Name: Jill Silvashy
Year: Junior
Major: Psychology
Minor:School Psychology
PSYCH 498 Practicum
Monday, May 14, 2006
Today I started my practicum at Bornhava Preschool. I was placed in a specific classroom with a head teacher, an assistant, two one on one personal aides, and 11 children. The children are between the ages of 4 and 5 years old and have a variety of learning disabilities and complications. Many of the children have down syndrome, while only one child has autism. One child has fetal alcohol syndrome and a couple have severe speech impedements. One boy is wheelchair bound and spends much of his time rolling around on the floor. When I first walked in, I didn't really know what to expect. I was overwhelmed with the noise, crowdedness, and small space. The head teacher handed me a list of the children's names and a description of each child and told me to observe to see if I could figure out who everyone was based on their description. I did not observe for too long, as one boy took my hand and motioned for me to sit on the floor next to him. Some children started to work on their folder work, cutting out pictures, coloring them, and pasting them to a sheet of paper, while others were enjoying free time. The boy and I read a story and then the lights went out for clean up time. After cleaning up the toys, the children were told to bring over chairs to the carpet and they formed a circle. Each child had a classroom role or job and went up with the teacher and led the other kids in singing a song. It was enjoyable to watch and to participate as the students each took a bow after they led their song. Then the teacher did the letter of the day, which was F, and asked the kids what kind of things started with that letter. After circle time, the children went to the motor room (gym) and worked on running bases. Each child sat against the wall and waited until their turn. Many needed guidance in stepping on the bases. Afterwards the kids had free time with kickballs. Every time I turned around the children were either running into eachother or were trying to go on the slide (which they were not supposed to do). I was very unsure how to handle the situations in which the children did not listen or follow directions. I watched how the teacher and aides handled and disciplined each child. After gym, the children had lunch and then got out their rugs to take a nap. An aide suggested that I rub a certain girl's back so that it would help her fall asleep. Some of the children passed out, while others were difficult and could not lay still. After the children woke from their naps, we took them outside to play because it was nice out. Some rode bikes and ran around, while others drew with chalk and blew bubbles. At 2:30, most of the children got on their buses to go home, but a couple stayed around for the Resped program which goes until 5:30. I think that a 9-5 day is too long for a young child to be at school. It was an exhausting day.
Monday, May 21, 2006.
Today I came into the room with more confidence and familiarity. I knew the children's names and knew their schedule throughout the day. When I walked into the room, one of the boys came up to me with the widest smile. He hugged me and took my hand to play with him. I felt more like a friend than a teacher and to see the kids smile made my day. Some of the kids worked on their folders, while others enjoyed free time. I sat with one boy and worked on saying each letter aloud. The letter of the day was J and the teacher used my name as an example. The kids sat at the table and had jello for a snack after circle time. In gym, the children ran the bases again, but the instructor added another step. Each child kicked the ball and then ran the bases. I was in the outfield with another child helping them to catch or run after the ball. It was interesting to watch which children needed the extra guidance. After gym, the kids waited against the wall to go to the bathroom and then went back to the classroom to eat their lunches. Again, they got out their rugs after lunch and laid down to take a nap. More than half of the 11 students fell asleep while 3 stayed awake because of distractions. After naptime, the kids that were awake listened to a story with headphones. One boy could not keep the headphones on because they were bothersome to him and he kept getting yelled at. He told the teacher no and because he was not listening he sat in timeout for 40 minutes and missed the snack. I felt bad for him because I felt as if the punishment was too harsh. 40 minutes is a long time for a child to sit in timeout at the age of 4 or 5. But there was nothing I could do. I was thanked by the staff for my help with everything, which made me feel like I knew what I was doing. By the end of the day, I realized that working with special ed kids is a lot different than working with kids that do not have learning disabilities. You have to give the kids love, but it has to be tough love. I give a lot of credit to the teachers that work with these children all day everday. It is very exhausting, however I see it to be rewarding as well. I know that giving them attention, playing with them and giving them love is what they need and after being with them for a day, I feel better about myself. I feel like I can make a difference in their lives.
Tuesday, May 22, 2006
Another day at Bornhava Preschool....We took the children for a walk early in the morning. There was a good ratio of teachers and aides to students. I held the hands of two children and we walked around Chateau Street. The one child that held my hand kept falling to the ground because he was tired of walking. I asked him to stand up and walk but he didn't listen. One of the aides told him in a more stern voice to listen to me and we kept on going. The physical therapist at Bornhava was the leader on our walk. It was enjoyable because it was a break from sitting inside and from being stuck in the classroom. One of the boys kept stopping to look at the airplanes flying by. It made me smile to see him get so excited over something so little in my eyes. We went inside for circle, and it was nice because I knew the songs and could lead the children in singing and doing the motions. Music took the place of gym. The music teacher is extremely enthusiastic and all the children seem to have a liking towards her. She brought props to go along with the songs. The theme for today's class was rain, thunder and lightning. I sat behind one student and helped her do the motions because at times she seemed almost expressionless. Half the children fell asleep during naptime. I now know the procedure so I sat down and the same two kids brought their rugs and laid down next to me. I rubbed and patted their backs until they fell asleep. Before their buses came we went outside to ride bikes. Some of the children chased eachother around, while others sat on the grass. I am beginning to get to know each child individually.
Monday, May 28, 2006
Today I met with the school psychologist in the building. I sat down with her for a short half hour and we talked about her roles at Bornhava. She is only at Bornhava twice a week and does a number of things. Sometimes she sits in on a student in a class and observes and takes notes. Most of the time she meets with families and children that are not currently in the Bornhava program already. She runs tests on the child to find ways to meet the child's appropriate needs. She is very professional and very respected at Bornhava. She let me know that I could sit in with her at any time while she performs her tests and evaluations. I walked back into my class in the middle of snack time. The snack was goldfish crackers and it was surprising to see that most of the kids devoured their plates. The autistic boy smashed his crackers up first and then put them in his mouth. He even ate the crumbs that fell onto the floor. For some reason, he caught my attention and I studied his behavior for a while. At times he would get out of his chair and make screaming noises. I didn't know what was bothering him or making him upset, but it upset me to see him so distraught. I thought maybe he was afraid of something. I later learned that this was just something he did to show he was upset about something, as a result of his disability. His personal aide told him he was fine and started rubbing his hands. He eventually calmed down and came back to the table where the rest of the class sat. I wanted to know more.... Each child was a mess afterwards with crumbs all over their faces. The majority of the classroom got up to throw their cups and plates in the garbage. I later learned that the teachers in the room were preparing their students for kindergarten in the fall. In my point of view, only two or three seemed ready to be on their own.
Tuesday, May 29, 2006
Today ran a bit differently than usual for me. I came in and was asked to work with the music/art teacher for her special art class because she needed an extra hand and we had plenty of adults in my classroom. I was more than happy to help out, however I was disappointed to be apart from my little friends. I started in the art room by helping bring down bottles of paint and long white and blue paper. I listened to directions and put masking tape across the top of the blue paper and then taped it to the wall. I did the same thing with the white paper and taped it over the blue. Next we poured blue paint mixed with water into three separate containers. I traced and cut out fish from paper plates. The first class came in, the youngest class and I helped seat them to their chairs. Each child took bingo dabbers and dotted and colored their paper plated fish. Afterwards we led the children over to the wall and assisted them in mixing around the blue paint and in bringing their brush up to the paper. Some kids needed more assistance than others. After only a couple of minutes, the kids were bored and ready to move on to the next thing. Buckets of soap and water were set up to wash the paint off of the kids' faces and hands. Next, the children sat down on the floor and placed their hands in buckets of water filled with jelly material. It was to example the feeling of things in the ocean. The kids seemed to really enjoy this part of class, as they splashed and played in the water. Each class that came in designed different shaped fish so that once the fish were displayed in the hall, the children would be able to recognize their own fish. Jellyfish were made out of coffee filters and blowfish out of white paper bags. The art teacher is very creative. Some students were afraid of the water and screamed and cried until the aide forced their hand down in the water. Then the student calmed down. My class came in later in the day and some of my friends said hi and hugged me. One boy painted another boy's face and he reacted by doing the same thing back. The adults in the room couldn't help but chuckle. Of course, the boys were sent into timeout for their behavior. It was interesting to meet all the children in the building and nice to introduce myself to other teachers, but I missed my little friends. There was plenty to clean up at the end of the day.
Monday, June 5, 2006
Today was an interesting day because the head teacher was not in and the kids' schedule was out of order. I sat down with the kids on the rug while they enjoyed free time. One of my friends came over and jumped in my lap. Then he laughed and made funny faces at me and I made them back. He loves to tickle. Another boy followed and wanted the same attention. The other boys were running around the room chasing eachother. I see this almost everyday that I am there. When you tell them to slow down, they run faster. After free time, some of the students went over to the table with the help of adults and glued the letter of the day on paper. Bingo dabbing,coloring, cutting, and gluing are done almost everyday. We sunscreened the children up and marked if off on a list of paper.
I was surprised with the patience that most of the children displayed. We took the kids for a walk with the occupational therapist and the physical therapist. The ratio of adults to kids was 1:2 so that each child was holding an adult's hands. Nachos were for snack for the letter N. We dressed the children in their bathing suits and sunscreened their tummys and their backs and went outside for gym. The sprinkler was turned on and only half actually went near the water. It was interesting to see their reactions. The autistic boy loved the water on his face and he smiled the whole time we were out there. The kids went to the bathroom after gym and then washed up before lunch. (Half are in diapers still and the others are in regular underwear). After lunch the kids were still wound up and it was hard to put them to sleep. Everyone was restless during circle time. In circle, every child is acknowledged for coming to school. They all say their names and we cheer for them. It is easy to tell when a child is having a bad or good day by how they sing and talk in circle. Sometimes when a child does the wrong thing during circle his/her chair is turned around and they miss the next song. I think it is a good technique to try to get the child to do the right thing.
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Today I walked in to many different hugs. It was almost overwhelming, but makes me feel appreciated. I love seeing their smiles each morning. I have noticed that some of the kids that I didn't know so well before have seemed to warm up to me quite a bit. I learned that one boy came in really sick today and it was upsetting to me because the mother is a workaholic. He is dropped off every morning really early and then stays for the late program until 5ish. He has never missed a day of school and that is because his mother never misses a day of work. He had his head down during play time and whenever we sat at the table. He did not participate in circle either. The speech therapist came in throughout the day and sat with some of their students. They are taken out of the class throughout the day to do work with their therapist. Most get really excited when their own therapist comes in to get them. The occupational and physical therapist came in the class to do a really neat activity called matman. All of the kids get a piece of paper shaped in a different body part. A song is sang and as each body part is heard, the kid comes up to the body of matman and velcros it on the board. The song goes, "Matman has one head, matman has one head......" After each child has his/her turn putting it up on the board with the OT, they next go over to the PT and walk across a balance beam, roll on a ball, and jump on a small trampoline. It is amusing to watch. After the song has ended, each child gets two wood sticks and we sing a song called tap tap. The kids tap their sticks slow, fast, loud, quietly, on the floor, up in the air. The adults guide whoever needs help. I enjoy working the OT and PT because they are bubbly, bright people and they always have something new for the kids' to do.
Monday, June 12, 2006
This morning I came into the room and the boy with autism came over and grabbed my hand. He pulled me over to the cd player and brought my hand up. I turned on the music because I have learned to do so. I then sat down with him and he climbed on my lap. I hugged him and talked to him even though he didn't respond. I told him that I wished I knew what he was saying. He took my hands and put them up to his nose. I think that his special talent is being so loving. Out of every child in the room, he is the most sweet and loving. For much of the morning, he sat in my lap reading books and hanging out. His one on one aide left the room from time to time because he was working so well with me. After applying sunscreen, one boy kept rubbing his eyes and was all irritated. I couldnot take him to the bathroom because I am considered to be a volunteer and a child is not to be left alone in my care. Another boy wet his pants and after he was cleaned up he was disciplined and sat in the grass for a little while, while the rest of the children played on the playground. Another boy kept trying to go up the slide the wrong way, over and over again. I would tell him to walk around and come down the slide but he was doing the opposite of what I told him on purpose. I have seen this all the time since working at Bornhava. Some of the kids think it is funny to do the opposite of what you tell them to do. After refusing to listen multiple times I picked him up and sat him in timeout. I have realized that I have picked up much of the language and behavior that the other adults use here at Bornhava. I think that I sound just like them.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Today the children worked on getting ready for graduation. It is a week from now. I asked and have learned that only a few of the children are going into regular kindergarten classes in the fall, and the rest are going into special k classes in their own school districts. Many of the adults worked with them in helping to finish their alphabet books. During circle, the children had time for their solos and each one took a bow after singing. It is cute to watch them pick friends to come up with them to sing. In music, the children sang about birds and frogs. We also sang a song about our smiles and we passed a mirror around so that each child could see their own smile in the mirror. Everyone actually sat still and participated pretty well in each song. After lunch, the kids were deprived of a nap, which really put them out of sorts, because there were visitors in the building. The teacher's assistant read the book Vegetable Soup and afterwards the kids ate vanilla icecream for the letter V. Everyone enjoyed the snack and the children were quiet.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Today was my last day working at Bornhava before their break. The break will last about three weeks and the children will start back up for the summer program after July 4th. It was my last day of working with the head teacher and some of the one on one aides because they are off for summers. There will be a new head teacher for the six week program and she visited the class today so that she could observe and get to know the students. She sat in to get a handle on how the classroom is run and what a typical day is like at Bornhava. She is a young teacher and has a lot of spirit in her. I watched her interaction with the children and liked the way that she spoke to them. I look forward to working with her this summer because she is all smiles, and seems to have a ton of energy and enthusiasm. Keeping hands to yourself was a huge focus during free time in gym. I noticed that I kept repeating phrases that the teachers in the room use quite often. It was disappointing because many sat out for timeout because of their bad behavior. One boy made a grunting noise when I sat him out and he threw off his glasses. I made him pick them up and then sit back down. He was pouting. It was amusing, but I held in my laugh. The OT and PT came in for matman at the end of the day which is always enjoyable because the kids smile during this activity. Many of them needed a lot of guidance doing tap tap. They seemed to be in their own worlds. Already, I am thinking about missing the little ones during the break. I am afraid that I am getting more attached than I thought I would.
PSYCH 370
Annotated Bibiliography
Chosing a topic for the annotated bibliography was not too difficult for me because I knew I was interested in finding out about eating disorders in schools in both young and high school age kids. I chose this topic because I know that eating disorders are common in adolescents and I was interested in learning about how school psychologists and other educators intervene in detecting the disorder and how they help the child to recover from it. I went to the Canisius library website and went under library databases. I clicked on
PsycInfo under Ebscohost. I typed in eating disorders under thesaurus and it gave me eating disorder. I then typed in schools in thesaurus and decided on school based intervention. At the main page, I was able to type in eating disorders and school based intervention. A lot of results popped up and I was able to browse through and find 10 interesting articles about eating disorders in schools.
Interview with a School Psychologist
I am going to interview school psychologist, Janine
McDonald, on Thursday, February 9, 2006 at Edison Elementary. Janine works in the Kenton school district. I attended Kenmore schools when I was younger so that is why I chose to interview Janine.
My questions for Janine McDonald are...
1)Which providers of services in the community do you use for outside referrals?
2)What special intervention services do you offer in your building(s) that you think are particularly effective?
3)What outside agency educational programs does the district use? Any impressions on their strengths and weaknesses?
4)What do you do each day?
5)What are your work hours like? Is it a normal 8-4, or is there a lot of outside work to do?
6)What are the most common problems you encounter?
7)Is there a downside to traveling from school to school? And how often do you travel?
8)How often do you encounter problems with parents and how do you handle the conflict?
9)What level of education did you complete? What do you recommend as far as grad school? Do you wish you went a different educational route in becomming a school psychologist?
10)What is the general starting wage and has it increased over the amount of time you have worked?
11)Would you recommend this career to others?
12)Do you feel this job interferes with your personal life (taking work home, etc) and with your emotional state?
13)How many children are you responsible for?
14)Do you feel that other school psychologists in the area cooperate with you?
15)How often do you intervene with other teachers?
16)What do you do during the summer?
Her responses were....
1) Brylin, Children's Psych Clinic, Fulk School. Summit, Williamsville Counseling Center, Family Support Center, Autistic Services
2) Janine thought that the second step program which is school wide is effective and is for k-9th. It deals with issues on character, antiviolence, empathy, problem solving, anger management etc. There is a half time social worker in the school that does group counseling and deals with issues on anxiety and behavior.
3) Fulk, Baker, Gateway, Summit, Children's Hospital, Brylin-each program deals with specific populations
4) 8am-instructional support team- 2 students are referred for academic/social...Janine and others work as a team to review the child's record. 9am-12- consult with teachers, comes up with behavior plans, works on goals and rewards, see students using psychoeducational tests-IQ testing, visual motor, checklists, interviews, child draws, one on one intervention. The child must have signed permission for the psychologist to observe the student. The rest of the day consists of meetings, interventions and evaluations. 8-4 day
5) 8-4, usually no weekend work so able to spend time with her own kids and family. Once and a while she will call a parent outside of work. Nice hours. No outside planning like teachers.
6) Most problems consist of kids kicking other kids in the lunchline, calling names, learning disabilities, anxiety prone kids, ADHD, temper tantrums, defiant behavior-elementary level...middle school-nasty comments, cliques, trying to fit in, impulsive behavior....high school-depression, bullying, refusing to not come to school
7) Yes, Janine would prefer to stay in one place. She travels to Edison for 2 days a week and Holmes for 3 days a week. She feels that she does not get to see staff and students for a whole week after leaving Edison on friday because she does not see them again until Thursday. She would like to get to know students and staff better. It is overwhelming when she comes back to one school after being off of there for a couple of days because everyone has questions for her. She would like to stay at one school but it is not realistic.
8) Parents are usually pretty good. Must get permission from parent to do any testing or intervention. Some parents do not want to admit to their child having a learning disability and want their child to be tested somewhere else even thought the results will be the same. Special Ed is a good program but many kids do not want their child to be in it because they have a negative view on it.
9) 60+ masters at UB-liked the program very much. Wouldn't have done anything different. It is not necessary to get doctorate because there is no pay increase.
10) starting wage is the same as teachers
11) Yes, she would recommend this career for others. It is a great job if you love children. There is a new problem everyday, you work with different people, and it is not really stressful. It is awesome if you want to have your own family.
12) No, it is not too stressful. You do not take work home with you- except they are working on annual reviews right now. Sometimes it is draining when staff asks her for help for their own personal problems just because she is the psychologist. She had to fill in for principal one day and that was pretty stressful.
13) under 1000 children at 2 schools
14) Yes, there is cooperation between school psychologists in the district. Janine prefers team work and other people's opinions.
15) Intervenes with teachers everday on a regular basis. Sometimes sits in during class to evaluate a student. Teacher comes to psychologist with questions.
16) She has off during the summer which is nice because she can be with her own kids. However, there is an option to do evaluations for special ed kids in the summer. You have your choice.
Overall, the interview went great! She provided me a great deal of insight into what a school psychologist does on a typical day. She has helped me realize what I want for my future and what kind of kids I want to work with. I am interested in the elementary level, as she is. She has worked in all three levels and prefers the elementary-there is always time for prevention and time to make a difference. The information I obtained has helped me to confirm my choice on my future career. I look forward to going on to graduate school and to becoming a school psychologist.
CategoryUsers
Spring2006
Psy370Spring2006
The following 3 pages belong to JillianSilvashy:
Psy498PracticumLog