Weekly Practicum Journals Carly Freiert My practicum took place over the course of the Fall semester, once schools opened up in September. I was an intern at Buffalo Committee for Special Education, working alongside school psychologist Mike Munella. I observed him as well as CSE Chair Shaun Silverwood throughout the semester. Mike evaluated children and adolescents with disabilities ranging from mental retardation to emotionally disturbed. 10/05/09 St. Mary's and Office Day. 8:00am-12:30pm (4.5 hours) - Today we went to St. Mary's School for the Deaf for meetings and consultation with a number of teachers. I took two sign language classes over the summer, so it was nice to exercise my knowledge and communicate a little with the students. - We talked to teachers about the students regarding their progress. It's very difficult to test children because they need an ASL (American Sign Language) translator. Luckily, the students only needed annual reviews of their IEPs were needed, so Mike did consults of their records and spoke with teachers. We also observed children in the classrooms for awhile if Mike needed a little further information. - Afterwards, we went back to the office for awhile and it was an introduction day. I met many of Mike's colleagues, as well as his supervisor and the director of CSE. I also learned some of their roles in CSE and what they do because many are not school psychologists. - Today was an intro day. I'm just getting into seeing how things operate and what everyone does to make CSE what it is. I also learned a lot about regulations and things to uphold IDEA laws. 10/7/09 Office day 8:00am-12:45pm (4.75 hours) -Today was an office day with not too much going on, so we had a lot of question and answer sessions between tasks. Mike told me a lot about what specifically he does, because I never had the chance prior to discuss these kinds of things with him. - Some of the things I learned: - Specific agencies we work with (there's a ton). - Most face to face meetings and testing with kids is at the school or agency they attend. This makes the environment more comfortable to them and doesn't throw off any stability by a change in scenery. This also makes prior/post test observation in the classroom possible. We also can chat with the teachers about the student without pulling the teacher out of the room for a meeting, which can also really throw things off for kids that depend on structure to learn. -Most kids are not in a public school; they are enrolled in these agencies. (Some are in satellite agencies within public schools) - Costs depend on program and specific needs of child; about 30-50,000 dollars a year, for a 12 month program. The government covers all this. - The most common issues in the agencies: ADHD, ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), mental retardation and mental disabilities (autism) as well as ED (emotionally disturbed). - Part 200 Students with Disabilities and the Vineland Adaptive Behavioral Scale are used in evaluations as guidelines. The Part 200 has state established guidelines and tests for diagnoses. The Vineland uses social, adaptive behavior skills. It breaks down functioning based on age, communication, daily living skills, socialization. It's often used for non-testable kids. The scores are compared to norms: culturally, geographic region, age, gender, race, across a "normal population". Can it can show or justify retardation or recommendations. - CPSE: evaluations are based on reasons for referrals from pre-school teachers, parents, pediatricians, etc. For example, if speech and language difficulties are noted, a speech pathologist will evaluate. Other tests are IQ tests, educational tests, readiness tests, etc. Some tasks used are shape recognition, color recognition, motor skills, attentive and listening skills. - Most psychs are very reluctant to diagnose specifically at this age, even for things like ADHD. They need to take a look at the environment and structure because kids still develop at different rates at this age. - Mike explained you often need to take a look at nature versus nurture with kids. Which aspect of them is flawed? (Behavioral vs. genetically) - Nature is easier to control or help with medications than environmental issues/behaviors. - Once children are around 6-8 years old they can be tested for such things. - This gave me a jumping off point for understanding the role of a school psychologist in the BPS system. It's now my understanding that even though Mike is technically a Buffalo PUBLIC school psych, he actually works with children in private agencies that would have otherwise been enrolled in a public school. His basic job requirements and educational background were learned and helped me develop an idea of his occupation. 10/09/09 Office Day: Question and Answer Continued 8:00am-2:00pm. (6 hours) - No class! So we further our question and answer session in between tasks again.- A functional behavior assessment or analysis looks at problematic nature and behavior. It looks at different environments results, and what leads to behavior. - A behavior intervention plan results from the analysis; applies what was found. Addresses behavior and methods to control behavior. (Ie:token economy) It then measures progress and effectiveness; often has multiple attempts and approaches. - ESL services can be used for struggling bilingual kids. it's not necessarily special ed. School 45 is an international BPS. Juliana Becker is a bilingual school psych that works there. - To be put into an agency, parents must agree, psychologist needs to recommend the placement, and the agency accepts the child. There's a waiting list for some. - Parents can ask for evaluation to have the child put back into the public school system. - If a parent disagrees with something, the top level of conflict resolution is an appeal, which involves court, lawyers, and is expensive. - SSTs target kids with difficulties in these schools. - Stanford Binet, Vineland, Achievement tests used to draw conclusions about kids. - Set sizes to classes, but state can override in some circumstances if required. - A resolution session a meeting where people can voice complaints (usually parents) against current program. It maps out issues and lawyers are often involved. Suing the school is potential result, but possible solutions are presented. - An impartial decision is when a 3rd party decides on unresolved problems. - There are about 35,000 kids enrolled (some not special ed) and overseen. - Cantalician is a school for disabled kids, mental retardation, etc. - Gateway and Falk schools: behavioral and emotional problem kids. - Baker Day School: behavioral. - Baker Day Treatment: Intensive counseling, psychiatric component for more extreme cases. There's a psychiatrist on staff for oversight, Kids are on medications. An important component is the follow up. (In Lackawanna) - CHC: severely disabled kids. - Aspire: disabled kids. - Summit and Autistic services: autism. -Today may have seemed petty in what we accomplished, however I learned a lot. I'm gaining basic knowledge of what's done in the field so I'm better prepared in terms of what to know and expect in meetings and evaluations of kids. The information was broad and generalized, but now I'm more prepared to get into specifics. 10/13/09 Cantalician visit 8:00am- 12:30pm (4.5 hours) - IEP direct stores the kids' information (an educational plan) - Behavioral Intervention Plan is found in the IEP, targets the behavior, intervention strategies, consequences, evaluation method, people responsible, etc. Teachers are usually all listed in this. - We went to Cantalician today to do re-evaluations and annual reviews. The meetings consisted of Shaun Silverwood (CSE Chair), Mike Munella, an IEP Direct secretary, Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists, Physical Therapists, and the teacher of the student. It is state mandated attendance of these people. Parents and student can come. Questions are asked such as: Is it an appropriate program? Is there progress? Then, the IEP is developed and updated. - Today was important because it began to show me how CSE meetings work and what are the basic rules and regulations behind upholding the IDEA laws in the Buffalo Public Schools' charter and private agencies. 10/15/09 Office day 8:00am-1:00pm (5 hours) - Today we worked in the office and I pulled files of students for future evaluations. No meetings with kids. - Annual reviews have to be done for all special ed kids; it reviews goals, updates benchmarks, and has a program review. - Tri-annually there's a re-evaluation. These are more detailed, need more than a psych consult (testing), and has a full assessment of the student done. Parents or teacher can request one to be done sooner if need be. - An annual review in contrast is less detailed, more general and quicker. - There was also a 9am phone conference with a Hispanic mom that I was able to listen in on and understood fully. -Today I began to learn about the preparation process for the psych component of the CSE meetings. A lot of consultation and record review is necessary to determine the child's progress and needs. 10/17/09 Gateway Longview 8:00am-2:00pm (6 hours) - Today was my first day in Gateway Longview school on Main Street. We had meetings for annual reviews and re-evals. - Most children here have ADHD, ED, ODD,etc. Have behavioral problems. - Attendance problems are huge! (ie: 45 days attended out of 216 for one student). - In place of OT, PT, Speech, vision therapies, students have therapies such as counseling individually and in small groups, and available family counseling. - CATS (Child and Adolescent Treatment Services) is an outside agency available for students, it has counseling and psychiatric community services. - CAB is a residential unit of Gateway for extreme cases. There is little to no integration with the regular other students in the agency. This program is usually court ordered, and is for sexual or violently assaulting children. - Present at this meeting was: Shaun Silverwood, Mike Munella, Cindy, Gateway's coordinator of curriculum, teachers, counselors, parents, aides, and sometimes the student. - Following the meetings, we met back at the office to review files for upcoming Cantalician meetings. - Today was important because it began to expand my knowledge of what the agencies overseen by CSE can offer. Their diversity in what they can accommodate in the various agencies is something I was previously unaware of. The term "special ed" is a lot broader than I had assumed. Before this I had no idea these types of agencies existed. 10/19/09 Cantalician - Eggert 8:00am-12:45pm (4.75 hours) - Today we drove out to the Eggert location of Cantalician. Here they have younger children with disabilities, ranging from pre-school level til around 1st grade, then they transfer over to the Main street location through graduation. - We tested a child who had an upcoming meeting using a Stanford Binet V abbreviated IQ test. The child tested has severe ADHD. He got around a 59 which is low. He needed frequent redirection and on task prompts. - The child had absolutely no subtraction skills and scored in the low kindergarten to 1st grade range. (He's 7 approaching 8 years old) - He's classified as multiply disabled (many students here are) with diagnoses of ADHD and mental retardation. He receives speech therapy and possibly more services. Images stimulated his attention with identifying tasks, etc. - Another child tested was the same age as the boy. She was also mentally retarded and had ADHD. - She had Occupational Therapy to work on her fine and gross motor skills twice a week. She also had Speech and Language 3 times individually and once in a group per week. - Mike was concerned that the Adaptive Behavior Scale test, which is done by the teacher had a bias to it, which is a common problem. The girl seemed to have scored higher than what she should have in comparison to other testing done. A common problem in this test is that teachers have unintentional bias in grading the student or score the individual relative to other kids in the class. - This resulted in a Stanford Binet done. The teacher aided Mike in redirecting the girl's attention to the tasks. The test uses nonverbal reasoning, spelling, verbal, numbers, etc. Varies in tasks on age. - Student was athletic and energetic, uses the wii in gym class, which aids in energy management. - Today opened up new areas of knowledge for me regarding testing kids with disabilities. I learned of potential problems in testing the kids, and helped me to get a first hand account of how students with MD react and function. This was the first time I got to work with a student and see their thought and reasoning patterns in the testing. The students abilities and activity level helped break down the idea that just because they're disabled doesn't mean they can't do some of the same things that normally functioning peers of theirs can do. 10/21/09 Cantalician 8:00am-12:45pm (4.75 hours) - Today was more annual evals and re-evaluation meetings at Cantalician's Main street location. Developing the IEPs and updating them was as usual. - We had a bilingual meeting today which was nice to be able to hear some Spanish again. A social worker translated for the mother, the older brother of the student knew decent English. He did most of the care for the brother in terms of lifting him and getting him onto the bus for school. The child was diagnoses with Duchenne's disease, which is a degenerative disease. - In other meeting, there were more MD kids and Austistic children. I learned for anyone deemed autistic, Speech and Language services are mandatory due to the impact Austism has on that area of development. - Today I learned more and more details about what needs to be in the Individualized Education Plans. These are taken fairly seriously in the agencies and especially with CSE. Things need to be exact and by the book so that the agency does not get cited for having issues in these areas. Benchmarks must be laid out in the IEP past 2nd grade because the kids begin to take NYS Alternative Assessments. 10/23/09 Office day 8:00am-12:45pm (4.75 hours) - Today I pulled files for upcoming Stanley Falk CSE meetings, another agency for behavioral problem kids, Emotionally Disturbed, ADHD, etc. - There are some mildly Autistic and MD kids there, but Falk does not primarily serve of have appropriate for mental retardation. They have more educational based programs for regular ED kids, and a more functional program for those on the lower functioning end. - I also began going through the files to sort out the psych reports of past evals and consults for Mike to begin drafting his and deeming it necessary or not to visit the site and observe or test the kids. The most recent IEP and Educational Assessment, and all past psych reports are needed to make a consult. Therefore, i sorted through the files to pull and copy all necessary documents. - One child I pulled was bilingual and the teacher said he is "illiterate in both languages" despite him being 16. He had a severely aggressive personality and was cited for these behaviors several times. - I also learned about the CARS procedure used for autistic kids. It's a rating scale that grades their behaviors in functioning, peer relations, etc to identify the degree of autism in a child. - I'm slowly increasing in my responsibilities given to me, which is important to me and my learning. I'm able to read through cases now and get a general understanding of a child. Also, by being able to go off on my own, pull and sort through files, copy things, etc I'm learning more and more first hand about the goings on of CSE and the prep work needed before going into these meetings for the school psychs. This also is helping me get acquainted with the other office workers. They included Social workers, school psychs, Speech and Language Pathologists, and CSE Chair and Coordinators. Throughout the building there's CPSE (Preschool) workers and a whole variety that fit into the BPS system. 10/26/09 Office Day 8:00am-12:45pm (4.75 hours) - An on site meeting at CHC fell through, so we stayed at the office to pull more files for upcoming meetings and work on preparing their IEPs. - Due to my increased presence at the office I'm beginning to get to know Mike's colleagues and help them with things when Mike doesn't need me to keep me busy and learning. I often help Shaun, who is the Chair prepare things and file away stuff. It's busy work, but it's part of working here. Also, their 2 secretaries are on maternity leave, so they need all the help they can get. Conveniently, Shaun's desk is next to Mike's so I can help her and anyone else that needs assistance to keep things flowing nicely. I'm learning that organization and clerical work is key to staying on top of things here. - We also further reviewed 4 boys' IEP's and files because Wednesday we plan to talk to their teachers and test some of them for future CSE meetings. One boy requested a special meeting as a hearing to discuss his request to be integrated back into a BPS for the remainder of his senior year. His past is quite lengthy and showed past aggressive behaviors and problems. - Today I started to get more and more in depth in terms of what they do at CSE. I'm becoming more of a direct part of what they do, and getting more respect and responsibilities, which is great in terms of helping me learn firsthand. 10/28/09 Falk - Cambridge and Office Day 8:00am - 12:45pm. (4.75 hours) - Today Mike and I went out to Stanley Falk's Cambridge location to test a student requesting to be put back into BPS system. We ran a Stanford Binet IQ test and well as chatted with him about school and reasons for going back into a public school. The student said he had spent his entire schooling at Falk and wished to walk across the stage in June at a public school. In this interview, Mike was noting the student's honesty and sense of realism of his schooling situation. He asked how things were going in terms of academics, peer relations, family relations, etc. The student had a very rough life growing up, as we learned from his file. He was bounced from home to home and put in Brylin for a time, with suspected sexual abuse during this period. He had a violent aggressive streak for some time, and was constantly fighting with family members. Parents were in and out of the picture and he had a very unstable social history. However, when speaking to him, it was evident that many of these behaviors had been resolved and he claimed things were doing better at home as well. He was very polite and charismatic. He then took the Stanford Binet V IQ test and scored in the average to low average range. - Afterwards, we spoke with the student's principal, which made a major impact on the decision to keep the student in Falk school. The principal cited a violent outburst that the student had while playing soccer against St. Mary's that fall, which ultimately led to the team forfeiting a game, and the student was ejected from the team and not allowed to join or try out for any others. He conveniently left this bit out when asked how the season went. The Falk school psych, Naomi Carey had called Mike to alert him of this ahead of time, hence his specific questions regarding soccer. His dishonesty and omissions were of serious concern. The principal said it cause the school great embarrassment; it took a lot to get inter collegiate sports to Falk schools and one outburst like this could wipe out all the programs. The principal also said there's still some instability at home and a social and safety concern regarding the student's sexual orientation and risky behaviors. All these factors were secondary factors in the decision. The primary concern was the student's success in school and ontime graduation. The boy had come a long way from where he was, and the school would hate to see him fail due to the removal of the structure that Falk offered him. He had a tailor made schedule to meet his academic requirements; he was even receiving help for RST prep in his homeroom. The BPS could not come close to offering him an education like the one Falk can provide. Based on all this, the decision was unanimous to keep him in Stanley G. Falk school. We also chatted with his teachers and counselors who agreed with this decision. Afterwards, we talked to teachers and counselors about the other boys who we have meetings coming up for so that Mike could do an update consult. - Today was important for me because it gave me an opportunity to really study a student and do a case study analysis of him before even meeting him. Also, the interview in which I had some participation in gave me a chance to work with a student and even partake in the discussion regarding the decision to keep him in an agency setting. I was able to get into detail in terms of getting to know the student's file and meet with him face to face. This really struck my interest in terms of what the school psych at Falk and Mike at CSE were able to work together to accomplish. 10/30/09 Aspire visit 8:00am - 2:30pm (6.5 hours) - Today we went into Aspire school to observe some students and talk with their teachers. A few had some meetings coming up to address some concerns, so Mike felt it would be best to actually observe the children. He also asked that teachers fill out Vineland tests about each child who had a re-eval or annual review coming up. - Because it was Halloween, the kid were dressed up and paraded around the school. This was a nice opportunity to see fine and gross motor abilities as well as peer interactions based on all the activities the kids got to do. Many are physically handicapped and required wheelchairs or walkers to go from room to room to trick or treat. Others had services such as OT, PT, S&L, so we were there quite awhile in order to observe each child. - One child of particular interest that we came out to see was classified as MD with vision impairment and MR. However, the teacher said the child has autistic like characteristics and suggested an observation to see if he perhaps would benefit from an agency such as Summit or Autistic services. Indeed, based on his sensory input needs, social skills, and language skills, he had autistic like characteristics. He also focused on one particular object; he revered it and used it constantly. The teachers used it as a reinforcement in school to redirect and motivate him. He had a large laminated picture of a cartoon girl's face he lovingly called Ida. He stroked that and talked to it in utterances. He also had a smaller version laminated at his desk. This obsession over a particular object is a common feature in autism. The girl was named after a girl that happened to ride the boy's bus. - Afterwards, we went back to the office and Mike put his observation notes together to start writing up their consults for upcoming meetings. I helped do clerical work and we later discusses all the findings. - Getting into the schools today was a big help in learning about the characteristics of specific disabilities. Being able to observe behaviors and symptoms helped to create a better idea of what a disability entailed. Also, I got to view and learn about a lot of the assistive technology and devices used, particularly for the physically handicapped students. This included the different walkers, standers, wheelchairs, and I also saw a Dynavox and learned how nonverbal students can use it to effectively communicate. I also got to witness teaching methods and learning methods for the students, which created great firsthand learning opportunities for me. I also noted how dedicated and patient these special ed teachers are, it was inspiring. 11/2/09 Stanley Falk- Rossler 8:00am-12:45pm (4.75 hours) - Today was Stanley Falk Rossler location's CSE meetings for Annual Reviews. We went over kids' IEPs and updated any changes needed. All the usual participants were there, including counselors, teachers, and administration. Naomi Carey attended part, who is Falk's school psych. She has to oversee all of the Falk schools, so she can only attend some, she's a busy lady. However, to uphold IDEA laws, Mike needs to attend these as a Buffalo representative. - Today was rather routine, but I continue to learn the details of what needs to be in an IEP and what doesn't. Every meeting I learn more and more of how meticulous they need to be; everything from grammar to content of goals is important to Shaun and CSE. Often times, I learn from minor errors or omissions made by related service people, teachers, counselors, etc. I am also learning about what these people have access to through IEP direct to enter their portion of the IEP for a student. 11/04/09 Rossler meetings continued. 8:30am-12:45pm (4.25 hours) - Today was a continuation of yesterday's meetings and agendas. More kids' IEPs were reviewed and developed, and I am continuing to learn the same things as previously discussed. Also, I'm learning more and more of the workload Naomi Carey has and why she needs Mike's help to balance all of this. 11/06/09 Office day 8:00am-2:30pm (6.5 hours) - It was a rather hectic and busy day at the office. I had to balance out helping Shaun and Mike with paperwork and files. The things I accomplished for them helped them focus on sorting out upcoming agendas and working on psych reports. Suspensions are a big focus for CSE. Only some agencies suspend their kids. For example, Falk does not; they feel suspending children will not help address problem behaviors by kicking them out of school. Other agencies that do suspend fax over these notifications to CSE to file for each student. Therefore, it was my job to begin sorting and organizing these suspension letters. Each agency needed its own section in a binder I made, and each agency needed to be alphabetized by student, and chronologically sort and organize each letter if the child had multiple offenses, which many did. The reason behind this is that CSE has a new way of dealing with suspensions. Once a child reaches 10 days of suspensions in a school year, an MDR meeting needs to be held; this is to determine the behavioral problems that brought on these suspensions and if the agency and program in place is properly addressing these problems. A pattern determination form must be filled out by a school psych (Mike Munella) to determine these problems' origins, etc. Therefore, by creating this binder of suspension reports, it makes these forms and meetings go a lot smoother. Petty task, but important for these reasons. Also, as the school year progresses, students unfortunately will become closer and closer to the magic number of ten suspension days. This is going to require a lot of extra work and meetings for Mike and other school psychs. - Today helped me learn some of the small but important tasks in keeping on top of things at CSE. Also, I learned a lot about these MDR meetings for pattern determinations which will be put in place in the agencies. I am learning more and more about the responsibilities of CSE outside of upholding IDEA laws through annual review and re-eval meetings. 11/09/09 Heritage observation 8:30am-12:30pm (4 hours) - This morning Mike and I went to Heritage school at Green Acres to observe an autistic child at the mother's request. She wished to have a one to one aide put into her son's IEP, so that he will have a personal aide working in his classroom at all times to help meet his daily living needs. Upon arriving, the children were eating breakfast. The child is ten years old and is in a 6:1:1 setting, as many MD classes are. (One teacher, one aide, 6 students) This does not include any one to one aids for students with these needs. This classroom had one teacher and two aides, which was more than enough in the teacher's opinion. She felt an extra aide was excessive and the boy did not need one. In fact, upon observing him, we noted he had no problems feeding himself, cleaning up, etc, which usually would be an aide's focus. He actually seemed to be the highest functioning student and behaved the best. He did not leave his seat or attempt to bolt from the room like many students with autism do. He just began a new medication which really calmed his behavior. Because he was still adjusting, it over-calmed him; he was in and out of a doze the majority of the time we were there. We talked with the teacher, aid, and director about him. Everyone came to the decision and agreement that his one to one aide request would be denied due to a lack of need. - Afterwards, Mike and I further discussed his findings and he taught me more about autistic characteristics and definitions of daily living skills, as well as reasons for having a one to one aide. This helped me expand me knowledge of the disability as well as understand reasons behind assistive technology and aides as per need of the student. 11/13/09 Aspire meetings 8:00am-12:30pm (4.5 hours) - We had Aspire Annual Reviews and Re-Evaluations for CSE Meetings at Aspire this morning. They were lengthier than usual; we had many concerns and issues to discuss. Many of the parents came today, which also extends the time of each meeting. It was really nice to see the active concern and participation of parents at these. Many parents either don't care or don't find the time to make these meetings about their children. Today we discussed the child with autistic like characteristics with the mother, her boyfriend, and the teachers. Both the mom and boyfriend were active in the child's life, it was especially nice to see the boyfriend so patient and integrated in the boy's life and education. Mike used the words "autistic characteristics" with the mother for the first time. It was never something verbalized and discussed about her son before. She took it very well and readily agreed to send out admission packets to schools that better specialized in autistic services. - It was moving and important to my learning to attend these meetings today. I learned firsthand through introspection and discussion with teachers and CSE staff about parents and their dedication and participation in the children's education. I learned that unfortunately, a lot depends on the families' socioeconomic status, as well as the child's disability. It took me back to my first days at CSE when Mike told me that nature is easier to help than nurture. Parents tend to understand that a child's disability is not theirs nor the children's fault. Therefore, better family communication and participation in schools was an apparent trend. Unfortunately, those that have behavioral problems tend to have poorer family interactions and less participation; I do not believe I have met a parent of student in the Stanley Falk system, one in Gateway. I have met many in Cantalician and Aspire schools. It is a shame and another aspect of the job that I am quickly realizing. 11/16/09 Aspire Meetings continued 8:30am- 1:00pm (4.5 hours) - Today was a continuation of Friday's meetings in every sense. The parent communication and participation amazed me today. We had a bilingual child with a degenerative disorder who had a annual review meeting. Both of his parents went to the meeting; his father who had decent english skills, and his mother that knew very very little. Because the father knew english, a translator was not present. This gave me the opportunity to talk with the mother and key her in on what her husband was discussing with the meeting's participants. The parents were incredibly supportive and active in their son's education, as were his older siblings. It was heartbreaking to see such a dedicated family with such little progress in the child's life. He was 10 years old and had the functioning capabilities of a 10 month old. Despite this, they were unwavering in their unconditional love and support. They reviewed the IEP, addressed concerned and commented on progress. Mike only did a consult; the child is clearly untestable. Afterwards we went to the office where we discussed the meetings and I pulled files for some upcoming meetings. - The significance of what I learned today coincided with what was previously stated after Friday's meeting. It was very inspiring and a really positive heart warming side of the CSE meetings that I attend. 11/18/09 Office day 8:00am-12:45 (4.75 hours) - We began at the office today, and went out to Falk Rossler location to test a child with ADHD/ED and known self injurious behaviors. He knew about the testing ahead of time, and conveniently became ill in the morning, so he went home and we were unable to test him. To make the trip worthwhile we chatted with other teachers that were available to talk about upcoming CSE meetings. It is difficult to pull teachers out of classes; with children with ADHD they depend on structure. Us appearing and removing the teacher causes serious disruption and throws kids offtrack, some for the whole day. Therefore, we met with a few and the rest were requested to call Mike at their convenience. We then went back to the office and we began preparing psych reports; Mike drafted consults while the information was still fresh, and I pulled files and sorted past psych reports. - Despite the fact that we did not observe nor test any kids, I still learned a lot from the teachers we did talk to. They were great in explaining to me the needs for structure in the kids' daily schedules, and the types of distractions that can cause a chain effect and throw off the entire classroom for some time. That's why individual testing and teacher input is a lot more reliable and easier to collect for consults and evaluations. 11/20/09 Office day, CSE meeting phone conferences 8:00am-2:30pm (6.5 hours) - It was a big day at the office for CSE. We had a lot of phone conferences to develop IEPs and address some concerns. Today was the formal meeting regarding the student who requested to go back into the BPS system. As expected, his request was denied. The student took it rather well and agreed to an extent with what his counselors, teachers, and Mike had discusses. However, he still felt he could properly control his temper and behaviors in a public school environment. He did seem appreciative and in agreement that his teacher work hard to custom design his school schedule to meet his graduation expectations. The rest of the meetings went smoothly; most were just annual reviews. During a gap in meetings I pulled some files and helped Mike get information together to write up psych reports for future meetings. 11/23/09 8:00am-2:00pm (6.0 hours) - We first went to a Falk school to divide up the workload of psych evals and consults with Naomi Carey, who cannot handle all of the schools' kids on her own. It's a hefty workload, so Mike, Naomi, and I went through each day of agendas and spread out the workload and determined what students needed what (consult or testing). These meetings begin in January and extend through the winter. Every child at Falk in BPS overseen by CSE needs to have a meeting, so these were split up between Mike and Naomi. - I chatted a lot with Naomi and learned a lot about what she does as well as the similarities and differences between hers and Mike's position and job load. I also planned a mini-internship in the spring to help her in RST testing of Stanley Falk students. I learned a lot and observed the rapport the develops between school psychs. They really can depend on one another and help each other out with feedback and consults about students. - Later on we went back to another Falk location to test a boy that had previously not shown up at school for his previous appointment. Like the student we held a meeting for that we interviewed, this child held back a lot of negative information. He lied about his academic performance and attitude in school. After testing his IQ, we talked to his teacher who openly ousted him and stated his performance was poor; he was very behind in work and had a negative work ethic. His testing showed he scored in a low average range. The boy needed frequent prompting. He had a history of self injurious behaviors; he cut himself and attempted suicide before, and was still fairly young (10 years old). He also had a serious problem with picking at his wounds he inflicted. When discussing this with Mike afterwards at the office, I suggested a Livestrong band or something similar that he couldn't use as a sling-shot type weapon, yet it could defer his attention away from picking at scabs and instead play with that. The child had ADHD and depression symptoms. - This testing and interview with the child helped me develop an idea of children's behaviors based on their diagnoses. Also, it helped me connect the dots between what I had previously learned by reading his file and meeting with him face to face. 11/25/09 Bowmansville meeting CPSE 8:00am-1:00pm (5 hours) - We went out to a new agency to me this morning in Bowmansville; it is an extension of Gateway Longview and services the CPSE kids, which are all younger. We met with teachers and directors to discuss upcoming meetings and new policies and changes to the IEP. It concerns CSE as opposed to CPSE because this IEP will affect the kids in kindergarten in the upcoming year, which put them into CSE oversight. We talked about what changes are necessary to change the IEP from a CPSE format to CSE. This includes a change in goals, needs, services, etc. Also, the child which was formerly classified as Preschool Student with a Disability to a more specific disabilitiy if not otherwise listed after the PSAD classification. There are laws that state this disability must be labeled with a classification abbreviation. (OHI, VI, MD, etc. These stand for Other health impairment, visual impairment, Multiply disabled.) We were rather unimpressed with the professional attitude held by some staff. Other teachers were great with working with us and understand requirements. I copied all psych reports needed and later added them to the kids' files when we returned to the office. I also learned about the agency while there. I learned that a professor of mine, Dr. Berry, was a director there before her position was eliminated. - There was a lot of significance in today's meeting. I realized I am starting to be able to compare directors and staff based on their performance and cooperation with us. They are no longer a new face, a new name. I can accurately evaluate them in their roles in the agencies. Also, learning about the transition from CPSE to CSE opened up new areas of knowledge for me in the job. 11/30/09 Office Day 8:00am- 12:45pm (4.75 hours) - Today was uneventful; I pulled more files and prepared for the wave of CSE meetings coming in December. Mike calls this time a "calm between tidal waves". So I did what I could to help him prepare for these reports needed for the meetings. I continue to pull files, replace them, and read up on the kids so that I have an understanding of the child, his/her disability, and needs for the meetings. It's nice to be able to get a handle on the child prior to meeting him/her or holding a meeting to discuss the child's IEP. 12/1/09 Office and Phone consults 1:00pm-3:30pm (2.5 hours) - In the afternoon after class I helped Mike pull files and do the usual sorting of psych reports and past evaluations for kids with upcoming CSE meetings. Mike and the school psychs are continuing to prepare for CSE meetings through December and January. I'm continuing to learn and realize that you need to stay on top of things and ahead of schedule to be on schedule per say. These reports need to be done ahead of time and ready to be entered into IEP direct for the meetings. Mike also has the option to wait til he hears from the teachers and related services, then enter his input into IEP. The IEP must be finalized by the chair, Shaun. She can only do this in the office at her convenience, so he has a window of time to do so. 12/2/09 Falk Rossler CSE Meetings 8:00am- 12:30pm (4.5 hours) - We had meetings for annual reviews and re-evaluations of students at the Rossler location today. The usual development of the IEP and discussion of the students' progress was reviewed. Today we had a parent come to the meeting regarding her son, along with the social worker involved in the child's life. The mother was very communicative and cooperative with the school; she expressed concerns about her son's depression and suicide attempts. Outside counseling and hospitalization was discussed, and the fact that attendance due to hospitalization was affecting the student's progress. Regression is common in students of any disability, so this was particularly negatively affecting the child's academic performance. The meeting went well and advice was given to handle the boy's depression. Otherwise, his services remained the same. - I learned more about the affect of kids' disabilities today in the meeting. The mother went in depth about her son's behaviors and problems, as well as the outside services he receives. It was another helpful way for me to learn about children and the effect the disabilities have on not only themselves, but their families. 12/3/09 Office work 12:00pm- 3:30 pm (3.5 hours) - The last day of classes ended early today, so I utilized the free time to go to the office to help with clerical work. I helped organize and update suspension notifications in the binder that I had created. I also made a separate one for 2009 suspensions, which are the only ones that pertain to Mike in terms of pattern determination. I learned that the past suspensions are useful for consults and behavior determinations. Mike and I chatted about upcoming meetings and what was learned from the files of the students. Having a professional explain and provide his input opens up new perspectives than what I can learn and deduce from the files alone. 12/4/09 Falk Satellite school testing 8:00am-12:30pm, 1:30pm-3:00pm (6 hours) - I visited a satellite school today which was located in Kensington High School off Suffolk street. I learned all about satellite school and the presumptions that go along with these. In theory, the children enrolled in satellites are those who don't need the extreme structure of the actual agencies. These kids have some interaction with public school peers (ie: lunch, transitions) However, they still have their own section in the building, and are in 6:1:1 settings. The idea is that these kids may later be candidates to go back into a public setting, it's like a half step in the direction by being in a satellite school. From what I saw and what the teachers told me; absolutely not. Two of the three children we did IQ testing on were uncooperative, needed constant redirecting, were rude and difficult to test. One boy scored in the average to above average range. However, his peer relation skills were horrid. He did not have friends in school and interacted by insulting. He wanted to go to a charter school near his home, which was highly unadvisable by all parties when discussed. A young boy scored alarmingly low; he was bilingual and there were concerns as with all bilingual kids that his weakness in english could have contributed to his low IQ score. The last girl we attempted to test took extremely long and was so uncooperative that Mike's findings were invalid and had to be thrown out. Later, we met with their teachers and counselor to talk about the three students. It was interesting because I could actively participate in these. I put my input in and filled in parts that Mike forgot to mention. The teachers were not surprised by our findings, and provided input and observation information to add to Mike's psych reports on this children. They all ranged 10 to 12 years old and had ED diagnoses. - Today was important for me because I realized I am more able to contribute to discussions with more input and observations. By ability to perceive things and think on the same page as Mike is increasing. I was able to point out valid things that agreed with what Mike noted. It made me aware of my inference and observational skills and gave me a huge confidence boost.