ABSTRACT
Gerald caplan work can be conceptualized as falling into two major areas: mental health consultation and the prevention of psychopathology. The chapter aims to examine caplan work in these two major areas and to consider the impact of this work on the practice of psychology in the schools. caplan notion of “collaboration” and the approaches to “cooperative professional development” discussed in this chapter provide a built-in opportunity for each of the professional helpers to model effective procedures for instruction, behavior management, and prevention of learning and adjustment problems. A review of the school psychology literature helps to underscore caplan contributions. Several suggestions were made for future directions of the field in an effort to extend caplan work, and these can be summarized by considering the research agenda implied by these suggestions.
