Back from the long weekend, I typed up the two risk assessments from last week as well as completed the SEMI paperwork for my November counseling. That takes up the whole morning. I also take a look at my upcoming due dates for re-evals and the wheels start turning in my head about what I need to do soon.
I also write an email regarding the pricing information I dug up on neuropsychological assessments and think about how I go about becoming a neuropsychologist. Then I grumpily admit that I don't have the time, money, or energy at the moment to go into a doctoral program.
Toward the end of the day, I attend an initial referral conference for a 2 year old who will be turning three in the near future. The case manager attempts to get the parents on the phone after they are more than fashionably late but meets with no success. So ends the day.
On Being the Only Male
I'm a minority in my department. The department has a history of only having one male case manager. Before me there was one male CM and only one before him. In my previous district, I was the only male CST member in my school but not in the district but the men continued to be the minority in the Special Ed department.
Part of this is the fact that education is a heavily female oriented profession. In the past, the administrative positions may have had more males than females but I think even that is changing to some degree since it is hard to find principals and superintendents, at least in the state of New Jersey. In my district, all the principals with the exception of the high school principal, are female. The department heads are female. The superintendent is female. The head of special education is female.
But I digress. I'm used to being the only male. In my previous career, I was the only male on my treatment team. Even so, it does bring up some interesting issues. I do feel that I have to be a bit cautious regarding what I say even though everyone is pretty liberal with their speech. While all my coworkers are great, I do feel a bit separated from everyone because I am the token male. Although it is interesting to note that since I have a small child/toddler, I get to be a part of the "mommy club" and commiserate with the other parents that have similar age children.
Now I'm not complaining about being the token male. I'm just commenting on it because I had the feeling of separateness due to my gender today. I do relate to my coworkers in other ways because there is an even rarer brand of coworker present in my office: the geek.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25th
Well, Wednesday made up for a mundane Monday and Tuesday. So, I go into work and head over to the high school for counseling. I try to meet with two students. I get the first one and have the session and then try to call down the second one. Since it was a half day, all the periods were shortened. I called into the period that was just about to end and asked the teacher to send the student to guidance at the end of the period. Period ends and not student. 5 minutes later, still not student. Another couple of minutes and still a no show. I even seen the teacher from the class I called and she said that she told the student. Ah well, I'll catch the student next week.
Following this, its back to home base. I'm not there for more than 15 minutes when I get a call to see my boss about a risk assessment at the middle school. I see my both who tells me of the unusual circumstances. That the incident that is triggering the assessment happened a week ago. I know that unless that student expresses similar ideas from last week that the student isn't going to be sent out and sending someone to the psych screeners for something that happened a week ago will result in nothing.
I meet with the student and the interview goes just as I expect. I get nothing. The student has either been coached or it was just impulsivity that lead to his inflammatory statement. But my day isn't over yet.
As I'm leaving, I'm told about this other student who happens to be in one of my counseling groups. The student is upset about something and the mother had asked that we speak with her about it. This request from the mother brings up the idea in my head of "how come parents can't talk to their kids" and "where does a school's responsibilities end" but since I'm there and I know the student I talk with 'em. Coincidentally, the student's case manager shows up about this issue as well. So we both end up talking with 'em. The issues that come up have a lot to do with bullying and cyber-bullying but other things come up as well, such as how one of the student's parents has been calling them extremely harsh names. Names that parents really shouldn't call their children and while that may seem like a judgment, it is but I'm not putting the names here for others to decide.
As the student is telling me things and answering my questions I begin to get the feeling that I have to ask the question. So I ask 'em if they have ever thought of hurting or killing themselves. I get a yes. This changes it from a counseling session to a risk assessment. In the end, I decide that she needs to be evaluated. I talk with the case manager and the guidance counselor and they both agree. We speak with the student to ask them which parent they would like us to call after telling 'em about our decision. The student asks for the other (non-name calling) parent. So we get the ball rolling. A short while after speaking with the requested parent, the other parent makes an angry phone call to the case manager. We take the heat because it was more important that the student was comfortable and didn't face an accusing parent at that moment, especially since that parent seemed to be part of the problem. The desired parent arrives and we meet and provide the information needed for them to get the student evaluated. In the meantime, I've contacted the psychiatric screeners and tell them to expect the student.
My day ends with me trying to find a freakin' fax machine that works. The third one's the charm. With that I'm able to go home.
See you all next week. Happy Thanksgiving!
Following this, its back to home base. I'm not there for more than 15 minutes when I get a call to see my boss about a risk assessment at the middle school. I see my both who tells me of the unusual circumstances. That the incident that is triggering the assessment happened a week ago. I know that unless that student expresses similar ideas from last week that the student isn't going to be sent out and sending someone to the psych screeners for something that happened a week ago will result in nothing.
I meet with the student and the interview goes just as I expect. I get nothing. The student has either been coached or it was just impulsivity that lead to his inflammatory statement. But my day isn't over yet.
As I'm leaving, I'm told about this other student who happens to be in one of my counseling groups. The student is upset about something and the mother had asked that we speak with her about it. This request from the mother brings up the idea in my head of "how come parents can't talk to their kids" and "where does a school's responsibilities end" but since I'm there and I know the student I talk with 'em. Coincidentally, the student's case manager shows up about this issue as well. So we both end up talking with 'em. The issues that come up have a lot to do with bullying and cyber-bullying but other things come up as well, such as how one of the student's parents has been calling them extremely harsh names. Names that parents really shouldn't call their children and while that may seem like a judgment, it is but I'm not putting the names here for others to decide.
As the student is telling me things and answering my questions I begin to get the feeling that I have to ask the question. So I ask 'em if they have ever thought of hurting or killing themselves. I get a yes. This changes it from a counseling session to a risk assessment. In the end, I decide that she needs to be evaluated. I talk with the case manager and the guidance counselor and they both agree. We speak with the student to ask them which parent they would like us to call after telling 'em about our decision. The student asks for the other (non-name calling) parent. So we get the ball rolling. A short while after speaking with the requested parent, the other parent makes an angry phone call to the case manager. We take the heat because it was more important that the student was comfortable and didn't face an accusing parent at that moment, especially since that parent seemed to be part of the problem. The desired parent arrives and we meet and provide the information needed for them to get the student evaluated. In the meantime, I've contacted the psychiatric screeners and tell them to expect the student.
My day ends with me trying to find a freakin' fax machine that works. The third one's the charm. With that I'm able to go home.
See you all next week. Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23rd and Tuesday, November 24th
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.
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.
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.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Friday = Department Meeting
Friday, November 13th
Well, not much new to report on the situations of the last few days. Our phones weren't working so I couldn't call out of the building and there is a chance that no one could call in to us.
We had some "trainings" about policy during our weekly department meeting where we were handed a power point in written form and reviewed it and then signed an attendance sheet as evidence of our presence for the training. At least in my old career, we would have had to take a post-test.
One training was on the 12 protected categories, meaning that you can't discriminate due to age, race, nationality, creed, religion, etc. All I could think of during this was a quote from an Austin Powers movie: "There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch."
The rest of the meeting revolved around measurable goals and objectives and the need for teachers to be able to measure the progress of goals and objectives. This also sparked conversation about how teachers get so caught up in curriculum that they don't look at the data that they may get from standardized teaching programs. Our literacy specialist mentioned that one teacher had been telling her about how this student, who should have been kept back last year, wasn't progressing in the Project Read program that is being used in the district. So the reading specialist looked over the results of the testing and saw where the student was getting caught up. When she approached the teacher about the diagnostics of the testing and tips for remediation, the teacher just came back with the student should have been retained last year.
Another issue is that the educational programs that are instituted in the district aren't being followed as they should and are done piecemeal, so of course they aren't effective. I think that this is an issue with administrative support. When any new program or technology is instituted in any organization, it needs close oversight and support to ensure that it is being done properly and that the staff receives the support it needs to get past any roadblocks they encounter. If the line staff are just given something to do with only minimal training and no additional support then people shouldn't be surprised when it isn't followed.
Well, enough of being on a high horse. It is Friday night. Time to relax.
Well, not much new to report on the situations of the last few days. Our phones weren't working so I couldn't call out of the building and there is a chance that no one could call in to us.
We had some "trainings" about policy during our weekly department meeting where we were handed a power point in written form and reviewed it and then signed an attendance sheet as evidence of our presence for the training. At least in my old career, we would have had to take a post-test.
One training was on the 12 protected categories, meaning that you can't discriminate due to age, race, nationality, creed, religion, etc. All I could think of during this was a quote from an Austin Powers movie: "There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch."
The rest of the meeting revolved around measurable goals and objectives and the need for teachers to be able to measure the progress of goals and objectives. This also sparked conversation about how teachers get so caught up in curriculum that they don't look at the data that they may get from standardized teaching programs. Our literacy specialist mentioned that one teacher had been telling her about how this student, who should have been kept back last year, wasn't progressing in the Project Read program that is being used in the district. So the reading specialist looked over the results of the testing and saw where the student was getting caught up. When she approached the teacher about the diagnostics of the testing and tips for remediation, the teacher just came back with the student should have been retained last year.
Another issue is that the educational programs that are instituted in the district aren't being followed as they should and are done piecemeal, so of course they aren't effective. I think that this is an issue with administrative support. When any new program or technology is instituted in any organization, it needs close oversight and support to ensure that it is being done properly and that the staff receives the support it needs to get past any roadblocks they encounter. If the line staff are just given something to do with only minimal training and no additional support then people shouldn't be surprised when it isn't followed.
Well, enough of being on a high horse. It is Friday night. Time to relax.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Well, I called it
Thursday, November 12th
Well, I get into work and head straight over to the high school for counseling. After several interesting sessions, I return to the office and get ready for my next bout of counseling at the middle school. I do a few things around the office, which include printing out the contract information for the Language Line Interpretation Services that I think our department, if not the whole district, is going to sign up for. This is something that we really need considering our district has a large latin population with a high prevalence on non-Spanish speaking staff, myself included.
I've used the Language Line in a previous job and it is quite good. They have immediate access to over 170 languages and they are just a phone call away. So, if a parent calls out of nowhere, you don't have to scramble to find an interpreter, you can put the parent on hold, call the Language Line, and then conference them in. They can also interpret while on speaker phone. And they do document translation.
So after my middle school counseling, I get back to the office, have lunch and receive the phone call. I called it. In reference to my thoughts on my parent phone call yesterday, mom called and said that she is bringing a lawyer to our next meeting. Again, it was all very polite and cordial, and there is no reason it can't be. But I called it. I said that I felt that the only way this was going to be resolved is if lawyers are involved. Well, they're involved.
Well, I get into work and head straight over to the high school for counseling. After several interesting sessions, I return to the office and get ready for my next bout of counseling at the middle school. I do a few things around the office, which include printing out the contract information for the Language Line Interpretation Services that I think our department, if not the whole district, is going to sign up for. This is something that we really need considering our district has a large latin population with a high prevalence on non-Spanish speaking staff, myself included.
I've used the Language Line in a previous job and it is quite good. They have immediate access to over 170 languages and they are just a phone call away. So, if a parent calls out of nowhere, you don't have to scramble to find an interpreter, you can put the parent on hold, call the Language Line, and then conference them in. They can also interpret while on speaker phone. And they do document translation.
So after my middle school counseling, I get back to the office, have lunch and receive the phone call. I called it. In reference to my thoughts on my parent phone call yesterday, mom called and said that she is bringing a lawyer to our next meeting. Again, it was all very polite and cordial, and there is no reason it can't be. But I called it. I said that I felt that the only way this was going to be resolved is if lawyers are involved. Well, they're involved.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Unpredictable and The Predictable
Wednesday, November 11th
I get into work and within 5 minutes I get a call about a hysterical student at the high school and the need for a risk assessment. So much for the counseling schedule today. Off I go and do my psychologist shtick. I decide that the student doesn't need to be sent out for a screening but does need outside therapy. The student has started to engage in cutting behaviors and it appears to be escalating. The guidance counselor and I contact the parents who come in a short while later to see their child. When they arrive, with meet with the student and her parents. I go over everything and mom and student are tearful. Then out of nowhere, the father bursts out crying. Then the guidance counselor is crying. Now I'm not a cold person but I figured someone needed to hold it together. The end result is that both parents are obviously supportive and love their child very much and agree that counseling is needed. The student goes home for the day with her parents. That was the unpredictable.
The predictable was the follow up from my phone conversation with a parent yesterday. The one that I was elusive about in yesterday's post. So due to previous experience (and as someone once said, I think it was a talk radio shrink the only way to predict future behavior is by looking at past behavior), I knew what the parent's response was going to be to what had transpired. So, I prefaced my phone call to the parent by saying, "I think you'll be asking me for my supervisor's phone number by the end of this call." She said, "I think you're right about that." I delivered my message, she asked for the supervisor's number. Then I asked, as an aside, "Are we still on for our meeting next week?" She politely replied in the affirmative.
Those were the highlights of the day. The only other thing was a phone exchange with the psychiatrist of a student that I'm evaluating. Everything else was email exchanges and paperwork. Tomorrow I start catching up with my counseling from today.
I get into work and within 5 minutes I get a call about a hysterical student at the high school and the need for a risk assessment. So much for the counseling schedule today. Off I go and do my psychologist shtick. I decide that the student doesn't need to be sent out for a screening but does need outside therapy. The student has started to engage in cutting behaviors and it appears to be escalating. The guidance counselor and I contact the parents who come in a short while later to see their child. When they arrive, with meet with the student and her parents. I go over everything and mom and student are tearful. Then out of nowhere, the father bursts out crying. Then the guidance counselor is crying. Now I'm not a cold person but I figured someone needed to hold it together. The end result is that both parents are obviously supportive and love their child very much and agree that counseling is needed. The student goes home for the day with her parents. That was the unpredictable.
The predictable was the follow up from my phone conversation with a parent yesterday. The one that I was elusive about in yesterday's post. So due to previous experience (and as someone once said, I think it was a talk radio shrink the only way to predict future behavior is by looking at past behavior), I knew what the parent's response was going to be to what had transpired. So, I prefaced my phone call to the parent by saying, "I think you'll be asking me for my supervisor's phone number by the end of this call." She said, "I think you're right about that." I delivered my message, she asked for the supervisor's number. Then I asked, as an aside, "Are we still on for our meeting next week?" She politely replied in the affirmative.
Those were the highlights of the day. The only other thing was a phone exchange with the psychiatrist of a student that I'm evaluating. Everything else was email exchanges and paperwork. Tomorrow I start catching up with my counseling from today.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Where did the day go?
Tuesday, November 10th
Well, today started off in a mundane fashion with the exception of knowing that I had a teacher meeting today involving one of my higher profile cases. I cleaned out some old testing materials from a cabinet. It is amazing what can accumulate when you have to make sure things need to be shredded or destroyed. It seems easier just to keep it.
Following that, I finished an IEP and put it in the mail. Then went back and forth between working on the psychological assessment and setting up a schedule for the 7th graders that I was assigned for counseling. Because of the frequency, I need to meet them in groups. In general, I really don't like group counseling. It is just something that I don't enjoy. But this isn't about my enjoyment, so I started trying to figure out what to do for an icebreaker. I decided to use a game that I had actually gotten for staff lunch time as a sort of team building activity (this idea is a hold over from my previous career). The game is called Rorschach. Its a fun little game and you can immediately see the psychological allure of the game. It requires you to be able to guess what over people will respond as well as trying to be unique.
Follow that it was lunch and then the day got interesting. This is where I'm going to speak in generalities because I don't feel comfortable and want to err on the side of caution. I had to contact a parent about their child attending an after school activity and the district's need to have staff present at the activity. The parent did not want staff present at the activity beyond who is supposed to be there/required to be there.
Without going into detail (again), I'll just say that there are a lot of factors that come into play when deciding services for a student. And those factors can be at odds with each other. When does the physical safety of the child and district liability outweigh the student's need for independence and to not feel stigmatized? I don't know the answer but I have a feeling I'm going to find out. I just wonder if I'll find out through normal methods or due process or mediation.
The day ended with my teacher meeting. The district has purchased a software program called Classroom Suite (sorry, no link, I'm not sure whether I personally endorse this product) to help modify assignment and present class material in different ways. The software had a much steeper learning curve than initially thought so we have bought the services of an AT special to make assignments for teachers using the software. But in order to do this, the teachers have to be able to tell the AT specialist what is coming up next in the curriculum to get the stuff ahead of time. So we had a meeting to try to figure out where we, as a team, are headed with educating this student. This encompasses more than just classwork because it is also about trying to figure out how to get the parents over a hump in preparing for their child's future. Again, this is not an easy task.
Well, tomorrow is another day. I have a feeling I may be using the phrase: "You'll need to speak with my supervisor."
Well, today started off in a mundane fashion with the exception of knowing that I had a teacher meeting today involving one of my higher profile cases. I cleaned out some old testing materials from a cabinet. It is amazing what can accumulate when you have to make sure things need to be shredded or destroyed. It seems easier just to keep it.
Following that, I finished an IEP and put it in the mail. Then went back and forth between working on the psychological assessment and setting up a schedule for the 7th graders that I was assigned for counseling. Because of the frequency, I need to meet them in groups. In general, I really don't like group counseling. It is just something that I don't enjoy. But this isn't about my enjoyment, so I started trying to figure out what to do for an icebreaker. I decided to use a game that I had actually gotten for staff lunch time as a sort of team building activity (this idea is a hold over from my previous career). The game is called Rorschach. Its a fun little game and you can immediately see the psychological allure of the game. It requires you to be able to guess what over people will respond as well as trying to be unique.
Follow that it was lunch and then the day got interesting. This is where I'm going to speak in generalities because I don't feel comfortable and want to err on the side of caution. I had to contact a parent about their child attending an after school activity and the district's need to have staff present at the activity. The parent did not want staff present at the activity beyond who is supposed to be there/required to be there.
Without going into detail (again), I'll just say that there are a lot of factors that come into play when deciding services for a student. And those factors can be at odds with each other. When does the physical safety of the child and district liability outweigh the student's need for independence and to not feel stigmatized? I don't know the answer but I have a feeling I'm going to find out. I just wonder if I'll find out through normal methods or due process or mediation.
The day ended with my teacher meeting. The district has purchased a software program called Classroom Suite (sorry, no link, I'm not sure whether I personally endorse this product) to help modify assignment and present class material in different ways. The software had a much steeper learning curve than initially thought so we have bought the services of an AT special to make assignments for teachers using the software. But in order to do this, the teachers have to be able to tell the AT specialist what is coming up next in the curriculum to get the stuff ahead of time. So we had a meeting to try to figure out where we, as a team, are headed with educating this student. This encompasses more than just classwork because it is also about trying to figure out how to get the parents over a hump in preparing for their child's future. Again, this is not an easy task.
Well, tomorrow is another day. I have a feeling I may be using the phrase: "You'll need to speak with my supervisor."
Monday, November 9, 2009
Thank you for your comment, Sarah
I just read Sarah's post below and, while I think I've discovered the trick to commenting, I figure I'll post my answer here.
Thank you for your kind words and good luck with your application. I don't know what state you are in so your experience as a school psychologist may vary. I should probably put something in my tagline at the top to explain that I'm a school psychologist in New Jersey so your individual experience may vary.
In NJ, child study team members serve two functions. One is the our specialty (school psychologist, learning consultant, school social worker) and the other is case manager. In other states, it changes. In New York, school psychologists do all the testing, both educational and psychological, while LDs spend much more time in the classroom. In other states, a school psychologist will do the testing while the special education teacher holds the IEP meetings and does the paperwork.
In Jersey, we do both, which is why in one of my posts, I mentioned that I often do more case management stuff than actually being a psychologist.
This is my 5th year as a school psychologist. I've worked in two school districts (three if you count my intership). One for three years, which I was glad to leave, and this is my second year in my current district. Prior to this, I worked for 11 years in the adult behavioral healthcare. I started as a residence counselor in an adult psychiatric group home; then went on to work as a case manager with adults with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI, as the acronym goes) in a psychiatric outreach program, which provided all the services of a psychiatric hosptial in an urban setting, and I eventually became the team leader for the treatment team I started on, which was the biggest mistake of my life. The only way out of that was to switch careers or to move into an even more administrative role which is not my strong suit.
Without trying to sound arrogant, I am much better with positions that provide me with "client" contact and make use of my clinical skills, and to stay in my previous field would have meant the only way to move up was to lose the one thing I was good at. And I don't like to be the boss.
The other problem was that the program I worked for had a saying, "PACT is for life." While I sometimes wondered whose life, it really was supposed to mean that our program was available for a person as long as they needed it. So when I left there after 7+ years, there were still some clients with us that were there when I started. Which can be very disheartening and leads to high burnout.
I started the school psych program because I needed a change. I had also gotten married and being on-call 24/7 is not something that I wanted to continue in my married life. I had noticed that a large number of our clients had been special education students when they had been in school. So I thought that maybe if I could get to them a little bit younger, it would help them avoid have multiple hospitalizations over the course of their adulthood. I had adult clients that had spent years in psychiatric facilities that were now trying to start their life over. It was pretty damn rough for them.
I still don't know how it has played out as far as helping some of the kids end up in psych hospitals. But as far as burnout is concerned, it is much better for me because I'm not the boss and eventually, the student will graduate or age out so my clientele will change on a fairly regular basis.
So that is the awfully long winded story of how I got into school psychology.
Thank you for your kind words and good luck with your application. I don't know what state you are in so your experience as a school psychologist may vary. I should probably put something in my tagline at the top to explain that I'm a school psychologist in New Jersey so your individual experience may vary.
In NJ, child study team members serve two functions. One is the our specialty (school psychologist, learning consultant, school social worker) and the other is case manager. In other states, it changes. In New York, school psychologists do all the testing, both educational and psychological, while LDs spend much more time in the classroom. In other states, a school psychologist will do the testing while the special education teacher holds the IEP meetings and does the paperwork.
In Jersey, we do both, which is why in one of my posts, I mentioned that I often do more case management stuff than actually being a psychologist.
This is my 5th year as a school psychologist. I've worked in two school districts (three if you count my intership). One for three years, which I was glad to leave, and this is my second year in my current district. Prior to this, I worked for 11 years in the adult behavioral healthcare. I started as a residence counselor in an adult psychiatric group home; then went on to work as a case manager with adults with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI, as the acronym goes) in a psychiatric outreach program, which provided all the services of a psychiatric hosptial in an urban setting, and I eventually became the team leader for the treatment team I started on, which was the biggest mistake of my life. The only way out of that was to switch careers or to move into an even more administrative role which is not my strong suit.
Without trying to sound arrogant, I am much better with positions that provide me with "client" contact and make use of my clinical skills, and to stay in my previous field would have meant the only way to move up was to lose the one thing I was good at. And I don't like to be the boss.
The other problem was that the program I worked for had a saying, "PACT is for life." While I sometimes wondered whose life, it really was supposed to mean that our program was available for a person as long as they needed it. So when I left there after 7+ years, there were still some clients with us that were there when I started. Which can be very disheartening and leads to high burnout.
I started the school psych program because I needed a change. I had also gotten married and being on-call 24/7 is not something that I wanted to continue in my married life. I had noticed that a large number of our clients had been special education students when they had been in school. So I thought that maybe if I could get to them a little bit younger, it would help them avoid have multiple hospitalizations over the course of their adulthood. I had adult clients that had spent years in psychiatric facilities that were now trying to start their life over. It was pretty damn rough for them.
I still don't know how it has played out as far as helping some of the kids end up in psych hospitals. But as far as burnout is concerned, it is much better for me because I'm not the boss and eventually, the student will graduate or age out so my clientele will change on a fairly regular basis.
So that is the awfully long winded story of how I got into school psychology.
PD Wrap-up & Back to Work
November 4th & 5th
Not much to add from the three days of professional development. The explanation why we were sent to things that involved classroom instruction was so we were aware of it even if we didn't practice it.
During those three days, I got assigned a priority evaluation which was referred by the superintendent due to disciplinary issues. I heard I was chosen specifically for this one. It's great to be popular but I guess it means I'll still have a job. The one interesting thing in this was the rarity of the language for the family. At least it is a rarity in our district. Enough of a rarity that it is going to be difficulty having the initial referral conference and the social assessment is going to require an official interpreter.
Beyond that, there wasn't much to talk about for professional development.
Monday, November 9th
Back from the long weekend. I didn't attend the teachers' convention because I'm not one for large gatherings and I don't have the drive to drive to Atlantic City for a day. Work started by trying to organize some stuff for the coming week and doing some clean-up of outstanding issues. I arranged the initial planning conference for the priority referral; completed an IEP, mostly; finished the psych eval that I started just before Halloween; and spoke to the paraprofessional in the district that had translated for the priority referral family.
In regard to the latter, I learned that the para really didn't speak the family's language but a very distant relations of the family's language. This made me question using her for translation even more. I emailed my supervisor regarding this and also found out that we had used an outside agency at one point to translate for another rare language.
Last year I had brought up the idea of the district contracting with AT&T's Language Line. I had worked at a psychiatric emergency screening center that used them and it was extremely handy. It provided the ability for us to have an interpreter just a phone call away whenever needed. Considering the high Hispanic population in my district and the low number of Spanish speaking staff in the district, I think it would be perfect. I wouldn't have to hunt down a Spanish speaking staff member to translate for the 40 percent of my caseload with Spanish speaking only parents. It would allow the teachers to actually call home and speak with parents. And we would have access to professionals for the rare languages.
Well, that's all for today.
Not much to add from the three days of professional development. The explanation why we were sent to things that involved classroom instruction was so we were aware of it even if we didn't practice it.
During those three days, I got assigned a priority evaluation which was referred by the superintendent due to disciplinary issues. I heard I was chosen specifically for this one. It's great to be popular but I guess it means I'll still have a job. The one interesting thing in this was the rarity of the language for the family. At least it is a rarity in our district. Enough of a rarity that it is going to be difficulty having the initial referral conference and the social assessment is going to require an official interpreter.
Beyond that, there wasn't much to talk about for professional development.
Monday, November 9th
Back from the long weekend. I didn't attend the teachers' convention because I'm not one for large gatherings and I don't have the drive to drive to Atlantic City for a day. Work started by trying to organize some stuff for the coming week and doing some clean-up of outstanding issues. I arranged the initial planning conference for the priority referral; completed an IEP, mostly; finished the psych eval that I started just before Halloween; and spoke to the paraprofessional in the district that had translated for the priority referral family.
In regard to the latter, I learned that the para really didn't speak the family's language but a very distant relations of the family's language. This made me question using her for translation even more. I emailed my supervisor regarding this and also found out that we had used an outside agency at one point to translate for another rare language.
Last year I had brought up the idea of the district contracting with AT&T's Language Line. I had worked at a psychiatric emergency screening center that used them and it was extremely handy. It provided the ability for us to have an interpreter just a phone call away whenever needed. Considering the high Hispanic population in my district and the low number of Spanish speaking staff in the district, I think it would be perfect. I wouldn't have to hunt down a Spanish speaking staff member to translate for the 40 percent of my caseload with Spanish speaking only parents. It would allow the teachers to actually call home and speak with parents. And we would have access to professionals for the rare languages.
Well, that's all for today.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Professional Development
Monday, November 2nd
Well, whether it was just the reality of the situation or a self-fulfilling prophecy, the workshop at PD Day was as much an exercise in frustration as I expected. We (meaning the CST member that were there) couldn't even do the exercises because it all had to do with being a classroom teacher.
My other complaint is: How come the people that talk about how to make a classroom dynamic and, for a lack of a better word, entertaining for students can't do the same thing for people that have to sit in a workshop for 4 hours. Just because we're adults doesn't mean that the same rules shouldn't apply.
For the second half of the day, we were allowed to do work. I finished a psych report. All I need to do is edit it tomorrow.
Well, whether it was just the reality of the situation or a self-fulfilling prophecy, the workshop at PD Day was as much an exercise in frustration as I expected. We (meaning the CST member that were there) couldn't even do the exercises because it all had to do with being a classroom teacher.
My other complaint is: How come the people that talk about how to make a classroom dynamic and, for a lack of a better word, entertaining for students can't do the same thing for people that have to sit in a workshop for 4 hours. Just because we're adults doesn't mean that the same rules shouldn't apply.
For the second half of the day, we were allowed to do work. I finished a psych report. All I need to do is edit it tomorrow.
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