use of data-based decision
making (administration, general education teachers, school social
workers, school psychologists, specialists, and parents); goal =
identify interventions, monitor them, and determine the success of
their supports
◉ problem solving meeting
Answer: multidisciplinary meetings (including parents) where the
team engages to determine individualized supports for students
within the general education environment using general education
resources; (1) is there a problem, what is it? (2) why is it happening?
(3) what can be done? (4) did the intervention work?; *important to
work with data when discussing and advocating for students
◉ Tier I
Answer: Schoolwide efforts to prevent learning problems and
quickly intervene. Early identification of high risk students.
Individualized instruction.
Defining common expectations of teaching, modeling, reinforcing,
and reteaching school expectations as needed; teach positive
behavior, have clear expectations, and employ a process of
recognizing students for engaging in positive behavior, to define
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT PRACTICE TEST
2026
◉ Assessment & Decision-Making
Answer: some students can be well served in the school
environment through social skills groups, individual counseling, and
crisis intervention. Others require referrals to outside providers for
psychiatric evaluations, long-term mental health care, and family
counseling; the SSWer must determine which students have the
most pressing needs and which interventions would be most
efficient and effective
When to refer out - children at risk for suicide, child maltreatment,
or criminal justice involvement
◉ pre-referral process
Answer: (1) review of records including past and current
interventions (2) interviews with teachers, student, and parent (3)
observations with the student in multiple environments/settings (4)
testing and determining a hypothesis as to why the problem
behavior is occurring from information collected through the record
review, interviews, and observations; ICEL & RIOT assessments
before problem-solving team has the problem-solving meeting
, ◉ problem-solving team
Answer: multidisciplinary team members that use a systematic
approach to solving problems with the use of data-based decision
making (administration, general education teachers, school social
workers, school psychologists, specialists, and parents); goal =
identify interventions, monitor them, and determine the success of
their supports
◉ problem solving meeting
Answer: multidisciplinary meetings (including parents) where the
team engages to determine individualized supports for students
within the general education environment using general education
resources; (1) is there a problem, what is it? (2) why is it happening?
(3) what can be done? (4) did the intervention work?; *important to
work with data when discussing and advocating for students
◉ Tier I
Answer: Schoolwide efforts to prevent learning problems and
quickly intervene. Early identification of high risk students.
Individualized instruction.
Defining common expectations of teaching, modeling, reinforcing,
and reteaching school expectations as needed; teach positive
behavior, have clear expectations, and employ a process of
recognizing students for engaging in positive behavior, to define
