Well, it is a short week and it begins with an initial eligibility conference. I did the psychological evaluation on the student who is in the 3rd grade. The meeting takes about twice as long as usual because we need to use a translator and the parents ask very good questions. By the time it is over it is almost time for the Thanksgiving Party at the alternative program that is housed in the same building as our offices.
By the time the party is over, it is a short time until the end of the day. I organize some observations about a set of projectives that I did on a student and call the father of the special referral that we had. And that brings the end of the day.
On Tuesday, I get in and finally finish the emotional/social section of the report that has been torturing me for the past two weeks. I'm proud of myself because I got the reading level and passive sentences down further than ever before. Why is this important? Well it goes back to my classes in grad school and some workshops I've attended on report writing. It boils down to this: You have to remember your audience. As a school psychologist, the audience is usually a parent who is unlikely to have any training in or familiarity with the jargon of the profession. You have to convey the information in the report to the parent in a way that they can understand. That may sound condescending but it isn't meant to be. Even well educated people are unlikely to be familiar with the terminology of psychological evaluation unless that is their background.
Following this I try to find information on the cost of a neuropsychological evaluation with very little success. I also talk to some coworkers about a date for an initial referral conference.
Well only one half-day left for the week then it is time for a nice long weekend.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Friday, November 20th
Not much to write about for Friday. I went to the middle school to meet with my other group of girls for counseling. This group was much different than the other one. Apparently they had not problem talking about their problems in from of me. I barely got a word in edge-wise.
Following counseling, the rest of the day was filled with meetings. First our weekly department meeting which did not contain much of interest for me to mention here and then my professional learning committee meeting (PLC).
In my PLC, we have decided to do something with risk assessments. I collected data on the risk assessments from last year and have been doing this same for this year. We went over the data collected so far and saw some interesting high spots. There were more risk assessments done in 5th and 6th grade than in any other grade. Both those grades are in one school so that one school had more risk assessments than any other school in our district. Finally, about 4/5ths oall the risk assessments were Hispanic and African American students.
We talked about gathering some more demographic information to see if those trends reveal anything and then broke down our tasks. That was it for the day. Have a good weekend. Next week is a short one.
Following counseling, the rest of the day was filled with meetings. First our weekly department meeting which did not contain much of interest for me to mention here and then my professional learning committee meeting (PLC).
In my PLC, we have decided to do something with risk assessments. I collected data on the risk assessments from last year and have been doing this same for this year. We went over the data collected so far and saw some interesting high spots. There were more risk assessments done in 5th and 6th grade than in any other grade. Both those grades are in one school so that one school had more risk assessments than any other school in our district. Finally, about 4/5ths oall the risk assessments were Hispanic and African American students.
We talked about gathering some more demographic information to see if those trends reveal anything and then broke down our tasks. That was it for the day. Have a good weekend. Next week is a short one.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Thursday, November 19th
Well, I've run out of even moderately inspired titles for my posts, so I'll stick with the day and date for the moment.
I got in this morning and started doing some paperwork and a little research on anxiety, depression, and visual hallucination because of what this kid said during an evaluation. I also typed up the risk assessment report from two days ago and gave to my coworker who participated in the evaluation as well. I then went to the high school to give a student some paperwork to take home and do some counseling.
I met with my boys group, not much of a group, just me and two boys and finally found some willing counseling participants. All in all, it went far better than expected. As I was pulling one of the kids from his class, one of the girls from my group earlier this week waved excitedly to me. This was one of the ones that said she didn't know if she would be comfortable meeting with a male counselor. So I guess she isn't driven off too much by having a male counselor. Then again, if said counselor is a chance to get out of doing something in class that you don't want to do then any port in a storm.
After this, I went to the high school and got a guidance counselor to assist me in calling down the sister of the student who was scheduled for the initial referral conference yesterday. The one where the parents didn't show up. I spoke with the sister and gave her my card, asking her to ask her parents to give me a call.
When I returned to the office and had lunch, I found a message from the father who was responding to my voicemail from yesterday. I knew that he was probably calling during his lunch and there was little chance of getting hold of him again, so I'll have to try tomorrow.
A short while later, I met with my director and got the okay to put in for a neuropsychological evaluation on a student. Then I was speaking with one of my fellow school psychologists who noted that her school psych program hadn't reviewed a lot of projective testing and she had never learned the house-tree-person. So we spent the last 30 minutes of the day going over that and a few other projective instruments. And then it was time to go home.
I got in this morning and started doing some paperwork and a little research on anxiety, depression, and visual hallucination because of what this kid said during an evaluation. I also typed up the risk assessment report from two days ago and gave to my coworker who participated in the evaluation as well. I then went to the high school to give a student some paperwork to take home and do some counseling.
I met with my boys group, not much of a group, just me and two boys and finally found some willing counseling participants. All in all, it went far better than expected. As I was pulling one of the kids from his class, one of the girls from my group earlier this week waved excitedly to me. This was one of the ones that said she didn't know if she would be comfortable meeting with a male counselor. So I guess she isn't driven off too much by having a male counselor. Then again, if said counselor is a chance to get out of doing something in class that you don't want to do then any port in a storm.
After this, I went to the high school and got a guidance counselor to assist me in calling down the sister of the student who was scheduled for the initial referral conference yesterday. The one where the parents didn't show up. I spoke with the sister and gave her my card, asking her to ask her parents to give me a call.
When I returned to the office and had lunch, I found a message from the father who was responding to my voicemail from yesterday. I knew that he was probably calling during his lunch and there was little chance of getting hold of him again, so I'll have to try tomorrow.
A short while later, I met with my director and got the okay to put in for a neuropsychological evaluation on a student. Then I was speaking with one of my fellow school psychologists who noted that her school psych program hadn't reviewed a lot of projective testing and she had never learned the house-tree-person. So we spent the last 30 minutes of the day going over that and a few other projective instruments. And then it was time to go home.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Counseling, Report Writing, and Initial Referral Conferences
Wednesday, November 18th
I start the day with a round of counseling. One kid absent, another on a class trip, but I manage to see four other students. Nothing spectacular but I do get to find out that one student is actually starting to do some homework. Not all of it but some of it. If you remember What About Bob? just think "baby steps."
Once I'm back at the office, I spend a good deal of time writing reports. I also record data on two risk assessments. This is part of my professional improvement plan. A pet project on looking to see if there are trends in the risk assessments, like more in one school or grade or time of year. Last year was the baseline so I'm interested in seeing what this year has in store.
Following lunch, I get ready for an initial referral conference. This is the one that if we do the eval will need the language line for the family because of the rarity of their language. We have everyone we need at the meeting with the exception of the student and the family. I attempt to call them without success. Tomorrow I'll have to try to contact them by relaying a message through the student's sister who also attends the high school.
Not much going on today but they can't all be jam packed with action.
I start the day with a round of counseling. One kid absent, another on a class trip, but I manage to see four other students. Nothing spectacular but I do get to find out that one student is actually starting to do some homework. Not all of it but some of it. If you remember What About Bob? just think "baby steps."
Once I'm back at the office, I spend a good deal of time writing reports. I also record data on two risk assessments. This is part of my professional improvement plan. A pet project on looking to see if there are trends in the risk assessments, like more in one school or grade or time of year. Last year was the baseline so I'm interested in seeing what this year has in store.
Following lunch, I get ready for an initial referral conference. This is the one that if we do the eval will need the language line for the family because of the rarity of their language. We have everyone we need at the meeting with the exception of the student and the family. I attempt to call them without success. Tomorrow I'll have to try to contact them by relaying a message through the student's sister who also attends the high school.
Not much going on today but they can't all be jam packed with action.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Freakin' Kindergarten?!
Tuesday, November 17th
I get into work and immediately receive a call from the guidance counselor for one of my kids. She is making a change in his schedule and the mother wanted to speak with me. I make it over to the high school and meet with the student and the mother. After the official meeting, I speak with the mom about the difficulty that the student faces with finding a motivation to work to his potential (and he has a huge amount of potential) and that he may need to encounter something that he wants bad enough to summon that motivation or he may need a "rock bottom" event to wake him up.
Following that, I return to my office for a bit of putzing...er paperwork, and then go back to the middle school for some counseling. The group is made up of teenage girls and I encounter what I usually encounter with this type of group: the discomfort of having a male counselor. But what's a guy to do? I tell them to give it a try and if it doesn't get any better, I'll see what I can do.
I get back to the office, again, and learn that I am being sought out by the office manager. I start to head her way when my cell rings. I take it off my hip and see that it is the office manager and I stick my head into her office and say, "Are you calling me?" I'm informed that there is a kindergartener that needs a risk assessment. The kid has been threatening to cut off faces and kill people. The director also suggests that I bring one of my social worker co-workers along because she hasn't had a whole lot of formal experience with doing risk assessments. So we head on over and do our assessment. The kid isn't a danger to self or others but is definitely troubled and some other things come up during the assessment. With that completed, I head back to the office and my coworker goes to an IEP meeting.
Once back near my office, I meet with the transition coordinator/assistive technology person to discuss one of my students that she is involved with from an AT standpoint. We talk about a number of technical problems one of which is actually a territory issue that someone could fix in 5 minutes if people weren't so stringent.
After that, I go to a staffing for a student I tested. We review all the test results and come up with a possible plan and needed services. After that, I send several emails regarding my initial referral conference tomorrow. Then it is time to head for home.
I get into work and immediately receive a call from the guidance counselor for one of my kids. She is making a change in his schedule and the mother wanted to speak with me. I make it over to the high school and meet with the student and the mother. After the official meeting, I speak with the mom about the difficulty that the student faces with finding a motivation to work to his potential (and he has a huge amount of potential) and that he may need to encounter something that he wants bad enough to summon that motivation or he may need a "rock bottom" event to wake him up.
Following that, I return to my office for a bit of putzing...er paperwork, and then go back to the middle school for some counseling. The group is made up of teenage girls and I encounter what I usually encounter with this type of group: the discomfort of having a male counselor. But what's a guy to do? I tell them to give it a try and if it doesn't get any better, I'll see what I can do.
I get back to the office, again, and learn that I am being sought out by the office manager. I start to head her way when my cell rings. I take it off my hip and see that it is the office manager and I stick my head into her office and say, "Are you calling me?" I'm informed that there is a kindergartener that needs a risk assessment. The kid has been threatening to cut off faces and kill people. The director also suggests that I bring one of my social worker co-workers along because she hasn't had a whole lot of formal experience with doing risk assessments. So we head on over and do our assessment. The kid isn't a danger to self or others but is definitely troubled and some other things come up during the assessment. With that completed, I head back to the office and my coworker goes to an IEP meeting.
Once back near my office, I meet with the transition coordinator/assistive technology person to discuss one of my students that she is involved with from an AT standpoint. We talk about a number of technical problems one of which is actually a territory issue that someone could fix in 5 minutes if people weren't so stringent.
After that, I go to a staffing for a student I tested. We review all the test results and come up with a possible plan and needed services. After that, I send several emails regarding my initial referral conference tomorrow. Then it is time to head for home.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Dear Anonymous Commenter
Anonymous Commenter left this comment in my first post:
First is job availability: There are a lot of social workers out there and it is very hard to break into school social work. On the other hand, there has been a shortage of school psychologist. In either case, if you speak a second language, you increase your job options quite a bit. If your goal is to work in a school and you want to improve your chances of getting a school job, school psychology may be a better route.
If you want to work in a school but would also like to have a private practice, the social work is the way to go. With the educational specialist degree in school psychology, that will only allow you to work in a school setting or another clinical setting under someone else. Unless you go for the post-masters degree to become a licensed professional counselor (LPC), you can't have a private practice. And if you want to open a private practice and have a degree in psychology, you may as well go for a doctorate in psychology.
Another pragmatic thing to consider is payscale. If you aren't familiar with school payscales, they work on a step system, which you may be familiar with working for DYFS. Your pay is calculated based on your step and cross-referenced with a column indicating your level of education. In a school district, the usual breakdown for the columns are: bachelor, masters, masters +30 credits, and doctorate. Some districts have a few more categories, like bachelors +30 but that is rare.
So why does this matter? Because a social work program awards you with a masters degree after 60+ credits while someone in a school psych program usually gets awarded their masters after 36 credits or so and then goes on to get the educational specialist certificate after another 30 credits. So the school psychologist and the school social worker may have about the same number of credits to their name but because the school psych program awards a masters at 36ish and then another certificate 30+credits later, school psychologists end up one more column over on the payscale which may be the difference of a couple of thousands dollars more when negotiating salary.
Now you may think that if MA+30 is so much better than MA then a doctorate must be even better. Not really. At the most, maybe a thousand dollars difference between MA+30 and Ph. D. Being a school psychologist with a doctorate doesn't really pay off in a school district, except for the prestige of being Doctor.
Beyond the practical concerns of choosing, there are definitely other things to look at as well. I like being a school psychologist because I get to play with a lot of fiddly bits. I have my cognitive assessments, projective assessments, behavioral rating surveys, visual motor integration tests. I get to play with a lot of toys. But if you read my blog, you will get to see just how often I get to play with my toys. The majority of my time is taken up with case management and being in DYFS, you are certainly familiar with that. I also get to do counseling.
School social workers are in the same boat with the case management and the counseling. They do their social assessments but don't get to play with the fiddly bits. And I'm not trying to say that's a bad thing, I just enjoy my toys.
As far as assessments are concerned, LDTC do the most assessments followed by school psychologists and then school social workers. The reasons being that a students academic progress is more likely to change than their cognitive ability (at least theoretically, from the trenches, I'm not so sure but that is a discussion for a later date) while unless a student's family life experiences a great deal of upheaval, very little is likely to change in their social history.
Its hard not to sound bias when I type this out because I enjoy being a school psychologist. If I didn't go into school psychology, I probably would have gone for a doctorate in clinical psychology. It is hard to explain my reasons for that without coming across as a jerk so I'll leave it be. I hope I have at least provide some information for you to consider.
I am reading your blog because I would like to be a school psychologist or a school social worker. I'm really not sure and I'm just researching. I am from NJ and currently work for DYFS and looking for a change.First, thank you for reading my blog. Second, I do have a couple of pragmatic bits of information regarding the choice between becoming a school psychologist and becoming a school social worker. And I am speaking from a New Jersey point of view.
First is job availability: There are a lot of social workers out there and it is very hard to break into school social work. On the other hand, there has been a shortage of school psychologist. In either case, if you speak a second language, you increase your job options quite a bit. If your goal is to work in a school and you want to improve your chances of getting a school job, school psychology may be a better route.
If you want to work in a school but would also like to have a private practice, the social work is the way to go. With the educational specialist degree in school psychology, that will only allow you to work in a school setting or another clinical setting under someone else. Unless you go for the post-masters degree to become a licensed professional counselor (LPC), you can't have a private practice. And if you want to open a private practice and have a degree in psychology, you may as well go for a doctorate in psychology.
Another pragmatic thing to consider is payscale. If you aren't familiar with school payscales, they work on a step system, which you may be familiar with working for DYFS. Your pay is calculated based on your step and cross-referenced with a column indicating your level of education. In a school district, the usual breakdown for the columns are: bachelor, masters, masters +30 credits, and doctorate. Some districts have a few more categories, like bachelors +30 but that is rare.
So why does this matter? Because a social work program awards you with a masters degree after 60+ credits while someone in a school psych program usually gets awarded their masters after 36 credits or so and then goes on to get the educational specialist certificate after another 30 credits. So the school psychologist and the school social worker may have about the same number of credits to their name but because the school psych program awards a masters at 36ish and then another certificate 30+credits later, school psychologists end up one more column over on the payscale which may be the difference of a couple of thousands dollars more when negotiating salary.
Now you may think that if MA+30 is so much better than MA then a doctorate must be even better. Not really. At the most, maybe a thousand dollars difference between MA+30 and Ph. D. Being a school psychologist with a doctorate doesn't really pay off in a school district, except for the prestige of being Doctor.
Beyond the practical concerns of choosing, there are definitely other things to look at as well. I like being a school psychologist because I get to play with a lot of fiddly bits. I have my cognitive assessments, projective assessments, behavioral rating surveys, visual motor integration tests. I get to play with a lot of toys. But if you read my blog, you will get to see just how often I get to play with my toys. The majority of my time is taken up with case management and being in DYFS, you are certainly familiar with that. I also get to do counseling.
School social workers are in the same boat with the case management and the counseling. They do their social assessments but don't get to play with the fiddly bits. And I'm not trying to say that's a bad thing, I just enjoy my toys.
As far as assessments are concerned, LDTC do the most assessments followed by school psychologists and then school social workers. The reasons being that a students academic progress is more likely to change than their cognitive ability (at least theoretically, from the trenches, I'm not so sure but that is a discussion for a later date) while unless a student's family life experiences a great deal of upheaval, very little is likely to change in their social history.
Its hard not to sound bias when I type this out because I enjoy being a school psychologist. If I didn't go into school psychology, I probably would have gone for a doctorate in clinical psychology. It is hard to explain my reasons for that without coming across as a jerk so I'll leave it be. I hope I have at least provide some information for you to consider.
Assistive Tech, Psych Reports, and Staffing
Monday, November 16th
Well, I got in this morning and contacted the school where the person that is going to translate for my Wednesday meeting works. Following that, I go over to the middle school with several of my coworkers to meet with the assistive technology specialist and teachers to oversee the creation of assignments for one of my students with the Classroom Suite software I've mentioned in previous posts. It was a fairly good meeting but we are still left with the overall issue of where is all this leading for this student and what is the ultimate goal for educating him.
After lunch, I start working on the psych report that has been plaguing me for the past week. I'm almost to my favorite part, the emotional/social functioning section. This is where the voodoo of psychology comes in (as my professor in projective testing referred to it) and it is also the one part of the psych reports where I really need to feel inspired before I'm able to write it. There is so much information at the moment that I don't have a clear picture so I can foresee that this part will take another few days.
I then meet with an LDTC to review the testing of one of my students. We compare our results and decide that SLD is no longer an appropriate category for her and that while student may still be multiply disabled, the parts that make up the multiple disability have changed. We also discuss modifications that may assist her further and really can't think of anything more that what is being done at the moment.
After this, it is back to wrestling with the report a bit more and finalizing some information for Wednesday's meeting, while dealing with the growing headache. It has been awhile since I've had so many headaches. It is probably the continually changing temperatures that are occurring both in and outside of our building. That or my blood pressure has shot up suddenly. Growing old is crap.
Well, I got in this morning and contacted the school where the person that is going to translate for my Wednesday meeting works. Following that, I go over to the middle school with several of my coworkers to meet with the assistive technology specialist and teachers to oversee the creation of assignments for one of my students with the Classroom Suite software I've mentioned in previous posts. It was a fairly good meeting but we are still left with the overall issue of where is all this leading for this student and what is the ultimate goal for educating him.
After lunch, I start working on the psych report that has been plaguing me for the past week. I'm almost to my favorite part, the emotional/social functioning section. This is where the voodoo of psychology comes in (as my professor in projective testing referred to it) and it is also the one part of the psych reports where I really need to feel inspired before I'm able to write it. There is so much information at the moment that I don't have a clear picture so I can foresee that this part will take another few days.
I then meet with an LDTC to review the testing of one of my students. We compare our results and decide that SLD is no longer an appropriate category for her and that while student may still be multiply disabled, the parts that make up the multiple disability have changed. We also discuss modifications that may assist her further and really can't think of anything more that what is being done at the moment.
After this, it is back to wrestling with the report a bit more and finalizing some information for Wednesday's meeting, while dealing with the growing headache. It has been awhile since I've had so many headaches. It is probably the continually changing temperatures that are occurring both in and outside of our building. That or my blood pressure has shot up suddenly. Growing old is crap.
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