School Psychology Practicum of Emily Krezmien
Location: Lancaster Central High School/John A. Sciole Elementary School
Supervisor: Dr. Cathy Topper/Mrs. Jodi Mazur

In the Spring semester of 2006, while enrolled in Dr. Bayer's Psychology 370-School Psychology class, Dr. Topper and a group of her co-workers visited our class. They spoke with us about the nature of the jobs and the ways that they work together and the differences between them as school psychologists, social workers, and counselors. After this class, I contacted Dr. Topper and asked her if I could complete my 120-hour Practicum for School Psychology with her at Lancaster High School. She accepted and I began my Practicum on Monday, September 11, 2006.

Tuesday April 10, 2007

I have continued to work with Jodi and Dr. Topper two days a week and will do so until the end of April or first week in May. However, since my hours required for the Practicum ended weeks ago, I have stopped updating my wiki after each day unless something new or interesting happens. With the end of the semester approaching and other pressing assignments accumulating this has been neglected but I will try to update a few more times before my practicum at Lancaster ends. Additionally, I have had some time off from my practicum since the last entry on March 5th. The week of March 12th was our Spring break and I was out of town. The week of March 26th was Psych week and I was unable to come in due to the need of my presence to organize events. Currently, the week of April 9th, Lancaster is on their Spring break. I will be returning to Lancaster on April 16.

Monday March 5, 2007

I returned to John Sciole today after what seems like a long time since last week I was at the High School on Monday and the week before that the schools were closed for President's day. First thing Mrs. Mazur had her counseling session with a third grade student who was a part of her banana splits group. They talked about how his weekend was, how is adjusting to a new schedule and the concern of his teacher that he is often distracted and not finishing his work in class. He told her that he is often thinking about and excited about seeing his dad and what they will do and that is why he doesn't always finish his work. Jodi had him make a feelings book so that as motivation to finish his work, he can write or draw a picture about what he his excited about after his work his done. He was very excited about it and his teacher said that she would use it as a tool to keep him on track during the day.

For the remainder of the day I observed Jodi give the WASI to a second grade boy and a first grade boy. Their teachers and parents are concerned since they are far behind their peers, especially in reading. Jodi feels that they most likely won't qualify at this stage due to the face that they are so young and it is most likely developmental. It is crucial for thier parents to really spend time with them because they are at a point where it could develop into a disability that would require identification if the child is not given adequate support.
Total Hours to Date: 160.5

Wednesday February 28, 2007

Today I was back at the High School and started the day off talking with Dr. Topper and Katie (the newest intern) about her cases. Afterwards, I went with Dr. Topper to meet with Mr. Cornell about a student that has been brought to their attention more frequently in the past month or so. He recently made allegations of abuse at home as well as being bullied on the bus by another student. Dr. Topper asked Mr. Cornell to talk with the student who was engaging in the bullying behaviors and that she would follow up with the other student.

The rest of the time I was at the High School I observed Dr. Topper continue administering the WASI on a student in the functional self-contained class.
Total Hours to Date: 158.5

Monday February 26, 2007

Lancaster was break from the Mid-Winter break today and it was also interview day for psychology interns. So today, I helped out Kristen and Jessica with some scoring and observations. I first scored Connor's rating scales on a student from all his teachers. Afterwards, I went to a freshman English class to observe a student who they were going to be testing soon. He was very distracted during the entire class. When the teacher was lecturing, the student would often be looking the other way, sometimes even with his back turned to her. The only time he was actively engaged in class was when new notes were written on the overhead. The other student I was planning on observing was in ISS for the day so I returned to the office to begin files on three students by going through their permanent records and taking notes until I left for the day.
Total Hours to Date: 154.5

Wednesday February 14, 2007

Today was an interesting day; everyone was convinced that it should have been a snowday (I completely agree-the roads were horrible!!) But that is besides the point. So Dr. Topper, Kristen and I spent the day cleaning her office-the office of a school psychologist is very hectic and she is so busy she really doens't have time to do major cleaning! So today we worked together to make her office more organized. We threw away tons of usless papers and did a lot filing to make things easier to find. The day went fast and Dr. Topper is very happy with the state of her office!!
Total Hours to Date: 150.5

Monday February 12, 2007

Today I was back at the Elementary school and started the day observing a counseling session. The student was in 3rd grade and his parents are recently divorced. He was a part of the Banana Splits group as well as the Special Friends group. Since the groups are ending his mother wants him to see Mrs. Mazur individually every other week to help him cope with his new situation.

After the counseling session I observed a testing session of the WISC with a first grade girl and a social-emotional questionnaire with a second grade boy. The social-emotional questionnaire involved a series of sentences that he had to complete like "I can't stand it when." He was very hard to follow in regards to this task; he was easily distracted, would change his answers or would refuse to answer some questions.
Total Hours to Date: 146.5

Wednesday February 7, 2007

When I arrived at Lancaster today, Dr. Topper was in the middle of trying to find a placement for a girl who had come into the Counseling Center that morning looking for help. She was addicted to heroin and wanted treatment so her counselor and Dr. Topper were trying to find a facility that was available. I didn't get to sit in on the meetings with the student or the parent however.

During 4th and 5th periods Dr. Topper and I met with Eric to decide which students should receive intervention to increase their independence based on the observations of them using the assessment tool and Eric's own day to day interactions with them. It was decided that three students in particular would benefit the most from intervention and we will start formulating behavior plans for them shortly.

Before I left for the day I was able to sit in on the first counseling session with Dr. Topper since I started in September. The young girl is a senior who should have graduated the previous year and is in danger of not graduating this year either. She has so many absences that she may have to audit the courses. Her affect during the entire session was incredibly flat and she mentioned her feelings of depression, the fact that she is on medication to treat it and that she sleeps excessively. Dr. Topper talked with her about the possibility of pursuing her GED rather than auditing this year and having to return next year with her third attempt at a senior year. She stated that she would think about it and Dr. Topper also spoke with about talking to her doctor about her excessive sleeping and to have her thyroid checked just to make sure that everything was OK physically with her. The girl was still very apathetic and flat saying she would "possibly" talk to the doctor and "try to remember" to ask about blood tests.
Total Hours to Date: 142.5

Wednesday January 31, 2007

Today was my first day at the High School in what has seemed like forever. I didn't need to go in last week since the students were not attending due to Regents exams. A new student was enrolling in Lancaster High School as a transfer from Saint Francis. He has had a 504 plan since about Elementary school and for the rest of this school year he will receive Resource Room services. Dr. Topper is going to begin testing him however because due to his academic performance and family history he most likely needs more intensive services. She thinks that next year he will be part of the Consultant Teacher program. I was able to sit in on the meeting with the new student, his mother and Mrs. Len who will be his guidance counselor. Tomorrow will be his first day at Lancaster.

After this meeting Dr. Topper and I talked about the Student Assessment of Independence project. I compared the score I gave each student compared to the ratings of the teachers/aides. On some the ratings were very close and on others there was a wide discrepancy. In some cases I saw the student as more capable than the teachers did and in other cases the opposite was observed. Next Wednesday Dr. Topper and I will meet with Eric to go over all the observations and ratings and decide should get some form of intervention. I have been brainstorming ideas to present of things that could be done to help the students become more independent.

Before I left for the day I went down to Eric's room to get a student who Dr. Topper is going to start testing. She gained some social and family history from him while I observed and was just getting ready to being the WIAT as I was leaving.
Total Hours to Date: 138.5

Monday January 29, 2007

When I arrived at John Sciole this morning the school was getting ready for an assembly. Mrs. Mazur and I attended along with the entire student body and most likely the staff. The assembly was a play done by a touring group from Rochester. Essentially, it was basically the most bizarre thing I have ever seen (and the teachers felt the same, I overheard several saying they weren't quite sure what they had just seen).

Anyways, after the assembly Mrs. Mazur continued the testing on the 2nd grader she started with last Monday and I observed. He was highly distracted and unmotivated. When she asked him to read aloud or to himself a short passage on the WIAT, he seriously looked at the page for maybe 15 seconds and would not read it again. Even when he read the passage aloud he could not accurately answer comprehension questions about the reading.

After the testing session I went to one of the 1st grade classrooms to observe them at work. The kids were getting ready for writer's workshop and were telling the teacher what their "seed" of the watermelon was for their entry. She uses this method for the children to build a paragraph. The whole watermelon was the big idea (like being at their dad's house for the weekend) and the seed was the fun part (like playing hockey with him).

The final activity I did today was the last meeting of the Banana Splits group. Since it was the final meeting, they had an ice cream social. The kids also shared what they learned from the group, what they liked about it and suggestions for the kids in the next group.
Total Hours to Date: 134.5

Monday January 22, 2007

Today was my first day at John Sciole Elementary School. I met Dr. Topper at the High School then followed her over to the Elementary school to meet Jodi Mazur who is the school psychologist there. The building has such a wonderful feeling, Elementary schools are usually happy places and this school is no exception. And the kids that I met today were just adorable and fun to be with!!

After having a little introductory meeting with Dr. Topper and Mrs. Mazur, Mrs. Mazur took me on a mini tour of the school and introduced me to several teachers, the principal, school nurse and secretaries. They were all so friendly and welcoming! After the tour, Mrs. Mazur told a little about her active referrals, it is amazing the difference between the high school and the elementary school. The stack of active cases at the high school is pretty substantial but Mrs. Mazur had only a few that we talked about! We then went to one of the kindergarten classrooms to do an observation of a student. We stayed for about 15 minutes before Mrs. Mazur pulled him out for testing and I went to observe a speech session with two adorable kindergarteners. They were practicing flashcards with the correct way to pronounce each letter.

Lastly, Mrs. Mazur runs a Banana Splits group on Mondays for children whose parents are divorced. The group contains 8 third graders who meet during lunch to talk and play games to discuss how things are going for them during this difficult transition. It is amazing the insight some of the kids have and you can tell how comfortable they are with each other and support each other in the group. Next week is their final group meeting and they are going to have a banana split ice cream social.
Total Hours to Date: 130.5

Wednesday January 17, 2007

After the excitement of last week, today was pretty low key! When I arrived Kristen was just about to leave to do testing and showed me the note she was going to leave for me. Dr. Topper was out in Niagara County for a tour of a residential facility, Wyndham Lawn (not sure on the spelling).

Kristen wanted me to some classroom observations of two students that she was done (or almost done) testing but was having trouble tracking them down for classroom observations. So I headed off to keyboarding. Unfortunately, the student was a no show. The same thing happened the following period with the other student. I was not having any luck. So I stopped by the attendance office to see what was going on. The one student was absent all day the other had only been marked absent since 3rd period. Who knows?

So I returned to the office and scored Connor's teaching rating scales and graphed them for Kristen so that she could have a complete profile on the one student. The last thing I did was proof the psycho-educational report Dr. Topper had been working on about the student I wrote about in the last entry.

Monday will be my first day at the Elementary school. I will meet Dr. Topper at the High School and then she will go over the Elementary school with me to meet Jodi. I will be at the High School on Wednesdays and the Elementary school on Mondays for the rest of the semester.
Total Hours to Date: 126.5

Wednesday January 10, 2007

Today was absolutely crazy at Lancaster. It is a perfect example of how there is no such thing as a "typical" day for a school psychologist. When I first arrived, it was planned that Kristen and Dr. Topper would be meeting with special education teachers to complete the triennial reports and I would do a few more observations on a student who was a new referral. Well, all that went out the window when Dr. Topper recieved a call from Mr. Cornell asking her to come down to his office right away. So she and I set off for his office and met with him, Mr. Bender, the SRO officer and the school principal. I really can't say much about what the issue was but there was a serious matter involving a student that needed to be addressed right away.

So for the rest of my time there, the triennial meetings were canceled and everyone was working on a different aspect of this student's problem. I typed up a running log of his entire discipline file going back to middle school and transcribing journal entries from his time in Off-site suspension while Kristen transcribed and also complied relevant information from his permanent file. Dr. Topper was getting materials ready for a meeting with his parents and also to go out the off-site suspension location to meet with the student that afternoon.

It was a very educational day for me though because it allowed me to see how different members of the school administration and faculty meet together to discuss a problem and develop a course of action with no notice.
Total Hours to Date: 122.5

Monday January 8, 2007

Today there were CSE meetings all day and I was able to sit on them. It was very interesting. I knew what they were about since my mom told me what they are a long time ago. The majority of the meetings were pretty short and consisted of making minor adjustments to IEP's to reflect changes in counseling needs and placement changes. A few were a little longer since they involved student's with more complex issues. One of the meetings was a manifestation hearing due to a high number of suspensions a student had accumulated. I really can't write much about the meetings so I guess that's all for today.
Total Hours to Date: 118.5

Wednesday January 3, 2007

When I first arrived at LHS today, Dr. Topper was MIA. Luckily, Kristin was there and she let me finish scoring a WISC for her. I really only had to do the composite scores and graph them. Just as I was finishing, Dr. Topper came back with a new student for me to start a file on.

So I got right to work. I sent out teacher evaluation forms to all of his core teachers and also went down to the main office to get his discipline record. Since there was no running history of his discipline, I created a time-line of all of his infractions since last year, his freshman year. I then observed him in his Global II class. Nothing really happened during this period, he was fairly quiet and varied in his attentiveness.

After I finished observing him, I returned to the Counseling Center and Dr. Topper showed me how to create IEP's using IEP Direct. When she reached the part on the assessments, she had me enter all the results of the testing she did on the kindergarten student. I was able to input the scores for the BASC (teacher and parent), Connor's (teacher and parent), WIAT, as well as another that I was not familiar with and can't remember the name of.

The last thing I finished before I left was the scoring and graphing of another Connor's report from one of Adam's teachers. It was very interesting that the teachers in the morning classes rated him very low, while his afternoon teachers rated him very high, some scores even off the chart well above the cut-off.
Total Hours to Date: 114.5

Wednesday December 20, 2006

To be totally honest, I completely forgot to update my wiki for this day and cannot remember any of what I did this day. But I was there from 9-1.
Total Hours to Date: 110.5

Monday December 18, 2006

I was a very busy person today! When I arrived I began with some scoring and graphing and Connor's rating scales and then drove over to the Middle school to score 2 BASCs. The first was on a kindergarten student and the other was the student recently back from OSS who I have been trying to observe. I had to go to the middle school to use Anne's computer since the scoring program is on Dr. Topper's laptop which is still being worked on.

When I returned to the high school I tracked down AR (the student from OSS) to do an observation. I observed him in his career management class. He doesn't do much and the teacher spoke with me after class saying he had emailed AR's counselor expressing his concerns. Dr Topper stated today that this kid is falling fast so something really needs to be done. The next period (after his lunch) I tracked him down again and just in time. He had signed out of his study hall to go the library and was in the process of getting kicked out when I walked in and was able to take him away. I observed as Dr Topper administered the WIAT. He will be returning tomorrow morning to complete the WIAT.

Lastly, after we were done with AR, I drove back to the middle school to finish scoring his BASC self report. Nothing came up as significant. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
Total Hours to Date: 106.5

Wednesday December 13, 2006

Once again it was just me and Kristen at the High School today. Dr. Topper was in meetings at the District Office and Jessica was at one of the other schools. Dr. Topper left a list of things that I could work on so I got right to it! The first thing was to observe a student (the same one who was recently in OSS at the Ormsby center). Dr. Topper wants several observations of him but unfortunately, he was in ISS for the day. This kid is really having a rough time and just can't seem to stay out of trouble. So since I couldn't observe him, I made copies of his discipline record (which was recently updated) and also scored the teacher reports that have been returned on him. He is a very interesting case and I really hope that I can see his case through to see what happens with him.

The next period I attempted to observe another student during his geometry class. This one didn't turn out well either. He was in school that day but must have skipped class or something along those lines because the attendance office said that he had been marked present every period up until the period I was going to observe. So, I returned to the office and did some more scoring of teacher reports on the three students I was focusing on that day.

The final task of the day was to observe a ninth grader during one of his academic classes. I chose his earth science class since it was the only one left that I could do today. Amazingly, he was there! In fact, he was a pleasure to observe and his teacher spoke with me about him after class. He was actively attending throughout the period, asked and answered questions, made comments as well as asked for help when he didn't understand. I think that Dr. Topper will be very interested to hear about the class observation when I see her next week.
Total Hours to Date: 102

Wednesday December 6, 2004

Dr. Topper was at a conference today and Jessica was at one of the other schools so it was just me and Kristen at the High School. Dr. Topper left a list of things that I could do while I was there so that is what I did. I did an observation of a student during her English class since there was going to be a meeting on her behavioral problems later in the week.

After that observation I sat in on an Algebra class that was a Self-Contained class. The class was very relaxed and really centered on getting these kids to understand the material. Hopefully I will be able to observe other Self-Contained classes taught by other teachers.

The final thing that I did for the day was preparing a file on a student who is going to be tested soon and sending out teacher rating scales for Kristen and a student she is working with.
Total Hours to Date: 98

Monday December 4, 2006

The triennial reports are "finished." All of the students who I was able to review hard copies of their IEP's are completed and there are some that just need information from IEP direct which will be filled out later. All of the reports were sent to the teachers today so that they can complete the rest of the report. That is a pretty big project that is essentially done!!

After the reports were sent to the teacher's mailboxes Dr. Topper and I headed over the District Office where I was able to sit in on a Nexus meeting. A student who was attending LHS part-time and Hopevale part-time committed a pretty serious offense and it needed to be determined if his act was the result of his disability (emotional disability in this case). Mr. Bender (the assistant principal), John Armstrong (Director of Special Education), Dr. Topper, the student, his mother, and his counselor at Hopevale all attended the meeting. It was decided that his disability did not cause his behavior in this particular incident. As a result, he will not be able to attend LHS at all for the remainder of the school year. He will be graduating from LHS in June but will attend Hopevale full-time. He is doing well there and his well-regarded according to his records and his counselor so hopefully he can keep it together and graduate in June.
Total Hours to Date: 94

Wednesday November 29, 2006

When I arrived today, Dr. Topper and Kristen were in a big meeting with parents, the assistant principal, the Director of Special Education as well as a few other people. Since the meeting was already in progress and I wasn't familiar with the student, I just waited in the Counseling Center's main office to wait for the meeting to end.

Once the meeting concluded, I worked on some triennial reviews and ran a few errands for Dr. Topper. I then did some scoring on a WIAT so that the student's case could be wrapped up. His results on the WAIS and the WIAT were very interesting. His verbal abilities are very high, roughly 3 years higher than his age but his processing speed and writing skills are much weaker. It is unfortunate because his processing speed is most likely so low due to his high usage of marijuana. The kid has potential but his life circumstances, mainly not his own fault but now leading to his current poor life choices are going to have major consequences.

At that point, Dr. Topper realized that we couldn't complete the scoring because she had forgotten to finish the test! The student had not completed the writing portion of the WIAT. So I went in search of the student and found him at lunch. He agreed to come up to the Counseling Center as soon as he was done eating. He promptly did and I administered and then scored the rest of the WIAT as well as imported the raw scores into the computer program to see the complete profile. I took the Conner's teacher's rating scales home with me on the student to finish over the weekend. I am very interested to see the results. His report card was pretty bad and things just seem to keep getting worse for this kid.

Last note-the student who we met with on Monday was supposed to come in for testing 4th period today-he didn't show up, this is another confusing case!
Total Hours to Date: 90

Monday November 27, 2006

The day started off on the slow side since Kristin and Jessica were really busy with each of their cases and Dr. Topper was trying to finish a few reports while trying to get everything in order before she left for the day. Her and I were going to be leaving for the Ormsby School in East Aurora to meet with a student in Out of School Suspension. While she was getting things ready, I worked on Triennial reports. I made a decent dent and a good portion of them are ready to be sent out to teachers. This is good since they are anxious to get them, and Dr. Topper originally wasn't planning on them being ready until February.

Once we were ready to go we headed off to East Aurora. The student we met with is a 10th grader who has been having some pretty substantial discipline issues since beginning high school. He is a very tricky case for many reasons. He says that he was a good student through eighth grade and since high school things have fallen apart. He had a very flat affect, signaling some depression during the entire session. He is currently in outside counseling, denies any drug usage and says all the problems are at home mainly with his stepfather. There must be more to the picture and hopefully Dr. Topper can get to the bottom of it so that this kid can get his life back on track.

What was really neat about today was that I got to administer part of the math reasoning portion of the WIAT while Dr. Topper took a phone call. It was very exciting!!!
Total Hours to Date: 85

Monday November 20, 2006

I did a lot of running around today!! I went to do an observation on the student mentioned in the last entry who has major behavior issues. I got to the class and wouldn't you know it, she was in In School Suspension! So that didn't work out. I was kind of disappointed because I really wanted to see this girl in action and practice using the observation form where you record every 15 seconds.

So I went back to the office and worked on triennial reports and getting ready to do an observation on another student the next period. This particular student is at high risk of dropping out, most likely using some drugs, and constantly in suspension. So I go to his class, AIS math, and the teacher laughed at me! She said that she had seen him once all semester and to try downstairs in the suspension room. So I took a little trip to the suspension room (he wasn't there). It was then that I learned that the secretary in the counseling center had forgotten to change the sign telling what Day it is (1 or 2) so I was looking in the wrong place anyways! So I returned to the office again to wait until the following period when he would be in his science class.

He amazed both myself and his teacher when he actually was present in class. I was excited because I had the chance to use the observation form. He mainly slept through class and had no materials at all, not even a pencil.
Total Hours to Date: 80.5

Wednesday November 15, 2006

Today was quite a busy day full of random activities as well! As soon as I arrived I jumped right into a meeting with Kristin, Dr. Topper and one of the counselors. They are having trouble placing a student who returned to school about a week ago into a gym class that will get him credit to graduate. It is a tricky situation because the limits set for the gym classes are too low and the system is saying there is no room for this kid in any gym period. Mrs. Len (the counselor) was going to keep Dr. Topper updated and try to work out the problem with the school principal.

After that little meeting, we returned to Dr. Topper's office where Kristin presented some of her cases to Dr. Topper and laid out her plans for each student. Dr. Topper gave her advice and guidance. It was really neat to hear about how all the different students have different problems and how each one will be addressed. After this meeting, all three of us met with a teacher regarding one of Kristin's most difficult cases. The girl has a major behavior problems and is causing huge disruptions in all of her classes and manipulating teachers and administrators alike. They decided that there needs to be a meeting with the student and all the teachers, including Kristin and Dr. Topper.

At this point, I got to see some testing. A student who has been coming in for testing the past week was back to continue with the WASI. I got to sit in and observe. Additionally, Dr. Topper asked him a lot of questions, what his home was like, his marijuana usage, problems with his parents, just to get a better sense of what is going on with this obviously very bright kid who has been begging to be tested since he is at high risk of dropping out. When he left, I compiled a set of teacher evaluation forms to see if we can get a clearer picture of what the student is like from the teacher's perspective. I am very interested to see what they have to say.
Total Hours to Date: 76.5

Monday November 13, 2006

I had some really neat experiences today. I was able to complete a lot of triennial evaluations since Jessica and Kristin were at the Elementary school and Dr. Topper was doing a classroom observation of a very difficult student. Once she returned from the observation, we met with one of the counselors (Mr. Marchese) a student returning from Baker Victory, and her outside counselor. She is a very unmotivated student, high rates of absences, and unproductive. In order to return to Lancaster in a half-day Self-Contained program she was required to sign a contract that outlined what she needed to do to graduate, and what would not be tolerated in terms of her behavior and attendance. She accepted and went on her way to class. Hopefully she will stay on track on be able to graduate in June.

After this meeting, Kristin showed me how to score a WISC assessment that she had given earlier that day. It was so neat!! She let me do the majority of the scoring and showed me how to use the manual, explained the scoring procedure and everything. Dr. Topper then let me try it out on another WISC she had given earlier. She said that she would even supervise me do an assessment if I wanted. Of course I do!! This is such an amazing opportunity for me!!
Total Hours to Date: 72.5

Wednesday November 8, 2006

Today when I got to the high school there was note asking if I would go to the middle school for the day instead. It was a surprise, but a very nice one, I love the middle school! So I drove over and got right to work on the independence assessments on three students. There really isn't much to say about what I did other than I observed three students in lunch, an elective class and a regular inclusion class situation. The day went really well and I was able to get Mrs. Burke's assessments almost complete; she only needs a few dismissal and gym class observations and then we can begin interventions!
Total Hours to Date: 68.5

Monday November 6, 2006

Today was an amazingly productive day!! I arrived at the high school at 7 and was able to finish the morning arrival observations. I then observed the final group of students in their gym class and the final elective class that was needed for one of the students. That worked out especially well since the student's aide was absent and there was no one present in his art class; I was able to be there to help him out if he needed it. After the art class, I took a break from observations until 8th period and worked on triennial evaluations. I made great progress on those as well. The only problem is that there are several print IEP's missing and I don't have access to the on-line IEP's. I have the majority of them fully completed but there are still a lot of them left!!

Once 8th period arrived, I went to lunch with the group of students that attend Harkness. I had a great time sitting at their table with them and was able to finish all the lunch observations. Additionally, I was able to complete the dismissal observations as well. We are ready to begin looking over the assessments and making interventions where necessary!!
Total Hours to Date: 64.5

Wednesday November 1, 2006

Today I arrived at the High School at 7 am so that I could observe as many students as possible arriving for the day. I was able to make observations on all but 1 student!! I then spent the first period in Eric's room finishing up classroom observations. I then accompanied half of the class to their Adaptive PE period. They were playing basketball and it was great to be able to complete a large number of observations at once! I then went with four of the students to thier Food and Culture class. It was a perfect day to observe since they were cooking. One of the students was in a group with girls who were excellent at including him and giving him tasks to complete. The others were more on the periphery of the cooking and much less included (the teacher is also very intolerant of the FSC students).

After Food and Culture I returned to the office and completed several triennial report forms. I am getting into a sort of system of completing them and it is going much faster. Now I just need more forms from the print shop so that I can continue! Before I left for the day I did two more observations so that on Monday should be able to have them all completed.
Total Hours to Date: 57

Monday October 30, 2006

Today I returned to the High School and arrived early (7:30). We had a meeting with a student and his parents. The student had originally dropped out of school for medical reasons but was returning. Currently he in a 30 day intensive treatment program and doing very well. We were meeting to plan a transition for his full return to Lancaster High School. Starting next week he will be every other day between the two schools and will return full time to Lancaster High School with a placement (hopefully) in self contained classes or at least in classes with an aide present after the Thanksgiving break. The meeting went very well and appears to have a great resolution potential.

After the meeting I resumed my observations for the independence project. I am nearing completion on this. Since I just added another student, I spent the majority of the day observing him to get caught up as much as possible.
Total Hours to Date: 52.5

Wednesday October 25, 2006

Today I went to Lancaster Middle School rather than the High School for my Practicum. What a difference!! The climate of the school is much more relaxed and fun. I did observations of all five of the student's in the Functional Self Contained class. The class had five students who were all amazing. I had so much fun with them. They let me eat lunch with them, showed me around the school, and were asking when I was coming back! They were a great bunch of kids! I was doing the independence assessment and all of the students are incredibly independent. I also observed two students who have part time aides during one of their academic classes. Again, these students are very self-reliant and resist the aides help if they feel it is not needed. All in all, although I don't have much to write about today, it was a great experience.
Total Hours to Date: 49

Monday October 23, 2006

Today was my first day back at my practicum in over a week! Due to the storm and Lancaster being closed for an entire week. Everything was very hectic; no one really knew where to start after such a long and unexpected break! I picked up basically where I left off: independence assessment. I spent three periods down in Mrs. Kilger's room as well as Eric's room observing different students and filling out the assessment survey. Additionally, I made copies of the survey for each student so that Eric and Mrs. Kilger could fill them out as well. It is very important that I have a clearer, more complete picture of the student's abilities. My observations are very limited, essentially snapshots of their day and it would be unfair to base interventions solely on my own observations.

Once I ran out of students to observe for the day I returned to Dr. Topper's office where we discussed where this project is headed and we read through the elective class observation write up that I sent to her last week. On Wednesday I will go to the Middle School to do similar observations there as well. Dr. Topper and Anne Burke (the middle school psychologist) are going to make this their project for their observation and career "benchmark" It is very exciting!
Total Hours to Date: 44

Wednesday October 11, 2006

I spent a lot of time today doing observations for the independence assessment project. I observed three students during their food and culture class. They were working on a couple of worksheets that were way over their heads and they did not complete the assignment in the classroom but instead took them down to Eric's room with the aide. I then spent two separate periods in ceramics. They have moved from mugs to making bowls or platters. The whole project (class) seems so rushed and not about having the students going through a process start to finish. Instead it is focused on getting a project done on time with essentially total dependence on the aides. Next I went to lunch to do catch one more student since she was there today. I am getting close to finishing the initial observations!

After the observations I returned to the Counseling Center and talked with Dr. Topper about what I had observed so far, where we were going with the project and the plans for a Functional Elective-Peer Mentoring Program that never really left the ground. It is so sad that this program is not being used because it could really be beneficial to students (both disabled and non-disabled) as well as extremely rewarding for teachers.
Total Hours to Date: 39 (1.5 hours at home)

Wednesday October 4, 2006

Today I spent roughly two hours observing a student who I had trailed for almost an entire day one of the first days I started. I first observed him during his Studio in Art class. He was working on his perspective drawing assignment. He was very focused in this class and worked independently and steadily for almost the entire the period. After art, I went with him for his consultant teacher resource period. He was in this class with five other boys. They all have a global test on Islam coming up so they practiced terms, dates, places etc. with flash cards with Mrs. Muhlbauer. The student was much more distracted during this period than his last one.

After I finished observing, I went back up to the Counseling Center and the student's mom was there for a meeting with Dr. Topper, Mrs. Muhlbauer, and the classroom aide. They decided that the student needed and would greatly benefit from a personal aide for this year, as a transition tool during his mainstream classes. They also all agreed to change the times of his medication to help stay more focused and alert during the entire school day since he was having trouble during the first couple of periods.

For the last hour and a half, I continued working on the triennial reports. I finished the first section of the file, all the A and B last names! I also worked for about an hour at home typing up a psychological note on the student since the Dr. Topper's computer was acting funny today.
Total Hours to Date: 33.5
NOTE: No hours for Monday the 9th for Columbus Day

Monday October 2, 2006

Today was probably the neatest day I've had so far at Lancaster. As soon as I arrived (and Jessica and Dr. Topper were ready to go) we piled into a giant van with the school psychologist at the middle school and three other administrators and went to the ALP and long-term suspension center at Dexter Terrace. It was the best experiences. This is a school were students who are suspended from their home districts long-term are sent in lieu of home instruction. It is also an alternative learning school for middle and high schoolers. We were given a tour of the building, met a few of the teachers, and social workers. Although one of the school psychologists was very disturbed that they do not offer individual counseling, the overall feeling was the school seemed to be an effective alternative for students.

Once we got back to the school, I continued with my observations of students in Eric's class. I sat in on a workshop/mechanics class that two of the boys are enrolled in as electives and was going to sit in on a nutrition class that two other students are in but they were having a test that day so there was really no point in my observing that day. So for the last hour I was there, I continued to fill out the basic information on the triennial report forms.
Total Hours to Date" 29.5

Wednesday September 27, 2006

I spent today observing students from Eric's class in several different settings. I continued completing the independence inventory on students in Mrs. Kilger's class, ceramics, lunch and keyboarding. In Mrs. Kilger's class, the students spent the period going over measuring cups because the day before when they were making pancakes, there was a lot of confusion. They talked about dry and liquid measuring instruments, the concept that they hold the same amount, what to do if you need 5 cups and the measuring cup only holds 4 for example.

After Mrs. Kilger's class, I went with 2 of the students and thier aides to ceramics which they take as an elective. I observed how much of the class activities are done by the student and by the aide and took notes on the circumstances, tasks, etc. This class was difficult to determine because you don't really know what the student is actually capable of doing. But they seem to really enjoy the class and that must count for something.

Several of the students in Eric's class go to lunch the following period so I was able to observe them all at one time, which was great. I was looking to see if they were able to get their lunch themselves, pay, find a seat, etc. These types of tasks they are much more capable of doing with complete independence.

Finally, I accompanied two students and one aide to keyboarding. One of the students was completely independent in this class. She was able to log onto the computer and just get right to work and stay focused until the end of the period. The other student needed more help. He needed the aide to write down the password and then give it to him, and after each line of independent typing would ask for her to look it over. I think it would be good to get the student to write down his password, carry it himself (in his wallet or binder) and get it himself. That is one small step that would make a big difference.
Total Hours to Date: 25.5

Monday September 25, 2006

Today was a day filled with various tasks, I was moving constantly from one thing to the next (much like a school psychologist does on a regular basis!). I started the morning sitting in on a meeting with Dr. Topper, two teachers, and the family members of a student. An incident had occurred the previous week and was just being presented to the school. Dr. Topper and the teachers assured the family that they would look into the matter and resolve it as quickly as possible.

After the meeting, Dr. Topper and I returned to her office and then called Eric up to meet with us about the independence assessment. They decided that I could start right away! So the next period I went down to his room and did assessment on 4 students. I then followed a few of them to lunch and continue with the assessments. I am off to a good start in getting information regarding the various levels of student independence.

The last thing that I did today at my practicum was filling out the background information for triennial reviews. I had to read through the IEP's and psychological reports of students and fill out their forms since they are due for triennial reports.
Total Hours to Date: 21.5

Wednesday September 20, 2006

Today when I first arrived I picked up where I left off. I finished going through all the files so that Dr. Topper could dictate them on Thursday and Friday. I only found a couple of tests that needed to be scored so all I really had to do was organize the contents of the folders. After I finished, I went down to Mrs. Kilger's room to find some information on functional curriculum. Dr. Topper wants me to get started on the project to increase independence in some of the students.

When I returned from Mrs. Kilger's room, there was a consultant teacher there who wanted to express some concerns about a student. He feels that the student is falling too far behind and wants to consider moving him into a few self-contained classes. I observed while they played around with the kid's schedule to find a better fit that would help the student do better. It was decided that we would call the mother and get her opinion and then meet with the student during 6th period.

Before the meeting I worked on putting together an assessment tool to determine the independence of students using the materials from Mrs. Kilger. I compiled a set of tasks and activities that would occur throughout a normal day and a scale for teachers to rate the student's ability to perform them. Dr. Topper said she was pleased with what I came up and now I have to make a more official copy.

During 6th period Dr. Topper and I went to meet with the student and the consultant teacher. The student expressed his concerns about the difficulty of alegbra, his trouble of the summer and moving to a new school, and his struggles with ADHD. He was very receptive to being moved into some self-contained classes and a reinforcement period with his current consultant teacher one-on-one. His mother was very open to any necessary changes that would help her son to do better in school.

After the meeting, Dr. Topper asked if I wanted to make a psychological note on the meeting for the student's file. I said I would, I was very excited about it! I used a model from another student and the current student's IEP to make a summary of why the meeting was held (the circumstances) the current situation with the student, and what was decided at the meeting. I was so happy when Dr. Topper said it was excellent, it really made my day!!
Total Hours to Date: 17.5 (worked 1 hour at home on assessment tool)

Monday September 18, 2006

Today when I arrived Dr. Topper, one of the counselors and Jessica were in a meeting with a new student and her mother. They let me join right in! They were making up a schedule for the new student so that she would be on track to graduate and a schedule that would also keep her frustration in check. The student and her mother were very cooperative and open to suggestions and the ideas of Dr. Topper and the counselor. The new student will start at Lancaster tomorrow and seems very motivated and excited to have the chance to start over.

After the meeting, I got to score some assessments! I scored an ADHD profile test (the Conner's Parent Rating Scale) and several Vineland adaptive behavior scales. The Vineland assesses social skills and personal skills from birth to adulthood. What is really neat is that each scale has subscales that can tell the administrator the age level of the displayed skills. I also went through student files to make sure they were organized and all the assessments were scored so that Dr. Topper can dictate them more easily.
Total Hours to Date: 12.5

Wednesday September 13, 2006

Today I arrived at Lancaster High School a little before 9 and Dr. Topper had me jump right in! At 9:05 we went to observe a student in his reading lab class without his aide present. We took notes and discussed his behavior and attentiveness during the class. They were reading a student newspaper on 9/11.

After this class we returned to her office to discuss our observations and Dr. Topper had me read the student's IEP since I would be observing the student for the next periods of his day and the beginning of his lunch period. The first class I observed him in was his co-ed physical education class. Afterwards, I went to his Regents Earth Science class followed by Regents English. I will not go into detail into what was observed to protect the confidentiality of the student.

Once I was finished with the observations I returned to Dr. Topper's office and discussed my notes with her and what I observed. We also called the school psychologist from the middle school who worked with the student the previous year to discuss the observations and get opinions. Mainly we were questioning the possibility of getting rid of his personal aide for the entire day. It was decided that it is not feasible at the present time.
Total Hours to Date: 8.5

Monday September 11, 2006

Today was my first day at Lancaster High School. I was pretty nervous because I really didn't know what to expect. All of my other Practicum and Service Learning experiences were in a classroom setting with small groups of students and teachers. This is much different because of the removal of school psychologist from the actual classroom setting.

I arrived at Lancaster a little before 9 and was amazed at huge the school is. It is more than double the size of my high school (both the building and the student enrollment). I went up to Dr. Topper's office and after talking with her and her intern, Jessica who is in her final year of Graduate School at Niagara University, Dr. Topper took me right to one of the classrooms to observe them for a period and meet one of the teachers I would be working with throughout my Practicum.

Eric's class is called a Functional special education classroom. He has nine total aides for students who are about 2-3 standard deviations below the norm. He basically talked with me about a project I would be helping him with involving increasing the independence of his students. He has noticed that they are far to dependent on their personal aides and wants them to get more independent since once they leave school they will no longer have their personal aides.

The next period I spent in the neighboring class, with many of the same students from Eric's class. This class was designed to foster the social skills of the students. They sat in a group and discussed topics in the newspaper, today the events of 9/11. After the news, they talked about vocabulary words (on flashcards) regarding consumerism. This consisted of words like "out of order," "cashier," "express lane," etc. Before they could be dismissed, each student had to recall something they had talked about during the class period.

The last thing I did before leaving today were two meetings: one with a student and the other with a parent. The meeting with the student was about his resource room placement. He is a student is resistant to help and no longer wants to be in resource. Dr. Topper and the Consultant Teacher made a contract with the student stating that he would attend resource (but work independently) for ten weeks. At the end of the marking period, he could have a regular study hall and be declassified. But if he fails to maintain an 80 average, is a discipline problem, or begins to fail any class, then he will return to resource services. The student accepted this contract and then Dr. Topper and I went to the meeting with the parent of a student.

Also at this meeting was the speech therapist, job coach, and the student's teacher. The main problem is the amount of services, etc that the student needs and the lack of room in a full high school schedule. This is the tricky part of the job. They want to make sure that the student is getting enough social/functional instruction in addition to pursuing a Regent's diploma. The meeting ended with some progress made with suggesting the student finish high school in 5 years instead of 4 and trying to place them in an self-contained science class rather than an inclusion class. The problem was decided to be worked on by the team and resolved by the CSE meeting on the 19th.
Total Hours to Date: 4



EmilyKrezmien
Psy498PracticumLog