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Showing posts from October, 2015

Temper Tantrums

Temper Tantrums!! We have all seen, heard, or experienced them with our children, students or watched others endure them in grocery stores, restaurants or church. No matter what your experience with them, we have all wondered what is the best way to handle a temper tantrum. The link below, provided by NASP, provides information about the age appropriateness of temper tantrums and what to do about them, specifically the DO's and DONT's! If you have further questions or experiences of your own, please feel free to share with us. http://www.nasponline.org/Documents/Resources%20and%20Publications/Handouts/Families%20and%20Educators/Temper_Tantrums_Guidelines_for_Parents_and_Edcuators.pdf

New Research on Autism Diagnoses

The results of a collaborative research project, which included researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, was just published in the journal Autism . The investigators reported that Autism Spectrum Disorders "may be overdiagnosed in more than 9 percent of cases." The research suggests that this overdiagnosis may be related to imperfect screening/evaluation methods or the difficulty in distinguishing Autism Spectrum Disorders from other language processing difficulties. Concerns were also reported with clinicians providing diagnoses in order to facilitate services for children. Autism Spectrum Disorders are complex and clinicians are doing a much better job of identifying these disorders than ever before, but these findings suggest that there's still room for improvement. To read more about this study, please visit the link below: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/10/27/government-study-autism/20907/

School Refusal: Information for Educators

We all can think of a student that we have heard of or had a direct experience with, that just refused to come to school. This is a frustrating situation for everyone involved, the student, parents, teachers and school staff involved. Research suggests that 2-5% of students refuse to come to school due to anxiety or depression. The article below, identifies anxiety and depression characteristics and key strategies and interventions for educators to get these students back in school and feel successful. http://www.nasponline.org/Documents/Resources%20and%20Publications/Handouts/Families%20and%20Educators/School_Refusal_Information_for_Educators.pdf

Character with Autism Joins "Sesame Street"

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The newest character to join Grover, Oscar, Elmo, and the other familiar faces on "Sesame Street" has orange hair, green eyes-and autism.  The introduction of a new character named Julia, a preschool girl with autism who "does things a little differently" is part of the nonprofit's "See Amazing in All Children" initiative, which is designed to teach kids about autism.  Their website offers tools-including a song, storybook, and other resources-to support children with autism and their friends and family.  You can find more information here: http://autism.sesamestreet.org/

How to Best Support Children with Head Injuries

Unfortunately, concussions are a fact of life for many children, either through sports injuries, automobile accidents, or other mishaps.  Many children need help in integrating back into the school setting after experiencing a concussion.  This link provides tips from the CDC on helping children do their best in school after a head injury. http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/pdf/TBI_Returning_to_School-a.pdf

Teen Suicides in North Carolina

When I read this article earlier in the week, it stopped me in my tracks.  In spite of all our efforts to increase awareness about the warning signs, teen suicides in North Carolina increased by one-third from 2013 to 2014.  More than ever, we need to focus on our youth and develop ways to improve their mental health. http://www.wral.com/report-north-carolina-youth-suicides-double-since-2010/14986761/ For more information about those warning signs and what you can do, please visit some of our other blog postings. http://schoolpsychws.blogspot.com/2015/09/september-is-national-suicide.html http://schoolpsychws.blogspot.com/search/label/teen%20suicide

National Bullying Prevention Month

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If you saw a lot of people wearing orange yesterday, there was a good reason for that! October is National Bullying Prevention Month and 10/21/2015 was designated as "Unity Day."  This is a day for everyone to come together to show their united support for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion.  If you'd like to learn more about this topic, the National Bullying Prevention website has great information for educators, families, and students at: http://www.pacer.org/bullying/ The U.S. News and World Report also took to social media to gain insight from educators and students on how to best address the subject of bullying.  Three themes on prevention stood out: building relationships between educators and students, stopping bullying behavior immediately when it happens, and creating a climate of safety for all educators and students in our schools.  To see some of the tweets they received, you can visit their article here: http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-schoo

Signs of Stress in Teens

High school students seem much more stressed these days than they did when I was in school.  Not only is there pressure to do well in school, students must also fill up their college applications with extracurricular activities.  Between homework, sports, clubs, and volunteering, there isn't much time left to just enjoy their teenage years.  This juggling act can be especially overwhelming for the student with learning or attention problems. This article from Understood.org explains what it might look like when your teenager is stressed.  These red flags might be easy to overlook if you aren't aware of what they could mean. https://www.understood.org/en/friends-feelings/managing-feelings/stress-anxiety/at-a-glance-signs-of-stress-in-high-schoolers

Staff Spotlight - Patsy Barrett

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Staff Spotlight - Patsy Barrett Patsy has been a school psychologist for 29 years. She has been working in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools for the past 14 years. Patsy enjoys working with younger students who think they are just playing games during assessments. She especially enjoys seeing students smile during assessments. She currently serves Kernersville Middle School, Kernersville Elementary, and Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy. Patsy is originally from Jamaica and speaks a Jamaican dialectic called Patois (Pataw). Patsy and Jason Levi recently presented on internships at the 2015 North Carolina Association of School Psychologist (NCASP) conference. They were also selected to present in New Orleans at the National Association of School Psychologist (NASP) conference in February 2016. Way to go Patsy!

A Guide to AD/HD Medications from the Child Mind Institute

Although medications for AD/HD are pretty common, the sheer number of them can be confusing. Why do doctors prescribe one over the others?  Is one better than the others? If you are a parent trying to make the decision about whether to medicate for the symptoms of AD/HD, this article does a nice job of explaining the options as well as the pros and cons of each. http://www.childmind.org/en/posts/articles/2012-1-13-guide-adhd-medications-ritalin-adderall

WS/FCS Psychological Services Internship Program

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Our department is proud of the internship program we started 12 years ago.  Over those years, we have provided supportive opportunities for numerous school psychology students who are trying to bridge from the university world to the practical world.  To learn more about this program and how our department is being recognized at the state and national level, visit http://www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=1&ModuleInstanceID=12708&ViewID=047E6BE3-6D87-4130-8424-D8E4E9ED6C2A&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=191465&PageID=1 Samantha Martenstyn (current intern) and Liz Williams (intern from 2014-15)

Every correct answer is 10 grains of rice!

Help end world hunger by visiting freerice.com. This online game allows people to answer simple questions from word definitions to math facts to SAT Prep questions. It provides practice and knowledge on humanities, chemistry, math, languages, English, and geography. You can play just by going to the website, or creating a log in that will track your progress. The great thing about is... for every answer you get correct they will donate 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger. This is a great resource if you have students who finish their work a little bit early or if you have 2-3 minutes here and there. By word of mouth, Freerice has fed millions of people. 'I rice up' against hunger.... will you? http://freerice.com/

School Psychology Awareness Week Nov 9th-13th

The National School Psychology Awareness Week is right around the corner! During the week of November 9th- 13th, look for special posts/ information from your School Psychologist. Also, if there is something wonderful that is going on at your school, or there is someone doing something extra special, let us know and we may feature you or them that week. School Psychologists are here to provide support for students, families, schools and communities. This year's theme is Connect the Dots and Thrive. We look forward to celebrating School Psychology Awareness Week with you all!

Having "Collaborative Conversations" Instead of Parent Conferences

As educators, we are always looking for more ways to involve parents in their children's education. In this article from Edutopia, John McCarthy offers suggestions for how to turn parent-teacher conferences into, what he refers to as, collaborative conversations.  He makes the point that parents know their children better than teachers.  What better way to gain a greater understanding of our students than to collaborate with the ones that know them best? http://www.edutopia.org/blog/parent-teacher-conferences-collaborative-conversations-john-mccarthy

October is Bullying Prevention Awareness Month

With October being National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, it is a good time to take a closer look at our school-wide bullying prevention and safety plans.  This article by the National Association of School Psychologists provides information on what the research says, factors which contribute to bullying, the effects of bullying on students, and what your school can do to prevent it from happening in the first place. http://www.nasponline.org/resources/bullying/bullying_brief_12.pdf

Growth Mindset

We shared information in an earlier blog post about Dr. Carol Dweck and the concept of "growth mindset."  In case you missed it, you can see that entry here:  http://schoolpsychws.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-is-mindset.html In her book,  Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,  Dr. Dweck describes students with a "growth mindset" as those who believe that their intelligence can be changed or developed and students with a "fixed mindset" as those who believe that their intelligence is fixed.  Students who believe that they can "grow their brains" through focusing on the learning process, trying different strategies and learning from mistakes actually perform much better academically than their fixed mindset peers, according to Dr. Dweck's research - which has also been supported by additional studies since the publication of her book.  When students with a "fixed mindset" struggle, they may think they are  "dumb" or t

Two of our very own are selected to present at both the State and National Conferences

Patsy Barrett and Jason Levi, were selected to present at the North Carolina School Psychology Association Conference (NCSPA) in October and at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Conference in New Orleans in February, which draws over 5,000 School Psychologists from around the country each year. The presentation is on providing a high quality systematic and comprehensive experience for interns and practicum students. They will be presenting on Monday October 19th, in Winston Salem for the annual NCSPA conference. We hope you join us in congratulating them, all of their hard work and success! Be on the lookout for more information on these two School Psychologists this month, as they will be spotlighted!

Safe School Environments for Transgender Students

Transgender is not a new topic of discussion, however how we talk about it and legalities surrounding how we support transgender students is. At the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, one of our school lawyers, discussed changes to Title IX, that includes discussion and rights for transgender students within our school system. Below is an informative look into ways that schools can provide an accepting environment for our 'trans' and 'cis' gender populations. For specific information or inquiries about your school and rights of different populations, please contact the school attorney's office. We are fortunate to have such a supportive school system where all our children can feel supported, so let's make that happen! http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq/44/1/gender.aspx

Talking about violence

We all hate to think about the unthinkable happening to us and our students, and some of us may still think, "it will never happen here." With the recent events that have occurred across our nation, our children may became scared and unsure about the environment around them. They often look to adults for answers to help them feel safe and reassured. Attached is information from the National Association of School Psychologists that guides a conversation between the adult and child. It is a quick read, but will hopefully be something that remains in the back of your mind, or in your tool box for when those hard questions in these tough situations come from our children. http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/talkingviolence.pdf

Staff Spotlight - Lora Sheridan

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Meet Lora - Lora is an Educational Diagnostician for Psychological Services. She has been working in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools for 25 years. Lora also oversees all of the Academically Gifted assessments. Her favorite part of being an Educational Diagnostician is that she gets to work with a wide variety of students in many different schools. In her free time, Lora volunteers at Forsyth Animal Rescue. After a 25 year break, she has started to play the piano again. Thanks for all you do, Lora!

Help! All of my student are in red in DIBELS!

by Liz Williams, School Psychologist Research states that the best approach to reading instruction is one that incorporates: Explicit instruction in phonemic awareness Systematic phonics instruction Methods to improve fluency Ways to enhance comprehension So, how do we ensure that students are getting these important literacy skills? How do we measure this? And how does this relate to DIBELS? First, what are DIBELS? The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) were designed for use in identifying children who are experiencing difficulty in acquisition of basic early literacy skills in order to provide support early and prevent the occurrence of later reading difficulties.  So what do I do with all of my students who are “red?” First, don’t freak out. DIBELS is a screener . It’s designed to be brief, efficient, and to identify students that are likely to need additional support. Check. Now you know which of your students need extra support. So wh