Expect the expected?!

Let me first preface this post by saying that I love making lists. What do I love more than making lists? Checking things off on that list one by one, of course! Now it’s important to understand that a typical day in the life of a school psychologist will often be interrupted by various happenings that will change the planned schedule. “Expect the unexpected” is one of the unofficial slogans for the field. A student might be absent, the weather might not cooperate, or there may be an assembly, bus duty, or crisis situation to attend to. None of these things will be accounted for on the previously compiled list of things to do that day. But every once in awhile, things may go as planned… like today! I feel like a day in which I completed everything that I wanted to complete should be cherished.

I started off the day evaluating a student for her senior reevaluation in order to update her record for any post-high school plans that she may have. I administered cognitive and academic assessments as well as a few self-report rating scales to get a better picture of her executive functioning and social/emotional/behavior functioning. We finished early so I scored some protocols in the conference room until noon when I had the room booked until. I’ll hopefully finish up testing with her next Friday and have the report written by Monday. I then met with the 10^th grade guidance counselor in order to check on the progress of a student I have been following since the beginning of the school year. Her grades have dropped significantly since the fall. We’re hoping to get her math and reading screeners in soon to give us a better idea of where to go next. After a quick consult, I met with a student in 11^th grade to continue CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) sessions as a requirement for the CBT class that I am currently taking. We discussed what CBT is really all about and applied key terms and concepts to her experiences of test anxiety. We will meet next week to pick a strategy that might alleviate some of her stress. I finished up the day at high school observing a 9^th grade student in English class. The student had previously been referred due to behavior concerns, so I wanted to establish some baseline data to get an idea of her current behavior functioning.

So, that was my day! While I can’t expect next Friday to go as smoothly, I can certainly plan with another list…