That Look - The PPT

I think that there comes a time when your savings account of experience--your training on dealing with parents; your knowledge of special education law; every lesson you have learned about dealing with the mentally ill, and whatever moxie you have that keeps you from curling up into a ball and crying--has to be drained in order to survive a meeting. I had one of those meetings yesterday. This has preoccupied my attention so much that I neglected to show for a PPT for an interdistrict student on Friday, oops. My team prepared for this meeting by discussing who was going to say what during the PPT. Our lineup included the school nurse (who talked about the need for medication management), the special education teacher (who had good news because his academics are really strong) the social worker (who interviewed the parents extensively) and me. We decided to go in this order, school nurse, special ed teacher, school psychologist and social worker.

I couldn't eat my lunch. Most people thought I was really nervous, but I wasn't that nervous. It was the nervousness I usually feel before a performance. It was a good kind of nervous, I knew that it would help me raise my game to the appropriate level. The meeting was in the afternoon, and I only took a couple of bites of my sandwich before I knew it was futile to try and eat. As I made my way to the conference room I had a worrisome thought: What if the parents didn't show? I hadn't considered that. They could have just blown us off and I would have prepared for nothing.

But, they did show and the show went on. I don't mind being the meeting coordinator, except for the fact that I have to wear 2 hats during the meeting: coordinator and school psychologist. For this meeting I had to talk about my evaluation results, so I was doing double duty. I'm not sure if people appreciate how stressful that can be. Well, I presented my results and I felt that my role was to present a dose of reality: the child is emotionally disturbed. He has a past of aggressive behaviors towards peers and adults, and suicidal thoughts. After the results were presented, I had to tell the parents that their son was eligible for special education services for Emotional Disturbance. Actually, it didn't go that smoothly. I think I actually said, "Emotionally Disturbed. That's such an awful term. If we can change Mental Retardation to Intellectual Disability, then we should be able to do something about Emotional Disturbance.

In the end, the parents took the news well, I think. The father remarked that they had heard the news before, and after hearing it from so many different people, there must be some truth to it. The team recommended the student enroll in a therapeutic school. The parents seemed more receptive to the idea of an alternative setting, but we shall see.

BBC

Adios, Amigo?

Friday, we had what was ostensibly a case conference to learn how a student's medication change was working, however it turned into a full-blown PPT with a discussion for change of placement. Alejandro (see previous post "The Package" from 9/23/08) has been problematic for most of the year, so it doesn't come as a big surprise, but this was a student that we gave so many resources- manpower and brainpower. When those kids leave you can't help but feel a sense of loss. It's not a matter of attachment, it's a matter of commitment. Once you decide that you're going to stick it out, it is a bit confusing when it becomes apparent that you have done all that you could and it's time for someone else to try. That's what I had to tell our principal, because she was wondering what else could be done. We worked with him for over a year and a half. He had significant issues, but we were somewhat successful at dealing with them. We were winning, dammit! But then it became too much for us to deal with.

He was on a very effective medication that controlled his impulsive behavior, but it was causing weight gain. At his mother's request, the medication was switched and he has never been the same. He has been obstinate, defiant and aggressive. This isn't the same child we worked with all of last year. It's unfortunate, because we made all sorts of accommodations to help him and we never took into consideration just how much the medication was contributing to his success.

The meeting culminated with a recommendation that he attends an alternative school that specializes in children with behavior issues. His outside therapists were the first to recommend it because at this point, a therapeutic school setting would be best.

I was warned about this: My director told me that as soon as Alejandro found out about the school change his behavior would deteriorate. Well, guess what happened today? It was pretty awful. Part of his plan was to have a check-in time with me in the morning. I am supposed to gauge his mood and see how his day will go. He was off this morning, but I hoped that he would get it together in time for class. I hoped in vain. He didn't even make it an hour. He had absolutely nothing to work for. My principal was very perceptive, she picked up on something that he said during his fit of stubbornness. In his stilted English, Alejandro said that he was angry with us. As she asked him to tell me what he said, it dawned on me that he knew about the school change. And of course, we have his mother to thank for that. His mother is not a good mother, and this was definitely something she would tell him. I think her words were that he's been misbehaving and he's being sent to another school because of it. Thanks, mom. We're still working on the paperwork now. This should happen fairly soon.

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