2 weeks to go until the Walk Now for Autism Speaks event!

Two weeks from now, people from around the Philadelphia area will meet to support loved ones with autism and to help fund research and raise awareness. Our PCOM team has currently raised $320! It's not too late to help us reach our $500 goal.

The event is at Citizens Bank Park Saturday November 2, 2013. Registration begins at 9am and the 1k walk begins at 11am. Wawa will be there to serve coffee, water, and treats. This is a very family friendly event, so be sure to get your picture taken with the Phillie Phanatic or Star Wars characters before the event and then visit the resource fair and moonbounces after the walk. 

Click the link below to join for free and/or donate to our PCOM team!

http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/philadelphia/pcom

Internship already?

This week in class, our program director spoke with us about internship year. While it seems like a long way off, next fall will be here before we know it. We discussed the application process and how internship acceptance varies from an informal handshake to a formalized two-part interview in front of various administrators. We also discussed requirements and our anxieties about everything. I plan on applying to at least three sites and have already started the process.

One thing that is important to keep up with this year, is tracking student demographic data on a web-based system. We will use this information for internship and later for job applications to demonstrate the population of students that we have experience working with. For instance, it might be helpful to know exactly how much experience I have working with diverse populations of students by age, grade, disability, etc. I try and track this information as soon as I get back from practicum so I don’t forget how old that kid was that I tested three weeks ago… 

This week, the school district that I work in had an in-service day on Monday, so I went into practicum Monday and Friday. Always expected the unexpected. I attempted to re-evaluate a senior on Monday, but she was absent. So I started writing up her background information for the report and then I found out that the student was transferred to another school psychologist’s caseload. And today, there was a fire drill and an unexpected schedule change. So while my supervisor tested a student in the morning, I caught up on some schoolwork, hung out at the high school autistic support classroom (I learned a nifty dragon card game!), and observed the speech therapist during a session. Before the fire drill, I was able to meet with a teacher and guidance counselor about my consultation case study, which I really think is starting to come together. So after all this schedule changing, it’s important for me to realize that my planned day might not go as expected and I might not be able to check things off my list in an orderly fashion. I’m going to have to learn to be okay with that. I also dropped off my application for internship next year, so I can check that off my list!

Testing on a rainy day

So I completed my first real assessments today!  Practicing the WISC on my boyfriend’s cousins for a grade is one thing.  But testing a girl knowing that my assessment skills might help to determine whether she qualifies for the gifted program or not is another thing.  My supervisor observed, but I primarily assessed by myself.  I have another evaluation scheduled this upcoming Monday, so I’m looking forward to getting more practice.

After administering the WISC-IV (cognitive assessment), selected subtests from the WIAT-III (academic achievement), and a strengths self-report protocol at the middle school, I scored everything and discussed the results with my supervisor.  Then I headed over to the high school to speak with a teacher and guidance counselor about the academic consultation case that I’m still working on.  The guidance counselor and I also discussed a potential behavior consultation case referral and possibility of attending meetings to complete my practicum requirements. 

It has been very helpful to discuss our practicum experiences in practicum class and our consultation and collaboration class.  Last week in consultation and collaboration, we all briefly described our consultation cases and gave each other advice.  We’re also completing a Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine in Schools course.  This course supplements our knowledge of school goings-on, assessment, interventions, etc. with information regarding pediatric chronic illnesses, child re-entry into school following a chronic illness or transplant, factors that influence adherence to treatment of chronic illness, and understanding the roles and functions of school psychologists as active collaborators in the healthcare of children, adolescents, and families.

Well, that’s all for now.  I’m off to write my first official evaluation report (signed by yours truly, Samantha Cardellicchio, M.S. School Psychology practicum student).

Practicum update!

I’ve been to my practicum site the past three Fridays now and I’m starting to get the hang of it.  Every school has its own culture.  So, just figuring out the way a school operates and how staff members interact with each other is a practicum requirement in itself.  As I am splitting my time between a middle school and high school, I also have to remember my way around each school.  I was all over the place today! 

My supervisor has a lot of approaching deadlines, so I had my own schedule.  While my supervisor completed a gifted evaluation and attended meetings, I started my day at a parochial school.  My supervisor rarely has time for anything other than conducting assessments, writing reports, and attending meetings so I volunteered to observe for her and sharpen my observation skills.  I brought a few different observation systems with me to get more practice (and in case I messed one up) and observed a 6^th grade student in his religion, science, and math classes.  After my observation, I spoke with the principal and math learning support specialist.  The information gleaned from my observations and discussions supported the potential diagnoses and recommendations that my supervisor was considering. 

After spending three hours at the parochial school, I raced on over to meet a high school math teacher before her lunch break was over to pick up some algebra CBMs (curriculum based measurements) that I had created for the student referred for emotional and math concerns.  The previous Friday, the student’s math teacher and I discussed academic concerns.  We decided to get some baseline data through CBMs to see what skills she has mastered and to track progress.  In the afternoon, I interviewed the student to get to know her better and find out more about her attitude toward school.  When the student walked into the office, she looked confused and like she thought she was in trouble.  I told her we were going to hang out and chat and that’s what we did.  The student didn't allude to any trouble in math.  But when I picked up the CBMs today, I noted that the student didn’t complete many of the problems, which leads me to believe that she lacks an understanding of skills related to algebra (as opposed to her just not wanting to do the work).  In addition to speaking with her math and chemistry teachers, I might speak with a few others to more fully understand her academic weaknesses. 

Then I went over to the middle school and found information for an 8^th grade student that I could observe.  This student had been in an alternative school and recently returned to the public middle school.  However, when I got to the science classroom, the teacher informed me that the student was absent!  And so it goes… There are some behavioral concerns so I might begin a behavioral case consultation with his teachers because this is a practicum requirement.  When I got back to my supervisor’s office, she had not returned from her meeting yet so I scored, contemplated, and synthesized all the information I had compiled during my observations.  I had about an hour to organize all of the information from the day.  When my supervisor returned, we reviewed my observational data and discussed potential next steps in the case consultation process.  I enjoy reviewing my day with my supervisor because it allows me to process what I did that day.  It’s also good to bounce ideas off of each other because sometimes, another perspective is needed when you’ve been staring at a report all day.

Next week, I will begin some assessments and hopefully begin that behavior case consultation.  Happy weekend everyone!