Shadow Experience Dr.

I had the opportunity to shadow Dr. W who is a school psychologist for preschool

and Head Start programs. She has 11schools where she covers the Head Start programs

and an additional 36 preschool programs on her caseload. I shadowed her on two

different days at WW Elementary School in Montgomery County; first in the afternoon

and then in the morning. When I shadowed Dr. W in the afternoon, she was doing a

classroom observation of a student that was referred to her and then meeting with the

teacher after the class was over to discuss more about the student. During the morning

shadow experience, Dr. W was in an Education Management Team meeting to discuss

the student in question.

Observation of a referred student in a classroom setting:

Dr. W was referred a student in one of the preschool Head Start programs at WW

because he was calling out a lot in class, having tantrums, he was behind in his language,

and was inappropriately eating his food. Dr. W explained to me that she had observed the

child two times before this and did not see any of the behavior in the severity that the

teacher was claiming he displayed. The teacher expressed that it is usually during the

afternoon after their nap that he has the behavioral issues described, so Dr. W observed

him that afternoon to see the supposed changes in behavior.

During her observation Dr. W was taking note of his behavior as well as the

behavior of the other students in the class for comparison. She was especially looking for

the behaviors mentioned by the teacher, but she was also making note of behavior she

saw as important. One of the observations she made was that the student was saying his

name out loud repeatedly when he wanted to be called on to give an answer and got upset
when his name was not called. The student also got upset when the class was choosing a

song to sing to because the song he wanted was not picked, but once the song was on he

followed along with the rest of the class. Another important observation made was that

the student had a lot of difficulty with his language. It was hard for him to express

himself in words as well as for other people to understand what he was saying, which in

turn lead to some frustration from him. The student also did not take off his coat the

whole time Dr. W and I were observing in the class. The teacher expressed that he never

wants to take his coat off and gets upset when asked to. The student also had trouble

concentrating on the counting task he was doing one on one with the teacher, but it was

during centers so there was a lot going on in the classroom. Although Dr. W did see some

of the behavior mentioned by the teacher, she still did not see it being displayed as

severely as the teacher claimed it was. In fact, in talking to Dr. W after the observation

she agreed with me in saying that his behavior seemed age appropriate for a four year old

who has never been in a classroom setting before.

Meeting with referred students teacher:

After the observation of the student referred to Dr. W, she met with the teacher to

follow up on what she observed. Since Dr. W thought the student had a good day, she

asked if that was a typical day for the student in which the teacher said it was. Dr. W

expressed to her that from her point of view she did not see any tantrums or inappropriate

behavior for his age. She also told the teacher that she saw other students in the class

displaying the same behavior that was brought to her attention. The teacher then told Dr.

W that the other students acted out in response to the student in questions behavior. The

teacher expressed that it was exhausting for her to have to constantly talk over and
redirect the student. She told Dr. W that the picture chart she created for him to be able to

express himself without using words was not working. When I was in the room

observing, however, the teacher did not bring that chart out until Dr. W came into the

room and seemed to only use it when the child started acting out. I believe if the teacher

used the chart with more consistency and as a preventative measure, it might work the

way it is intended to. In my opinion, the teacher seemed to just want the student taken out

of her class and was exaggerating his behavior.

Education Management Team Meeting for referred student:

The team included Dr. W, the students parents, the speech pathologist, the

teacher, the family social worker for the school, and the Head Start director. This meeting

was to discuss the students strengths and weaknesses as well as observations made by

everyone on the team to determine if they should continue to the next meeting where data

will be discussed. The parents spoke little to no English so they required an interpreter to

be able to understand what was happening in the meeting. Unfortunately the interpreter

was late, but the team was trying to continue with the meeting even though the parents

did not understand what was being said. Dr. W thought this was ridiculous and I agreed

with her. When the interpreter finally got there, the parents started to be more vocal in

expressing when they did not understand something and contributing information to the

meeting.

The teacher expressed that the student knows all of the letters in the alphabet and

can recognize his classmates names. She then explained the two picture charts she made

for the student. The first one is the first, then chart where the teacher can put a picture

of what needs to be done first and another picture for what can be done after. The second
one is the I want chart where the student can put a picture of what he wants or needs.

Since the student struggles with communication, these charts are supposed to help him

express himself. The teacher did not give the student credit for anything good; every time

something positive was said about him she had something negative to go along with it.

She kept saying that the student would struggle in kindergarten since he needs so much

one on one time, but Dr. W made sure to correct her by telling her they have to focus on

the present rather than the future.

The team seemed to not have much training on using interpreters because they

were not taking many pauses to let the interpreter interpret what they were saying. It was

also clear that translating the educational language of the meeting was difficult for the

interpreter. When explaining that the next meeting would be to compare data to decide if

testing was needed, the parents thought testing meant something serious was wrong. Dr.

W had to explain that the testing is just to see what the students needs are so they can

make a plan to help him in the best way possible. She also explained that the team does

not even know that there are any needs that need to be addressed, but the testing would be

to determine if there are. There were many things that had to be explained more than

once so the parents understood. The parents were their childs biggest advocates, though.

They kept expressing that he just needed more time to adjust to school and improve his

communication. They did not want him to be tested for anything at first, but once Dr. W

explained that he needed testing to get speech, they were more accepting of it since they

knew he struggles with his language. In the end, the parents wanted more time to think

about whether they wanted to move forward. While the rest of the team wanted them to
agree to moving forward that day, Dr. W encouraged them to think it over as it is

ultimately their decision.

Shadowing Dr. W made me realize just how much school psychologists are

needed in schools. She was able to be an advocate for a student who really needed one.

She made sure that everyone in the meeting was being ethical by telling the teacher she

could not talk about the future and making sure the parents knew they had a voice in what

happens with their child. She did not let other peoples opinions of the child cloud her

judgment of him when she observed him and did not hold back when she disagreed with

what was being said. I, like Dr. W, saw the students behavior as normal for a four year

old who has never been in school before and was happy to see the parents advocating for

him in the meeting. I think Dr. W was a perfect school psychologist to shadow because

she embodies the new paradigm of school psychology. She does not want to simply test

and diagnose, she wants to prevent problems with interventions and resources available

to the general school population.