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

Making the Rounds

(Disclaimer - I know I failed on my mission of a new post every Tuesday, but I did start writing this post on Tuesday. It's taken me this long to finish it.)

First day back after a nice holiday. For some reason, I feel that MLK day has been downplayed. I don't think it's as big a deal now as it was when I was a kid. That could be because I grew up in the South, but it could be because of the multicultural society that we live in today. Maybe people feel as if they don't necessarily have to stress it anymore. I'm not even sure if it was mentioned in my building last week. There's a chance that kindergarten and maybe first grade talked about it, but they may have been the only one's to discuss it. My principal made a point of reminding the kids before they left on Friday to reflect on why they had Monday off.

Maybe that's where we are in 2010. We have a Black (Biracial) president, there are more opportunities for African-Americans, albeit a limited few have access to those opportunities, and there are few incidents of blatant racism. Maybe we've moved beyond addressing MLK in school. I remember asking an African-American teacher in my building what she was doing for African-American History Month. She told me that she wasn't doing anything special because she incorporated the information throughout the year.

Today, I went to two different schools to observe students that I am evaluating. These are both alternative schools, specializing in behavioral and emotionally-challenged students. I was impressed by the atmosphere in each building. On paper, these schools seem like they would be awful places to attend. In actuality, this couldn't be farther from the truth. Both schools--one an elementary school, the other a high school--seem very therapeutic. Each had a very welcoming main office, which is key to establishing a warm environment because it puts one at ease. And I met both principals as I explained that I was there to observe students.

In the elementary school I observed a student that seemed pretty well-behaved. I know that I was only getting a snapshot, but it was promising. It reminded me that his apparent success is the reason why we refer some students to these types of schools. Obviously, this was an appropriate placement for him. While I was observing him, I saw a former student of mine. It was bit depressing to see that he hadn't changed much. He was still rail-thin, his head riddled with bald patches from ripping out his hair during anxiety attacks. He was very meek and looked like he would fold into himself it it was possible. I had hoped that this school would have produced results for him, but it looks like he is pretty much the same. Unfortunately a lot of his psychological inertia stems from the fact that his parents are mentally ill with bouts of depression, paranoia, and anxiety. I'm supposed to reevaluate him before the end of the year, so this will give me more information on how he is really doing. I don't know if he recognized me. Hopefully he just didn't see me. Of all the kids that I saw in this school, he was the one that stuck out to me as being a child that seemed in critical need.

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.

Bearer of Bad News

I had a PPT where I had to tell the parents that their son has significant issues and needs to attend a program in another school. Fortunately, the son was previously identified. It's hard being the bearer of bad news. Most parents don't take that kind of news too well, and who can blame them? There is no way around it, but as a member of the PPT I have to give the information as honest as possible. I think that some people find it easier to sugarcoat their news, or downplay the seriousness of their information. Unfortunately, the parents leave these meetings not understanding how limited their children are.

My most recent case involved a student that if he was a year younger (4 years old) he would have qualified under the disability of Developmental Delay. But since he was already 5 years old, no one wanted to revisit this case in less than a year to give him a new label. He entered my school as a kindergartner with a disability of Speech (Language) Impairment. Obviously to us he had more issues. These issues came to light during our evaluation. The good news was that the mother was aware that he had some limitations. n her words, she "hoped the news would have been better." The good part of the job is that we usually offer great recommendations to help the child. In this case, the child needed to be placed in a different school with a smaller, more intense kindergarten program. The parents agreed that it was a good recommendation and he entered the program today.

BBC