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THE LAASP WORDMAY 20, 2023 WWW.LAASPONLINE.ORG VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1
Board Members
Breanna Demail, President
Jeannine Topalian, President Elect
Troy Xavier Leonard, Past President
Heather Miles, Vice President Programs
Danielle Reyes, Treasurer
Beverly Williams, Corresponding Secretary
Celia Adame, Recording Secretary
Timothy Taylor, Central/West Area Representative
Richard Danlag, East Representative
Vedeesh Saggar, NPS Representative
Veronica Hernandez, North Representative
Jenna Zies Lizarraga, South Representative
President’s MessageBreanna Demail
Your professional work year by now is in full swing. For LAASP, this is our official newsletter that rings in the new year. The new volunteer board is working hard to survey our members’ needs, while addressing local, state and national issues which influence our profession. Our goal this year is to launch a new newsletter design, launch a new website, increase membership, plan the year based on the needs you share, and connect you with local associations. For a volunteer based organization and board, these tasks require hours of work. We greatly appreciate the board and chairs who have donated hours of service. Please thank your representatives when you see them.
This year we have already launched our new website design. You can renew your membership online, register for events, and donate to our scholarship fund. There is an online directory, where members have access to read about their fellow colleagues. The website software is inexpensive and designed for professional associations to email events automatically; freeing up time for our volunteer board to focus on professional issues.
Our profession will be a topic of conversation at the state level. This year, the California Department of Education is managing $420 million dollars, working with each SELPA and local districts to determine how best to serve the mental health needs of IEP students. How will these changes impact our graduate programs, training for current working professionals, and other mental health certificated positions within the state? How will the private sector attempt to access these funds? http://www.casponline.org/pdfs/pdfs/casp_mental_health_papers.pdf
LAASP was created to organize and inform members regarding various issues surrounding our profession as a whole. We urge you to come together and discuss the issues that will be occurring in the coming years. Hundreds of voices are stronger than the few. We urge you to consider taking a few hours out of your life to connect with your colleagues, to improve our profession in ways you see fit.
COUNSELING SECONDARY STUDENTSFabiana Lamm, Intervention and Prevention School Psychologist
Counseling in the school system is not an easy task. Many students come into our offices thinking that we are going to try to change them, or that we are going to take sides with their parents, teachers and administrators. How then do we find a balance not to take sides? What is the best approach to help the students in front of us—the ones in need of counseling—understand that we are there for them?
Personally, I have been using a variety of methods and tools in order to reach my
Julie Schoenfeld, LAASP Liaison – Honorary Board Member as UTLA Elected School Psychologist Standing Committee Chair
Troy Xavier Leonard, LAASP District Representative - update and gather input from LAASP members to bring to UTLA
Committee Chairs Seble Gebremedhin, CASP Region 4 Representative
Beth Doshay & Christine Toleson, Membership Co-Chairs
Jan Murdock, Scholarship Chairperson
Danielle Reyes, LAASP Word Editor and Chairperson
Fabiana Lamm, Troy Xavier Leonard, Marcella Lightfoot, Chris Ellis, and Shirley Moreno - LAASP Word Writers Jeannine Topalian, President Elect & Outstanding School Psychologist Chairperson
Behshid Nickpay & Christine Toleson, Parliamentarian Co-Chairs
Five Unfilled LAASP Memorial Scholarship Fund Committee Members (Emeritus and Regular) Please respond by November 1, 2011 to either [email protected] or [email protected]
students. Today I will focus on one approach, Solution Focused Therapy. The Solution Focused Therapy has four components: 1) identify the problem, concern or issue, 2) identify solutions that have been tried before, 3) determine a goal, and 4) establish a plan to achieve that goal. I structure my sessions by using this format, and I let the student know that we will be working on those areas during our session. I have learned that the best way to get students to talk is by asking “How” questions; using that format tends to open the possibilities for answers. Based on Solution Focused literature, some of the questions I ask are: How did you solve that problem before? or How did you do in school the previous year? I can even ask the “Miracle Question”: if a miracle was to happen right now, and your issue or problem would cease to exist, what would your life look like? Another way to ask if they have a plan to make a positive change is “Convince me how you would go about making that change? The “Miracle Question” allows a student to explore their own thoughts and uncover their own path to solving problems.
Students tend to trust this approach because it does not impose anyone’s way—not my way, their parents’ way, or their teachers’ way—as they attempt to solve their own problems. Students will believe more in the counseling process if they see themselves as the problem solvers. We provide them with a safe environment to have an open dialogue and explore possibilities; they see themselves finding their own answers on how to approach a situation or a problem. The real question: are students ready to make changes and solve problems? I find that this is the biggest barrier. When a student does not ask for help, and goals are simply mandated by their Individual Education Plan, then we, as DIS providers, see the interventions come to a halt. Frustration seems to be one of the common denominators among us who provide counseling services when we encounter one of these students. However, while some students do not appear to improve, many others do. Having a structured or semi-structured agenda for counseling sessions, based on Solution Focused Therapy, gives us, the counseling providers another tool to help those hard-to-reach students.
Suggested materials for Solution Focused approach: John Littrell, EdD Brief Therapy with Adolescents: Series IX Children and Adolescents. APA. (DVD format)Interviewing for Solutions Peter Dejon, Insoo Kim Berg
Connecting With Fostered and Other Troubled YouthMarcella Lightfoot, School Psychologist-Fostered Youth Program
“We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.” Ben Sweetland
As school psychologists, we are well aware of the importance of establishing positive relationships with students. We understand that the relationship is a vital component toward effective outcomes. At times, however, positive rapport-building seems like a harrowing task. This may be especially prevalent when working with individuals who may have experienced loss, possible neglect and abuse, or abandonment. Such experiences often lend themselves to attachment difficulties and a general lack of trust, as is often the case with fostered youth. As a result, the process of rapport-building becomes particularly challenging.
In reading Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard, by Liz Murray, I was struck by the crucial impact that our interactions may have on a troubled child. In this memoir, Murray describes her first experience of entering into a facility for foster children as follows: “If I was sent to a place like this and no one would talk to me like a human being, did that mean that
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something was wrong with me? There must be something wrong with me.”
In contrast, Murray later describes her encounter with an empowering teacher in the following manner, “…as I spoke, I quickly saw by his facial expressions-empathetic and interested- that he didn’t seem to judge me…he was genuinely connected…he listened actively…offering insight, even relating to me,…but never once indicating pity, only understanding and interest.”
I was profoundly moved by the realization that we possess the ability-through a simple interaction- to leave a powerful impression in the lives of those students with whom we work. How then can we ensure that we “see” each child; that we don’t- because of our own pressures- inadvertently convey the message that he or she is less than an individual of utmost importance?
Several resources are available that offer strategies for facilitating the development of that imperative (albeit difficult to obtain) relationship. One such tool that I have found to be especially effective comes from the introductory component of the Why Try program. It offers 20 strategies/activities for developing a relationship based on mutual respect in which the student is valued and regarded as his/her own expert. Examples of those activities include: A) Lay Out the Red Carpet- at every session, greet students by name and with great enthusiasm B) Allow student to sit in your chair as a symbolic way to let them know that you respect their expertise on themselves- empowers them to explore ways to solve their problems C) You Direct Your Play- give students 3 choices of ways in which they want to spend their session (ex. discussion, games, activities, etc..). You communicate trust and respect by allowing them some power and control D) True or False Activity- share two true stories about yourself and one false one, have student try to guess which one is false. This allows students to also see you as human and approachable, a necessary component to the development of any mutually respectful relationship.
ReferencesMurray, L. (2010). Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard. New York: Hyperion Moore, C. (M.S.W.). (2001). The Why Try Program. Orem Utah: Why Try Inc.www.whytry.org
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RETIREES
At the end of the 2010-2011 school year the following LAASP members retired and have been granted emeritus status in LAASP:
CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES !
Kathleen Bordig
Terrie Erlich
Jay Jackson
Karen Jaster
Greg Sherwood
Alicia Tell
Perky Waterman
VOLUNTEER SEARCH
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5 Emeritus and Regular LAASP Members Needed for the Memorial Scholarship Fund Committee
Duties: screen applications via email, fundraising, and interviewing candidates only if we receive applications for more than awards granted this year.
Please respond by November 1, 2011 to either [email protected] or [email protected]
Timeline: In December/January, the committee Chair works with the Director of District Counseling Programs (or similar position) to disseminate the application to each LAUSD High School. Deadlines are determined by the Scholarship Committee. The Scholarship funds are granted when student provides evidence of college enrollment to the committee chair. The Scholarship Recipients are invited as a guest to the LAASP End of the Year Luncheon and may bring two guests at LAASP's expense. Student applicants must meet the following criteria:
1. Plan to enter the educational field
2. Demonstrate academic excellence or a potential for academic excellence
3. Demonstrate financial need to enroll in a post-secondary institution
4. Only one application will be accepted per school
Also keep in mind the following available scholarships:
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY FOUNDATIONCultural and Linguistic Diversity Scholarship Application Deadline: December 9CALIFORNIA SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY FOUNDATIONPaul Henkin Scholarship ApplicationDeadline: December 9More information related to these scholarships and the applications for these scholarships are available at laasponline.org
SAVE THE DATES - 2011
October 25th South: LAASP Presentation at Support Unit South’s Professional Development Meeting (11:30am). Doyle Center 15805 South Budlong Avenue, Gardena CA 90247
November 1 st : Please volunteer a few hours as a Memorial Scholarship Committee Member!! Email [email protected] or [email protected] for details
November 5th 9:30am -12:30pm: Human Needs Psychology – North Hollywood High School 5231 Colfax Avenue, North Hollywood CA 91601. Refreshments will be served. CEU offered. Expect to be energized by Fabiana Lamm. Learn how to help change your emotions from Negative to Positive; Learn the Universal 6 Human Needs; Help yourself, loved ones and the students you work with; Learn specific steps and strategies (that work!!!!) to help make positive changes. This workshop is offered twice, one in the San Fernando Valley and once in South/Central Los Angeles.
November 17th 4-7pm: School Psychologist Appreciation Event in Celebration of School Psychologist Week. J Lounge – Olive Street, Downtown LA
November 18th NPS: LAASP Presentation for NPS Professional Development from 2:30. Beaudry – Room 105, 17th floor - 333 Beaudry Avenue Los Angeles, Ca 90017
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SAVE THE DATES – 2012
February 1 – March 2nd: 2012-13 Executive Board Nominations (contact Troy Leonard)
February 3rd East - LAASP Presentation for Support Unit East’s Professional Development. All members are invited to the 3:30-5pm LAASP Board Meeting. Beaudry – Room to be announced.
February 11th 9:30am -12:30pm: Human Needs Psychology – Location TBA at a site in Central LA for South, Central West and East members. Refreshments will be served. CEU offered. Expect to be energized by Fabiana Lamm. Change emotions from Negative to Positive; Universal 6 Human Needs; help yourself, loved ones and the students you work with.
April 27th North- LAASP Presentation for Support Unit North’s Professional Development 2:30-3pm. All members are invited to the 3:30-5pm LAASP Board Meeting. Location to be announced. Refreshments will be served.
May 23rd Central West – LAASP Presentation for Support Unit Central West’s Professional Development 2:00-2:30pm. All members are invited to the 3:30-5pm LAASP Board Meeting in the Central West Conference Room 3741 South La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, Ca 90016. Refreshments will be served.
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June 2nd: OSP Award and Retiree Luncheon – Tentative date, Location TBA.
Has your School Psychologist helped you today?
Videos Needed for
Los Angeles Association of School Psychologists Promotional Video
The mission of our association is to promote the profession of School Psychology, recognize our most Outstanding School Psychologists, and aid members to excel in their profession through best practices. LAASP is looking for Students, Parents, Teachers, Counselors, Staff, Administrators, and School Psychologists to create mini films, lasting 30 seconds to five minutes in length. These “home videos” will be combined into a video presentation to communicate how vital School Psychologists are within the educational system. These videos will be used by LAASP on our website or by LAASP members for presentations to LAUSD Decision Makers, School Site Councils, PTA Members, new student orientations, or during Staff Professional Development Meetings.
Send your video clips to: [email protected]
Plan: Each individual creates a short video clip (camera videos are ok). The clip can be:
1. Copied to a DVD or CD and mailed to the address below;
2. Uploaded to YouTube and then emailing the link to [email protected];
3. or sent directly to [email protected]
Please have parents submit all films of minors, with a simple hand written consent stating they are submitting this video of their child, knowing it will be used for a promotional video for the Los Angeles Association of School Psychologists.
Parent permission slips can be mailed to:
Breanna Demail School Psychologist
Nobel Middle School 9950 Tampa Avenue, Northridge CA 91324
CASP NEWS
October 21st: School Psychologists and Post-AB3632 California 9-4pm
Tucker Auditorium: 2221 Argonna Ave. Long Beach, CA 90815. Learn about how this important change in the way mental health services are delivered in California will affect your job. www.casponline.org Cost: CASP members: $40; Nonmembers: $60. Reservations required.
November 18th: Child Abuse Assessment Workshop for LEPs by Sean Surfas, PhD.
The Ventura County Office of Education, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with one hour for lunch. The purpose of this workshop is to both meet the needs of continuing Licensed Educational Psychologist for the renewal of their licenses based on new regulation of the Board of Behavioral Sciences and for instruction in best practices regarding the assessment and reporting of suspected child abuse. To register for the workshop click here.
March 22nd – 23rd CASP Conference
Thank you to all those who contributed to this edition of the LAASP WORD!
If you have any suggestions please contact Danielle Reyes, LAASP WORD Editor.