Lots of people get confused between Child Psychologists and Child Psychiatrists. Some important differences are-
1. Child Psychiatrists are always medical doctors. They typically have more than 10 years of training in medical and related fields.
2. Child psychiatrists are licenced to prescribe medications that are sometimes necessary in severe cases.
3. Child psychologists are graduates and post- graduates from arts and humanities stream. they often work in specialist fields like – school and educational psychology, counseling psychology, behavioural sciences, etc.
4. Child psychologists are trained to carry out various psychological tests like Intelligence Quotient (IQ), aptitude tests, tests for learning disbility, other tests that provide information about temperament of the child.
5. Child psychologists and Child Psychiatrists often refer patients to each other for specific work that requires specialist input.
Most good schools now have a in house counselor or child psychologist. They work with teachers to detect problems at early stage and help the child in classroom setting. they also conduct counseling sessions and specific interventions like play therapy, behaviour therapy in schools.
School counselors / Psychologists can conduct psychological tests and advice parents and schools about better ways of working with a child.