It's been a while

Too busy and exhausted lately to check in here like I should. So here is my current news:

• Didn't get the job :( I was in the top two, but it went to a psych with experience working with the moderate-severe population. 
• I'm going to go after the psych that got the job's current position. 
• I did 9 IEP's in the month of February
• I am finally getting to the point that I don't freak out before my IEP's (hooray!)
• The thesis project is coming along, only 3 weeks to finish - Yikes!

I think those are the highlights. Today I woke up and made a mental list of all the things I hoped to accomplish today at my site. Then remembered that today is a track meet - so there goes all my plans. If I didn't have an IEP this afternoon, it would be the perfect day to play hookey! :)

Still Waiting

No news yet on the job opening. I have heard lots of positive things though. One of my supervisors told me he felt I was definitely one of the top two interviews - so that was positive. I was also told by all three of my supervisors that the special education director was really impressed with me. So that is all good, right? I had hoped to hear the verdict this week - but maybe that is just wishful thinking on my part. The wait is really driving me and the hubs nuts though! :)

My assessment load continues to grow and grow. I think at last count I am around 36 for the year. I feel like I have gotten a GREAT experience though and I genuinely enjoy the assessment process so I happy with my work load.

8 weeks until graduation! So much to get done before then! I REALLY need to get to work on my paper for my project! I finally worked on it a but last weekend, but I need to start getting into the habit of working on it more frequently or I will be crying those last couple weeks!

Interview Day!

So today I had my interview for the school psychologist position. It was pretty unnerving. I honestly don't know how well I did. The last interview I had at this district I walked away from knowing I had nailed it. This one? Not so much. I can't say that I think I did terrible or exceptional so I'll go with "ok."
They basically only asked me five questions:
1. What is your experience working with moderate to severe populations.
2. What sort of assessment would you do for a moderate-severe student. And what would you do if you couldn't do a cognitive?
3. What do you do if a teacher comes to you wanting an english language learner student to be assessed because they are so low.
4. Describe the RTI model and state it's purpose.
5. Do you have any public speaking experience and would you feel comfortable speaking infront of a group of 100 parents?

The last one was a hoot. I said I did have experience and shared about my backgroup and then said I wouldn't be comfortable but I could fake it. It cracked the question asker up. :)
I'm supposed to hear back next week. So now I shall wait. 

ADOS

This week I got to try my hand at the ADOS - twice! I was a nice lady and invited the other intern to join me on my first day. That kid was adorable. Very happy and pretty easy going for a spectrum kid. He just needed to know the progression of the activities - lol - so I was frequently saying things like, "well, first we are going to do a puzzle, then play with some toys, look at some stories, and then we are going to talk a bit." Each step we finished I again would remind him of what was coming next. He was a perfect guine pig for me, because I know kids who are going to be more in the "autism" side rather than just spectrum are probably not going to be as easy to persuade. Second boy was interesting in that he appeared to be embarrassed for some of the activities (face washing, brushing teeth), I wasn't expecting embarrassment. Then he pretty much clammed up when we got to the emotions talk - he had never been mad, sad, happy... couldn't describe it. It really just seemed like he didn't want to. I wasn't able to get through either of the tests completely though, so I will have to finish next week.

I am feeling REALLY uncertain about the job opening at Fairfield and my ability to find work. :( I had thought I would have a pretty good chance at snagging the Fairfield job. I mean, I have done a LOT more than the other intern, and I figured it would really just be between she and I. However, I heard this week who the top six were that were getting interviews. The other intern and myself got in, of course, but so did 3 other previous interns and the star student from the opposing university. *Sigh* my confidence has been flattened.

Emotional Disturbance Eval

Today concluded my emotional disturbance evaluation. I am really happy with how it all came together.
Here is what my eval entailed:
- Observations (classroom, recess, testing)
- Interviews (foster parent, legal guardian, student, teacher)
- WISCV
-VMI (I am not really sure why we gave this - but my sup told me to!)
- WJII Achievement
- CBM - Oral reading Fluency
- BASC2 Student Self Report
- EDDT - Legal Guardian was the respondent.
-Review of records.
The only thing I wish that I had would be rating scales of some sort from the teacher and the current foster parent, but I didn't get them. :(
Today we met and I went over my book of a report. It was a pretty long meeting, but the legal guardian seemed genuinely interested in what he had done with him and what  we planned to do with him. She was extremely complementary to me for making sure she understood each part of the testing. So that made me feel like a did a good job. All in all I think it was a great first go at a emotional disturbance. This report will go in my portfolio!
After the meeting the principal gave me a "fist-bump" and told me I did a good job and my supervisor had no issues with my presentation. Woot!

A Job Has Been Posted

I am still rather in shock. I had been told that the district was hoping to hire a new school psych for next year, but I told myself to not get my hopes up. One of my supervisors has been keeping me up to date on the play by play of the committee he is on to structure the mod-severe program for next year and so I had heard the progression of the position being a .6, then full time, and then lastly a .4 position. I was holding my breath hoping there would be even a part time position and then yesterday I was told that the job had posted. I looked at it and it was a full time gig. WHAT THE HECK?! I am so confused, but excited non the less. Weird thing is that they are only posting the job for one week! I am uncertain why they are doing it so fast, and have a lot of conspiracy theories floating around in my head, but regardless my application will be in the pile by next Thursday. Now I just need to get a handle on my resume and secure some quick letters of reference. I am already nervous!

First initial Mental Retardation IEP

Last week I had the IEP for a student I did an initial evaluation for mental retardation (mr) for. I was crazy uncomfortable before the meeting. I mean, how do you tell someone for the first time that there baby is different and has a mean sounding label applied to them? All morning long (well, after Mr. Z left the house) I rehearsed aloud, practicing what I would say during each of the components of the IEP. Then when I got to the office, Mr. P demonstrated for me how he would go about saying it  - which was extremely helpful. The meeting ended up going as well as it could. The parents definitely blanched a bit in response to the MR label. But after seeing their faces we talked for a bit about what the label does and doesn't mean. They seemed shocked, but at the same time expressed that the diagnosis made sense to them as they could see that this child was very different than his younger sibling. We actually ended up talking more about his placement change in the following school year  as we recommended that he be moved to the moderate-severe program that the school district is starting. All in all, I am happy with how it went. Although I wish I didn't have a reason to.