Practicum Information/Log
Psy498PracticumLog
site: Dr. Bayer, Therapuetic Preschool
Activities: This week was my last week. I was there on mon, tues, wed, 1-3:30.
I had planned on shadowing bothe the school social worker and the occupational therapist this week, however I was not able to. Because of annual reviews the teachers were out of their class and they needed help in the class rooms. These reviews determined where the child was at and if they were to remain in the school or to go somewhere else. This can be a hard thing for the child to deal with if he/she is moved to a different school away from their friends. The children in my class however did very weel with it, it seemed. The teachers explained to the class that certain children would not be with us anymore and did this early enough so when the time comes they will be ready.
Because of the meetings I was able to go into the other classroom that I normally don't work with. This showed me how different an atmosphere can be even with the same type of children. The reviews however will also change the placement of classrooms for certain children. The ones that are moving to different classroom are gradually spending time with the other teacher and students to get to know them so it won't be such a dramatic change when the time comes.
I have learned alot by doing this interniship especially about patience. I never thought I would like to work with children this young but I am gald that I did this to see if my previous thoughts would still hold true. They have changed slightly but I still feel that preschool age is not a group I would like to work with. I enjoyed my time at the preschool but I don't think I could make it a career, working with children that age.
site: Dr. Bayer therapuetic preschool
Activities: Tues. 1-3:30, wed. 1-3:30, thurs. 1-3:30 February 17-19.
This week was much like any other week. There were alot of observations done through the two way mirrors and video taping of the children in class much like we did the FBA's. I was not aware though why they were being observed this time. When the children are being observed it is very important to make it unaware to them becasue they can change their behavior resulting in inaccurate results. This also goes for the teachers, not only to make themselves look good but sometimes to make the child look better or they will engage the child mare to improve the results that come from the observation. I probably did it myself this week when I knew they were recording. Faulty observation when determining important outcomes can change the placement or direction the child will goin in the future. I think that not only do the observations need to be discrete there should be more than one instance in which they are being observed. You never know if the child is having a bad day or!
if this is how he usally acts or how he has progressed. For instance the boy I observed for my FBA seems to be different from day to day when I see him at the preschool. I could have caught him on a bad day and never got the whole picture of his behavior. The behavior I was observing may have been an improvement from what he used to be like. Observation just needs to be proceeded with caution when the results are important.
The overall goal of the program is to improve bahavior and get these children ready for kindergarten and about this time in the year changes should be noticed from the beginning of the year. I think there will be people coming from school districts soon to observe the children to see if they are ready for kindergarten and if they need any placement into special education classes. I would look forward to talking with these people to see what is the prcess involves.
site: Thereputic Preschool, Dr.Bayer
Activities: This week I was there mon, tues, wed afternoon. 1pm-3:30 pm.
I tested another child this week which was actaully a very hard thing to accomplish. This student was very resisitant to the test earlier when I tried to admiister it. He had gotten very upset even right after he seemed excited to go with me. This is just one example of how quick children this young can change there mind and mood they are in. This is one of the most difficult parts of working with young children. They change their mind so frequently it's hard to get any thing accomplished. One way the teachers teach them to not change their mind or just go along with the other students is making them do exactly what they said they were going to. For exaple if a child said he did not want a rink of water today after gym time. They would not get one even if they see everyone else getting some. This is a small way to start teaching children to be accountable and stick to want the say.
Anyway, the test was completed very quickly and was a great relief to get it done after we tried and almost gave up. It was also very hard to finish this because he was absent a few days which is very common with these children. The goal in giving young student a test is keeping the attention of the child long enough to do the whole test. This is oe wayto really see and do just what a school psychologist would do.
The rest of the week the class was getting ready for their Valentines day party on Friday doing a little bit of their craft each day to send a nice present home to their parents.
site: Terapuetic Preschool, Dr. Bayer
Activities: I have canged teh times and dates that i will be able to come to the preschool due to my work schedule. I was there this week wednesday 2/4 from 1-3:30 and Thurs. 3/5 from 1-3:30. I attempted to adminster the Woodcook-Johnson test to a child but he was absent both days I was there. Other students were there this week observing the behaviors of the children during playtime. Otherwise the week was just as the rest.
site: Theraputic preschool, Dr.Bayer
Activities: This week I was at the preschool on Monday, 1-3:30, Tues, 1-3:30, Wed, 9-3:30, Thurs, 1-3:30, Fri, 1-3:30.
I finished the Woodcock Johnson testing with the child that had started last week. This took a totol of three sessions to administer the whole test. The rest of the week was the routine work.
site: TPS, Dr. Bayer
Activities: The dates and times for the previous weeks are: Thursday December 18, 1 pm-3:30 pm, Tuesday Jan. 6,9 am-11:30, Wednesday Jan. 7, 9 am-11:30, Thursday Jan. 8, 9 am-3:30 pm, Monday Jan.12,1 pm-3:30 pm, Tuesday Jan. 13, 9 am-3:30, Wednesday Jan. 14, 9 am-3:30. This week I was there Wednesday Jan. 21, 9 am-3:30 and Friday Jan. 23, 1 pm- 3:30 pm.
This week I have started testing the Woodcock Johnson Test of Cognitive Ability with the students. My first attempt was unsuccessful with one student who was unusually uncooperative. The student I am now testing is presenting other problems expected from preschool age children. The testing process becomes very difficult because of short attention span in these students. Over all the experience has been very good and I suprisingly enjoy and look forward to going to the site to be with the children.
site: Dr. Bayer, Therapeutic preschool
Activities: This week I was there Monday-Thursday from 1 pm-3:30 pm.
There were observers this week from different area schools for observational assessment of the children who would be entering the specific school district when they go to kindergarten. I believe they were part of the special education department and they observed how ready the children are for regular school. They mainly spoke with the teacher and took notes. The teacher had to fill out a form to give the observer before they came about the child and the teacher gave her opinion about whether or not she felt a certain child was ready or not. The children seem unaware of who these people are and will come right up to them and interact with them. Some are shy but most welcome anyone that comes to visit and the observer probably notes the ones that do.
One thing I hope to be able to do for next week is to explore what the other workers at the preschool do including teh social worker and the occupational therapist. This will give me a better understanding of the different aspects of school psychology and hopefully help me determine what I really want to do.