Friday, October 30th
Well, its Friday and the monitors are gone until mid-November. It is also the last official day of work for the week since next week is three days of professional development and then two days off due to the teachers' convention.
It was also staff breakfast day, so the morning was filled with typing a report and eating. And scoring some protocols and eating. Not a whole lot happened today. Since it was also the day before Halloween, there were the usual elementary school costume parades. So a lot of the elementary case managers went over to their respective schools to watch.
It was also Violence Prevention week and the high and middle schools had a presentation put on by Rachel's Challenge. I wonder how much of an impact had on the students since it was being held at the end of the day before Halloween and before a week off. I wonder if such a program would have had more of an impact if it had been held earlier in the week with some sort of follow up in the classrooms. Although I think that there are probably few teachers that would feel comfortable talking to students about such a potentially emotionally charged event.
I watched the presentation at the middle school and then returned to the office. With the exception of a few of my coworkers, everyone seemed to have cleared out early. I spent the last half hour speaking my coworkers about the initial outcome of the monitoring. Then it was time for home.
I don't know how much I'll post next week considering it is three days of professional development. I could really only bemoan the fact that CST members always get sent to workshops that don't apply to them for one day.
Have a good weekend and Happy Halloween!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Testing and Monitoring: Day 3
Thursday, October 29th
I went into work, grabbed my test kit, and headed to the middle school. I then spent the next 3 hours teaching one of the most hyperactive middle schoolers I have ever met. Wow, that was exhausting. And I still have to go back to finish up one more part. Toward the middle end of the my time with the student, I started getting calls from my office. The monitors wanted to see more charts and did I know of any other re-evals or initials from the middle school. I wracked my brain and gave some names.
When I got back to the office, I checked in with the secretaries and they were still looking for charts. I thought of some more and got them together. Later, I learned that one of the issues was that we were using the wrong documents. But we were using the documents that were in the program purchased from a state vendor. I don't know how it is in other states but from what I know, a state vendor is required to update documents within 14 days of a new state form. Well, not only wasn't our state vendor reliably updating the documents but when they did, they didn't remove the old documents. And we also learned that other districts had been getting in trouble with state monitors because of the same vendor. This just continued to increase my dislike for this special education software even more.
A short while later, the monitors were gone for the day after also questioning the pre-school and elementary CST staff. They will be returning in November to speak with the high school CST and look around at the schools. Overall, the monitors were pleasant and helpful.
Following lunch, I started working on the psych report from yesterdays testing. I also got into a discussion with my office mate about organizational systems. She has been going to elaborate lengths to develop spreadsheets and other electronic formats to organize herself. Her abilities are to be praised and she is certainly disciplined. I am not that disciplined and some of the things would be more work than reward for me. In the end, the conversation boils down to different strokes for different folks.
After some more work on the report I started, it is time to go home. Friday is almost here.
I went into work, grabbed my test kit, and headed to the middle school. I then spent the next 3 hours teaching one of the most hyperactive middle schoolers I have ever met. Wow, that was exhausting. And I still have to go back to finish up one more part. Toward the middle end of the my time with the student, I started getting calls from my office. The monitors wanted to see more charts and did I know of any other re-evals or initials from the middle school. I wracked my brain and gave some names.
When I got back to the office, I checked in with the secretaries and they were still looking for charts. I thought of some more and got them together. Later, I learned that one of the issues was that we were using the wrong documents. But we were using the documents that were in the program purchased from a state vendor. I don't know how it is in other states but from what I know, a state vendor is required to update documents within 14 days of a new state form. Well, not only wasn't our state vendor reliably updating the documents but when they did, they didn't remove the old documents. And we also learned that other districts had been getting in trouble with state monitors because of the same vendor. This just continued to increase my dislike for this special education software even more.
A short while later, the monitors were gone for the day after also questioning the pre-school and elementary CST staff. They will be returning in November to speak with the high school CST and look around at the schools. Overall, the monitors were pleasant and helpful.
Following lunch, I started working on the psych report from yesterdays testing. I also got into a discussion with my office mate about organizational systems. She has been going to elaborate lengths to develop spreadsheets and other electronic formats to organize herself. Her abilities are to be praised and she is certainly disciplined. I am not that disciplined and some of the things would be more work than reward for me. In the end, the conversation boils down to different strokes for different folks.
After some more work on the report I started, it is time to go home. Friday is almost here.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Monitoring: Day Two
Honestly, I didn't see much of the monitors today. I got in and did a little paperwork prep for a parent meeting at 10am then I went to the high school for some counseling before my meeting. The meeting went alright. The mother of the student is in a difficult position because the culture she is from makes it hard for mothers to impose rules and structure on their male children. Unfortunately, rules and structure are what the student needs.
Just as I return to the office and sit at my desk, my phone rings. It is the district counselor calling to confer with me about a student possibly needing a risk assessment. The problem is that the incident that is potentially a trigger for the risk assessment not only happened two weeks ago but it didn't even happen on school grounds. The director of guidance, who is the district counselors supervisor, told her to get a risk assessment. My opinion in the situation is that the only way a risk assessment would be fruitful is if the student not only admits to doing what was said (which he isn't) but if he still wants to do it. Otherwise psychiatric screeners would laugh in our face for sending someone for additional screening. I know that the director's position is a CYA and this brings up an interesting thing to note. Or at least interesting to me.
The difference between the clinical standpoint and the school district point of view. Definitely not a revelation but something that might be a cautionary lesson for anyone not in school psychology but is thinking of going into the fielf. I'm going to digress for a minute and get into my personal background because I think it is pertinent to my point of view.
My entire career has been in the field of mental health and psychology. I was an undergrad psych major. My early career was working with psychiatrically disabled adults. My masters in in psychology. It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I went back for school psychology and entered education. I don't have the education background that a number of my fellow school psychologist co-workers have. At least 3 of them have their undergrad degrees in education. My strength is my clinical skill. My weakness is my understanding of curriculum and pedagogy. So my being in the educational system still feels a bit like an outsider looking in.
So my viewpoint colored my perception of this situation: clinically, I know that a risk assessment at this time was fairly pointless. The district counselor had already advised the mother of her options in this situation. But the clinical viewpoint doesn't mean much when someone further up the chain of command wants it another way. So I went over to speak with the kid.
After about 45 minutes of the kid not changing his story but doing a very poor job of convincing me that the incident didn't happen, I let him go. Nothing short of waterboarding was going to get him to admit it.
So, I return to the office none the worse for wear. I have lunch with my coworkers where we discuss children's television. I share my cynical viewpoint of Franny's Feet which is received with much laughter. We discuss Yo Gabba Gabba, which another coworker can't believe such a show exists.
After that, I head over to finish the testing I started on Monday. The additional subtests from the WISC-IV Integrated pretty much bear out my hypothesis on the student's abilities. I go back to the office once again and let my boss know about the "risk assessment" and also see if I can find out about the monitoring status. I learn that there are some of the issues that the monitors have noted and that they don't seem to be seeking to play a game of "Gotchya."
With that, another day comes to a close.
Looking back at what I have just written about the risk assessment, I feel like there wasn't too much of a point in what I wrote. I may have to look at it again and edit or expand on it. Ah well, it is the best I could do at the moment...
Just as I return to the office and sit at my desk, my phone rings. It is the district counselor calling to confer with me about a student possibly needing a risk assessment. The problem is that the incident that is potentially a trigger for the risk assessment not only happened two weeks ago but it didn't even happen on school grounds. The director of guidance, who is the district counselors supervisor, told her to get a risk assessment. My opinion in the situation is that the only way a risk assessment would be fruitful is if the student not only admits to doing what was said (which he isn't) but if he still wants to do it. Otherwise psychiatric screeners would laugh in our face for sending someone for additional screening. I know that the director's position is a CYA and this brings up an interesting thing to note. Or at least interesting to me.
The difference between the clinical standpoint and the school district point of view. Definitely not a revelation but something that might be a cautionary lesson for anyone not in school psychology but is thinking of going into the fielf. I'm going to digress for a minute and get into my personal background because I think it is pertinent to my point of view.
My entire career has been in the field of mental health and psychology. I was an undergrad psych major. My early career was working with psychiatrically disabled adults. My masters in in psychology. It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I went back for school psychology and entered education. I don't have the education background that a number of my fellow school psychologist co-workers have. At least 3 of them have their undergrad degrees in education. My strength is my clinical skill. My weakness is my understanding of curriculum and pedagogy. So my being in the educational system still feels a bit like an outsider looking in.
So my viewpoint colored my perception of this situation: clinically, I know that a risk assessment at this time was fairly pointless. The district counselor had already advised the mother of her options in this situation. But the clinical viewpoint doesn't mean much when someone further up the chain of command wants it another way. So I went over to speak with the kid.
After about 45 minutes of the kid not changing his story but doing a very poor job of convincing me that the incident didn't happen, I let him go. Nothing short of waterboarding was going to get him to admit it.
So, I return to the office none the worse for wear. I have lunch with my coworkers where we discuss children's television. I share my cynical viewpoint of Franny's Feet which is received with much laughter. We discuss Yo Gabba Gabba, which another coworker can't believe such a show exists.
After that, I head over to finish the testing I started on Monday. The additional subtests from the WISC-IV Integrated pretty much bear out my hypothesis on the student's abilities. I go back to the office once again and let my boss know about the "risk assessment" and also see if I can find out about the monitoring status. I learn that there are some of the issues that the monitors have noted and that they don't seem to be seeking to play a game of "Gotchya."
With that, another day comes to a close.
Looking back at what I have just written about the risk assessment, I feel like there wasn't too much of a point in what I wrote. I may have to look at it again and edit or expand on it. Ah well, it is the best I could do at the moment...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monitoring: Day One
Tuesday, October 27th
The day starts off innocuously enough and pretty much stays that way. So much so that I really can't remember much of it. The monitors weren't scheduled to arrive until late morning. I began my day with an email check and then I started organizing things for my new counseling caseload. I began by filling out the NJ Special Education Medicaid Initiative Related Services Tracking Form for the month of October. Wow, now that is a title for a form.
Halfway to writer's cramp in my hand, I decide to look online for an electronic version of the form. I find it and then spend 45 minutes setting things up for my caseload for the coming months. Now I am ready. A lot of the time I feel like an acoustic guitarist: I spend half my time tuning up and the other half of the time playing out of tune. A message to any acoustic guitarist: no insult is intended. This was a joke that my very musically inclined cousin told me.
I finish about half of the October forms by lunch time. Around 11am, the monitor arrived. One of my coworkers joked that it was a rain delay. I asked if a bunch of guys came out and dragged a blue tarp over the files.
After lunch, I busy myself with other paperwork and also talk with one of the supervisors about a particularly sticky case and a series of emails that have been traded between the parent and one of the teachers. I really need to start having regular weekly or biweekly meetings with the teachers.
The monitors leave by 3pm. I go into the director's office to hear how things were going. The monitors asked to see a few more charts in a particular category that they are looking at. We discuss what sort of things the monitors are looking for without much outcome. We also learn that the monitors are going to interview case managers on Thursday. This brings things to a close for the day.
The day starts off innocuously enough and pretty much stays that way. So much so that I really can't remember much of it. The monitors weren't scheduled to arrive until late morning. I began my day with an email check and then I started organizing things for my new counseling caseload. I began by filling out the NJ Special Education Medicaid Initiative Related Services Tracking Form for the month of October. Wow, now that is a title for a form.
Halfway to writer's cramp in my hand, I decide to look online for an electronic version of the form. I find it and then spend 45 minutes setting things up for my caseload for the coming months. Now I am ready. A lot of the time I feel like an acoustic guitarist: I spend half my time tuning up and the other half of the time playing out of tune. A message to any acoustic guitarist: no insult is intended. This was a joke that my very musically inclined cousin told me.
I finish about half of the October forms by lunch time. Around 11am, the monitor arrived. One of my coworkers joked that it was a rain delay. I asked if a bunch of guys came out and dragged a blue tarp over the files.
After lunch, I busy myself with other paperwork and also talk with one of the supervisors about a particularly sticky case and a series of emails that have been traded between the parent and one of the teachers. I really need to start having regular weekly or biweekly meetings with the teachers.
The monitors leave by 3pm. I go into the director's office to hear how things were going. The monitors asked to see a few more charts in a particular category that they are looking at. We discuss what sort of things the monitors are looking for without much outcome. We also learn that the monitors are going to interview case managers on Thursday. This brings things to a close for the day.
Monday, October 26, 2009
A New Week
Monday, October 26th
One day until the monitors but not much to be done about that at the moment. I took a walk over to the high school as soon as I got in so I could reserve the guidance conference room for an 11am meeting. After that, our special ed paperwork program is down...again. I call the tech support line and leave a message. I also tell the office manager about it and she was already sending an email about it. But that puts a damper on things since I'm supposed to attend an eligibility meeting at 9am and I had to get my evaluation summary in the eligibility report. Shortly before 9am, I try it again and find I am able to get in. This coincides with a phone call from the tech support to inform me that their internet service provider had gone down over the weekend and they had just reset everything. So all the paperwork is ready just in time for the meeting. Not really my meeting because I'm not the case manager. I just did the psych.
9am comes and we are all present, including a representative from an outside agency who report that the student was arrested last week for simple assault and robbery and won't be attending because they are in jail. The mom doesn't show up either. We talk for a bit about possible outcomes from this even. The case manager goes to call the mother.
We have our final pre-monitoring meeting at 9:30, which I wasn't expecting to attend since I thought I would be in the eligibility conference until 10am. Not much left to say. The high school gets to have their charts reviewed first. Yay. If there isn't a post tomorrow, it is because I'm recovering.
I get out of the meeting and walk into my office just in time to answer my phone. It is my 11am meeting canceling on me. Even though she is canceling, she agrees to the needed changes to her child's program so I can go ahead with the plan for today without the meeting. She agrees to come in on Wednesday so that she can take care of the paperwork.
I go to the high school to meet with the student in question and get the schedule changed. While I'm there, I also schedule the conference room for Wednesday. The change in schedule is actually easier than expected and the student takes it well. The student is a bit surprised to find out they are failing so many things so soon. As was I when I first saw it. He gets the standard high school talk about how this is for real now and the impact of not passing and credits and such.
After that, it is lunch. Following lunch, I go to the elementary school to start testing the student I observed last week. I get pretty far. I finish the WISC-IV although from my observations during the test, I know that I want to do some of the Integrated optional subtests. I have a suspicion that the results of the verbal comp subtests aren't an accurate representation of his ability. When I get back to the office, I score the WISC and decide that I should really do a whole slew of addition subtests.
With that, it is time to end my day. I'm supposed to be on hand tomorrow to answer any questions about my charts that the monitors have so I don't know how much time I'll have to do other things tomorrow. Ah well.
Commenting on Comments
I've tried several times to post my own comments in reply to the comments that have been left on my page. For some reason, I'm not allowed to do so. Please don't think I'm ignoring them.
As for loving extra long meeting...yes, they are fabulous and do wonders for headaches.
One day until the monitors but not much to be done about that at the moment. I took a walk over to the high school as soon as I got in so I could reserve the guidance conference room for an 11am meeting. After that, our special ed paperwork program is down...again. I call the tech support line and leave a message. I also tell the office manager about it and she was already sending an email about it. But that puts a damper on things since I'm supposed to attend an eligibility meeting at 9am and I had to get my evaluation summary in the eligibility report. Shortly before 9am, I try it again and find I am able to get in. This coincides with a phone call from the tech support to inform me that their internet service provider had gone down over the weekend and they had just reset everything. So all the paperwork is ready just in time for the meeting. Not really my meeting because I'm not the case manager. I just did the psych.
9am comes and we are all present, including a representative from an outside agency who report that the student was arrested last week for simple assault and robbery and won't be attending because they are in jail. The mom doesn't show up either. We talk for a bit about possible outcomes from this even. The case manager goes to call the mother.
We have our final pre-monitoring meeting at 9:30, which I wasn't expecting to attend since I thought I would be in the eligibility conference until 10am. Not much left to say. The high school gets to have their charts reviewed first. Yay. If there isn't a post tomorrow, it is because I'm recovering.
I get out of the meeting and walk into my office just in time to answer my phone. It is my 11am meeting canceling on me. Even though she is canceling, she agrees to the needed changes to her child's program so I can go ahead with the plan for today without the meeting. She agrees to come in on Wednesday so that she can take care of the paperwork.
I go to the high school to meet with the student in question and get the schedule changed. While I'm there, I also schedule the conference room for Wednesday. The change in schedule is actually easier than expected and the student takes it well. The student is a bit surprised to find out they are failing so many things so soon. As was I when I first saw it. He gets the standard high school talk about how this is for real now and the impact of not passing and credits and such.
After that, it is lunch. Following lunch, I go to the elementary school to start testing the student I observed last week. I get pretty far. I finish the WISC-IV although from my observations during the test, I know that I want to do some of the Integrated optional subtests. I have a suspicion that the results of the verbal comp subtests aren't an accurate representation of his ability. When I get back to the office, I score the WISC and decide that I should really do a whole slew of addition subtests.
With that, it is time to end my day. I'm supposed to be on hand tomorrow to answer any questions about my charts that the monitors have so I don't know how much time I'll have to do other things tomorrow. Ah well.
Commenting on Comments
I've tried several times to post my own comments in reply to the comments that have been left on my page. For some reason, I'm not allowed to do so. Please don't think I'm ignoring them.
As for loving extra long meeting...yes, they are fabulous and do wonders for headaches.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23rd
No headache, yay.
First order of business on Friday is a meeting with the high school principal to brief him on the monitoring occurring next week. The meeting goes well. After that, I go back to my office and work on an IEP. Then I go over to examine a few more charts with the high school crew which takes us up to lunch time.
After lunch, I do a little more paperwork preparing for a meeting on Monday and then it is showtime for the IEP meeting for the student I mentioned in Thursday's post. My coworker translates for the mother and we address the truancy and legal proceedings. We're surprised that the mother doesn't get up and storm out when she hears this. The student is involved with some program related with the juvenile courts and the case manager from that program is at the meeting is there. From everything we had heard about this person, I fully expected her to be a pain in the butt during the meeting but she pretty much just provides information about her part in all this and asks some questions and doesn't seem so bad. It is decided that the student will be on home instruction while an out of district placement is located. We do all the related paperwork. The meeting goes better than expected and lasts more than an hour and half. And that is how the week ends.
First order of business on Friday is a meeting with the high school principal to brief him on the monitoring occurring next week. The meeting goes well. After that, I go back to my office and work on an IEP. Then I go over to examine a few more charts with the high school crew which takes us up to lunch time.
After lunch, I do a little more paperwork preparing for a meeting on Monday and then it is showtime for the IEP meeting for the student I mentioned in Thursday's post. My coworker translates for the mother and we address the truancy and legal proceedings. We're surprised that the mother doesn't get up and storm out when she hears this. The student is involved with some program related with the juvenile courts and the case manager from that program is at the meeting is there. From everything we had heard about this person, I fully expected her to be a pain in the butt during the meeting but she pretty much just provides information about her part in all this and asks some questions and doesn't seem so bad. It is decided that the student will be on home instruction while an out of district placement is located. We do all the related paperwork. The meeting goes better than expected and lasts more than an hour and half. And that is how the week ends.
End of the Week, Almost
Thursday, October 22nd
I get in and start the day by trying to do a classroom observation on a 3rd grader. At least in my district, elementary school seems much less organized and less formal the middle and high school. The elementary schools don't put student schedules on the district's student information system. I have to wait until almost 9 o'clock to find out if the student is even in. Then when I go to the school, I find out the student just went into gym class. Why I couldn't be told this while I was still at the office and said, "I'm coming over shortly to do a classroom observation", I don't know. So, I leave and go to the middle school to reserve the conference room for another evaluation. After that, I go back to the elementary school and go up to the student's classroom to wait for the students to return from gym. When the students and the teacher return, I learn that the teacher is a substitute today. I still do the observation and feel old as I try to remember if I acted like these kids when I was their age.
After the observation, I leave a Conners CBRS form in the real teacher's mailbox and, while I had planned to test the student, it is just 11 and the class will be going to lunch from 11:30 to 12:20. I would only have an hour with him before I have to attend a meeting, so it will have to wait until next week.
I return to the office and begin to feel a headache come on. Little do I know that this headache will grow and haunt me for the rest of the day, until I take two Advil PM and drift off into sleep.
But that's beside the point. I type up my observation and the observation that I did last week on another student. That, combined with lunch, takes me to the time of my meeting. The meeting is a pre-planning meeting regarding a student at our alternative program. The student was on my caseload last year but I'm still involved because I know the case quite well. The student has already lost credit for the year due to absences. We discuss options for what to do with the student. We also learn the district is pursuing legal action against the parents due to truancy. This meeting takes us up to the end of the day.
I limp home, hoping that my head will explode and put me out of my misery.
I get in and start the day by trying to do a classroom observation on a 3rd grader. At least in my district, elementary school seems much less organized and less formal the middle and high school. The elementary schools don't put student schedules on the district's student information system. I have to wait until almost 9 o'clock to find out if the student is even in. Then when I go to the school, I find out the student just went into gym class. Why I couldn't be told this while I was still at the office and said, "I'm coming over shortly to do a classroom observation", I don't know. So, I leave and go to the middle school to reserve the conference room for another evaluation. After that, I go back to the elementary school and go up to the student's classroom to wait for the students to return from gym. When the students and the teacher return, I learn that the teacher is a substitute today. I still do the observation and feel old as I try to remember if I acted like these kids when I was their age.
After the observation, I leave a Conners CBRS form in the real teacher's mailbox and, while I had planned to test the student, it is just 11 and the class will be going to lunch from 11:30 to 12:20. I would only have an hour with him before I have to attend a meeting, so it will have to wait until next week.
I return to the office and begin to feel a headache come on. Little do I know that this headache will grow and haunt me for the rest of the day, until I take two Advil PM and drift off into sleep.
But that's beside the point. I type up my observation and the observation that I did last week on another student. That, combined with lunch, takes me to the time of my meeting. The meeting is a pre-planning meeting regarding a student at our alternative program. The student was on my caseload last year but I'm still involved because I know the case quite well. The student has already lost credit for the year due to absences. We discuss options for what to do with the student. We also learn the district is pursuing legal action against the parents due to truancy. This meeting takes us up to the end of the day.
I limp home, hoping that my head will explode and put me out of my misery.
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