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.

BBC

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