Nathan is Gone

After weeks of Nathan's status turning and twisting in the bureaucratic winds of public education, we received that dreaded piece of paper. My principal summoned me to her office and handed me the document. It was a Request for Records form. Nathan's name was at the top of the sheet and the location of the school was in another state far away. It appears that he's moving back to the state where he spent his toddler years. So that was it. Ironically, my district had just figured out how to transport Nathan back to our school; it only took about 6 or 7 weeks. A bus went to his shelter to pick him up and the family had moved out over the weekend. He's another kid that was a challenge and just when we poured our resources into him and saw a positive change, he moved away. Simply heartbreaking.

BBC

Land of the Luddites

Maybe Luddite is too strong of a word. Technologically naive seems more appropriate. I've been on a crusade to get people in my school to embrace basic technology: email, web-based programs, word processing programs, i.e., nothing fancy. As I've been trying to educate others I've noticed the different levels of technology naivete that people have in my building. My district, like many others in the nation, has moved towards using a web-based program for writing IEPs. The problem has been that only two people out of 6 are comfortable enough with the program to complete an IEP. Everyone else has expressed their trepidation towards using the computer. One of the drawbacks is that the entry fields do not appear as they do within an IEP so that those who are used to completing them by hand do not know what they are looking at on the computer. I remedied the situation by creating a manual that helped everyone work in the computer program with ease. I think that it was well-received.

Another one of the initiatives I started in my building was to post a Tech Tip of the Day. I read a New York Times blog post by David Pogue and it enlightened me on the numerous bits of computer knowledge that I've been unaware of all these years. Since there were things that I didn't know about, I figured that no one else in my building knew these either. So I started posting Tech Tips each day. I thought about sending them via email, but that would have defeated the purpose, since some people are reluctant to check their email. Well, people are reading the posts, I've seen copies floating around the school.

The last week, I've experienced two different eye-opening moments on the vast technological divide that exists in my school. Those on the inexperienced end amaze me. I was asked by a co-worker how to attach a file to an email. I thought that was the lowest, but that was beaten the next day. I was sitting in my office when I got an internal call from another room. A teacher was on the other line and she asked me if I had turned off the computer when I used it in the lab. I used the lab when I taught my coworkers how to use the web-based program last week. I guess I turn off the computer out of habit; I was finished using it so it seemed like the thing to do. I didn't know that there were people in the building that didn't know how to turn on the computer. So I figured it must have been something complex. I went to the lab to see what was wrong. The LCD projector was working so that was one less problem to deal with, but the screen was black. I thought that maybe something was unplugged and when I looked at the computer, I realized that it wasn't on. I pressed the button on the CPU and the computer sprang to life. It couldn't have been that easy, I figured that I would have to do something more than that. Well it appeared that the teacher was pressing the wrong button. Instead of the on/off switch she was pressing the button that opens the CPU. If you're familiar with old Dell computers then you know what I'm talking about. She was pressing the wrong button and couldn't understand why it wouldn't turn on. That was a new one for me. I thought I had seen it all until that moment.

BBC

In the News

A couple of news stories that caught my attention.

Obama named his nominee for Secretary of Education.

I don't have an opinion at this point. Until recently the Secretary of Education job was a thankless job that didn't seem to have a real impact on education. If you think about it, was it the Secretary of Education that played a major role in Brown v. Board of Ed? IDEA? It seems to me that until No Child Left Behind (NCLB) no one really knew what the Education Secretary actually did. Now the cabinet position is more important than ever. We'll have to see what Arne Duncan will do in his position.

A district in Maryland is getting rid of the "Gifted" label.

All I have to say is unless you have a school for the gifted, the percentage of your student body that is gifted should reflect society, about 2%. That's it. A school with 36% gifted students is either too lenient in their criteria or there's something in the water. I need to move to Montgomery County if there's a good chance of creating a gifted child just by living there. Regardless, people want their children to be in gifted programs, but not all are created equal. I would look to see what kind of enrichment these programs had to offer. Is it something I could replicate on my own? Like special education, sometimes the label doesn't matter, the level of service does.

BBC

Subpoena!

So I was sitting in my office writing a report, when my phone buzzed. It was the front desk, the secretary said that there was someone there to see me. There was something ominous about how she said "someone" but I figured it was another school psychologist, maybe a parent. I went downstairs and went to the front desk and found a guy wearing a jacket with a law enforcement badge on the shoulder. He asked me for my name, and then handed over a sheet of paper. I wish I could tell you what he said exactly. It could have been, "You are required to appear in court," or something like that. Maybe he didn't anything at all. I just remember that I was in disbelief because when I met with Children's Services, they made it sound as if I wouldn't be called to testify in court. The court case is a custody case between foster parents that want to adopt a student that attends my school, and his biological family. I had pretty much forgotten about the case, but then I received the subpoena.

I had a day to fantasize what it would be like to testify in court. I pictured stating my name, swearing in, and sitting on the stand answering questions in my most official school psychologist tone. Today the assistant attorney general called me and we discussed the case. She asked me about my education, credentials, and when I first met the student. I had a really cool story, because I remembered him from his very first day of school last year. He has a unique spelling of his first name and his teacher misspelled it. When the teacher was going around the room and asking students to tell something interesting about themselves, the student mentioned that his name was misspelled on the label that was sitting on his desk. I could empathize because my name gets misspelled a lot. Anyway, I kept talking to the attorney on the phone and it soon became apparent that I was not the best person to testify. The truth is, I have very little contact with the student. I don't provide psychological services to him, and I haven't dealt with any behavioral issues with him either. I told the attorney that I agreed to testify on behalf of our school's personnel, but she said she couldn't allow that. It would be hearsay. I guess it's her job to pay attention to such things. So in the end, she chose to withdraw my subpoena and serve the social worker instead. She would be more appropriate, but I'm disappointed in missing out on going to court. How often will I get the chance to participate in a hearing for a good reason. Let's hope that the next time I'm subpoenaed it won't be because of some sort of malpractice.

BBC

Family Dynamics in the Workplace.

Sometimes a school's faculty can feel like a dysfunctional family. I guess I wasn't far off by the looks of this article in the New York Times.

BBC

Nathan is Homeless

Something that I've been dealing with for a couple of weeks now is Nathan's homeless situation. It started suddenly when his mother notified the school that she had been evicted. Nathan missed a couple of days of school and he was commuting from a town 20 minutes away. He was temporarily living with his uncle. Then his mother moved into a shelter, and that's where he's been since. Now he hasn't been in school for almost 3 weeks now. He stopped going to his after-school therapy because transportation wasn't available. The fact that he hasn't been to school is a huge problem, because it's against the law. Mom has no way of getting him to school in our town, and they aren't residents in the town where the shelter is. The law states that a child has a right to attend the school in the town where the family last had established residency, which would be my town. His mom went through the proper channels and made a formal request for transportation. But so far there has been a standoff between the two towns. No one knows how to transport a single child in a safe and efficient manner. There aren't any other students who need to come from the other town. There are no bus drivers available from my town. Plus, no one feels comfortable putting a 6 year old in a taxi alone for a 30 minute ride with a stranger. The case is especially sensitive when one takes into account Nathan's special needs. His label maybe ADHD, but his issues are significant. And we still don't know what is going to happen, but something has to happen soon. It still won't be soon enough for Nathan.

BBC

Talk the Talk

Today we had a meeting with a couple of concerned parents. They have concerns about their 5th grade son. The parents reported that daily homework sessions last 3-4 hours. Their son seems unmotivated and he doesn't seem to retain information. I had to sit back and refrain from making a look of disdain because I knew that the parents had a history of being all talk. Last year, they came in like gangbusters, accusing his 4th grade teacher of slacking off, not checking his assignments and not teaching their son. It was completely bogus, but the teacher was unnerved. She ended up sending home extra work to appease the parents. Of course, the extra work never came back to school. The teacher was really confused, but that told me everything that I wanted to know.

At the meeting, the father had all of these complaints about how he didn't think his son was learning anything. It sounded like his issue was with memorization vs. long-term acquisition. Dad was really intense. I suggested that instead of quizzing his son on concepts that he should have learned, he should try to integrate the information into a conversation to see what he has learned. The interesting thing about the kid is that despite reading slightly below grade level, he has very few problems in school. It appears that he is able to maintain his composure at school and by the time he gets home he's spent. But his parents don't seem to understand that.

Listening to the parents was a chore. I tried my best not to show my irritation, but I'm learning that my parental pet peeve are the parents that claim to do so much and you know they aren't doing $#!%. We devised a plan that involved cutting down on homework time. We will be able to see what he's able to do in a prescribed amount of time. The teacher will meet with them a few weeks later. We'll see how this experiment goes.

BBC

Alexander

One of my goals this year was to increase my consultation cases. I wanted to get into the real nitty-gritty of working with teachers on issues they are having in the classroom. Of course, when it comes to consultation, it also means that I evaluate the teacher to see what changes she can make to address the target behaviors. Over the past 3 weeks Alexander had floated to the top of the "Children that require extra attention" list. He was noticeably from the first day of school, but now he's been attracting my attention.

He's classically ADHD. He calls out. He can't stay seated. He sings and hums at his desk. He plays with his pencil and eraser when he should be doing classwork. I had started working with his teacher to address his behavior. We came up with different plans, one plan was to address his frustration. It was designed to give him a way to release his frustration. There was also a plan to reward him for positive behavior. The teacher just started to use these plans in conjunction, sometimes.

Yesterday afternoon, I was called to deal with Alexander three times in about an hour and a half. It was getting ridiculous because I was trying assess a student. I knew that I could have been on call, so I was only conducting an interview. The student got to see some of the things I have to do in school, and he marveled at how often my intercom phone rang. After dealing with Alexander and seeing how frustrated his teacher was, I knew that I had to develop some ideas. I felt like I was stuck in the "No Idea" corner. I knew I had to kick it old school and hit the books. It was the first time in a while that I wished I was still in grad school; just to be able to brainstorm with my classmates. I really needed to talk to them last night. My SO told me to email them, but that would take to long. I would have to spell out all of the details in order to get an adequate response. So I hit the books and the internet and found some inspiration. I had to remember what the goal of consultation is. At the moment all I wanted was a peaceful day without having to report to this classroom multiple times a day to remove Alexander to another room. After some thought, I remembered the goal of consultation: empower the teacher. With that, I knew what I had to do.

To start, I really needed to see what was going on in the classroom, because by the time I got there, I ended up witnessing the tail end of a long spiral of behavior that went from bad to worse. Multiple incidents usually started with Alexander getting frustrated and instead of leaving the classroom to cool-off, he would have a stand-off with his teacher and refuse to leave. She would request someone to come to the room, to escort him to a neighboring class to cool-off. And of course, he would still refuse. I would ask what happened, and I wasn't able to get a clear answer to what set him off. I decided that an observation would give me the opportunity to see what led up to Alexander's removals.

I sat in the classroom for about 2 hours this morning, and what I saw was jaw-dropping. This kid was non-stop. He was a constant ball of energy; all over his desk and chair, seriously sitting upside down in his chair, I didn't think that was possible. He was singing and talking to himself. He was calling out for no real reason. All of his behavior was attention-seeking. To her credit, his teacher ignores a huge amount of it, but that may be part of the problem. Most of the students were ignoring him, which was remarkable on their part. But Alexander wouldn't be denied, he kept pushing and pushing until someone was going to notice him. The students eat breakfast at their desks in the morning, so they eat breakfast while they complete their morning work. Alexander was focused on eating and playing with his breakfast, and decided that he could use his milk to gain the attention of his classmates.

As I sat only four feet away from him, he proceeded to shake his milk carton, open it and giggle like a 4 year old, and stick his hand up to his wrist into the milk. Then, he started to fling his hands around in order to spray anything in his vicinity with milk. A couple of his classmates felt the milk hit them and started to say something. At this point I intervened because it was obvious that his teacher wasn't paying attention to this either. That was the perfect opportunity for the teacher to address his behavior and she didn't. When I intervened, I wished I had a camera, because my words cannot do justice to what I was watching. Alexander turned to me, his face, hands, and forearms dripping with milk. At that moment I wanted a camera. Before he could deny his involvement in the situation or question mine, someone announced that the principal was coming. Alexander looked bewildered and when the principal walked in, I had never seen a kid try to get his act together so quickly. He became a completely different child. (I wanted to tell someone about his unbelievable behavior and I realized that with my wireless laptop, I could email the principal, who was most likely sitting at her desk at that moment. However, I never imagined that she would actually come in for an observation.)

So my principal found a seat and it just so happened that the class was transitioning to group reading activity. This required them to sit on the floor while the teacher read them a short passage. As the students gathered on the floor, Alexander worked on cleaning off his desk and the floor around him. When he made it to the group, he was the model student; sitting with his legs crossed, hands in his lap, looking forward, and raising his hand to answer questions. He was a different student. The principal left after a short time and Alexander managed to maintain his appropriate behavior. When the class made it back to their seats, Alexander's good behavior lasted for about 5 minutes. Then the noises and movement around his desk returned.

What I had witnessed for those 2 hours provided me with many ideas to help the teacher. I left with a better picture of what occurs in the class. I met with the teacher and gave her some ideas. My principal and the social worker also had some ideas. I was worried at first because I didn't know where to go, so I went back to the basics. It's amazing what a good ol' observation can do.

BBC

Genetics and Mental Illness

Today's New York Times featured an article(click here) on genetics and mental illness. The article focused on the research of Bernard Crespi and Christopher Badcock. These scientists have developed a theory on brain development that says that the father's and mother's genes compete and the victor sways development along a spectrum. When the father's gene is dominant, the brain develops towards an autism spectrum. When the mother's gene is dominant, the brain develops toward a psychotic spectrum. The article goes on to say that this is a new direction for neural and genetic research. I'm suspicious because this seems to revert us to the days when mothers were blamed for their children's mental illnesses. It's like Freud with ten times the science. Since we know that schizophrenic parents make their children predisposed to the illness, what do the scientists think about the children of schizophrenic men. Who has more influence over the genes then, the schizophrenic father or the mother whose genes may cause a sway towards the psychotic spectrum? I hope they find an answer in their research.

BBC

The Obama Effect

I wore my Obama t-shirt to school today. I was waiting until Dress Down Friday so that I wouldn't feel underdressed. My school has been buzzing about the election ever since Wednesday morning. When I arrived Wednesday, most of the children were holding newspapers, flipping through them and discussing the election. Kindergartners to sixth graders were talking about a presidential election. When was the last time that happened? It was nice to finally see validation of this multicultural society that we always talk about. We finally elected a leader that resembles the diversity that makes this country special. My school's population is about 75% Black and Latino. These students witnessed something that was unthinkable a couple of years ago, and now they will remember this for the rest of their lives. This is something they will tell their children about. Our students felt included in the moment because my school held a mock election, in which Obama won by a landslide.

Everything has felt better during the last few days. Everyone seems happier, there are more positive thoughts and fewer complaints. It's been nice. I wonder how it will affect the students in the long run. I wonder how many will change their outlook on life. It would seem that anyone could believe that now anything is possible. I guess we'll have to see.

BBC

You Give and You Give II

It started as a side comment, and I didn't put much stock in it. Then by the end of the day, I received the dreaded salmon colored sheet; someone was transferring to another school.

A couple of weeks ago, we held an initial PPT for a student who enrolled in our school at the beginning of the school year. Let's call him Allen*. Allen came to us from the city, which meant that it would take several weeks to receive his educational records. When they arrived a month and a half into the school year, it was discovered that he had been retained twice prior to enrolling in our school. To make matters worse, my principal, in reference to information that Allen's father gave her, re-enrolled Allen in 4th grade, although he had completed and passed 4th grade last year. Furthermore, Allen's 12th birthday just passed. Therefore we had a 12 year old in 4th grade and at that rate he would be driving in middle school. The team decided to bring in the father and devise a plan that would consider testing him for special education. Preliminary assessments showed that he was barely reading on a 2nd grade level and that his behavior was sometimes a problem (hello, he should be in 7th grade, yet he was in 4th!). We were also going to move him up a grade or two, but we wanted to hear more about how he was functioning in his current classroom. His father came to the meeting and talked about what little he knew about Allen's upbringing and schooling. Dad knew that Allen was really struggling and needed assistance. It wasn't hard to sell testing to him. We explained the evaluation procedures, filled out paperwork, then Dad signed the consent for evaluation form. The team also decided that Allen should be instantly promoted to fifth. And so it was. Until today.

This morning, the special ed teacher was walking around with Allen and wanted me to hear something from him. Allen told me that he moved yesterday and that he was now living in the city. Word reached my principal and she started investigating. My district, like others, has been cracking down on non-residents attending our schools. When word gets out that a student has moved, then the authorities look into it. By authorities, I mean my principal, because my district only has residency officers at the middle and high schools. My principal talked to Allen's grandmother, because she was listed as the apartment's lessee. The grandmother said that Allen and his father moved out because of a dispute. When my principal talked to the father, he said that there was a misunderstanding and that he expected to work things out and still reside with his mother. Two hours later he came to school to withdraw Allen. Apparently he couldn't work things out with his mother and ended up moving for good. So now Allen is gone, for now.

I was sickened when I heard this. I told my principal that I was distraught because this has happened several times now. We've lost another child that we were trying to help. Some people already started their evaluations, luckily I hadn't. There's a chance that he isn't gone for good, some students return after a short stint away, my school's population is very transient. I hope he returns, for his own sake.

BBC

Professional Development

Since today is Election Day, school was closed. But instead of a day off, I had to attend professional development with millions of other educators across the nation. My school isn't used as an election site because of the proximity of other schools, but nonetheless all schools were closed. My professional development was on writing better IEPs. This has to be the 4th or 5th time this has been the topic. There are a few things that I have learned each time, and the trainings have helped shape how I think about IEPs. The unfortunate thing is that many of my colleagues i.e., school psychologists, social workers, speech and language pathologists and special education teachers, have been writing IEPs for years and they don't like it when methods or philosophies change. Everything is electronic now and IEPs are rarely handwritten, except in the most Luddite school districts. My more seasoned colleagues mourn for the days they could write out their IEPs. I think they should get over it and move on. I'm glad that I never had to learn the antiquated way. I don't have anything to unlearn.

BBC

You Give and You Give

I received troubling news today. Nathan's mom called the school to let us know that she was evicted from her apartment and was living with her brother in another town. She also told us that she was pulling Nathan out of his therapeutic after-school program that was run by a local mental health agency. We couldn't believe it. It seemed that Nathan was starting to do really well in school because of this program, and now it looks like he won't be attending anymore. It's really discouraging when you collaborate and find resources for families and then they end up leaving the town. This has happened several times since I've started working in my school. Sometimes it isn't the family's fault; things happen that are out of their control, but sometimes parents seem to sabotage interventions when they seem to be working. It makes no sense, but it seems that when the family as a whole is not doing well, and a child is receiving some help, the parents somehow find a way to thwart the help that their child is getting. Never fails. We all suspected that Nathan's mom was sabotaging his treatment, and our fears were confirmed when the social worker called the treatment center and talked with Nathan's therapist. She said that mom called and said that she had to move in with her brother, and that she was pulling Nathan out of the program because she was enrolling him into another one and he couldn't be enrolled in two programs at the same time. We all knew that this was a lie, which did not bode well for Nathan's well-being. The thought of calling children's services and making a formal complaint of educational neglect crossed our minds, but it is early. We want to give mom a chance to get things in order. We also want to convince her to let her son stay in the program. It's a very good one, and they have a waiting list for patients. If clients miss too many sessions, they are dismissed. This program and school would provide him with the stability that he desperately needs. We hope mom will come around, for Nathan's sake.

BBC

Tall Poppy Syndrome

Tall Poppy Syndrome comes from the idea that when an individual reaches a higher status, others feel the need to cut him or her down, i.e. cutting the tall poppy. Recently a teacher in my school was awarded a very prestigious national teaching award. There was a huge build-up to the event. We all knew that there was going to be a special assembly, and that many people from around the entire state would be in attendance. There was a huge amount of suspense and they finally announced that one of the teachers in my school won this magnificent award. It was a great event, and I was happy for her.

I had spent the first part of the morning trying to figure out what the announcement was going to be. I met some of the special guests and developed a few theories based on who they were or where they were from. At some point in the morning, my principal pulled me aside and told me that she had an assignment for me during the assembly. She wanted me to read the body language of the teachers after the announcement was made. At first I thought that the announcement was going to be some sort of letdown. Were they going to announce a new initiative dealing with curriculum, or something else less desirable? So now my wheels were really turning-what were they going to announce?

I remembered my assignment and when the name of the teacher was announced I made sure I observed all of the staff members that were within my view. There were many teachers who seemed happy, I'm sure there were a few who were putting on a show, which was fine. But there were a few who didn't try to hide their displeasure or apathy towards the announcement. It was really interesting to see the number of people who were not thrilled about this teacher winning the award. Tall poppy syndrome reared its ugly head. I guess when one person is singled out, everyone asks the question, "Why not me?"

All teachers work hard, so when one person gets recognized, others feel left out. I understand. But I would have hoped that those teachers would see how this one teacher's recognition shines a spotlight on our school. One teacher that I talked to mentioned that we all should be recognized for the work that we do. I agree but I think we should support and celebrate when a teacher is recognized for his or her work. Maybe it's easier for me because I'm not a teacher, therefore I don't have to "compete" with them. This teacher didn't apply for the award, in fact, no one can apply for it, the committee selects each candidate from a pool of candidates that each state provides. This teacher was selected from a pool of candidates and the selection committee liked what they saw. I'm proud of the fact that my school has a teacher that has received national recognition.

BBC

Triage

I'm back. I've been out of commission technologically for a several days. The hiatus is over so back to the stories, and this one is well worth the wait. This happened three weeks ago.

The story actually begins the night before (Tuesday night). I'm watching the evening news before going to bed and the local broadcast reported a deadly shooting spree that occurred in the town where I work. Not only was the shooting in the town, but it also occurred in my school's neighborhood. At the very least I knew that I would have some children who would be aware of what happened, so I mentally prepared myself for doing a lot of talking the next day. I knew that one particular student, Nathan* would be preoccupied with what happened. This student has a proclivity for discussing violence, and his conversations are usually peppered with battles of good and evil and bad guys dying. The first words out of his mouth when he stepped off the bus were, "Somebody got shot!" I knew that I needed to pull him aside and talk to him immediately. I didn't need him scaring other first graders with that kind of talk. Before I could pull him aside, the bus driver informed me that there were police cars outside another student's house as she was picking him up. As I walked into the building to talk to Nathan I saw that the other student in question was talking to the principal, so I figured that she would handle that situation.

I walked Nathan to his classroom and the exchange with his teacher went like this.

"Good Morning, Nathan."

"Somebody got shot last night."

"What?"

I informed the teacher that I was there to talk to Nathan about what happened. As I was turning to walk down the hall, I saw a 6th grade teacher waving frantically at me. He yelled down the hall that he needed me. I told him that I was busy, while pointing the Nathan. By this point the teacher was closer and told me that he had a 6th grader who apparently witnessed the shooting. So then I entered triage mode. I had to handle each emergency according to severity. At that point I believed I had a 6th grader, completely traumatized and curled in the fetal position in the 6th grade hallway. So I tried to find someone to watch Nathan while I dealt with the other student. I found the principal in the conference room talking to a student. I asked her if I could drop off Nathan, she told me no because she was dealing with an issue. I asked her if it was the same one I was dealing with and she emphatically said no. She was enlisting the help of the social worker for her issue. I couldn't find any interns either. (What are their hours anyway? I swear I was constantly at school when I was an intern.) I did find a teacher to watch Nathan while I went to help the 6th grader. Imagine my surprise when I finally walked into the 6th grade wing to find the student calm, relaxed and looking at a book. Not crying, not hysterical, not in the fetal position. I was relieved that he seemed okay, but at the same time I was a little peeved at the teacher for implying that it was a critical situation. I brought the student down to the conference room to talk with me and the principal. I have to give my principal credit, there are times when she really knows how to handle a situation and knows exactly what to say. I've asked her before how she knows what to say. She said that she thinks about and emulates the social worker and the former school psychologist, who just happened to be my supervisor. I'm surrounded by good role models. Back to the story: So, we sat down with the student, Steven*, and asked him what he saw the day before. He told us that he was walking down the street with relatives that afternoon. He said that he saw a teenager walk behind this other teen and shoot him in the back of the head. Then the police showed up and arrested the shooter. The shooter was someone that Steven knew. The shooter was also a former student of my school. The story sounded credible, Steven sounded convincing, but part of me felt like something was missing. I felt that his timeline had holes in it. Boy shoots another, boy gets arrested. It seemed like there should have been fleeing in between, but what did I know? Steven was confused because he didn't know why the suspect would have shot the other teen. He also didn't know how the suspect got a gun. That was actually quite refreshing to hear since many kids are too street-smart for their own good. The fact that he didn't know how to get his hands on a handgun gave me some hope.

We finished interviewing Steven and I told him to be careful about who was near him when he spoke about the incident with classmates. I explained to him that while a 6th grader can think hypothetically and has a secure sense of timing, kindergarteners, first graders and second graders do not have this sense. They were likely to misunderstand and think that someone was at the school shooting, or planning to shoot them. He understood and agreed to refrain from discussing it within earshot of the younger students.

Meanwhile, the social worker was dealing with the student who had police cars outside his house that morning. There was a domestic violence dispute happening in his house involving his parents. Children's services were contacted and came to school to interview him.

Also, a disgruntled third grader was refusing to leave his mom's car as she was attempting to drop him off in front of the school. At one point, mom sort of shoved him out of the car and sped off, leaving him on the curb. The student slowly made his way to the flagpole, which he clung to in protest. Normally, he would have been top priority, but under the current circumstances, my principal told the receptionist to make sure that someone was at least watching him to make sure he didn't run off.

Someone else in the building reported that a first grader's home was the target of a home invasion the night before. Someone talked to the first grader and realized that he had no idea what happened, so he wasn't a major concern for the day.

There were multiple reports floating around the school all day, and it was hard to figure out what was fact and what was speculation. Children have very vivid imaginations. I ended up talking to the school psychologist at the high school and she was able to shed some light on the situation. Her perspective was completely different, yet useful. She believed that my 6th grader didn't see what he claimed. The sixth grader fingered the wrong person. But we still didn't have the facts.

During the day I remembered that I watched the news the night before and saw that they had arrested someone. His name didn't match the one that Steven said. I found the article online and shared it with my principal. The article mentioned that a 15 yr old was also arrested for the first shooting. I wondered if that was the person that Steven knew. My principal and the school psychologist at the high school were able to figure out exactly what happened. Here goes:

Steven did see someone he knew get arrested. He may have witnessed the shooting from far away. The unfortunate thing was that Steven's acquaintance and the real shooter were dressed similarly, so when the 15 yr old was arrested, Steven assumed that he witnessed him doing the shooting. The real shooter continued his shooting spree, which tipped off the police as to them having arrested the wrong person. So in the end, Steven was wrong, yet he wasn't lying. And the clincher: the 1st grader's home invasion was the police invading the home to arrest the real shooter.

Just an extraordinarily crazy day in the life of a school psychologist.

BBC

Elizabeth's PPT

We had an interdistrict PPT for Elizabeth today. It was an interdistrict meeting because Elizabeth is under the custody of Children's Services. Our goal was to get her former district to provide an aide to supervise Elizabeth in our school. There were many people at this PPT. Representatives from her former district were there, as well as her educational surrogate, foster parents, and numerous therapists. The staff members from my school were also present. We discussed Elizabeth's issues at length. We came to a decision that her therapy at school and in private practice shouldn't overlap, which was fine with the school. We don't feel comfortable providing therapy for her sexual abuse. It sounded like her therapy is going well, she has a lot of issues to deal with. The positive thing is that she is very open about her past, which is something rare in victims. At the end of the meeting, we revised a few of her goals and the other district agreed to pay for a paraprofessional to work with Elizabeth. Mission accomplished.

BBC

Michigan J. Frog Syndrome

Do you remember the Looney Tunes cartoon that featured the singing frog? Click here for video. He would don a top hat and a cane and sing "Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal..." He would only perform in front of one person and whenever that guy wanted the frog to perform in front of others, the frog would just sit there and say "ribbit." The frog's name was Michigan J.Frog and he also became a spokesfrog for the now defunct WB Network. I mention this because I sometimes see the Michigan J. Frog syndrome whenever I do observations in classrooms. Today I was observing a new first grader who has displayed many immature behaviors. He seems overly sensitive to when the teacher corrects him. He is very clingy with the classroom aide, even sitting on her lap at some point. He seems fragile both physically and emotionally. I went in to see if I could observe some of the reported behaviors. What I ended up observing was a very appropriate and attentive child. He followed directions, sat attentively, and even answered a question directly. The class was reviewing the letter "v" and offering words that started with that letter. The student raised his hand and answered, "Victory". The teacher looked at the incredulously as if the to say, "I can't believe he actually came up with the right answer. Needless to say, I didn't seen any notable behaviors. He was the perfect student. Classic Michigan J.

BBC

Report Writing

My school has experienced an influx of new special ed students. The positive of these additions is the fact that I get to see many different writing styles in the psycho-educational reports. I get to see how many people actually interpret findings instead of reporting numbers. Unfortunately, I've learned in the past few weeks that truly interpretive reports are hard to come by.

I guess I have to thank my school psychology professors and site supervisor because they stressed good report writing. I see the report as a way to understand why a child performs or behaves the way that he or she does. The report should paint a picture of the child that one can observe in the classroom. Unfortunately, the majority of the reports that I've read seem to be content with listing scores and what each test is supposed to measure. The reports haven't been reader friendly, and they do a poor job of describing the child. Anyone can list scores, it takes talent and skill to interpret what it means and make connections to observations. I've always found that what I observe during IQ testing, not what a child says, but how she behaves when responding, is the most important information. Is a child answering questions easily? Does he struggle to answer most questions? Does she try to avoid answering questions? Is he aware of how well or how poor he's doing? These all matter and tell me about motivation, level of effort, self-awareness, and ease of information retrieval. These are the little things that I add to my reports to inform the reader of how the child completes tasks. I guess I was trained well.

It's just frustrating to expect to learn something about the student and all you have are scores. How can people take pride in pumping out bland reports like that? This is something that will sit in the child's file forever. You're making your mark. I can't believe people don't take more pride in their craft. The report is where you show off your competency as a school psychologist. People don't see us test or counsel children; therefore the report is a way to make a great impression and prove your worth. Otherwise, what's the point? I could put scores on a chart and save a whole lot of time.

BBC

Elizabeth Has a Crush

I believe I talked about Elizabeth's* case in one of the first posts, Confidentiality. Elizabeth is a new girl who has a significant history of sexual abuse. Similar to other victims, she has a history of abusing other children as well. We learned this information on the first day of school. One of the measures we took was to limit her exposure to younger children. The one place we had limited control was the school bus. She rides a small special-ed school bus, which creates a more intimate situation. Apparently Elizabeth has developed a crush on a student 2 years younger than her. Unfortunately this student is immature and he isn't aware of her intentions. It all started when I saw the two of them walking off the bus, she had her arm around him. That didn't sit well with me. Later, when I met with the social worker, her intern informed me of some of the things that Elizabeth mentioned to her. Elizabeth told her about having a crush on this particular boy and her desire to kiss him. We knew that something had to be done immediately. The trick is doing something that doesn't raise the alarm of everyone in the school, yet ensures the safety of all children, including Elizabeth. I redid the bus seating arrangement. There is supposed to be a perimeter of empty seats around Elizabeth. I had to move her crush farther away. I often wonder if any of the children, including her, get why we go through all these motions. I wonder if she knows why she has an escort whenever she leaves her classroom. I wonder if she scares herself as much as she sometimes scares us.

BBC

Angela's Twin?

Today was Alejandro's PPT, but that story will have to wait. First, my day started off at a frenzied pace because I had to talk to one of my students who I see for counseling. Her teacher was concerned because Angela* told her about her twin sister dying in a drowning accident. I doubted that the student ever had a twin so I tread carefully when I spoke. I talked to her about what it meant to have a twin sister. I tried to figure out her timeline, because she kept changing it from having a sister that died at birth to having a sister that died when she was old enough to drown. It was frustrating because I felt like I was dealing with someone who possesses a poor sense of reality. I reasoned with her and I talked about the fact that she didn't have any pictures of herself with her twin, which is something that all twins experience. I asked her if she had any pictures of herself when she was a baby. I pointed out that there were no pictures with her twin. I knew that there was a possibility that she may have had a twin that died at birth and maybe she misunderstood a story. Well, she has many misunderstandings of this magnitude. She also talked about finding out that she was adopted. I wasn't sure how true that was. Apparently I forgot that I meant to call her mom after my morning PPT to ask about the source of these interesting stories. Luckily I was reminded when I walked into the teacher's lounge and had a teacher ask me "What's up with Angela? She has a dead twin sister?" Another teacher remarked, "Oh yeah, didn't she say that last year?" Then another chimed in, "I just saw her telling the nurse about it." Now, I talked to her first thing in the morning, and she was still talking about it hours later. I called her mother and she didn't give me the response I was looking for. I wanted some kind of reaction. Mom told me that the stories weren't true. She mentioned that Angela does want siblings, but there was no basis for her ideas about a twin sister or her adoption. Mom was too calm to me for having heard that her daughter was saying crazy and bizarre things throughout school. She was a little too cavalier about her daughter's ramblings. It was like she had heard it all before.

BBC

The Package

For some reason my latest case feels like an episode of "Alias". And I'm not sure if they used the term "the package" on the show, but it has that feel. You await the arrival of something monumental, something that you've discussed, yet have never met. The stories you hear are ominous, yet you need to be prepared and professional, and most of all warm and welcoming. so when it was decided that Alejandro* would indeed attend my school, we had a lot of information to consider and yet we didn't have the privilege of knowing anyone who had actually met the child. This is a kid who only attended school for 4 days last year before he was suspended from school and put on homebound for the rest of the year. They had a PPT at the end of the year to suggest a psychiatric evaluation. it was determined that some of his issues were caused by the fact that he spoke no English and was placed into an all-English classroom. My school district doesn't have any bilingual schools, so he was participating in his former school's English Language Learner's program (all 4 days that he attended). Anyway, based on everything that happened last year, including running away from the school which required the police to come and apprehend him and threatening kindergartners on the playground, my principal was reluctant to have this kid start school in my building. We were trying to determine what would be an appropriate placement. My district decided that it would be in my school with a part-time bilingual aide.

Well, once we realized we would be getting this kid, we had to make sure everything was ready. But we didn't know what to expect. The kid was receiving therapy over the summer, so we could possibly see a transformed child, or the same angry threatening child that the other school saw last April. We spent so much time planning and fretting over this, that it was actually an odd relief once he arrived.

Alejandro arrived in the morning with his mother. Both of them spoke only a few English words. My Spanish is really rusty, having studied it in college over a decade ago. I struggled to communicate some basic ideas, but I think that the mother appreciated my struggle in Spanish. I'd like to think that she knew I empathized with her struggles in English. I talked to Alejandro a little bit. By talk, I mean that I asked him questions that I could remember from exercises in Spanish. Te gusta deportes? I gave myself a vocabulary refresher by pointing and labeling objects in the room to his approval. It was interesting, because there were a few words that he didn't know and his mother had to correct him. Alejandro's aide arrived and they went to class. I was on call for most of the day, which meant that someone had to know where I was at all times. My principal decided that she would hang out in the hallway near Alejandro's class, just in case she needed to intervene. We were on full alert for the day. His first day went without incident. I was glad that he had a good first day. We know that this may be the honeymoon period so we are keeping our fingers crossed and thinking positive thoughts. I must be rubbing off on everyone, because the first thing out of the special ed teacher and the principal's mouths that morning were "I'm going to think positively about this" More converts to positivity.

BBC
*of course Alejandro is not his real name, silly.

TAG, You're Not It (Again)

I swear I'm not recycling blog titles, it's just that the last two were appropriate for the subject. I've come to dislike IQ testing for Talented and Gifted (TAG) eligibility. At first I relished it as an opportunity to give some of the brightest students in my school the chance to receive an enriched educational experience. What has happened is that I've actually made pre-teens cry in my office during IQ tests. I figured out what it is. All of the students that I have tested have been smart enough to know what they don't know. It's one thing to be completely ignorant and think you're acing a test when in fact you're bombing it miserably. It's another to know when you are bombing it. This can affect performance, especially for a student who thinks that he or she is smart and now feels stupid because of what he or she doesn't know. It's difficult seeing the anguish on their faces. I try to be reassuring and tell them that they are doing well, but they're probably thinking, "Bull, I know I suck." I think what's worse for me is that I see how smart they are, but they don't qualify as gifted. That's what sucks. I don't want them to feel like failures, because they are far from it. But who knows what messages they tell themselves when they aren't accepted into the TAG program. I know that teacher recommendations are important, but I'm kidding myself if I think that the program is lenient when it comes to the IQ cutoff score which I believe is 130 in my district. If my district is strict about that number then the 2 students I tested this week aren't getting in.

The Art of the Question II

Today I had two PPTs and they were both successful. One was for a new student who is having some difficulty making the adjustment to our school. Mom requested a PPT immediately and we've had the opportunity to meet and learn more about her son before the meeting, which is always nice. There were things that the mom told me in private about the student's history that I wanted to share in the meeting, but I felt like it was off-limits until she mentioned them. Luckily for me, she opened the door with some choice comments about her family's history of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression. This admission led to other questions that we all had about the medication the student is currently on and his behavior at home. I felt like a lawyer in a tv drama where there is evidence that is inadmissable but then the defendant makes a statement that allows for a certain line of questioning. I felt on edge because I was afraid that we would end the meeting without discussing some of the bizarre behaviors we had seen, his medication regiment, or our thoughts about further testing. We were so focused on making the meeting a positive and safe experience for mom, who evidently has her own mental issues, that I was afraid we were treading too lightly and would leave the meeting with no substantial knowledge gained. Fortunately, Mom was forthcoming with some of the information, but as someone once told me, for every one thing admitted, there's most likely two or three more alarming things that are omitted. In the meeting she mentioned that her son was "institutionalized" (to use her word) over the summer. When I spoke to her before the beginning of school she told me why this occurred. During the meeting she didn't mention the reason, but she talked about the boy's issues with his absent father. Classically Freudian or Oedipal, take your pick. As the mother was talking I felt myself enter the zone and all of a sudden not only did I know what to ask, but I also knew how to phrase it in a way that would give me what I wanted without making the mother defensive. My clinical interview skills are improving. I felt like I accomplished what I wanted to do. This student will require a lot of brainstorming and program reviewing because I feel that we will have to change our strategies frequently to meet his needs.

BBC

When Background Knowledge Backfires

I was in my office today when a teacher knocked on my door. She has a new student and she was worried about some things that were occurring in the classroom. She mentioned that the child hasn't caught on to the rules yet, that he's needed to go to the bathroom several times in the morning. The other issue, and I suspect the main issue was that the student told another student that he didn't have to listen to her because she's white. This obviously flustered the teacher because she was in my room talking about the student and she didn't know how to handle it. All of this became clear when I learned that the student started school yesterday. He hasn't been exposed to our positive behavior support system long enough to understand it fully. He's still feeling his way around the teacher and figuring out what he can and cannot do. I was surprised to hear her concerns when this kid hasn't been here for 2 full days yet. His racial comments must have struck a nerve. In addition to those issues, there was a history of animosity from the family. His older brother attended the school years ago and developed quite a reputation. Apparently his father threatened a teacher and the police were involved. So now this student is carrying the baggage of his family's actions, which one could argue is warranted, but still, this has cast him in a negative light. Now it seems that his new teacher sees him in that same light. My principal shared the history with the teacher, but I wish that this kid could have had a chance. We'll see if she comes around. The social worker and I told her that she has to make a connection with the student, besides, we don't know his true feelings or intentions. He could have made those comments for shock value. Nonetheless, I think she has to present herself in a manner that debunks his theory on why he doesn't have to listen to her. I envision many teachable moments for the two of them. Let's see what happens.

BBC

9/11

Today was the anniversary of 9/11 and its always interesting to hear the perspective of children who were either in preschool or not even born yet. I talked with 6th graders today and their experience and knowledge of the event varied greatly. I could tell that they really hadn't talked about it and understood the magnitude of what happened until now. It was as if they were finally able to ask certain questions and be able to understand the answers. We discussed why the towers collapsed, why so many people died, and how people responded in heroic ways that day. I was able to share my own 9/11 experience with them. I think it helped to demystify the event, although I know it's still unfathomable to them and to me as well sometimes. I spent a lot of time trying to explain how large the buildings were, but to children who have no concept of size and living in a small suburban town with nothing that comes close to a skyscraper, that's extremely difficult. Saying that they were really, really big just doesn't cut. I was reminded of how children perceive things based on their cognitive development when the primary teachers (3rd grade and below) complained about how the moment of silence was announced. My principal mentioned words like terrorist, attack, and airplanes, and some of the children thought that she was talking about the present. I'll have to discuss with her about choosing her words wisely.

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Obama's Education Plan

This article caught my eye on The New York Times website today. It gives some insight on Obama's experience in reforming education and what he is likely to do as president.

BBC

Investigative Reporter

There are so many new kids in my school this year with significant behavior concerns that I've spent the majority of my time on fact-finding missions. I've been contacting numerous PPT coordinators, school psychologists, directors of special education, and pupil and personnel directors since the first day of school by email, snail mail, fax and phone.

Today I learned that a child that was supposed to have been outplaced in a different district is now coming to my school. I heard that he was a handful from his former school psychologist. He only speaks Spanish and exhibited some disturbing behaviors after being in school for a total of 4 days last year (he enrolled in April). After being suspended twice, his mother requested a PPT and a psychiatric evaluation was recommended. The results came back over the summer and for some reason the higher-ups (my director) thinks that my school would be an appropriate placement. This child is apparently very aggressive; at his last school he bit the social worker.

Today I was on the phone talking to his former school psychologist. As she was giving me detail after detail I felt like I should take a course in shorthand because there was too much information for me to write down. I may need to go to some type of journalistic training to learn how people take notes so quickly. I felt like a reporter because I wanted to get every detail correct so that I can share accurate information with my team members. I will have to schedule a PPT to determine this kid's eligibility and quickly devise a plan for how to address his needs. Just another opportunity to gain valuable experience (that's what I keep telling myself.)

BBC

Hot Mess

This was Friday's story that I never got to write about. There's this kid, let's call him Tony. Well, Tony has ADHD and he has his good days and his bad days. It first started with Tony jumping off the bus and running into the school. That was the beginning of a rough day for him. The social worker, her interns and I set up a system that allows breaks for Tony from the classroom. Around 10 o'clock someone goes to Tony's classroom and gives him a walking break. We just walk around the building for about 10 minutes and then he returns to the classroom. The unfortunate thing about Tony's situation is that A) we never know if he's actually on meds or not. His mother claims that she gives him his pill every morning. Some mornings he's okay, others, like this past Friday, he's the Tasmanian Devil. B) his former teacher contaminated his current teacher by telling her all of the things that Tony doesn't do well, but nothing about what his strengths are. His teacher now has a very negative attitude towards him. It's to the point where I avoid her because I don't want to hear her negative comments.

Friday, Tony was a hot mess. His entire day was a long, drawn-out episode of what happens when a kid with ADHD is bored with school. After getting off the bus, his morning got off to a rocky start. I got a phone call in my office from his teacher telling me that I was needed in the music room. I arrived to find him sitting in his seat following what the teacher said. (This is interesting, because for the past two years whenever I've been called to someone's room I'm usually greeted by a sobbing child who won't leave the classroom and can't tell me what's wrong. So far this year, I've walked into classrooms and couldn't immediately tell what the big emergency was.) Anyway, I called Tony out of the room and asked him if he knew why I was called there. He told me something about classmates laughing at him. We discussed why they may have been laughing and what that had to do with me being called to the room. I didn't get much out of him and I was ready to send him back to the room when he asked if he could use the restroom. I sent him in and told him he had 2 minutes. He has become notorious for spending extraordinary amounts of time in the restroom. While he was in there another student went in there and then left. I knocked and went in. He was washing his hands. He was probably playing around in there, but I was able to retrieve him from there.

Later that day, I saw him twirling in the lunch line. I ignored him because I know that he really can't contain himself. About an hour later I made my way down to the main office to look at someone's permanent record. I passed by the table where children who lose recess have to sit and noticed it was unoccupied but there was paper strewn all over the floor and table. I said, "what's going on here?" The receptionist simply said, "Tony." So then I chatted with my principal, and went looking through the files and then made a couple of phone calls in the conference room. I probably spent 15 to 20 minutes there. As I was about to leave to go back to my office I noticed that the table was still unoccupied. I asked my principal, "Where's Tony?" She thought he was still sitting at the table. The receptionist finally turned around from her chair to see that he was no longer there as well. she just assumed that he was sitting there when I passed through the first time. The principal remembered that he went to the restroom in the nurses office, so she sent me to get him.

When I walked into the nurse's office, she told me that he was still using it because she could hear water running. I shook my head and knocked on the door. It was unlocked and when the nurse opened it we saw that the entire mirror and counter were covered in sudsy water as if he was cleaning the bathroom. Meanwhile, his hands were soapy and his clothing was wet. My immediate thought was, "You're a hot mess." The nurse couldn't believe it, but I did. He has been using the bathroom as an escape from the classroom since school started. Now he found another way to occupy his time in the bathroom. What else could he get into by the end of the day? The principal was not happy and she made him clean up the mess. Friday was definitely not a good day for him.

BBC

School Psychologist vs. Social Worker

I was going to post about something that happened today, but then I remembered something that happened yesterday.

It's one thing to describe what it is that I do exactly in my school, it's another to describe how it's different from what another professional does when the duties tend to overlap. At work, someone asked me what was the difference between a school psychologist and a social worker. I was kind of thrown by that question because a lot of what we do in the building tends to overlap. Everyone knows that when a kid is having a rough time in class it's either me or the social worker that shows up. There are differences: The training is different, I had to go beyond my Master's to get a specialist's degree. Social workers tend to stop at the Master's of Social Work (MSW). My internship existed solely within schools. Social work students complete their internships in schools, hospitals, counseling centers, etc. My training deals more with cognition and behavior and I have more exposure to mental disorders. Social Workers focus more on social aspects of a child's life. They are more experienced in integrating family and school. My social worker is more aware of resources that exist in communities for families than I will ever be. I'm slowly becoming acquainted with the different resources that are available but her knowledge of what is out there is pretty extensive. We both meet with children and provide counseling, her counseling tends to focus more on social skills while my counseling may fall under more cognitive and academic tasks such as changing a child's self-perception, improving their organization skills, and making them more self-aware of their actions in the classroom. Of course, the social worker could work on these skills as well, just as I could work with a child on social skills-those things tend to overlap. Finally I added that I could give IQ tests and I was the only person in the building qualified to do so. That piqued everyone's interest.

Before I knew it I was peppered with requests from the teachers standing around to test their IQs. I told them that I wouldn't do it, and there was nothing they could do to convince me otherwise. I tried to explain how obsessive people can become when it comes to IQ. One teacher was willing to pay me, but I knew that it wasn't worth it. I remember being in my program and trying to find test subjects to practice administering IQ tests. Some people could handle it because they knew that they were just helping me out. Others took it too seriously, even though my methods were flawed back then, making some parts of the test invalid. I also tried to tell them that people can become obsessed with their "weaknesses" and the last thing I want are depressed teachers because they weren't as "smart" as they thought they were. After they kept whining and asking me why I wouldn't do it, one teacher chimed in saying "Jut look at how you're acting now and he hasn't even given you a test yet." That seemed to work for now.

I am thankful for having a knowledgeable social worker, it takes some of the pressure off me from having to know all of the answers. That's a good thing, since I find myself searching for those answers every day.


BBC

Sad Father

Since school started before Labor Day, I couldn't take any of the children's absences seriously, especially those who missed every day of the brand new school year. Those kids could always show up after Labor Day, following their own idea of what truly marks the end of summer vacation. There was one particular girl who hadn't shown up at school and was officially going to receive "No-Show" status. The school receptionist finally contacted a family member and was told that the family moved back to the city.

I was disappointed but I can understand how difficult it was to make that decision. The city's school district was the one that retained the girl twice. The family had enough and in the middle of last school year decided to move into the suburbs to give their daughter a fighting chance. We noticed right away how underdeveloped her skills were. She had some real deficits and after interventions didn't work, we tested her. She became eligible for special education at the end of last year and we designed a program that would have been implemented this year. It was disheartening to put forth the effort only to have to child leave the school, especially since she was returning to her former school district. I suspect that my suburban district was too expensive for the family. I remember near the end of last year having a difficult time trying to contact them. I've learned that disconnected or non-working phone numbers are sign of financial trouble. To their credit, the parents did stay in touch with me during the evaluation process, they were extremely helpful and grateful for the attention and assistance their daughter was finally going to receive. And now they've left. The father came by the school today to see the principal. My principal called me into the conference telling me that she had a "sad father' who wanted to speak to me. As I walked down the hall I was trying to figure out who it could have been and what it was I did to make him sad. When I saw who it was I was relieved. He stopped by to find out what he needed to do to ensure that his daughter's special ed program would follow her to the new school. I explained the procedure and informed him of his rights as a parent. He also expressed how he wished they could have stayed in the district but things didn't work out. That was nice of him. So many people just leave and we never find out why. My district is very transient that way. While someone has left, we have plenty who will take her place. Everything has to balance out-special ed homeostasis.

BBC

Confidentiality

Today we met with teachers to discuss the accommodations page in each child's IEP. This meeting usually isn't a big deal because the teacher has only known the child for a couple of days at this point. We met with the specials teachers (art, music, gym and media) to discuss all of the children who have IEPs. We had to discuss the new child who has a history of sexual abuse. We had to make certain arrangements so that the child would have an escort for whenever she left the room. We had to inform the teachers about this plan, without explaining why. It was hard to emphasize the need for constant supervision without giving any details. I adhere to confidentiality, almost to the point where I don't even share information with team members. I don't participate in hearsay, if someone wants information I tell him or her to consult the file, if he or she has permission to do so.

I am sensitive to this child's needs, but I'm also sensitive to the safety and well-being of the other children. I also don't want to single-out this child, but I'm not sure how to ensure safety without doing so. This will be tough.

BBC

Throw-Away Children

My principal has a term she uses for children that come from terrible homes, suffer from serious neglect, are deeply involved in Children's Services, foster homes, and generally bounce around from place to place - throw-away children. She doesn't mean this in a disparaging way towards them; its more of a reflection to how they are treated by their families and the system. Usually the most consistent, vigilant ones are the school personnel, but often we can't do much because the children are only with us for weeks or months if we are lucky. Then they move away to start over, after we have spent time and energy lining up resources to improve their lives. But they aren't at fault. It's not like a 7 year old can just up and leave. It's usually an agency, or a foster parent, or the biological parent that decides to move away. Sometimes I'm not sure if people realize how much the upheaval really disturbs a child's well-being. There was a student who didn't show up yesterday and we all assumed that he would eventually come to school after Labor Day (there are always those few families that take it upon themselves to extend summer vacation.) Well I got a note in my box informing me that he moved away. This was a kid that we worked so hard to get him what he needed and really planned out who he would have as a teacher. Now he has to start over in another place.

I have new student who's case is absorbing a lot of my mental energy. She's a child with significant history of abuse and her psychiatric report painted a picture that, quite frankly, scared me. What do you do as a school when someone arrives with a significant history of being a victim and perpetrator of sexual abuse? How do you maintain safety in your school, keep all of the necessary personnel informed, without letting that knowledge spread throughout the entire school. How do you protect the welfare of other children, while maintaining one child's confidentiality? This is something I know I will struggle with for the next few weeks. Luckily I am adept at telling people that I have to maintain confidentiality and I have a competent team of support people who are confident in their decision-making skills. This should be an interesting year.

BBC

First Day 2008-2009 - Positivity is the word of the day!

Guess who's back for another school year. After a nice summer vacation that evaporated like drops of water on hot asphalt, I'm back. Today was the first day of school and it marked my first time starting the year as the school psychologist. My former supervisor is now in her new position at the high school full-time and I'm on my own now. I'm happy. This fresh start also features new digs. Not only did I get a new office, but I got new carpet and new paint on the walls. That was cool, although the new carpet was giving me a headache today, and I don't get headaches often so that had to be the reason.

Anyway, the mantra for today and for the rest of the school year is positivity. At first I was starting to feel apprehensive about the upcoming year. I've got a lot of new players to work with in my school. I've got parents requesting PPTs before the school year even started and the pressure of being the only one started to get to me. I started to wonder if I could pull this off. Would I have any ideas or strategies to offer? Would any of them work? Then I realized that I was thinking about this in the wrong manner. I need to look at these possible situations and these new cases as opportunities to gain experience and add strategies and ideas to my repertoire.

For some reason the negative vibes from teachers were really affecting me today. I was told to pay attention to 1st grade today because there are some new children there and some former kindergarteners with behavioral histories. I used to think that the new students had it rough, because we would get all this information about them before they enrolled: the IEP, the reports, the discipline records, and we would have this profile of the kid before we even met him or her. Now I feel sorry for the children who are already in my school and move up a grade the following year, because they don't always get the chance to make a fresh start. This is especially true when they move from one "negative" teacher to another one the following year. There's this kid who's classic ADHD. The kid can't sit still to save his life, and he's on meds. His kindergarten teacher last year had a hard time adjusting her own attitude towards the student. Now she's contaminated the attitude of the student's new teacher. When the first grade teacher walked into the conference room to talk to the support staff, the first words out of mouth were, "I had to talk to him 5 times this morning." She already wants something implemented for him. So much for an adjustment period. I could feel the negative vibes coming from her end of the hallway, but I refuse to be drawn in. I need to maintain a positive outlook, for my sanity's sake.

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Not Changing For Nobody

I'm starting to notice that a lot of kids don't adapt well to various surroundings. They act the same way whether they are in school, at home, around their parents, etc. I remember learning that I had to be different in school and at home; it was a matter of survival. Kids today act exactly the same way (they usually act spoiled and entitled) no matter where they are. It's baffling. Plus, they don't understand how this behavior gets them in trouble. It's always telling when a child doesn't change his or her behavior when the parent shows up at school. Most kids straighten up and have that look in their eye that says, "what the hell are you doing here?" But there are some that are not fazed in the least. These are the ones I deal with on a daily basis.

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Trifecta

Oh, today was one of those days. I was sitting in my office when the secretary got a call from the gym. The gym teacher was calling because she had-not one, not two, but three kids having simultaneous meltdowns. I headed to the gym to get them, but I picked up the social worker as backup along the way. I've never dealt with three kids at once, so there was no way I was going in alone.

Two of the kids responded badly to receiving strikes in class. My school has a positive behavior support that involves a strike system. It's basically a "3 strikes and you're out" system. The kids need to stay strike free in order to win a reward on Friday. Well, it all boils down kids not being able to handle disappointment and setback. They have no resiliency. I have to figure out a way to reach these kids and get them to handle negative situations in a positive way. It has happened time and time again. A kid gets a strike, he doesn't feel that if is fair, and he has a meltdown that includes crying, immobility and a refusal to talk. Now the situation is worse because the immobility usually disrupts something like a class change. So I get called in.

I ended finding out what the issues were. If these kids could handle a setback, then they would have been able to move on and the strike would have been a single incident. Instead these situations ended up turning into a 30 minute ordeal. I think I know what my assignment over the summer is going to be.

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Disappointment

I wasn't sure how to title this one, but "disappointment" seemed the most relevant. I attended a district meeting on Response to Intervention (RTI). My district is moving towards using RTI in the near future and we have been meeting to figure out how we will implement it. There was discussion to use one of the elementary schools to pilot a program so that we could see how effective the various components are. Unfortunately, the conversation turned to the school that was proposed and how much it differed from other schools in the district. The proposed school serves a more affluent population than some of the other schools, including mine. Some of the members of the committee had either worked in my school or were familiar with the mentality of the teachers in my building. They conveyed a message that said that no one else would buy into the plan because the school it was piloted on had a different population than some of the other schools. For some reason, if it works in the affluent school, it won't work in the working-class schools. I don't get this mentality. But hearing these teachers talk about how hard it would be to convince teachers in some of the working-class schools to buy into the program, made me think that there is little optimism in our society-which is disappointing on several levels.

For those not familiar with RTI: It is a system for determining special education eligibility for a learning disability. It's a system, a protocol if you will. You set up how it will run, and you do it. (This is really simplified, and I'm not doing it justice. That's why I linked to another resource. Consult the link to get a better understanding of what I'm glossing over.) As long as the people are in place, and everyone is doing progress monitoring properly, then it should work. I don't get why people are so convinced that things won't work, especially because of where initiatives are implemented. Why should that matter? Maybe I am naive, or am I just hopeful? This mentality is so pervasive in education and I'm realizing how much has to change in order for real change to occur.

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Third Graders??

Yeah, I heard the news story, and there was nothing I could say. It was the topic of choice in the teachers' lounge. The thought of third graders possessing this kind of premeditation, planning and organization skills is astounding. I'm being flippant, but if this all turns out to be true (and some psychiatrists don't think so) it does speak to what kids can do when they put their minds to it.

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Bullying Article

I only work with elementary school-aged children so the level of bullying that I deal with is minimal for now, but this article from the New York Times sickened me. You want to know what happens to a young man that would make him snap? Try being the kid in this article for a couple of hours. It's a wonder that something disastrous hasn't happened yet. Tick, tick, tick, tick.

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The Art of the Question

We had a psychiatrist come in to conduct an evaluation on a child who had severe panic attacks. The child couldn't finish the school day, because he would have these fits and try to leave the building. Well this psychiatrist came and interviewed the relevant staff, the parents, and the child in a matter of a couple of hours. He debriefed the us after he had met with the parents and laid it all for us. It was pretty amazing how he was able to sum it this kid's whole life experience in a matter of 2 hours. I was really impressed. It made me realize how it's all about the questions you ask, and how you ask them. He was able to get the information he needed to develop his hypothesis on what was going on with this kid. He didn't use any fancy instruments, tests, surveys, etc. He asked some questions, then some great follow-up questions and was able to formulate a theory. It really opened my eyes to the effectiveness of the clinical interview. I guess that the main difference is that because he has an MD at the end of his name, people take his diagnoses seriously. I could say the same thing he said, and I could be challenged on it in court. All this means that while psychiatrists can make definitive statements about what is wrong with a child, I have to speak in terms that reflect vagueness and uncertainty. "It appears that..." "It is possible that..." "It seems as if..."

Turns out there was a lot going on at home; much more than what we were aware of. There will need to be some significant changes within the family in order for this child to meet success. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

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Standardized Tests

I was a proctor for our statewide standardized assessments last week. I've come to the conclusion that students use the same strategies when they have no idea how to solve a problem. What's even scarier is that they use the same strategies when they think they know. I'm realizing that if a student has a word problem that he doesn't understand, then he will just add up all the numbers that appear in the problem. Simple, but wrong. Granted, I was proctoring for the special education students, but I would still hope that they would use certain test strategies.

The students that I had all had time extension. Did any of them use it? No, only on the writing assessment. They finished before the actual time deadline on most of the tests, but they could have used as much time as possible. They had time to use their calculators, draw pictures to solve math problems, and really check over their work. But they didn't use it. It was very frustrating and demoralizing, because I wanted to help them, but I couldn't. It was really draining to see wrong answers, wrong strategies, and what seemed to be complete cluelessness about the whole process.

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Rubber Room

I was listening to "This American Life" on NPR over the weekend and heard an interesting story about what happens to teachers who are removed from their classrooms in New York City Public Schools. Here's an archived version from The New York Times. When teachers are put on suspension because of some inappropriate action they are sent to the reassignment center, or as the teachers call it, the rubber room. Teachers report to the rubber room each and every morning until their cases are tried. Some of these teachers have been in the rubber room for months, even years. Some end a school year and start another school year in the rubber room. Meanwhile all of these teachers are earning a full salary. A full salary for doing 0% of work. 0.0%!!!! It would seem that the school district would want to hear these cases so that these teachers could be immediately terminated, if warranted. It is also peculiar that the teachers' union hasn't stepped in and stopped this mockery of the public school system. Any given day 750 teachers are attending these rubber rooms where they sit around, read books, play cards, sleep and do other frivolous things while substitute teachers teach their classes for them.

I know that some of these teachers get what they deserved. I'm sure there were more than a few that did things that I would not want a child to be subjected to, but why keep these people in limbo? This is reminiscent of Guantanamo Bay. Speaking of which, some of the teachers had been in the limbo room so long, that a prison culture has developed. There are racial cliques, people are hyper-territorial, and there is a pecking order. It's amazing how people respond to different situations. Educators reduced to hardened criminals.

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IDK

Every now and then I feel frustrated with my job. I can't help but feel that people are expecting me to be an expert in everything. I'm now more aware of what I don't know and it makes mad because I wish we had these conversations in class when I had the time. I don't have all the answers. I know that I'm not supposed to have them all now, but sometimes I feel like people expect me too. I hate having to say "I don't know." It makes me feel stupid and unprofessional. On the other hand, I guess it's better than giving some bad advice. That could go horribly wrong.

I guess I have to take it upon myself to find relevant professional development opportunities. I also need to continue to read and research. Exactly what I wanted to avoid once I graduated. Education never ends.

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The Democratic Dilemma

So in this surreal moment in life when the Democratic candidate for President will either be a woman or a black man, I have to seriously think about who I'm supporting. While I was taught in school that it's better for school psychologists to be politically neutral (you don't want to piss people off), I do have some political leanings. I am a registered Democrat and I will support the person that comes out of this alive. Despite my commitment, I do have to think about who is ultimately the stronger candidate. While they differ on some issues, the issue that I have to look at professionally was education. Where does Obama stand on education? What does Clinton have to say about education?

I checked out their websites to see what each candidate has to say. For what it's worth I saw a previous critique of the layout of the Clinton and Obama websites, and I think the critiques are valid. Clinton's website, check it out here, is dense with information, maybe too dense. I saw the text I thought "ugh." I guess I've worked with too many ADHD kids. There were a lot of good points, but I thought it should have been bulleted more. That first paragraph hits you with a thud. Obama's website, check it out here, has headers and has a nice flow. I'm just not sure about what he is actually saying. He presents more ideas and promises than Clinton and it begs the question: How much of this is actually feasible?

Education has been the cornerstone of the American Dream. Everyone is guaranteed an education here. If you get an education, you'll get a job. If you get a job, you can be a productive member of society. That's the sales pitch that America's been giving since the 18th century. So what are the promises that the Democratic presidential candidates are making? Clinton's promises seem to be more focused and there are fewer of them. There seems to be a realistic tone to what she is saying. She also mentions meeting the funding requirements of IDEA and providing support for children with special needs. Obama's promises are idealistic and are full of hope; you wouldn't expect anything less from him at this point. He proposes a "Zero to Five" plan that will focus on kids from birth to preschool. He also mentions making math and science a national priority. You read his ideas and they give you hope. I just wonder how much of this could he actually accomplish.

I have made a decision, but in the end I'll support whoever wins the ticket. I hope that NCLB will be amended, at least funded, so that we can change the education system in this country for the better.

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The Return

I'm back. I can't believe that I've been gone all this time. I've spent this first part of this school year getting acclimated to my school. I am fortunate (or maybe unfortunate) to be working in the same school where I completed my internship. I have to say that the transition was smooth.

I've spent the first few months setting up my systems. I wanted to get organized and have people become accustomed to the way I do things. The rest of the support staff have been understanding. It is weird though how some of them have many years of experience, but because I have the title of "School Psychologist" they think that I'm an expert. I only wish.

My January was pretty calm, but the last week was quite eventful. I'm starting to think that full moons happen several times a month, that's the only logical explanation. I had 2 phone calls to make to Children's Services at the same time. That has to be a first. In the end both children are safe now, so that's the important thing.

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The Real Deal

Where has the time gone. I haven't updated this blog since the summer. Several things have happened since. I finished my program and got a job! I spent the summer learning about reading instruction by being a paraprofessional for summer school. That was interesting.

The important thing is that I now have a job. I am earning a paycheck. I can now call myself a school psychologist. Therefore, I had to change the name of the blog. More soon.

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