June 5, 2007 - Catching up

Election Follow Up, ...Urban School Psychology Interest Group,...APA Model Licensure Act

Time passes, life gets in the way, and suddenly three months have passed since I last posted to this blog. When life keeps you busy, sometimes you get too busy to write about it. Allow me a couple of paragraphs to catch up on what's been happening since February.

Election Follow Up

First of all, the results of the NASP Presidential Election did not go my way. The final tally left me with 40% of the votes and 60% for Gene Cash. Congratulations Gene!

While I was obviously disappointed in the outcome of the election, I was more disappointed by the low voter turn out. In an Association of almost 24 thousand members, only 2098 voted for President. I was aware from the start of the campaign last summer that NASP elections typically generate limited member participation. I supposed that this was a matter of members not being familiar with the candidates, so I developed this web site and sent out almost 3000 individual emails to let people know who I am and what I am about. I also supposed that NASP voters might respond to a candidate with similar professional experience, so I emphasized my experience as a practitioner. Still, I received only 841 votes.

So what's up? Is it that most NASP members are unconcerned with who presides over the Association? Is it a matter of name recognition (Gene had run twice before)? Does a candidate from a large state (e.g. Florida) have an advantage over a candidate from a small state (e.g., Rhode Island)? Does a trainer have an advantage over a practitioner? Although two men ran in this last election, is there an advantage of one gender over the other? Are there problems with the election process? I would appreciate any feedback you might have to offer.

Urban School Psychology Interest Group

The practice of school psychology in the urban centers of the U.S. is an issue I discussed during my campaign for NASP President. I e-mailed about 1000 individual practitioners asking what they thought were the key areas of interest facing school psychologists practicing in the cities. Their responses identified the following issues:

· Role limitation/expansion, case loads, and professional identity,

· Professional relations with building and district administrators,

· Providing school psychological services in multi-lingual, multicultural school environments,

· Local advocacy for school psychological services,

· Local advocacy for children's mental health initiatives,

· Rapid district expansion, overpopulated schools,

· Violence prevention, crisis response, crime and gang activity,

· Poverty, homelessness, transient families,

· Over-identification of minorities in Special Education,

· Lack of parent and community support,

· Limited diversity among school psychologists,

· Litigation,

· Racism.

I have submitted an application to the NASP Executive Council to organize a NASP Urban School Psychology Interest Group. The purpose of this group will be to provide school psychologists practicing in urban settings with a forum to discuss, explore and problem-solve issues related to working as a school psychologist in a city school or district. This application will be voted on at the Summer Delegate Assembly in Cleveland in July. If you are interested in this group, send me an email.

APA Model Licensure Act

In late March APA took steps to revise their Model Licensure Act, which is used by state licensing agencies (i.e., Departments of Health) to develop their respective state licensing regulations. Historically, this Act has restricted the use of the title "Psychologists" to those with doctorates, with an exemption that allowed the use of the title by certified school psychologists whatever their degree. The revision proposed in March drops the exemption for school psychologists. Should this model act become an accepted policy of APA, and consequently adopted by state licensing boards, non-doctoral school psychologists would not be allowed to call themselves "psychologists." As a specialist level school psychologist for 17 years before getting my doc, this proposed policy is not only unacceptable, but offensive. Any school psychologist who has practiced more than a couple of years knows that the experience gained on the job is quick to outweigh that which is gained through one's training program, whether that program terminates in a specialist degree or a doctorate. The proposed APA Act is also unacceptable to NASP. The leadership of NASP has taken steps to make their position known to the relevant APA bodies considering this Act. Stay tuned to NASP, your local state school psych association (and state legislature), and this web site.

Peace.

February 27, 2007 - Farewell Carl

Carl DiMartino has been a presence in NASP for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest recollections of Carl was a convention workshop he presented many years ago. Full of energy, pacing around the room, earring, pony-tail, he commanded the attention of all in the room. In the years since, serving NASP as Convention Chair, he was always around during convention, dealing with one issue or crisis after another, bringing multi-tasking to an art form. As my participation in NASP leadership ascended, Carl was always there, serving the Association as chairperson of the Nomination and Elections Committee and the Ethics and Professional Practices Committee. As NASP Treasurer Carl could explain the budgeting process (something that I'll admit I found intimidating at first) in a way that made the complicated easy to understand. Along with many others in the Association I was very pleased when Carl was elected NASP President.

Beyond his role as a NASP leader Carl was a friend, colleague, and mentor. He often began his emails with a friendly: "Hey guy," always ending with his trademark: "Do take care."

It's hard to imagine NASP without Carl's presence. His sudden passing knocked the wind out of the sails of many of us who knew him. But with time, we will come about, catch a fresh breeze and continue the journey without him, guided in-no-small way by Carl's leadership. We'll miss you guy. Wherever your next voyage brings you, do take care.

February 6, 2007 - EBSCO

Last weekend NASP formally announced the availability of the EBSCO databases to NASP members. EBSCO is a collection of six comprehensive databases including Academic Search Premier, ERIC, MEDLINE®, Professional Development Collection, Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection, and SocINDEX. Each database provides full text titles from literally hundreds of peer reviewed journals, affording subscribing NASP members a scientific legitimacy not found in many of the commonly used search engines. I have had access to the databases for a couple of years through my connection with Walden University. Quickly searching the literature came in handy last year when I had to evaluate a child with Lyme Disease and another with partial agenesis of the corpus callosum. It struck me that this would be a great resource for all school psychologists, especially when seeking empirical support for RtI interventions. I proposed the idea to the NASP Executive Council last spring and the Delegate Assembly in July. The concept was met with great enthusiasm from both bodies. I am very excited that the EBSCO Databases are now available through the NASP website. Although the free trial is for a limited time, the annual subscription rate is minimal (about $4 per month). Check it out.

January 14, 2007 - NASP EC

This morning I returned home from the NASP Executive Council (EC) meeting held at NASP headquarters in Bethesda MD on Friday and Saturday. The EC consist of the five officers of NASP, eight Delegate Representatives (I am one of the two Delegate Reps for the Northeast), four program managers, and a collection of others including the Executive Director, other NASP staff, the Webmaster, and the Editor of the NASP Communiqué. The purpose of the winter EC meeting is to review, discuss, and act upon issues facing the Association since the Delegate Assembly meeting held in the summer. The minutes of the meeting are posted on the NASP Website, so I won't go into too much detail in this blog.

One item on the agenda was an update on the success of the PREPaRE curriculum, NASP's own crisis prevention and intervention training program. Many who received the initial (pilot) PREPaRE training at the 2006 convention in Anaheim are traveling to Las Vegas next weekend for a Training of Trainers (ToT) of the curriculum. Additional workshops will be offered at the 2007 convention in New York City. At that point, the pilot testing of the curriculum will be successfully completed. From then on, the building of local capacity for crisis prevention and intervention by school psychologists across the country becomes the objective.

A program close to my heart was also on the agenda. Access to the EBSCO databases for NASP members is set to begin on February 1st. EBSCO is a vast electronic database resource that provides full text articles to subscribers from literally hundreds of peer-reviewed journals. For school psychologists without immediate access to a university library, these databases provide an invaluable link to stay current and up-to-date. Articles are searched and delivered to subscribers instantly via the Internet. Look for the full page announcement in the February Communiqué, along with an introduction article by yours truly.

Other issues discussed this weekend included an update on the success of the AHI/NASP Summer Conferences, the fee structure of the NASP Approved Provider program, office expansion at NASP headquarters, an update on the NASP Strategic Planning process, and several other matters. The camaraderie of the leaders in attendance was inspiring and the richness and depth of the discussion was intellectually invigorating. There is much about NASP for members to take pride in, not the least of which is the work and commitment of their volunteer leaders.

January 9, 2007

Happy New Year! Now that we are into 2007 I have kicked my campaign for NASP President up a notch in anticipation of the election to take place throughout the month of February. Some who are reading this may have found their way to this website as a result of an individual email they received from me. While the central theme of my campaign remains "Celebrating the Practitioner," a coincidental concentration on the urban school psychologist has evolved. I am currently collecting input from school psychologists practicing in over 20 urban areas across the country. If you would like to provide your input as to what you see as the most critical issues/problems for school psychologists practicing in an urban area, please send me an email ("Contact Me" link below). Be sure to include the name of the specific city you are considering.

December 19, 2006

Today was the BSP Summit. The high school Behavior Support Program team (teacher, behavior specialist, teaching assistant, and school psychologist (me)) met with the Director of Special Education and two administrators from the high school.

It has been almost four months since the program began. We have had our share of successes and some disappointments. A week ago I was feeling very discouraged, perhaps a bit over focused on the negative. When I mentioned this to the team they pointed out that no program is successful with every student, and that we had come a long way since September. We all agreed that it would probably take the better part of an entire school year to work out all the bugs in the program. I felt better.

The agenda for the Summit included a discussion of policies and procedures for referring new students to the program. We talked about disciplinary action and mainstreaming. We spoke about clarifying my role as the BSP school psychologist.

To me though, the critical point made at the meeting was that the BSP could not exist without the support of the regular resources of the high school. I made a point to express the gratitude of the team to the Director of Guidance for her assistance in placing two of the students in regular academic classes. I also thanked the Assistant Principal for his consultation concerning disciplinary issues. When the BSP was initially conceived, the high school administration was mis-lead to believe that we would not require any of their resources. I hope they are beginning to see the BSP as a resource to the school.

The meeting closed with an acknowledgement from the Director of Special Ed (my boss) that we were doing a good job implementing the program. That "pat-on-the- back" (something rarely given in many quarters) was much appreciated by the team.

October 30, 2006 - The Impact We Have

Although we might not always realize it, sometimes school psychologists lose track of the impact we have on parents. This was brought home to me a few months back during a case conference. It was the third or fourth meeting of the day, a fairly routine staffing of a cute little seven-year old girl (we'll call her Margaret). The evaluation team found that she had a reading disability that would qualify her for academic support services.

Margaret's dad, a Captain in the U.S.Army, attended the case conference. Dressed in his well pressed, camouflage uniform, he cut an impressive image of a tough American warrior. He was recently back home from a 16-month tour of duty in Baghdad, where he had served as an officer in a tank unit. I could only imagine the things he must have seen and done while in Iraq. He entered the conference room, uncertain of the protocol as to where he should sit. I suggested the head of the table; after all, he was Margaret's dad.

The meeting proceeded typical of the other meetings held that day. The teacher presented her observations, the resource teacher went over her educational testing, and I presented my psych report. As I reported my findings, I looked up and noticed that Margaret's dad was in tears. He said he was upset that he had not noticed the problem with "Daddy's little girl" earlier. Of course, we all made overtures to assuage the man's emotions, but his pain was real and he knew how to handle it.

As tough as this dad was, hearing that his little girl had a reading problem had a real impact on him. It brought him to tears. It was very moving. I have told this story dozens of times, because it reminds me of the impact we as school psychologists have on parents. Next time you are meeting with parents at a case conference, maybe it's your fourth meeting of the day, maybe it's just a "routine" learning disability; think of Margaret's Dad and the impact of what you are telling those parents.

My thanks to Margaret's Dad for his service. Peace.

October 11, 2006

The polls for the NASP nomination process opened on October 2. As a candidate for President of NASP the undercurrent of excitement is undeniable. The NASP membership will select two candidates to proceed on to the actual election to be held in February of 2007. In order to vote in the nomination process one must have been a member of NASP as of Septemeber 1, 2006. For those of you who may have wanted to vote, but missed the memebership deadline, if you join or renew your membership before January 1, 2007 you will be eligible to vote in February.

There were some notable changes in the NASP campaign policies and procedures this year, which admittedly affect me and the other candidates more than the general membership. In previous years, all campaigning had to be personal, that is a candidate could only campaign to NASP members he or she knew. The change this year is from personal to positive, which opened up a much broader consituency for candidates. While there remains a stipulation against the use of broadcast emails and listservs, candidates are now allowed to contact individual members however they may or may not be acquainted.

To date I have contacted several hundred members regarding my candidacy. I don't mind saying it took several hours. Some of you reading this blog may have found your way to my website through those contacts.

There are two important considerations behind my efforts. First of all, a common response when members are asked why they have not voted in NASP elections (we really only get about an 8% response rate)was that they did not know the candidates. One reason I created this web site was to address that concern. Incorporated in this web site is my point of view (P.O.V.) on several issues and an accounting of my experience as a school psychology professional. Then there is the picture. The second point of my campaign approach is to increase the participtation of NASP members in the election process. If one makes an informed choice in electing leaders of the association, their membership may hold more meaning for them. I am a strong believer in the raison d'etre of NASP and the power of NASP membership (topics for another blog). If you are a NASP member, I hope you have voted. If you have yet to vote, the link to the nominations website is at the bottom of this page. If you are not a member of NASP, there is a link to the NASP website under the professional affiliations section of this site. Isn't it about time you joined? Cheers.

September 28, 2006

It has been a couple of weeks since I first spoke of the behavior support program at my high school. To my surprise, it is taking a bit longer to work the bugs out of the program and get things flowing smoothly, but we're getting there. One of the better practices we have taken as a staff (teacher, behavior specialist, and school psych (me))is meeting after school to debrief and process the days. It has led to some changes in the behavior program, but more than that it has yielded a growing respect among the three of us. Today we talked about additional staff, which I think we need at this point while we are trying to establish the program. We discussed an additional behavior specialist, and my services full time (I also service an elementary school) in addition to a paraprofessional aide to provide support for the kids as they start to attend regular classes in the mainstream. (Have you ever known a program that felt they were fully staffed?) The good news is that one of our students has been able to be mainstreamed for a science and math class. So far so good. Cheers.

September 18, 2006

I attended a NASP Strategic Planning meeting in Philadelphia this weekend. While we spent much of the meeting addressing the processes of strategic planning for the Association; as happens when a roomful of school psychologists get together the conversation occasionally veered off to topics of a broader interest. One such discussion envisioned NASP as a "big tent" that welcomes all school psychology professionals, regardless of the type of school psychological services they provide. This point was elaborated in reference to the context of the urban school psychologist. While one may be well trained in all aspects of school psychology, their practice (by virtue of their employment) may be limited to one area of service (e.g., assessment). In a different context, yet a similar vein, rural school psychologists (by virtue of the distance between schools (e.g., 100 miles or more)), may experience similar restrictions to the extent of services they are able to provide. While we are all familiar with the "comprehensive model" of school psychological services, for many of us what we do is often constrained by the realities of the contexts in which we work.

However, such constraints should not impede us from best practices. If all I am expected to do is evaluations, the evaluation strategies I use should be up-to-date and in line with best practices and professional standards. When I first began as a school psychologist, an "acceptable" evaluation was the "big 3," (WISC-R, Bender, and WRAT) and the outcome of the evaluation was simply an eligibility decision. Today my evaluations incorporate academic and cognitive assessment with responses to interventions, neuropsychological techniques, and social-emotional measures; leading to a fairly detailed description of strengths and barriers to learning that informs instruction and the IEP process. Likewise, if I am expected to provide instructional consultation or direct mental health services, (with minimal emphasis on evaluation) I should keep up with the instructional or mental health interventions through professional development and work to provide those services according to professional standards and best practices.

School psychologists provide a broad range and variety of services across the country. We should recognize this as our professional diversity and count it among our strengths as a profession. Cheers.

September 6, 2006

One process that I would like to keep track of in this blog is the development of the Behavior Support Program at my high school. Obviously, I won't mention any names or case details, but I thought it might be of interest to some to track the development of this program. The program was essentially conceived over this past summer. The special education administrator spent many hours working with a behavioral consultant to come up with a promising program employing solid behavioral technology and concepts. A class list was developed from various other programs, mostly from out-of-district placements. The critical oversight in the developmental process was not involving the key staff at the high school earlier. While this seems to be a bit of a problem a week after the opening of school, if I know the staff at my high school we will get past this bump in the road in short order. I will let you know. Cheers.

August 28th, 2006:

After several weeks of preparation, I finally launched docwillis.com today. The primary purpose of the website is to allow NASP members to get a clearer glimpse of who I am, as I am running for NASP President. However there are other purposes that relate more to Regional Special Ed and other professional affiliations of mine, ...purposes that will become clearer as time passes. From time to time I will add to this blog. If I write something that I think would be of interest to visitors to the website, I will add that to "Chris' P.O.V.. Cheers.