Get School Psych'd

Hello LSSPs,

I would say welcome to Fall, but my data on the average temperature we have going on disagrees with me. I hope you are all staying cool as we wrap up a record setting September.

TASP is just around the corner. It is always a wonderful opportunity to get caught up on current trends and information, collaborate with others in our field, and earn some needed CEUs for our license. Please feel free to stop me if you see me and say "Hello!" or "Hey, when is [insert name of training] again?" or "You really nailed your likeness with that Bitmoji". =)

I have been really excited and overwhelmed by the response we have gotten to the training opportunities so far this school year. We have had some great opportunities so far this year and we have more great stuff planned. I did want everyone to know that if you filled out the PD survey from last year, that did go a long way towards shaping some of the offerings that we have for 19-20. I plan to send out another survey about the areas of interest for future PD, so look for that probably in the December issue of GSP. I appreciate and read all of the feedback I receive, so please be sure to fill it out if you have some ideas about what you would like to see covered.

Finally, as I know we have a number of late in the year birthdays based past survey results, friendly reminder that while celebrating your birthday is usually great fun, don't forget to take it as a reminder that your license is due for renewal. When last I spoke to the board, they asked me to share out with LSSPs that they do it as early as possible as they have a number of applications every month and not much in the way of staff to quickly process them.

Keep Being School Psych'd,

Keya Saleh, LSSP, NCSP

Region 10 Educational Service Center

Check-in/Check-out: Providing a Daily Support System for Students

Edutopia has a wonderful video model of how a campus wide system for check-in and check-out for students needing supporting can be implemented and impact at-risk student groups.

Scientific Research On How To Teach Critical Thinking Contradicts Education Trends

This Hechinger Report article dives into questions about teaching critical thinking skills and how to improve the practice.

‘For-Now Parents’ and ‘Big Feelings’: How Sesame Street Talks About Trauma

Atlantic article about some of the ways Sesame Street is using their program to address some of the unique challenges related to childhood traumatic experiences.

For kids who face trauma, good neighbors or teachers can save their long term health

Brief article from the medical express about ACEs and factors that can counteract their impacts.

I have always gotten a lot of questions about the books I am reading (mostly because approximately 84% of my sentences start with "you know I just read this book..."), so I decided to start sharing some of my personal favorites that I have recently read (or in some cases, reread).

This month: Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. I am a Gladwell fanatic and have not put this book down since it showed up in my mailbox. Exploring interesting facets of the human condition through incredible storytelling, Talking to Strangers is a great read.

Bonus: If you are a fan of Malcolm Gladwell's work or enjoy podcasts (or both), be sure to check out his podcast Revisionist History.

I was recently contacted by Linda Garza, an LSSP who was recently highlighted in our TASP newsletter for the amazing work she does in our profession. She is conducting research on Special Education Counseling and needs our input. If you have a few minutes (whether you currently providing counseling services right now or not), please fill out the survey. This is an area that I believe we definitely need more information available in. The following is from her email:

My name is Linda Garza and I am a school psychology doctoral student at Texas Tech University. I am developing a construct on counseling as a related service. My goal is to gather survey information from school psychologists and counselors and thus, better assist special education committees when recommending counseling services for special education students.

I have secured IRB permission and the survey should take about 5 minutes. Your consideration, time and input is truly appreciated.

In an attempt to get information more organized, I am moving toward a Google Sheet for listing out upcoming training sessions here at Region 10 that would be of interest to LSSPs.

This link will take you to the live spreadsheet. Check out the list every month to see what new offerings are coming up at Region 10.

One of my biggest goals of GSP is to get information about our LSSPs. I know your time is valuable and I don't want to ask you to spend half a day filling out tons of information, so I have settled on what I am calling the Two-ish Question Quiz. Every so often, I humbly ask for you to answer two questions about yourself to help us get a better picture of the LSSPs in Region 10.

If you have any questions or need support in your campus/district, give me a shout!

Email: keya.saleh@region10.org
Website: www.region10.org/programs/evaluation-special-education/overview/
Location: 904 Abrams Road, Richardson, TX, USA
Phone: 972-348-1598
Twitter: @getschoolpsychd