Seminar - On My Own

This week I had the opportunity to do many things on my own. It was the first day where I felt like I was acting like a school psychologist. I also got my first "case" that I will be working on. While I usually do segments of a case, this is one where I will be doing all of the testing and likely the report writing as well. It does not seem difficult by any means, but at least I am gaining the experience. Aside from starting this case, I also worked on my consultation case independently. I was working with the teacher I mentioned last week about a student's behavior. I was able to observe two times last week and plan to observe two more this week. I got a lot of great data and am pretty positive that this is a straight forward case. I think the function of the student's behavior is attention and will be presenting that information this week.

This week I conducted the counseling group on my own without the social worker there. At first the group seemed a little apprehensive, but after about 5 minutes I was able to get everyone talking about a number of issues. We did a role play and talked about other issues that were present. I felt like I was able to get the whole group involved and was able to give them things to practice for the week. Typically, the group does not practice a skill for a week and so we were trying something new. I am looking forward to seeing what the group will come back with this week.

Research was a bit slow this week. I met with one of the teachers to discuss more about the proposal to the district and we talked about some missing elements I need to do. I need to write out the exact letter we're going to use for our survey to the students. Hopefully this will be sufficient and tomorrow when we meet we can start getting the contact list ready. If we can get the surveys mailed out by the end of March, I think I will be in good shape. I have set this deadline with everyone and they seem to agree that it is possible.

My only concern so far with my practicum site is the internship prospect. I've been told that an internship will be available, but have not heard many details about it. The application process has not begun because the district is still determining which school psychologist will take on an intern. This is somewhat difficult because most of my peers have gone through the application/interview process already and have accepted their positions. I would really like to stay where I am at, but would also like a safety net. As it stands, it's difficult to get a safety net and my current position is not 100% secure. I talk to my supervisor about it every 2 weeks, so I will likely bring it up again tomorrow. Mostly to update her on what other districts are doing and the state of my peers. Aside from these things, my site has been pretty fun.