School Psychologists Association of S.E. Manitoba

May 14th, 2004 Meeting

Present:  Ron Teffaine, Suzanne Robert, April Buchanan , Adeline Forrester, Mike Hogan, Suzanne Golden, Vivianna Sonnenschein

 Minutes

• Mike Hogan - presented the new Bender II test, the WJ-III Cognitive Battery, the BASC, and some scoring software.  Mike had great PowerPoint presentations, and many handouts for our members.  One fascinating feature of the new Bender II is the visual-motor memory subtest.  It may provide information about how well a child can remember how to form letters after being instructed.  It may have implications for how much instruction is needed or whether mnemonic devices are required, etc.  He said the company is working on a set of training materials to go with the test.  Later, he showed some of us the training package that goes with the VMI.  It looked quite impressive, with many ideas that could be put into an IEP for special needs students.  All were impressed by the new WJ-III Cognitive Battery, since it is based on the rigorous CHC theoretical model of intelligence, and it assesses many cognitive abilities that correlate with learning problems and disabilities.  The test includes scoring software and a great remedial ideas book!  He also showed us the Dumont and Willis cross-battery scoring template that looked quite impressive. It can be downloaded for free from the materials section of our website.  Finally, Mike showed us the Behaviour Assessment System for Children (BASC).  It measures a number of behaviour problems, similar to Achenbach's Child Behaviour Checklist, as well as a quick measure of adaptive functioning and social skills.  The latter is important for helping to generate a possible DSM-IV diagnosis, since a mental disorder also requires clinically significant impairment in social and/or academic functioning.  We learned that the scoring software for the BASC is a must, since the hand scoring form is too cumbersome.

• April Buchanan  - did a presentation on reluctant math learners: causes and treatment strategies. She had many wonderful ideas and materials to show us.  April did her dissertation on math anxiety, how it develops, an how it can effect a student's math achievement.  She covered many cognitive and perceptual processing weaknesses that can contribute to math problems, and how anxiety can exacerbate these weaknesses.  She then covered the types of math assessment tools that she finds useful (e.g., KeyMath-R, WIAT-II, Stanford Diagnostic Math Test, TOMA, etc.), and emphasized the importance of careful observation and testing the limits afterward.  April had a wealth of great materials, books, and teaching strategies for students of all ages.    Some novel materials included the narrative stories about math, as well as the flip chart formulas for older students.  Other ideas included a fractions calculator, 9's finger math and adding two-digit products to see if you get 9, taping certain multiplication grid facts to the back of a calculator, remove time limits/pressure, have student use a calculator to check work, test/teach math vocabulary, change word problems to real life or high interest situations, display a variety of large colourful number lines, Touch Math, large colourful dice, commercial math software, etc.

• Ron Teffaine - reviewed his efforts on trying to follow-up on recommendations, and introduced a group discussion about the challenge of showing outcomes.  Most members did not have a formal method of follow-up to demonstrate outcomes.  One idea mentioned was to put recommendations on a page or two that are separate from the psychological report, and have the classroom teacher circle ones that will be tried.  Then, those that are effective could be checked off.  Nevertheless, it became apparent that the process could become quite messy after a while, so an updated or edited plan would likely be better.  Ron presented the following suggestions on how to follow-up on cases and try to show outcomes: 

• Insist that all referrals to the psychologist end up with some type of student plan as a result.  The plan could include ideas from the school psychologist, as well as the resource or classroom teacher, as long as they logically fit the assessed profile of needs
• Younger LD students or slow learners should likely have two plans: an Individual Adaptation Plan (IAP) for the classroom teacher to compensate for a student's disability, and a Remedial Intervention Plan (RIP) for the resource teacher, so he/she can show outcomes in this mini IEP and be accountable for the individual or small-group tutoring provided.

• Try using the POP Parent and Teacher rating scales for pre and post functional assessments.  They are quick and easy to use.  Sections covered include the following: (a) Classroom Functioning, (b) Home Functioning, (c) Peer Functioning, and (d) Self-Concept.
• Use a one-page  feedback form for the classroom teacher to complete before coming to a follow-up meeting.  This will help the teacher to think more about what has been tried, how effective it was, and what other concerns are outstanding, so that the follow-up meetings are more productive.

• Schedule three  follow-up meeting times during the year - November, March, and June. Depending on when the assessment is complete, meet with the resource and classroom teachers on one or more of these occasions to discuss IAPs and RIPs.  BIPs may require more frequent meetings, whereas IEP and ITP meeting times are determined by the resource teacher. 

• Try to put reports and student plans on senior high school networks.  It seems to be too difficult for high school resource teachers to photocopy reports and student plans and distribute them to all teachers involved with all the referred students.  This is too cumbersome, since students may also change teachers each semester.  Confidentiality is maintained because only the teachers have passwords to access certain drives and folders on the school's internal network.  Teachers involved with a particular student can be notified about the online report/plan via email or by notes in the office mailboxes.
• When available, enter data about referred students into the POP software as soon after the referral as possible, and then at the end of the year in June.

Ron also demonstrated an innovative new test called the DANVA2, which can be used to help diagnose and assess the effects of NLD, Asperger's Disorder, EBD, etc.  This test helps to assess a  student's ability to read the emotions (high & low intensities) associated with different facial expressions across male and female faces.  It also measures a student's ability to detect the type of emotion associated with voice tones.  Excel scoring templates were also presented to help score the software results.

Vivianna, a new member to our group from Argentina, told us that special needs children there are still segregated.  Other students must pass standards exams or risk grade retention, unlike here in Canada, where we try to avoid retention and its potential deleterious effects.  We appreciate her attendance and her willingness to share her knowledge about Argentina's education system.  It is helpful to gain an international perspective.