Employment!

There aren't many times in my life that I can think of that a job has literally fallen into my lap, but this one seems to have. One of my internship supervisors took me to a luncheon where he was being honored with an award in an attempt to help me get my name out there. I got introduced to the head of the county schools division who upon seeing who I had interned under offered to email out my resume to all the districts. I took him up on his offer and composed a short but sweet cover letter with my resume stating that I was looking for part-time or contract work (as I am pregnant, the husband and I decided it would be perfect if I could work 1-2 days a week). About a week later I got a call out of the blue from an itty bitty district about 50 minutes out side of town who had got a copy of my resume and called around a bit to check me out. They asked if I was interested in working 1 day a week for their district so I of course replied in the affirmative.

It has been a slow couple of months since that phone call but in that time I have gone out to my adorable little school of 72 student to interview and get a tour, have had my contract approved, and am now waiting for all the paperwork to get to me so that I can get my employment set in stone. I am so excited about this new step. It is perfect for my little family to be, and sounds like a position where I will get to stretch way beyond the typical test and place method.

I am so glad I went to that luncheon!

End of the Year!

The more I look back on the past year, the happier I am with the internship that I had. I had amazing supervisors who were experienced, knowledgeable and maybe most importantly - easily accessible! I got great assessment experienced (SLD traditional, SLD RTI, Autism, ED, MR/ID) as well as experience in counseling and behavior modification. I enjoyed all the kiddos I got to work with this year and I think the ones that made me work and worry the most at the beginning are the ones that I will miss the most.

The job front is still pretty uncertain, but I have 3 major leads for contract work next year. The one that sounds the most promising is one that litterally fell in to my lap as I got a random call from the superintendent of this itty bitty district about an hour outside of town. They only have 80ish students in the entire K-8 district and they (amazingly) like to hire a contractor for 1 day a week psych services. As I am pregnant, I really only want to work 1-2 days a week, so I think contracting is the best bet. I am praying that God will guide me to the perfect district for me next year. I really hope to find one that my role can be something beyond test and place - which is the typical for the county I live in. We shall have to wait and see.

It's so funny to me that I can't wait for summer vacation to begin. Considering this is the first year I will have one! But I am so looking forward to the time off. BUT, I love my job, something I've never been able to say before in my life, so I really look forward to a new year next year, new beginnings, new school, new staff, it will be one more adventure.

Winding down

I have become so absent from this blog lately! The last few months were so crazy with gobs and gobs of assessments to complete, IEP meetings, norming, and all of my school requirements to finish off. Thankfully though, things seem to be winding down. I have two more IEP's to get through and two more students to test (their IEP's will be held next school year), it has been such an amazing year. I feel like my competency in the field has be multiplied by 1000! Sure, I still have tons to learn, but I feel so much better about my abilities. We had a meeting between my supervisors, my graduate internship advisor, and myself about a week ago. At which time one of my supervisors said that he no longer feels like he is supervising me and that when I come to him with questions they are more like a colleague asking another colleague a question. He said he felt I was ready to go. It was so wonderful to hear!

I was able to get my thesis project finished up with zero tears and only one revision (hallelujah!) and I sat in my last class last night. It still doesn't feel real that it is over, but maybe it will become more so after graduation tomorrow. People have already asked me if I am going to go back to start my BCBA certification, but I have decided against it for now. I am ready for a break from school for a bit, that 3 year program was amazingly long. I am glad that I did it, but wish that the job market was a bit more promising. Right now I have pretty much zero prospects for next year. I am praying I can find some contract work in order to stay in the fresh in the field and not get rusty. Thankfully, I do not need to find something full time so that may open up my horizons a bit.

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.