KOG
Burns the DSM-IV. Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
As promised...
The KOG Editor burned
his DSM-IV on Saturday, October 20th, 2007. You, of course, can do
whatever you choose with your DSM-IV.
HERE'S
HOW TO JOIN THE ROTC
ROTC Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
As America continues
to spread her influence throughout the globe, it seem increasingly important
for modern students to make informed choices regarding their future vocational
and career options. At the present, military careers are thriving;
thus, the November KOG will forward some information related to this topic.
A cost-free college
education. Four years of rewarding challenges and personal growth.
A head start on an exciting career. All this and more awaits those
awarded a scholarship from Air Force ROTC. Your future could begin
right here, right now.
The following items
will be needed to complete an application:
Social Security
Number
Information on officer
training programs (if applicable)
Information on any
arrests you may have had (if applicable)
Password choice
- you will have the ability to save your application and complete it at
a later date.
This application is
only for high school students or graduates who are not currently full-time
college students or are planning to be a full-time college student during
the 2007-2008 school year.
This application
is not for use by active-duty members of the military.
Military
School Information... Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
Why choose
a military school?
“America's military
school tradition is unrivaled [sic], and our country's military splendour
[sic] owes them a tribute of respect. In many other developed countries
military schools simply do not exist as an option for teens."
You
too might become a professional football player!!!
If you sign up to attend
the Fork
Union Military School, you might become a pro football player,
just like Vinny Testaverde and Eddie George!
IF
INTERESTED, CALL TODAY!
National
Guard Information... Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
To join the
National Guard...
The most direct route
is to contact a local Guard recruiter. Additional information can
be obtained by phoning 1-800-GOGUARD or visiting their recruiting website:
"JOHN MERROW:
Free tutoring is an option for students in chronically failing schools.
The government makes $2 billion available to pay for it, and lets
parents pick from three kinds of programs. Tutoring provided by school
districts, by community groups or by private companies like the one headed
by Joe Lockavitch.
JOSEPH LOCKAVITCH:
If you are a low-performing district with low-performing schools, how do
you have the audacity to say you can be a high performing after-hours tutorial?
JOHN MERROW:
So asking Elizabeth to tutor the kids who didn't make it under Elizabeth's
control makes sense?
JULIA STAPLETON:
We will prove it.
JOHN MERROW:
Whether it's local school districts, Pauline Richards' company, Joe Lockavitich's,
or Gene Wade's that does the tutoring, in the end, the president's education
law makes it difficult to prove whether tutoring works...
...The act that demands
testing and accountability for schools exempts tutoring programs
from similar tough scrutiny."
REAL
RESEARCH!
More
On Tutoring (Part 1)
Preventing early
reading failure with 1:1 tutoring: A review of five
programs.
Barbara
A. Wasik, Robert E. Slavin The
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
"In many ways,
research on preventive tutoring models is in its infancy...
...More work is
clearly needed on long-term effects of tutoring, not only on achievement
but also on special education referrals and need for long-term remediation,
critical elements in any consideration of cost effectiveness. Also, studies
of alternative approaches to tutoring are needed…" (Continued)
THAT
DOESN'T LEAVE TIME FOR CHORES!
More
On Tutoring (Part 2) Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
Two more hours
of "education" per night? That'll help.
Does
DSM-IV Asperger's Disorder Exist? Journal
of Abnormal Child Psychology, June 2001 by
Susan Dickerson, Susan L. Calhoun, Dana L. Crites
There seems
to be a certain level of ambiguity in our field...
"(Eisenmajer et al.,
1996; Ghaziuddin et al., 1992b; Manjiviona & Prior, 1995; Miller &
Ozonoff, 1997; Szatmari et al., 1995). Szatmari et al. (1995) concluded
that a diagnosis of Asperger's disorder is impossible using DSM-IV criteria.
Many experts (Attwood,
1998; Eisenmajer et al., 1996; Manjiviona & Prior, 1995; Myhr, 1998;
Schopler, 1985, 1996, 1998; Wing, 1991, 1998) now consider autism a spectrum
disorder with children who have relatively high IQs and mild symptoms at
the "high-functioning" end of the continuum. In 1987, Rutter and Schopler
(1987) stated, "of all the psychiatric syndromes arising in childhood,
autism is much the best validated by empirical research" (p. 180). To compromise
this validity by introducing empirically unsubstantiated subtypes is unfortunate.
In the authors' clinical experience, children with autism who have relatively
mild symptoms and high IQs are variously referred to by different clinicians
as having autism, high-functioning autism, mild autism, Asperger's disorder
or syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified,
or autistic features. This causes much confusion for parents and professionals
and implies that these diagnoses represent separate and distinct disorders
differing in clinically meaningful ways, which may not be the case and
which certainly has not been proven empirically."
Hmmm. Kind
of makes you wonder if anyDSM
disordersactually exist.
DSM-V
Hopes for Something, Anything, Backed by Research Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
There is yet
another DSM in our future!
"In the ongoing quest
to improve our psychiatric diagnostic system, we are now searching for
new approaches to understanding the etiological and pathophysiological
mechanisms that can improve the validity of our diagnoses and the consequent
power of our preventive and treatment interventions—venturing beyond the
current DSM paradigm and DSM-IV framework.
This thought-provoking
volume—produced as a partnership between the American Psychiatric Association,
the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse—represents
a far-reaching attempt to stimulate research and discussion in the field
in preparation for the eventual start of the DSM-V process, still several
years hence. The book explores a variety of basic nomenclature issues,
including the desirability of rating the quality and quantity of information
available to support the different disorders in the DSM in order to indicate
the disparity of empirical support across the diagnostic system."
"Colleagues, [click
the above link for a] 2000 article from School Psychology Quarterly, 'Cognitive
profile analysis: A shared professional myth.' If you read anything from
the article, read the conclusions. I ran across the reference in
the current issue of the NASP Communique, cited in an article by Frank
Gresham (RTI, Processing, and the Comprehensive Evaluation of SLD).
The Gresham article, not even a page long, bears reading. He's a
purist when it comes to the term 'evidence-based'."
Bill Matthew, PhD,
BCBA
"A wise
man proportions his belief to the evidence."
D. Humeeache
IN
TURMOIL (PART 2)
The
LIM RtI IRL Model Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
In case you
missed it the first time...
This is your second
opportunity to download and review still another RtI model that will never
work in in the public schools! So far there's been one download worldwide.
Who will be the next?
Share
Your Local RtI Successes! Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
Reader contributions
here...
Please share any
successes you've experienced using the RtI model right here in Kern County.
Maybe you've started
a brand new RtI Learning Center run by an aide. If so, please share
student success stories with the KOG readers.
Or maybe your RtI
model is, uh, CBM? Let us know how CBM is adapted to the principles
of RtI (or vice versa).
Maybe all of your
RtI services are provided in the general education setting by the general
education RtI teacher?
It's possible you've
found or developed a brand new "RtI graph." Maybe you have developed
an actual "RtI Psychologist's Report?" If so, please share!
Maybe you've performed
some real RtI research (you know, actual inferential research -- not just
percentages like the State Department of Education utilizes) showing the
efficacy of your RtI program?
Maybe you utilize
your IEP team to direct the psychologist to do a class observation and
complete an RtI graph?
Your district might
instead rely on the ever-popular administrative RtI directive, "You
shall do RtI."
Or more likely, you
have taken the time to develop an RtI Powerpoint presentation telling others
how to do RtI. That's what I've done. And I can assure you
everyone on staff has leapt into action and done everything the psychologist
has asked! They didn't mind changing everything they've been doing
for the past twenty-five years -- hey, a great idea is a great idea, right?
The KOG readers would
be especially interested in any "research-based" social-emotional-behavioral
RtI interventions. Since RtI proponents have declared counseling
as "a waste of time," has anyone found any RtI intervention better than
just treating students with respect and dignity (I'm sorry, I know those
words aren't allowed in the public schools any more)?
Also, please let
the KOG readers know of any DIBELS successes you've had and how it feels
to now be an RtI reading teacher when you were once a professional school
psychologist.
Can you produce valid
research that demonstrates the reliability, validity, utility, and absence
of bias across a wide range of students for your RtI program? If
so, please share.
Maybe you've had
an RtI epiphany? One RtI school psychologist recently shared an RtI
epiphany on the NASP Discussion Group. That epiphany is shared later
in this KOG (click here for that RtI epiphany).
Hey, I'm not criticizing... at least he had the courage to say something.
At least he had the courage to try to find something about RtI that might
make some sense.
Maybe you've started
a new RtI labeling and classification system.
Did
RtI Kill School Psychology? Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
APA's views regarding
RtI...
On September 6th,
2005, the APA responded to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), P.L.
108-446.
At that time it was
important to APA to express points, concerns, and recommendations related
to assessment in general, and RtI approaches in particular. The KOG
was expressing similar concerns (see past KOGs) as the nationwide debate
raged then, just as it continues now.
The concerns APA
expressed then seem to remain valid. I try to be fair... APA was
right on in their concerns then. Has the failure of RtI on such
a grand scale led to APA's ultimate recommendation to just give up on school
psychology forever? Is that what this is all about? If
so, I can't say I totally disagree.
Here is a lengthy
excerpt from that letter (underlining added by KOG Editor for emphasis):
I. Assessment
for Determining Disability Status
§300.304(b)(3)
Specific Learning Disability
The APA recognizes
that the Department faces a formidable challenge in enhancing diagnosis
and eligibility decisions for students with specific learning disabilities
(SLD). APA supports evidence-based evaluation procedures and recognizes
that the proposed regulations represent a laudable effort to include research-based
developments more completely into the evaluation process. We believe
that the Department's investment in research on assessment procedures and
strategies will help to better identify and serve children with disabilities.
APA supports
the Department's efforts to encourage the states to include a process to
determine whether a child “responds to scientific, research-based intervention”
as an important part of the pre- referral and ongoing evaluation procedures
for determination of SLD. The focus on early identification and intervention
inherent in the Response to Intervention (RtI) model, as implemented in
Pennsylvania and Iowa, for example, offers great promise, particularly
for early reading fluency, as supported by the evidence base. Timely
referral for instructional programs based on scientific research will help
enable students with reading fluency difficulties to receive much needed
assistance earlier than they now do.
Yet, additional
research on RtI across subject areas (with particular attention to areas
other than reading), over time (to ensure retention of improvements), across
grades, and across populations (including limited or non-English speakers)
is critically needed, and should be supported, to ensure the RtI processes
and associated classification decisions are reliable, valid, and unbiased
when implemented in our nation's schools. Particular care should be
taken to ensure that adequate training and technical support are provided
to those involved in RtI implementation and decision-making to help ensure
RtI fidelity and consistency, to ensure that those who implement RtI processes
are appropriately trained and qualified, and to ensure that RtI does not
result in inappropriate overidentification of ethnic minority students.
APA also
recommends that RtI should not be the sole criterion for determining SLD.
As recognized in Section 602(30)(A) of the Act, a specific learning disability
is “a disorder in 1 or more of the basic psychological processes involved
in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder
may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read,
write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.” Consistent with this legislative
language, children who fail to respond to intervention should receive a
comprehensive psychological and educational evaluation to rule out alternative
causes before they are determined to have SLD. A comprehensive evaluation
would also be consistent with Section 614(b)(3)(B) of the Act, which requires
that the child be assessed in all areas related to the disability, including
health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence,
academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities and that
environmental, cultural and economic disadvantage must be ruled out. Failure
to require a comprehensive assessment for children who fail to respond
to intervention could be counterproductive both in terms of classification
and instructional planning.
An area
on which there is general consensus is that IQ/achievement discrepancies
should no longer be used to determine SLD. Research has failed to support
the continued use of the IQ-achievement discrepancy for classification
and for informing remedial instruction. However, in moving away from
reliance on the IQ/achievement discrepancy model, it is important to distinguish
between the atheoretical, global IQ-achievement discrepancy model and cognitive
processing/ability assessment approaches that have evolved from recent
advances in theory. Promising new lines of evidence from studies examining
individual differences in processing and responses to intervention, as
well as from neuroimaging studies, may yield fruitful insights to improve
children's learning. In addition, cognitive processing models hold promise
to address directly the definitional components of SLD cited earlier. Failure
to support the continued use of cognitive process/ability assessment in
view of these developments may have a chilling effect on efforts to infuse
scientific advances into improvements in SLD classification and instructional
practices. It is therefore critical that Departmental guidelines clarify
that the proposed regulatory provision specifically authorizing states
to prohibit use of the IQ/achievement discrepancy measure [§300.307
(a)(1)] does not encompass other promising cognitive processing models
for assessment and intervention. As is the case with RtI approaches, additional
research focusing on cognitive processing/ability approaches, as well as
on approaches that combine RTI and cognitive processing, is needed and
should be supported.
In
determining whether a child has a learning disability, APA supports a comprehensive
psychological and educational evaluation to rule out alternative causes
for functional impairments in academic achievement.
Whether this evaluation
occurs prior to, concurrent with, or subsequent to application of intervention
or prevention efforts, it is important to distinguish a learning disability
from other conditions or factors so that intervention may be adapted to
meet a child's needs. Prior to a determination that a child has a learning
disability, for example, mental retardation and emotional and behavioral
disorders known to adversely affect academic performance in school should
be ruled out as causal factors for poor achievement.
APA
urges the Department to allow Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams
to use a variety of assessment tools and strategies.
IEP teams should
be able to use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant
functional, developmental, and academic information, including information
provided by the parent, that may assist in determining whether the child
has a specific learning disability, as set forth in Section 614(b)(2)(A)
of the Act and § 300.532(f). These tools should be reliable, valid
for the purposes for which they are intended, unbiased, and administered
by qualified professionals.
APA
strongly recommends that the Department specifically require local educational
agencies (LEAs) to demonstrate that any assessment procedure they use to
identify students under IDEA is reliable, valid for the purposes for which
it is intended, unbiased, and implemented in the child's primary mode of
communication, whenever possible.
Any approach
used to diagnose disability must be competently implemented with fidelity,
particularly for assessment approaches that are likely or even expected
to vary across student problems, ecological settings, or personnel, to
ensure that decisions reflect student needs. Requiring LEAs to demonstrate
that any assessment procedure used to identify students, including RtI
and/or cognitive processing approaches, is reliable, valid for the purposes
for which it is intended, unbiased, and implemented in the child's primary
mode of communication, whenever possible, by appropriately trained and
credentialed individuals, is critical to ensuring students' well-being.
APA
also recommends that the Department support research and technical assistance
to guide LEAs in responding to the requirement of demonstrating adequate
reliability, validity, and absence of bias.
We are particularly
concerned that, because RtI is not yet a standardized procedure, it
may vary substantially within and across LEAs with respect to implementation.
Contemporary
research shows strong support for tightly controlled RtI efforts, but has
also shown that efforts to bring RtI to scale have yielded substantial
variability in implementation fidelity within and across school sites.
LEAs must demonstrate that variations do not result in poor reliability,
inadequate validity, or bias, particularly when procedures are applied
to vulnerable populations (e.g., students whose minority, economic, or
linguistic status places them at risk). In bringing evidence-based
practice to scale in a wide range of settings (e.g. rural/suburban/urban,
homogenous or heterogeneous student populations, and high/middle/low SES
locations), infrastructure development and challenges can limit or even
eliminate beneficial outcomes because the original studies were conducted
on a smaller scale. Although cognitive processing models are standardized
and are typically administered by trained, competent examiners, nonetheless
we are concerned about uncritical adoption of these approaches by LEAs
as well. Because these approaches are recently developed, LEAs will
need assistance to demonstrate their reliability, validity, utility, and
absence of bias across a wide range of students.
APA
encourages governmental and other agencies to adopt evaluation, identification,
and eligibility regulations that result in accurate and consistent definition
of the construct of learning disabilities.
With accurate
and consistent identification of the construct, scientific progress allows
for the discovery of new etiologies and effective prevention and intervention
efforts. The science of learning disabilities cannot be advanced in
the absence of accurate classification of a group of individuals to study.
L. Michael
Honaker, Ph.D. Deputy Chief
Executive Officer And Chief Operating Officer
Time
to [Officially] Drop School Psychology? Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
I'd rather
you write this than me...
Let's see...
The traditional
model has been brought down...
The RtI model seemingly
will never be effectively implemented...
APA is kicking us
out anyway...
APA will provide
the DSM, meds, anger management, and a lifetime of therapy...
Everything else
seems either legal or political -- not educational...
And no one will
entertain the thought of empowering rather than disabling children....
Maybe now
is the time?
Sound like enough material
for a hypothesis? A question? Research? Maybe even another
KOG interview?
NOW
I'M GETTING IT...
APA
Bait-&-Switch? Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
You used to
be a "qualified related services personnel"...
On September 6th,
2005, the APA responded to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), P.L.
108-446.
At that time it was
important to APA to agree with and emphasize that, "all children should
receive services from qualified related services personnel."
It sounded good at the time, and certainly remains a point of emphasis
with which I think we all would agree, right? Little did we know
that two years later, APA would define themselves -- not you or I -- as
the "qualified related services personnel." Hmmm.
Here is a brief excerpt
from that letter:
§300.156
Personnel Qualifications
"To ensure
the most effective use of IDEA funds, we believe that all children should
receive services from qualified related services personnel. APA supports
the proposed language that the qualifications of related services personnel
be consistent with state-recognized certification, licensing, registration
or comparable requirements that apply to the professional discipline. We
agree with the proposed language that these requirements for related services
personnel should not be waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional
basis.
APA recommends
that the Department include, under paragraph (d) Policy in this section,
details of SEA obligations and steps that LEAs could take to recruit, hire,
and retain highly qualified personnel, such as establishing caseload/classroom
size standards, access to loan forgiveness programs, professional development
opportunities, funding for necessary educational materials and facilities,
and clerical and technological support. "
Welcome, and thank
you for your interest in this opportunity. As you know, you are interviewing
for our new psychological assistant position. The psychological assistant
will work under the close supervision of our APA certified, PhD-level,
clinical psychologist. We will use a "round-robin" interview method,
with each of us asking predetermined questions. Are you ready to
begin? No, not yet.
Okay, I'm ready now.
How long have
you been a teacher? I've never been
a teacher.
Um, well, how
long have you been a, a teacher? I've been a professional
educator for over twenty years.
Tell us what you
would do in a typical assessment for an emotional disturbance? I would follow
appropriate educational and scientific methodologies within the confines
of the law and ethics of my profession to identify the student's needs
and forward powerful and effective recommendations based on those identified
needs to the IEP team for further consideration.
But what would
you do? That's what I
would do.
I think what the
question is trying to get at is, what would you do? That's what I
would do.
How long should
an IEP meeting last? An IEP should
last about five to ten minutes.
Our IEPs last
at least an hour, usually two or three hours, longer if necessary.
We use the first thirty minutes to review parent rights and the law.
How familiar are you with the latest reauthorization of IDEIA? What's IDEIA?
Is that some new law? Don't you think it's about time we got the
lawyers and politicians out of education and just let us do our jobs?
We take great
pride in our forms. We currently have over one-hundred IEP forms
and are in the process of finalizing our next set of fifty. How good
are you at filling out forms? I'm great at
filling out forms but I'd rather be doing something that actually helps
students.
We also take great
pride in the services we provide. Could you effectively and consistently
deliver research-based educational, psychological, and mental health interventions
through our new RtI program here in our district? No, because RtI
hasn't yet reached the stage where it can do that.
Our district believes
in a strong team approach. Would you be able to work closely with
our clinical therapist as her psychological assistant by scheduling her
anger management classes and therapy sessions, helping her with the daily
administration of medications, and performing other related tasks such
as doing her testing? It will be quite a challenge for the successful
candidate because she will be out later this year on maternity leave.
As you know, clinical therapists provide important services for students
with Asperger's, autistic-like behaviors, bipolar disorder, ADHD, dissociative
fugue, polysubstance dependence, dyspareunia, vaginismus... the list goes
on and on! I know.
I just don't think I could ethically be part of the therapist's team.
Sorry. But I might be able to help some of those students start to
recover from all of those 'services.'
Well, that's okay.
We appreciate your honesty. Let's start wrapping this up. What
is your primary service delivery method? Consultation.
Ha, ha, ha!
You obviously have a great sense of humor, but seriously... Rights Without
Labels. I empower students rather than disable them.
I haven't ever
heard of an approach like that in the schools. I know.
Are you able to
write comprehensive behavioral plans for children with Asperger's Disorder? There really
isn't any research indicating that Asperger's actually exists. Why
not just write an effective behavior plan for a student who is experiencing
behavioral difficulties? Why not target the behavior rather than
the label?
Oh we do that
of course. It's just that we've had a few lawsuits. Tell us
about your experiences and qualifications diagnosing children with autism.
We've had a 359% increase in autism in the past two years. Again,
we can't speak highly enough of our clinical therapist... she's consistently
matched or exceeded the statewide increases in prevalence and diagnosis
of autism. We're up to seventh place in the state and our goal of
course is to reach number one! I don't diagnose
children with autism. IEP teams diagnose children with autism… often,
though, it's quite obviously a misdiagnosis. If a child is truly
autistic, then it should be quite evident by age three, well before they
enter the public school system. The student shouldn't all of a sudden
in the fifth grade be diagnosed with autism just because there was an inservice
on autism the week before.
Are you trained
in the administration of group tests? We have about forty days of
mandated national and state tests per year and we need someone who is trained
to administer these tests. I'm trained in
administering group tests, but I'm not the right guy for that job.
As I said earlier, I want to be involved in activities that actually help
students.
So are you saying
mandated tests don't help children? What are you, some kind of Democrat? I'm a highly-trained
Educational Specialist.
This year we've
started a free afterschool tutoring program. Our clinical therapist
is the director but we need someone to tutor every afternoon for two-and-a-half
hours. If you weren't offered the psychological assistant position,
would you be interested? Well, I'm sorry,
I'm not a certificated teacher.
That's okay.
You don't have to be a certificated teacher -- just about anyone can do
this job. It's pretty much babysitting anyway. Basically, someone
needs to sit there and pass out meds. It's mostly a punishment group
for boys who refuse to do their homework. It's federally funded and
pays seventy-five dollars per hour. It's pretty easy money -- and
no stress because there's no accountability. The main thing is to
make sure each boy gets his meds. I think I would
have to pass, but that's a tremendous opportunity for children provided
by the current presidency. Wow! No Child Left Behind is amazing,
isn't it? I'm thinking of all the money that enters the economy,
especially to the pharmaceutical companies...
Yes! And
we get a pretty healthy kickback from all that too! Next question,
what would you do if a teacher disagreed with one of your recommendations
at an IEP meeting? I would probably
wear that as a badge of honor.
Tell us about
a time a parent disagreed with one of your recommendations? That would be
yesterday. I encouraged the parent not to ground her son for life
and not to take him out of band just because he hates homework.
What did the parent
do? She took the
advice of his teacher, grounded him for life, took him out of band, and
told him he can't eat lunch at school with his girlfriend any more.
Then she got him on some meds for his ADHD.
But these unruly
boys have to pay a price for not doing their homework. Our clinical
psychologist regularly dopes boys for not completing their homework.
They have to learn. She strongly believes meds work... and, once
again, the district makes some pretty good bucks using her system. I understand.
Here's a hypothetical
situation. A student has missed fifteen days of school out of the
first thirty... he usually only attends football-related activities.
The teacher is requesting special education assessment because he's failing
math. He had an argument with his best friend and there was a huge
fight with a knife involved but he's the starting quarterback on the varsity
football team so he can't be expelled. The principal has directed
you to diagnose him with Asperger's. The clinical therapist has had
to recuse herself because the young man is, well, eighteen, and they have
a, a, personal relationship -- remember, this is all just hypothetical.
What would you do in that situation? I guess I'd forward
a referral to the SARB.
We're sorry, that's
not the correct answer, would you like to try again? I'd recommend
a threat assessment and consider counseling if appropriate.
Okay, one last
try. Remember, varsity football coaches are the only ones allowed
to speak with their football players. You aren't allowed to speak
with a varsity football player... you could, however, request an appointment
to consult with the coach regarding one of his players after the season
is over. You would forward that request in writing to his wife.
Want one more try? All right, I
would put him in special education to insure his continued football eligibility.
I suspect he might have Asperger's.
Good! What
would you do if a principal came to you and gave you a directive that violated
a law or the ethics of your profession? Don't worry,
I'm used to that.
Is there anything
else you'd like to tell us about yourself? I make a great
bowl of chili.
If you would have
chosen a career other than school psychology, what field would you have
most likely entered? Nautical engineering.
I would have designed sailboats and sailed off into the sunset.
Wow! What
do you do in your free time? I type up the
KOG.
Oh! Ohhhhh.
Do you have any questions for us? Yes, I have several
questions for you... I keep thinking about some of the reasons why
California is ranked 47th in U.S. education. I'm wondering if your
district has considered...
...Sorry , we've
run out of time. We'd like to thank you for driving five-hundred
miles to be here for this twenty-minute interview... we have to interview
a certain amount of people even though an administrator's best friend has,
um, applied for this position. We hope this interview wasn't an inconvenience
for you in any way. We'll be contacting you. Thanks again,
and have a safe drive home. Thank you!
KASP
MEMBERSHIP INFO...
KASP
membership!!! For information
regarding 2007/08 KASP membership, contact Traci Taber Rivas directly at:
rivast@gfusd.k12.ca.us
Hi all,
This month I would just like to let you know that if you're still using
the IQ-Achievement Discrepancy model to label children, you're misdiagnosing
them. And if you're using the DSM, you're misdiagnosing them too!
And if you're providing "research-based" interventions like GWB's scandal-ridden
DIBELS for children through the RtI method, but still calling them SLD,
ED, or EMR, you're, um, misdiagnosing them! Sorry!
You might be getting pretty frustrated, asking questions such as, "Well,
what should I do then?" Here's the answer... just stop diagnosing
the children to begin with and by definition, you will stop misdiagnosing
them. You could instead choose to empower them through RWOL, techniques
from positive psychology, and other success-based approaches.
Would that be cool or what?
Miss Diagnosis
Dear KOG Editor,
How many special education conditions are there?
Signed, "Lawyer"
Dear Lawyer,
From
your point of view, there are fourteen. But professional educators
don't see the world in black and white terms like you do. Although
we don't write the laws, we see the millions of shades of gray in the human
existence. We know there are actually 15,
22,
165,
0,
...
Signed, KOG Editor
Dear KOG Editor,
So now you're comparing yourself to Socrates?
Signed, "Laughing"
Dear Laughing,
No,
I'm comparing The KOG to Socrates.
Signed, KOG Editor
Dear KOG Editor,
My kid has a difficult time paying attention in class. The school
has diagnosed him with ADHD and recommended meds and a lifetime of therapy.
This got him pretty upset, so now he has to go to anger management classes
not once, but twice a week. But now he's missing a lot of class time
and is failing again, so he got kicked off the football team. The
school recommended free tutoring but I couldn't afford it, so they put
him in special education all day in a special day class saying that would
help but he's still failing because, well, he has a difficult time paying
attention (he has a girlfriend, you know). It's been a hard month.
My question: should I consider enrolling him in a military school
so he can play football? He really wants to be a pro football player.
Signed, "Concerned Dad"
Dear Concerned Dad,
Yes,
that would be the best option at this point.
Signed, KOG Editor
Dear KOG Editor,
Are speech therapists independently, without IEPT involvement, diagnosing
autism now?
Signed, "Amazed At That"
Dear Amazed At That,
Apparently
so, at least those who are in APA. I could be wrong, I'm just going
by what I've observed... please inform the KOG Editor if this observation/assumption
is faulty.
Signed, KOG Editor
Dear
KOG Editor,
How can I trust your opinion if you don't back it up with research?
Signed, "Former Friend"
Dear FF,
Well,
in my opinion, you, as a professional school psychologist, provide outstanding
services for students on a daily basis, but sorry, I have no research to
back that up.
Signed, KOG Editor
Dear KOG Editor,
When will the U.S. invade Iran?
Signed, "Need to Know"
Dear Need to Know,
I don't
know the exact date.
Signed, KOG Editor
Dear KOG Editor,
I try to keep up with all the local news. Yesterday I realized that
not every KHSD student is reciting the Pledge of Allegiance on a daily
basis. I'm very worried for America. What should I do?
Signed, "Last Straw"
Dear Last Straw,
Not
to worry, the KHSD Board is all over that one. In fact, that problem
was resolved two weeks ago.
Signed, KOG Editor
Dear KOG Editor,
How's the federal paperwork reduction act proceeding?
Signed, "Anxious"
Dear Anxious,
Exactly
how we figured it would.
Signed, KOG Editor
NOTES
& DISCLAIMERS:
Any
opinions expressed in the KOG are opinions only and are not necessarily
approved or supported by the KASP organization or anyone else, including
the KOG Editor. On the other hand, any facts expressed or implied
are indeed, facts. Just as is true for everything else in this world,
you get to decide what is opinion, what is fact, and what is research based,
and if and how they may or may not all go together. Please note that
just because something is research based doesn't necessarily insure that
it will work for students; and not everything that works for students
is research based. Some opinions are facts and research based.
Some opinions are not facts, yet are still research based. Just because
something is research based doesn't necessarily make it a fact, or ethical
(like NCLB or DIBELS, for example). There is a difference between
scientific approaches, research based practices, and data-driven strategies.
Just because something is statistically significant doesn't mean it's a
fact; remember, we are in the soft sciences. Some facts are facts
for some but not facts for others; the same concept holds true for opinions
and research. The same can be said for humor, satire, parody, and
serious notes. Some opinions are just opinions. However, one
thing is always certain...
...everything
is.
See you next
month! KOG Editor!
AN
"EPIPHANY" FOR ONE...
KOG HISTORY LESSON
From the KOG Editor...
THE NORMAL CURVE!
The diagram to the left was
known as "the normal, or bell curve." School psychologists used to
regularly utilize it in efforts to help students.
The contributor's
name has of course been deleted to protect the innocent. The following
epiphany
was forwarded on the NASP's
ListServe (10/24/07) and is forwarded here for many reasons.
First and foremost, the contributor is to be commended for having the courage
to share something -- anything -- that might have a one-in-a-million chance
of actually working. The KOG admires courage in education.
And RtI needs someone with courage to step up and find some way to save
this sinking RtI ship.
"I think
I just had an epiphany of sorts while I was assessing a student today.
As I was working
with her I was trying to figure out how I could blend the RtI model with
the LD discrepancy model to describe her condition.
I realized that
this student (VCI= 73; PRI= 75; WMI=83; PSpI=97; FSIQ= 75), with achievement
in the upper 70's, was not Learning Disabled (ability-achievement discrepancy),
but rather "Learning Impaired". [sic]
It occurred to
me that the term "Learning Impaired" described her well, and was not as
pejorative a term as "Slow Learner? [sic]
She certainly
wasn't Mentally Retarded, but she was not LD either, in the traditional
sense. Nonetheless she needed some additional help and modified curriculum
in order to feel successful in school.
She has received
years of special interventions and is in an 'inclusion' special education
class that has combined general ed and special ed students working on developmentally
appropriate academic skills.
RtI would say
she is "LD" since she has not achieved age expectations despite multiple
educational interventions. But this girl will never understand higher level
academic material comparable to most of her peers. It would be like
having a 10 year old play football with a group of 15 year olds. Maybe
she could play, but she would get hurt a lot. The same with her academics.
So, what about
using the term "Learning Impaired" to describe those students who do not
RtI? Let's save the LD term for those students who show a severe discrepancy
between ability and achievement. IMO, there is a distinct difference between
these two groups of students.
That is my epiphany
for today.
Thanks.
[Name Deleted] NCSP"
That's the best description
of an RtI model I've heard so far. I think we should just use this
RtI model until we hear something better. It looks like the RtI camp
will just invent their own labels. That's one way around the problem.
Do we have a consensus?
KOG's
NOVEMBER'S LINKS...
Limitations of
the DSM-IV (University of Iowa) This seems to be
a pretty fair analysis and discussion of [10] limitations and [4] advantages
of the DSM-IV.
No real research
here, just groups agreeing and arriving at still another "consensus."
http://www.uiowa.edu/~c07p224/group_work/diagnostic_systems.htm
Rights Without
Labels. Words or Actions? (NASP Past President, Kevin P. Dwyer,
NASP) "We have a national
crisis... Who among us will move to instituting 'Rights Without Labels'?"
http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/pdf/cqNov06.pdf
The Rights Without
Labels Forum "We're up to
14 members!" Please visit and
join -- make a real difference in students' lives.
http://rwolforum.mywowbb.com/
Addressing America's
Dropout Challenge (Center for American Progress) "Federal action
now can significantly close the graduation gap within the next five years." That's all we need...
more
federal action.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/11/graduation.html
The KOG, like
the KHSD Board, encourages students to make informed, moral, and ethical
choices. Think of Kohlberg's
great research related to this topic. http://www.iwillnotkill.org/
COURTESY
OF THE KOG...
FREE
Graphics For You! Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
The KOG appreciates
your visit.
Please feel free
to save (PC, right click; Mac, drag and drop) any of the JPEGs below
and use as appropriate to serve students. These free graphics were
designed by your KOG Editor and didn't cost the taxpayers $2 billion!
They really are free! Enjoy!
CAUTION!REMINDER!
Just a caution and reminder
from the KOG Editor that we work in the soft sciences. Consider
data in your practices of course, but you would be foolish to rely solely
on data (especially when your "data" has resulted from an "observation"
-- remember, data from observations reflect your perceptions of reality
and are subject to bias and examiner error). Data in the soft
sciences
is often not much more than an opinion, especially once you've thrown out
the normal curve. Humans are much more than a number.
The Vietnam war was run by the numbers. When working with humans,
everything counts.
IN
TURMOIL (PART 2)
REMINDER!
