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            I am an intern at Buffalo Public School
Number 37: Future’s Academy under the guidance of Amy Van Buren, the School
Psychologist.  Future’s Academy is a
pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school. 
I will be going to the school twice a week from 8am - 11am; totaling 3
hours a day.

            The
tasks that I will be responsible for will include reviewing student records,
synthesizing information into reports, assessing/observing students, observing
counseling sessions and attending CSE meetings.

 

September 30, 2008                Total
hours to Date: 3

 

            Today was
my first day at Future’s Academy.  Amy
Van Buren is the School Psychologist and is a part of the Student Support Team
(SST) which consists of a Coordinator, Social Worker, Educational Specialist,
and School Psychologist.   They all work
in the same office and collaborate with one another for the benefit of the
student.  After I became acquainted with
the school, Amy put me to work by reading through files of students she will be
evaluating soon.  

 

 

October 3, 2008                      Total
hours to Date: 6

 

            Amy had to
attend a district wide meeting at Emerson
High School today which
she invited me to observe.  The meeting
covered new procedures for reevaluation of students as well as clarified any
grey areas that the Student Support Teams had concerns with.  There was a lot of paperwork that they
reviewed and it seemed to be repetitive and confusing.  The District was challenging the Student
Support Teams to look at problems the students are having at school and see how
interventions could be implemented so that are effective and beneficial to the
child.  From the PowerPoint that was
shown, it stated “Response to Intervention (RTI) can be defined as the change
in a student’s behavior or performance as a function of intervention”.  It continued on to state “RTI…is absolutely
the future of education- not the future of special education, but of
education.” 

            While I was
at this meeting, I often felt quite overwhelmed by what the presenters were
talking about because I am unfamiliar with the complete duties of the School
Psychologist and the paperwork that they have to complete.  I had an idea before going into this meeting
that some of the things were going to be over my head, but I was able to catch
on to what they were discussing.  A lot
of the people present had a lot of questions regarding the material as they
found some areas to be confusing -- some of it contradicted itself while a
majority of it was being newly implemented.

 

October 7, 2008                      Total
hours to Date: 9

 

            For my
tasks today, I went with Amy to observe a few children in the classroom.  She also gave me some files to read
through.  I really liked reading the
files as it allows me to see the background information of the child as well as
to see the progress or lack of progress that the child has had over the years.

 

October 10, 2008                    Total
hours to date: 12

 

            Today, Amy
and I observed a child in the classroom. 
Amy also administered parts of an Intelligence Test to two
children.  I found Amy to be very skilled
at establishing rapport with students. 
She carries on a friendly conversation with a student as they travel
through the halls on the way to her office and then will ask the student
questions about him or herself for a period of time before and after the
test.  She will ask questions regarding
their family background, birth date, where they live, if they know their
address/ phone number.  It is quite
simple to see that the way in which she interacts with the student that he or
she becomes more at ease within a matter of minutes. 

 

October 14, 2008                    Total
hours to date: 16

 

            On certain
days during the week, there are team meetings where the principle and teachers
from a certain grade level get together to talk about issues that are of
importance and are or will be affecting that grade level soon.  Amy and I attended two of these team meetings
today.  We sat in on the meetings with
the 3rd grade team as well as the 5th grade team.  Afterward, Amy gave me a file for me to read
and take notes on.  However, the office
called Amy down to talk with a student named Paige, a 7th grader, who was being
disruptive in the classroom.  Paige
transferred to Future’s this year. 
Coincidentally, Amy was acquainted with Paige as Amy had worked with the
school Paige had been at before. 

 

When Amy and I arrived, the vice principal was talking with
Paige.  Apparently, Paige had told the
vice-principal that she has been taking drugs lately as well as other stories
about wandering away from home and being out late.  Paige seemed to be taking this situation
lightly and started fooling around in the office.  She threatened that she was going to walk out
of the school.  After a period of time,
the vice-principal decided to call Paige’s mom and Paige hung up the phone, and
when the principal dialed again, Paige pulled the phone cord out of the phone
jack.  The vice-principal left and Amy
then started to talk to Paige to see what was driving her to behave in this
manner.

 

            Eventually,
Paige’s mom showed up and the principal came in to talk with her, Paige, Amy
and I.  Paige’s mom voiced her concern
about Paige and how she has been hanging out with friends whom she believes are
influencing Paige’s behavior.  She has a
lot of love for her daughter, but admits that she is lacking in the direction
needed to ‘tame’ steer her daughter in a better direction.  Because of her recent behavior, Paige’s mom
had warned her before that if she had gotten into some more trouble then she
was going to go to the court and request that Paige be placed on PINS (Persons
in Need of Supervision).

 

 

October 17, 2008                    Total
hours to date: 19

           

            Today, Amy
administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children to a boy who is 10
years old.  He lives with his mom and 7
year old sister.  He has a little brother
who lives with his dad, but he hasn’t seen his brother in a while.  He talks to his dad on the phone
occasionally.  He really likes playing
football and is on a team.  Currently, he
receives speech services and will continue to do so.   Besides observing his testing, I read
through files.

 

October 20, 2008                    Total
hours to date: 21

 

            Today, Amy
and the Student Support Team had a CSE Meetings planned for the morning.  Two students were up for reevaluation.  The people who are present for the CSE
meetings besides the Student Support Team are the parents, teacher, and speech
therapist and/or reading teacher who might be assisting the student as
well.  The structure of the CSE meeting
is as follows:  the SST will each take
turns describing what they have observed when working with the individual, and
remark on test scores, and then later on in the meeting they will voice their
recommendations for the student.  The
parent, if he or she is present, will voice his or her concerns and then the
teacher/therapist will become involved in the conversation to voice their
concerns and observations.   The meeting
is a collaboration of each person so that the best decision can be made as to
what services should be provided or discontinued.

            The first
student, Rodney, has low reading skills. 
He has been diagnosed will ODD, OCD, and PDD.  It was decided that he will receive resource
every day: 3 times a week for Reading
and 3 times a week for Math for 42 minutes. 
His speech is also impaired so he will be receiving speech therapy as
well. 

            The second
student, Jasmine, is in the 6th grade. 
They are concerned with her behavior. 
She has a hearing disability and they were trying to make accommodations
for a setting that would benefit her in the long run.  She causes a lot of disruptions in the
classroom, but when she is focused she is able to do really well.  She is easily aggravated and agitated by her
peers or if she cannot get her way.  One
thing that was discussed was her involvement in activities outside of
school.  Her mother says that she isn’t
involved in any activities but does like to dance.  In an effort to get her to behave better in
school, they are going to try to find a place for her to dance after school so
that she has something to look forward to as a reward for her good
behavior.  The parent will also be in
constant communication with the teachers.  

 

October 24, 2008                    Total
hours to date: 24 total

 

            I was
introduced to a file of a student who is receiving services because he was
learning disabled.  He is currently in
the third grade and his learning disability as a result of lead poisoning.  This boy comes from a two parent home.  His mother is very supportive; however, his
father is not.  His mother plays a very
active role by being involved with the school to make sure that her son
receives all the services that he can get so that he can lead a fairly normal
life even though he encounters many set backs.

            The boy’s
mother reports that her husband does not pay much attention to their son.  When he does interact with his son, it is in
a negative way.  He continuously tells his
son that he is stupid and that he will never be successful as a result of his
learning disability. 

            On one
occasional when the social worker was meeting with this boy, she asked him if
he could draw a picture of his family for her. 
He complied and drew his house with him and his mom standing in front of
it.  In the picture, he was offering a
bunch of flowers to his mother and labeled the picture my mom and me.  He did not include his father in this
picture, but to me this means that he does not find him to be an important person
in his life.  His father’s behavior has
definitely taken a toll on his self-esteem. 
He often tells his mother that he hates his father and finds that he is
really mean.  Even though his mother is
trying her best to be a supportive figure in her child’s life, This boy’s
father’s actions are making a lasting impression.

            Personally,
I found this to be quite sad because even though the boy is receiving a lot of
support from his mother, his father is damaging the child’s self-esteem and
self-concept.  It is my hope for this boy
that he is able to grow up and become an individual whom is successful despite
the lack of involvement on his father’s part

 

October 28, 2008                    Total
hours to date: 27

 

            Today, Amy
and I observed a third grade student named Xaivia.  We observed her in the classroom setting
where the class was reading passages from an overhead, learning new vocabulary
and reciting each word.  Xaivia was
sitting at her desk that was off to the side and was not participating.  The teacher said that Xaivia had been a model
student up until the last school year where she started having behavior issues
in May.  Since then, Xaivia has good days
and bad days, but overall causes a commotion in the classroom because she is
argumentative with her peers. 

            While Amy
and I were in the classroom, the teacher tried to get Xaivia to put her pencil
box away and to participate in the lesson. 
Xaivia ignored these requests. 
There was a student sitting next to Xaivia who glanced over at her and
Xaivia glared at her and said “Stop looking at me.”  Another incident happened in the classroom
with Xaivia thinking that a boy from across the room was looking at her
too.  She made a comment to him too which
turned into an argument between them.  It
was at this time that Amy took Xaivia out of the classroom so that the
situation would not continue to escalate. 

            Amy took
Xaivia to her office and engaged her in conversation regarding a variety of
topics.  Xaivia is a very pleasant girl
who seems to be very intelligent.  Amy
had brought the workbook the class was reading from so that Xaivia could read
from it.  Xaivia read out loud to us and
she read in a very smooth manner.

 

October 31, 2008                    Total
hours to date: 30

            Xaivia’s
teacher met with Amy this morning and discussed Xaivia and voiced her
observations/concerns.  She commented
that Xaivia is a very bright girl but is easily agitated at the smallest
comment made to her by the other students in the classroom.  Xaivia does not have any friends in the class
and dislikes all of the boys.  One thing
that Amy would like to start with Xaivia is a Behavior chart and her prize
after so many good days would be to come to Amy’s office with another student
to play a board game.  The teacher
mentioned that she does have a behavior chart already implemented but it seemed
to be very inconsistent and the reward was not immediate. 

 

November 7, 2008                  Total
hours to date: 33

            Today, I
worked on a computer, synthesized information from three most recent IEP’s and
placed it into an Ed Benefit form.  This
is helpful for Amy to see if progress has been made and is a useful document at
meetings like the CSE.

 

November 14, 2008                Total
hours to date: 36                                                                                               

            Amy and I
went to Team meetings this morning in the office.  Afterwards, Amy allowed me to administer
parts of the Woodcock Johnson test to a 4th grade student. 

 

 

November 18, 2008                Total
hours to date: 39

 

            Amy is in
charge of making pencil bunches of 5 and 10 as a prize for students who make
the honor roll.  Today, I assisted her
with making bunches and making ribbon bows for them. 

 

November 21, 2008                Total
hours to date: 42

 

            I made
pencil bunches again today and listened to Amy and her coworkers discuss plans
for various students.

 

November 25, 2008                Total
hours to date: 45

 

            Today, I
worked on Ed Benefit forms as well as wrapped pencils.

 

December 15, 2008                 Total
hours to date: 49

 

Today, there were a few CSE meetings in the morning and I
sat in on them and observed. 

 

December 16, 2008                 Total
hours to date: 53

 

Amy and I started working on a Behavior Intervention Plan
for Xavia.

 

December 17, 2008                 Total
hours to date: 57

 

Amy and I assisted a 5th grade teacher as she requested
help.  The students were doing ELA work.  At first they were taking turn reading
passages from their books, but then they started to write a short story based
on the passage they just completed.  Amy
and I sat with students who needed assistance with the task.  

 

January 21, 2009                     Total
hours to date: 60

 

            Today when
I arrived, a teacher had approached Amy and requested that she come and speak
with a student named Angelica because the teacher felt that she was in need of
counseling because she had told her mother that the teacher had hit her.  As Amy spoke to Angelica, the student said
that the teacher had been giving her a hard time and that there had been some
conflict between them a few times before. 
On this occasion, the teacher had been poking Angelica.  After speaking with the student, Amy
concluded that there was a personality conflict going on between the student
and the teacher.  Amy advised the student
to continue doing her class work and to try hard to not talk during the class
period to other students.  Additionally,
Amy offered to take the student out of this particular class once a week so
that they can discuss any problems she may be having with the teacher as well
as to provide her with a break from the teacher.

 

            Amy also
tested two students today.  The first
student, L. Green, who is a kindergartener. 
Amy was testing her because her teacher said that she seems to be in her
own world and is not very attentive in class. 
The second student, Devon, is a 4th
grader.  He was being tested to see if he
qualified for services or not. 

 

 

Jan. 23, 2009               Total
hours to date: 63

           

            Amy and the
School Counselor, Ms. Larkin, are going to be working together to form a Social
Skills workshop for 7th and 8th graders who they have labeled as needing
assistance.  Amy and Ms. Larkin met today
to go over the logistics of their workshop. 
They discussed the students whom they were targeting and split those
students up into groups.  Ms. Larkin said
that one of her goals is to help these students fill out working papers because
a majority of them are eligible to work through the mayor’s youth program.  Amy is excited about this new program as it is
going to get her more involved with the students.

 

 

Jan. 28, 2009               Total
hours to date: 66

 

            Amy asked
me to go through a social skills book and find topics that I believe would be
worthwhile to focus on for the social skills workshop.  I found the topics: Preventing conflicts and
violence, Conflict resolution, handling emotions, Setting and Achieving goals,
respecting others, time management, and to focus on the do’s and don’ts in the
workplace.  We discussed these topics and
met with the School counselor again  

 

 

Jan. 30, 2009               Total
hours to date: 69

 

            Today, I
observed in a 5th grade classroom. 
During this time, the students were working on English Language Arts by taking
turns reading from their books.  After
their lesson was done, they spilt up into centers.  Three girls asked if they could read to
me.  Each girl was at a different reading
level.  One girl read smoothly, another
read in a bit more choppy manner, while another was really timid and read
quietly.  I feel that the third girl was
not very confident in her reading skills as she seemed to read at a slower pace
and it seemed to be a bit more difficult for her when compared to the other
two.  After the girls were finished, Amy
and I took a boy from the classroom.  Amy
administered the K-Bit Kaufman Intelligent Test.  He scored high on the nonverbal portion but
low on the verbal.  He was very quiet and
did not respond at all to praise. 

 

 

February 4, 2009                     Total
hours to date: 72

 

            Today, I worked
on a computer, synthesized information from three most recent IEP’s and placed
it into an Ed Benefit form. 

 

 

February 6, 2009                     Total
hours to date: 75

 

            Today, I
was working on additional Ed Benefit forms again.

 

 

February 11, 2009                   Total
hours to date: 78

 

            Today, I
observed a 7th grade student named Will in his English Language Arts
class.  Will is diagnosed as being
ADHD.  He does not currently take
medication.  He had been prescribed
medication at one time but had gone off of it due to a side effect.  Will is currently reading at a 3 grade
reading level.  The students in his class
are at approximately the same reading level. 
While I was observing, the class was taking turns reading aloud passages
from their books.  Will did not participate.  He was playing with his pencil, cleaning out
his desk, or had his head down on the desk during this task.  Will’s teacher commented that he will not
participate unless he has taken some time to practice a particular
passage.  Will does not want his peers to
know that he is struggling with reading so he tries to act “cool” and pretend
it’s no big deal when he is clearly failing at the subject.  Will’s teacher said that his skills are so
basic and that he cannot even rhyme words. 

 

 

February 13, 2009                   Total
hours to date: 81

 

            Amy asked
me to observe a boy in kindergarten because it was brought to her attention
that he was not audible when spoken to and is not sociable when engaged in
activity with his peers.  London is presently a
five year old boy who entered kindergarten in the September and had no prior
schooling experience.  When compared to
his peers, London is reserved, quiet, observes what his peers are doing, and is
not up to par in regards to academic work.

            When I went
to observe London,
there were 11 children in the classroom. 
The students were sitting on a rug with small dry erase marker boards
and were copying words the teacher had written on the chalkboard onto theirs.  They were working on sounds and would spell a
word like “match”.  The next task was to
respond by saying what each letter sounded like and then recited the entire
word.  The other students seemed to
understand the directions and were excited about this activity.  London
was sitting behind the other students with his mother.  She was helping him write the letters on his
board by using the hand-over-hand technique. 
He was well mannered, but did not participate in saying the word aloud.

            Journal
writing was the next activity that I observed London taking part in.  The lesson the teacher had been teaching for
the last week was regarding bugs.  She
wrote in each child’s journal the sentence “Do you like bugs?”  She gave the direction to trace the sentence
she had written and then rewrite it two more times.  London
looked to his mother for guidance for this activity as well but did not use
words to communicate his need for help. 
She repeated the directions the teacher had given but then also helped
him with writing using the hand-over-hand technique again.  London’s
mom also offered her son encouragement by saying “You can do this!” which was
said in a nice tone.  She would even
demonstrate how to form the letter and would ask him to try and copy what she
just did.  London would attempt to write a letter, but
would constantly look at his mother’s face for reinforcement.

            The final
activity London
participated in was working on word sounds with his teacher and another
student.  They were working with magnet
wands and had to swipe the wand over the letter and were to make its
sound.  Simple words were given like
“Pig”, “Cat”, and “Tan”.  London’s mother sat next
to him as the teacher worked with him and the other student.  To begin, the teacher simply asked “What
color wand do you want?”  The other
student was quick to choose the one that he wanted, but London did not say what color he wanted.  He just pointed to the color he wanted but
did not say its name.  The teacher then
explained the directions and gave him the word “Pig”.  The other student went first and was able to
complete this task with ease.  When it
was London’s
turn he formed the word and his lips would move but no sound was made.  The teacher encouraged him to say it a little
bit louder but it was still not audible and was lower than a whisper.  The teacher moved onto the word “Cat” and London’s mom commented to
him that he knows this word and says it at home.  Yet, when asked he responded in the same
extremely low tone and observed the reactions of his teacher and mother. 

           

            **Amy and I
discussed what I observed.  She observed
him at a later date and she gave me a bit more background information about
him.  Amy talked with London’s mom and she indicated that he talks
all the time when he is at home and in an audible tone.  However, his mother said that London had not been
exposed to many social situations with other kids before entering school this
year.  He lives alone with his mother and
she says that they hardly leave the home. 

            Upon
reviewing the information Amy has given me and what I observed in the classroom,
it causes me to think that he could potentially be selectively mute since it
has caused an interference with his educational achievement and has caused a
disturbance for well over a month.  It
seems to me that London
maybe overwhelmed by the classroom setting and is always looking for
reinforcement from his mom or teachers to indicate that he is performing a task
correctly. 

            Amy
indicated that London
will be repeating kindergarten next year. 
In the mean time, he will be receiving speech therapy.  As he progresses, a student from his class
will attend speech with him in an attempt to help him gain confidence as well
as interact with his peers.  This will
also allow his classmates to see that London
does have the skills to communicate and hopefully will engage in a conversation
with him and include him in play when back in the classroom.

 

 

February 20, 2009                   Total
hours to date: 84

 

            Today, Amy
tested Will, the 7th grader, by administering the K-Bit Intelligence test.  Will does not like to admit that he is
struggling in academic areas such as math and English.  While in the classroom, Will will work on his
assignments occasionally, but will not volunteer to answer questions unless he
has practiced and knows the correct answer. 
He does not want to express his weakness to his classmates and will only
ask for help if he sees that others are struggling with the same thing. 

 

 

February 24, 2009                   Total
hours to date: 87

 

Today, Amy had a list of kids to meet with and test, but as
she tried to track them down, they were either taking a test, were absent or
were suspended.  I ended up doing a
miscellaneous task for her which involved rubber banding pencils together in
sets of 5 and 10.  These pencils are to
be given to students as a prize for whoever makes honor roll.

           

 

March 3, 2009                         Total
hours to date: 90

           

            I observed
a kindergarten student named Will today. 
He is 6 years old.  He has been
acting out in the classroom.  When upset,
he will go around and completely destroy the class by overturning tables,
throwing books, and tearing this off the wall. 
Whatever seems to be in his path is what gets destroyed. 

            Will is a
large student for his age but emotionally he is well below.  He knows that he needs to be good while in
school and is able to follow the rules, but there are times that something will
randomly tick him off and he become upset, cry, and then he might go on to
destroy something.  When I first walked
into the classroom, the teacher was correcting Will for something that he did
while he was sitting on the rug with the other children.  He seemed to be distressed over it.  The teacher continued reading and he seemed
to then pay attention.  Then Will’s
father called on the phone and the teacher spoke with him and updated him on
Will’s behavior.  The phone was handed
over to Will.  When Will got off the
phone, he said that he wanted to keep his color on green.  The teacher said that he needs to behave
better and follow the rules.  When the
class lined up to go to lunch, Will was in the back of the line and tried to
squeeze his way forward, but was told that he couldn’t do that.  He began to cry a little but stayed in the
back of the line.   

 

 

March 10, 2009                       Total
hours to date: 93

 

            I observed
Micah today.  He is in kindergarten with
approximately 20 other students.  The
students sit at tables with 4 children to each. 
Micah sits at a table that is directly in front of the board and in line
with where the teacher will typically stand. 
Micah is thought to have ADHD tendencies.  My task today was to observe him.  While I was in the classroom, the teacher had
the students completing a writing and picture assignment.  Their task surrounded a book that they had
just finished reading.  Micah was on task
and raised his hand to answer a question the teacher had asked.  He was also providing help to a student at
his table who was having trouble drawing a picture.  He possesses a great imagination.   

            Next, I was
able to administer a few sections of the Standford Binet Intelligence Test to a
3 grade girl named Bria.  The sections
that I administered were: Calculation, Spelling, and Reading sentences.  She did really well and appeared to be very
bright.

 

 

March 11, 2009                       Total
hours to date: 96

 

            Amy and I
observed a 5th grade student named Cordell today. Amy is responsible for
developing a BIP for him because he is said to be a very disruptive student,
argues with teachers he dislikes, and is also confrontational with other
students.  He is in a 12-1-1 classroom
due to behavioral problems. 

            While Amy
and I observed him, he appeared to be quite pleasant and extremely
helpful.   The students were taking turns
reading passages from their textbook. 
Cordell readily volunteered to read and would also correct his peers if
a word was mispronounced.  The next
activity was to split up into partners and time one another as each person
read.  He got along with his partner and
they were working productively together. 
Next, they reviewed with their partner for a spelling test.  Cordell was able to spell all 20 words
correctly.  His partner, however, had
some errors so Cordell took it upon himself to write the words down that his
partner had gotten wrong so that he could study them since they were to take
the test next.  Cordell was really proud
that he was able to spell all the words correctly and made a comment to his
teacher that he wants a different set of words that are more challenging.  The teacher said that she would do that for
him the following week because she felt that he would be able to handle a
tougher test.  He seemed really eager to
learn more spelling words and I was really happy that the teacher responded
positively.

            Amy was
surprised by Cordell’s behavior but felt that he was behaving well due to the
fact that he likes this teacher.  The
teacher commented that he typically will have outbursts in the morning.  Amy noted that he was familiar with her and
may have known that she was coming to observe him.   

  

 

March 16 – 20, 2009

Canisius College Spring Break

 

March 31, 2009                       Total
hours to date: 96

 

            Amy and I
observed a 5th grade student named Legend today.  I don’t have any notes about this day and I
cannot recall what happened.

 

 

April 1, 2009                          Total
hours to date: 99

 

            I went to
Public School Number 39 today as Amy had a CSE meeting for a few of the
students she has been assigned for their annual review.  I was present for 2 meetings.  At both of the meetings, the teacher and
speech therapist were present for the meeting. 
No parents of either child showed up. 
They basically stated that services needed to continue for each child
and listed the reasons why. 

            I also went
to a classroom to observe a student whom was to have his review later that
afternoon.  His name was “Bobby”.  Bobby is a 4th grade student.  Amy has observed him before.  He has some emotional issues in addition to
being learning disabled.  When I entered
the classroom, the teacher was preparing the students with work that was to be
done in silence as she was going to be taking a break.  Another teacher was taking her place.  The teacher instructed all of the students to
take out their crayon boxes as they were going to be drawing and coloring a
picture that was to go along with a book report that they had written.  Bobby appeared to be confused by the
teacher’s instructions and was given instructions over again and then
reminded.  Once she left, he was able to
organize himself and get busy.

 

 

April 6 -17, 2009

Future’s Academy Spring Break

 

April 20 -24, 2009

 Amy was sick.

 

April 28, 2009            Total
hours to date: 102

 

            Today, I
observed two- second grade students. 
Both students are to be reevaluated. 
Amy and I observed these students during their English Language Arts
class.  One student, named Imani, was sleeping
at her desk when we walked into the classroom. 
According to her teacher, she recently began taking medication for a
condition called Neuromitosis. The medication induces sleep and the teacher was
instructed to allow her to take a nap due to its side effects.  The other child was a boy who is repeating
the 2nd grade.  Last year, he slept
during the majority of his classes and therefore was retained.  He appeared to be studious and was able to
complete the assigned work when instructed to finish a worksheet. The teacher
made a comment that he has really improved this year.  The improvement may be do to the change in
his primary caregiver.  He now lives with
his grandmother, whereas, he was living with his mother in the year prior.
            Amy was going to administer
the WISC test to Imani after our observation; however, since she was sleeping
and seemed groggy she decided that it would be better to meet with her another
day.  Amy has a list of kids that she
still has to test, but the others were either suspended or absent today.  For the duration of my time at Future’s
today, I made pencil bundles and listened to Amy’s teammates discuss various
kids in the office.  Amy and I had a discussion
regarding Parent Child Interactive Therapy (PCIT) due to the recent lecture
that was had at Canisius.  I was
explaining to her what I had learned and how I was really impressed with the
program.  I feel strongly on educating
teachers on how to respond to children with ADHD in this way as I feel it could
be effectively used in the classroom.     

 

 

April 29, 2009            Total
hours to date: 105

 

            Amy
administered the WISC test to Imani today. 
Imani was sleeping when Amy arrived to bring her back to her
office.  Before she started the test, Amy
established a relationship with Imani by asking her questions such as when her
birthday was, how many brothers and sisters she has, if she enjoys school,
ect.  Imani is 8 years old, lives with
her grandmother and brother.  Her mother
and father visit her, but they do not live with her.  She has a younger brother who attends
Future’s and is in kindergarten.  Her
sister attends a different school.  As Amy
administered the test, it was quite obvious that Imani was not doing well on it
based on her answers.   Imani looked
tired and held her head up with her hand for fifty percent of the test.  She was not very animated in the beginning,
but seemed to “wake up” as the test moved along.  If she did not know an answer to a question
she would simply sit there.  Even though,
Imani seemed more alert at the end of the test, she still supplied incorrect
answers.  Amy stated that she has to
research Imani’s medical condition to see what kind of effects it might have on
the brain.  I walked Imani back to her
classroom.  She mentioned that she had a
lot of fun in Amy’s office and would like to return again soon.

              The office called up Amy and requested that
she come and sit in on a meeting  as
Child Protective Services came to the school to meet with a few children from a
family that they were investigating.  CPS
does not require a school official to be present, but the school requested that
Amy be there.  The CPS worker’s name was
Melody and she was investigating a case were a few days prior a 15-year old
male named Angelo was watching his siblings, Antonio age 12, Kayla, age 8, his
younger brother age 5, and two twin one year old boys.  Apparently at 9 pm, police were called to
their upper apartment because a neighbor had witnessed that one of the 1 yr old
had walked out onto the porch and was on the playing on the railing.  The mother was at work at the time this
occurred but came home once notified of what was going on.  The CPS worker had already visited the home
two days prior and found that there was not a lot of food present and the toilet
was inoperable.  When Melody arrived at
the school, she asked for the children’s attendance record.  She found that the kids had each missed
numerous days of school.  The oldest,
Angelo had missed 34 days of school. 
Antonio had missed 45 days of school. 
The 5 year old had missed 50 days and Kayla had missed 54 days.  If anything, CPS can bring the mother to
court for educational neglect.

            Melody
interviewed each child separately to see if there were any other problems
occurring in the family or concerns that the children had.   Melody first met with Kayla.  Kayla is in the first grade and has been
retained twice - once in kindergarten and then again in first grade.  Melody asked Kayla basic questions relating
to what occurred the other night with the police being called to their
house.  Kayla answered the questions
quite energetically.  It was noticeable
that Kayla had been told that CPS would possibly be coming to speak with her
because she responded cautiously as well. 
Melody had to dig to get Kayla to answer some of the questions and even
then she gave sugar coated answers. 
Melody had asked Kayla about her two older sisters.  One sister is 21 and the other is 19 and has
a baby.  The 19 year old does not live at
the house but will watch the children occasionally.  She was not present on the night of the
incident.  When asked where the 21 year
old was, Kayla mentioned that she was on vacation.  However, Melody knew that the 21 year old is
currently in jail.  The 5 year old
answered in the same manner as well.  To
my surprise, the two older boys were very honest with Melody.  They did not have any concerns; however,
Antonio was concerned that CPS was going to take them away from their
mother.  Melody told him that that could
be a possibility but that was not going to happen as of right now.  Melody did voice her concern to Angelo and
Antonio about their school attendance and stressed that they needed to get up
in the morning and make it to school. 
Angelo has a better attendance record because he is able to walk to
school if he misses the bus. 

            It was
interesting to be able to observe the CPS worker while she interviewed the
children.  While we waited for each child
to come down to the office, Melody made comments regarding the case.  It would not have been a problem for Antonio
to watch his younger siblings, but having to take care of the two twin 1 year
old boys was a bit too much to handle.

 

 

May 4, 2009                            Total
hours to date: 120

           

            I read Faking
It: A look into the Mind of a Creative Learner to finish my hours.  Christopher Lee wrote this book during his
senior year in college in 1991 with the help of his mentor Rosemary
Jackson.   Lee had been diagnosed as
learning disabled while in grammar school, but the area of learning
disabilities was just beginning to be understood by teachers during the
1970s.  Throughout the book, Lee
discusses his battle with his unspecified learning disability, how he “faked”
his way though school, and the difficulties he encountered as a result of not
comprehending the written and spoken English language.  Lee’s disability was finally addressed when
he reached college.  He was tested and
then identified as having a Cognitive Processing Deficit.

            The book
opens up with Lee providing the definition of a disability which means
“condition of lacking a physical or mental condition”.  Lee feels that the word ‘disability’ is a
negative label and prefers to think of himself as a ‘creative learner’.    He uses
the term “creative learner” because of the alternative routes he and countless
others have to take in order to gain knowledge and transmit ideas.

            In summary,
Christopher Lee’s problems were apparent early in childhood.  At the age of 3, he was just beginning to
speak.  Still to this day, he has
problems distinguishing certain sounds. 
When he was in second grade, he had to go to “special classes” to work
on his language skills.  He states that
speech therapy never worked for him because his “speech problems were related
to his learning problems”.  He could not
identify differences in letter sounds which were similar in nature.  Because he could not “hear” the differences,
his teachers thought that he had auditory problems.  This was not the case.  He simply had a learning disability which
affects the way his brain processes what he hears.  By the fourth grade, he still could not read,
found it difficult to write, and had problems comprehending what people said to
him.  He tried to hide his problems by
creating lies – for instance, he said that he was from Boston to make up for the fact that he spoke
in a different fashion.  He would avoid
participating in class so as to steer clear of embarrassment.  When called upon, teachers would become upset
with him if he provided an incorrect answer. 
He made it all the way through high school by just coasting.  Fortunately, Lee was a competitive swimmer
and, as a result of a college scholarship, he was able to continue his
education.   Lee found it very
frustrating that his learning disability was not completely understood by his
teachers through the course of his education, but was relieved that there were
support services at his college which allowed for his needs to finally be
addressed.

            Christopher
Lee discovered for himself how to learn and get by in life.  Challenges will always be a part of his life,
but he has developed his own way of functioning so that he can communicate and thrive.  Lee has problems with semantics and
expressive language.  He describes his
brain as being “a disorganized filing cabinet which causes him to lose thoughts
and subjects” when he searching for the right word to fill in a sentence.  While engaging in a conversation, he catches
60-70% of what people say to him because he dissects the sentences and picks
out key words.  For the 80% of the time,
he relies on the body language of others to see if he can understand what they
are trying to convey in their conversation. 
He is also a visual learner and heavily relies on pictures, graphs and
diagrams.

 

            As a result
of reading this book, I was able to gain insight on one’s struggle with a
learning disability and the frustrations that have come with it.  Christopher Lee’s book is a unique story as
he is writing this book during his senior year in college.  He reflects on the 5 years of his college education
where he truly began to have educational support which aimed at aiding him in a
way that recognized his Cognitive Processing Deficit and gave him the services
he needed as a result.  As the reader,
one begins to feel a sense of frustration because no child should feel like
they are not a part of the education system which is forcing him or her to
conform to the typical ways of learning when it is simply not his or her way of
learning.  The author grew up in a time
when knowledge of learning disabilities was just starting to be acknowledged
and programs to help these children were being piloted.  Thankfully, the educational system has made
great strides and there is a wealth of knowledge regarding these students and
how to provide help.  This book stresses
the notion that learning disabled children are required to function at 100% to
retain material every single day, for every single hour while in the
classroom.  The child may be feeling
stressed, anxious, or confused at some points during the day and it is then
that learning becomes even harder.  It is
the responsibility of the parent, teacher, and/or school psychologist to
recognize the warning signs of when a child is struggling so that he or she can
develop their own system of learning so that he or she can thrive and not be
left behind.  Providing appropriate
support for these children is clearly essential.