US News & World Report

Hi everyone!

My practicum site supervisor just passed this interesting article along, which named School Psychology as one of 2009's Best Careers. GO US! The criteria for this list of careers are "jobs with the best outlook in this recessionary economy (and beyond), the highest rates of job satisfaction, the least difficult training necessary, the most prestige, and the highest pay." I'm not sure if I agree with the low difficulty training piece, but the article is an interesting interpretation of what we will be doing (as are the readers' responses). Check it out! What are your reactions about this summary of the field of School Psych? Thoughts?

http://www.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2008/12/11/best-careers-2009-school-psychologist.html

-Kate

Happy Halloween!

Hi all!

Can you believe that we're going into week 8!?! This quarter has really flown by! I know my list of projects is ridiculously long, and judging by the number of students banging their heads against the wall on Floor 4, I know I'm not the only one! :) Don't worry, first years, we always make it through. I wanted to send out a social/service update!

Service: A few interns (Bronwyn & Val) and second years (Lynn, Trinidad, Laura, Diane, and I) volunteered for the Chicago marathon a few weeks ago through ISPA, and had a blast! We worked the Goose Island/312 table, handing out beer to the runners at the finish line. They were quite happy to see us, and they kept us really busy! :) The marathon never ceases to amaze me, with the sheer number of runners, volunteers, and fans that together make the run one of Chicago's biggest annual events! It is such an inspiring day, and I know I speak for the group by saying that it feels really good to have participated in such a monumental event, and I can't wait until next year! Above are pictures of us at the 312 stand!



Picture 1: Val, Kate, Diane (above)
Picture 2: Laura, Kate, Diane (left)




Also, we are planning a fun social event in the city right before Winter quarter begins, on Saturday, January 9. Just as a warning...it may involve karaoke, so start practicing your favorite Cyndi Lauper and Madonna tunes! :) More details to come, but please put this in your planners!

Good luck with your final projects/papers, and please let Kate, Diane, or Laura know if you have any ideas for SPO!

-Kate

Autism Walk!

Hi everyone!

I just got an e-mail announcing the date for the next autism walk in Chicago! It will be held May 16, 2010 so please put this date on you calendars! I'll create a team for us on the website again, and when people start joining the team we can decide if we want to walk it or volunteer at the walk (or a little of both). I'll keep posting information on the blog, and feel free to respond with questions! Thanks!

http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=328080

-Kate

PS If people want, we can also plan a fun social event after the walk, like reserving a big table at a nearby restaurant, etc.

Questions?

Hi Everyone!

Our first SPO Meeting of the year was today, and was kind of random - but the one thing we DID agree on was that everyone should post any questions (school psych related only, plz) to this blog. Go ahead and write your questions as a 'Comment' to this post, and then we will copy the question and post it as a new entry with our answer.

Hopefully this system will help you out until we get the website up and running!

Diane

Week 4

Hi Everyone,

I cannot believe we are already into Week 4 of our Fall Quarter. I know the second year students have been busy spending one or two days at their sites and doing REAL work! I wanted to take this opportunity to officially welcome the first year students. I hope you are enjoying your time at National-Louis and are not too overwhelmed. Don't forget, the second year students are always here to answer questions, share experiences, and calm each others anxieties about observations, homework, readings, etc. Try to take one week at a time!!!

I also wanted to remind everyone of some important dates in the future:

-1st School Psychology Organization (SPO) meeting: October 13 @ 3:30
(An e-mail will be coming out soon to fill everyone in on dates and other important information.

-School Psychology New Student Orientation: October 17 @ 10:00

-Illinois School Psychologists Association Conference: January 21-23

-National Association of School Psychologists: March 2-6

More information will follow about these and other events in an e-mail and at SPO meetings. Finally, I want to invite other students or staff to use the blog to talk about trainings, events, great articles, hot topics in psychology/education, etc.

Have a great week!

Laura

WELCOME BACK!

Welcome back, everyone!

Where did the summer go? I know some students took summer classes this year, but I'll have to get back into the swing of understanding article vernacular, taking notes, and of course...writing papers! I am so thankful that NLU's campus has wifi because I am permanently glued to my laptop from September until June. The free printing is a great bonus, too!

Over the summer, I was also a NASP article reviewer which was a really interesting experience! It was fun to partake in the convention planning process, and to get a sneak peak of possible presentations for convention in March. It sounds like there will be a huge range of presentations for students, faculty, and practicing school psychologists at convention 2010; I think I'm going to have a difficult time choosing which to attend! I'm particularly excited about any topics related to the Early Childhood population, so I'm hoping that I'll get the chance to attend those seminars.

I'm also really excited to resume my practicum work this week, as well! I was lucky enough to stay in the same district for practica I and II, so I'm eager to catch up with my supervisor. Echoing Diane, I'm looking forward to spending a day or two per week in my elementary/preschool building and expanding my role in the field. It will be interesting to see some of the topics (RTI, PBS, etc.) come to life, with a large population of students with a huge range of strengths and needs. Similarly, it will be so rewarding to begin new relationships with the faculty at my practicum site and strengthen those from last year.

Last, I finally got my M.Ed diploma in the mail a few weeks ago! I got a cool frame for it and it looks shiny and spectacular in my office at home. I hung it above my desk, and I think it will be a good reminder of all of my hard work from last year. I bet it'll also be a good motivator at the end of the quarter when I feel I cannot spend one more minute in Microsoft Word :)

Looking forward to meeting and greeting our first years, and catching up with my fellow SECOND years (that sounds weird, doesn't it?)! We miss our interns already, but I've heard nothing but positive feedback from their first month on the job. Here's to the beginning of a great year, folks!

-Kate

End of the Year!

Hey Guys!

Wow, I can't believe that our first year as School Psychology Grad Students is OVER. It really flew by, didn't it? Right now I am so excited for our three month break from class - but at the same time, I'm going to miss seeing you two! It is really amazing how much we have learned this year... going from 'Wait, School Psychologists do WHAT?' to being able to use RtI, CBM, PBS, and WISC-IV all in the same sentence. Talk about a transformation! And of course, we wouldnt have been able to do it without Nancy Scott - Nancy, thank you from the bottom of our hearts - we are really going to miss you next year!

There are a couple school-related things that I'm excited about for this summer, though - being a NASP proposal reviewer is going to be a great experience, and I'm looking forward to my online class on Early Childhood and the Community. That leads right up to the beginning of next semester - which right now seems far away but I'm sure we'll be starting class again before we know it. I'm really looking forward to our classes next year, and especially our Practicum activities! Spending a full day a week in schools is going to give us great experience, and great conversation material for class. I am really looking forward to taking on the active role of a school prychologist - this year we did a few things, but looking back it seems that 80% of it was observation. Not that that's a bad thing - we will definitely need keen observational skills - but i am looking forward to seeing more of the 'typical' (if there is such a thing) school psychologist schedule.

Well, it's past my bedtime, and I have a running schedule to begin in the morning, so I'll say goodnight!

Looking forward to next year!
Diane

(Picture: Kate, Laura, Diane)

Autism Speaks Walk 2009

Hi everyone!

As promised, I've been working on planning a team for this event. We can walk, volunteer, or both. If you're interested, please join the team I started! I have easy parking in the city (I live in Lincoln Park), but we can arrange for you to be picked up at the Metra, etc., if you'd like to take the train down together. Otherwise, if it is easier for you to go directly to Soldier Field, we can just meet you there!

Event Info:
Saturday, May 16th (Registration starts at 8 am, walk starts at 10 am)
1410 S. Museum Campus (Soldier Field)
5k run

So basically, just join our team and we can figure out everything as I receive more info from the event coordinators! Here is our personal website (very fancy, I know!):

http://www.walknowforautism.org/chicago/nlusp

Please let me know if you have any questions, or concerns! As I previously mentioned, I will update this posting after I receive the welcome packet. If people are interested, Laura J. and I will plan a super fun social event after the walk, so stay tuned!

-Kate

Autism Conference

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to let you know that from July 22-25 at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles is the 40th Autism Society of America National Conference & Exposition.

It is one of the largest autism conferences in the country, and is the only conference that addresses a range of issues, including early intervention, education, employment, behavior, communication, social skills, biomedical interventions and others, and across the life span.

Details and online registration is at www.autism-society.org/conference
...or call (301) 657-0881 ext. 110

Most of us probably do not have the $$ to attend, but I wanted to spread the word.

Laura

DONE!

Hi everyone!

I'm Kate, another first year student. We just finished our winter quarter today...hooray! I'm really excited for our classes next quarter, especially Preschool Assessment. It seems like we just started classes yesterday, but now we're almost through with our entire first year. I cannot believe that we almost have our M.Ed already. Time is really flying by! My favorite aspect of this quarter (Winter 09) was spending more time at our practicum sites. Next quarter, our roles expand even further at our sites, which should give us more depth and breadth with the real-world school experiences. My placement is in Northbrook, which has really been the perfect fit for me!

To echo Laura's posting, I'm working on forming a group to volunteer at the Autism Speaks walk in May. I'll be posting and e-mailing information about this activity within the next week or so. I'll see some of you this Saturday at the New Student event, but I'd like to wish the rest of you a Happy Spring Break!

-Kate

Hi!

I wanted to remind everyone the 2009 Walk Now for Autism - Chicago is on Saturday, May 16. The second year students cannot come to this event, but hopefully it can be a fun first year bonding experience. We will be talking about it more in the future, but save the date!

Here is the link: http://www.walknowforautism.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=288794


Laura J

New Blog

Hi Everyone!

This is Laura and I am a first year school psychology student at National-Louis University in Skokie, IL. This is a blog for students, professors, alumni, and anyone thinking about school psychology. Hopefully we can talk about exciting things that our happening in our classes, at our practicum/internship sites, and in the field.

Have fun!

Laura J