My week at NASP

Hundreds of school psychologists
at the Keynote Address.

So that was a quick few days in Washington, D.C.! Three of my cohort members and I drove down in the snow last Tuesday morning and arrived at the hotel to register for the convention. We immediately scoped out the place and planned the sessions that we wanted to attend. First up… a mini-skills presentation about Assessment for Intervention in SLD Using the Cross-battery Approach. While this was a very comprehensive presentation about CHC theory as it applies to cognitive assessment, it was not totally over our heads! It was also very interesting to learn about the contrast between the discrepancy model and strengths and weaknesses approach regarding assessment and SLD identification. When we attended NASP in Philadelphia two years ago, we had only been enrolled in our Master degree courses for eight months. Now with almost three years at PCOM under our belts, we actually kind of knew what all these really intelligent and published people were talking about. After that presentation, the four of us split up to attend Evaluating the Utility of Common Reading Assessments for RTI and Fading of Check in-Check out to Self-Monitoring. After each presentation, we filled each other in on the highlights. After lunch at the hotel pub, we attended a presentation on Developmentally Appropriate Social Skills Interventions for Children with Autism and called it a day. Of course after a long day of learning, we caught up on the Olympics back in our room.

Wednesday morning we attended the Praxis II preparation presentation. This was helpful and alleviated some of our fears about the upcoming test. PCOM dedicates four classes to preparing for the Praxis II in a small group review format during our internship seminar. In addition to studying during the summer, these classes will definitely help our cohort to prepare for the test. Next we attended another presentation before the Keynote Address. We mainly attended the Keynote to cheer on our former professor, Dr. Terry Molony, who won the School Psychologist of the Year Award! Throughout the day, we ran into former PCOM professors and made some new connections. We also checked out the exhibit hall where we saw a demonstration about the WISC-V digital interactive block design subtest and stopped by the PCOM booth and NASP's booth featuring the Convention next year in Orlando. We thoroughly enjoyed the event put on by the Association of School Psychologists of Pennsylvania at a nearby restaurant with great food and drinks.

By Thursday, we were NASPed out so we ate a glorious breakfast buffet at the hotel and left with valuable resources, free pens, and fond memories of NASP convention 2014.  

Fun props at the NASP 2015 Orlando convention booth!

Upcoming NASP convention locations are:

2015- Orlando, FL        
2016- New Orleans, LA

2017- San Antonio, TX
2018- Chicago, IL

NASP preview

It’s that time of year again. It’s time to bust out that convention planner and try and fit in everything you want to do in a few days at the NASP (National Association of School Psychologists) annual convention! I first attended the convention two years ago when it was conveniently held in Philadelphia. This year, it will be held in Washington, D.C. from February 17-21. I will be attending with a few girls in my cohort from Tuesday through Thursday. There are so many networking events as well as presentations and poster sessions that we plan to attend. Here are a few things I’m looking forward to:

Tuesday February 18

Strengths-Based Approach to Evaluating Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders 10-11:50am

Assessment for Intervention in SLD Referrals Using the Cross-Battery Approach mini skills presentation 12pm-1:50pm

Gifted Students: Perspectives for School Psychologists 2-3:50pm

DC Welcome Party 9pm-12am

Wednesday February 19

Preparing for the School Psychology Praxis Exam 8-9:20

Keynote Address 10:30-12:30am

Development and Initial Validation of an Emotional Risk Screener 3-4:30pm

Reception for ASPP and NJASP 5-7pm

PCOM School Psychology Alumni/Student Reception 5-7pm

NASP Awards Ceremony 6-7pm

Graduate Student Outing 9pm-12am

Thursday February 20

Distinguishing Emotional Disability and Social Maladjustment: Law into Practice 10-11:20am

I’ll provide a full re-cap after NASP with resources and details on what I learned!