Minute to Win It and Processing Speed

I've caught a few episodes of NBC's Minute to Win It, a new hit game show. Contestants have to complete each game within one minute. The games increase in difficulty as the contestant progresses. Complete 10 games, win $1 million. Sounds simple, right? Most of the games remind you of things you did at a party in college while holding a beer. But, I happened to watch a couple of episodes that featured 2 games that reminded me of processing speed ability. The first game, Wheel of a Deal, involves sorting playing cards into 5 different stacks by face value. The other game, Separation Anxiety, involves sorting M&Ms by color. These games scream Gs (processing speed) to me, with a little bit of Gt (decision speed).

BBC

School Psychologists in Pop Culture 2 - "Parenthood"

I happened to watch the premiere of "Parenthood", the new NBC drama airing on Tuesdays. Click here to see the premiere episode. It's an interesting show about the trials and tribulations of being a parent. But I'm not a tv critic, I'm a school psychologist. I won't spoil the plot, but there is a moment in the episode where a child gets into trouble at school and the administrators suggest that the child may need more than just discipline to address his behavior. When they make the suggestion, they refer to the "educational therapist." Then they mention an evaluation to determine what would work best. That's when it hit me: "Hey wait a minute, they're talking about a school psychologist." But I had to wonder why they used the term educational therapist. Is school psychologist still too esoteric for people to understand. Educational therapist sounds like a possible job title if this didn't recently happen. I see this as a missed opportunity for our profession. They should have been consulting a school psychologist!

BBC