School Psychology in the United States of America in the 1980s

The first psychological clinic, established in 1896 by Lightner Witmer (1897) at the University of Pennsylvania, marks the origin of school psychology in the United States. The following year Witmer began offering courses to teachers and others interested in applying the new methods from clinical psychology. Witmer envisioned the preparation of pedagogical or psychological experts able to work with children who did not profit from ordinary educational methods. He later embodied this vision by serving personally as a school psychologist (Fagan, 1986).