Baltimore City Association of School Psychologists

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Presidents Pen
As the year comes to a close, I am beginning to wrap up my year serving as President of BCASP. It has been an exciting year full of many accomplishments for the association and our individual members. To begin, I have been lucky to be surrounded by incredible leaders, not only within our elected leadership but also our appointed committee chairs. This school year we were fortunate enough to have all of our committees fully chaired and many of these chairpersons took on responsibilities and activities above and beyond expectations. I would like to take a few lines to thank our incredibly dedicated BCASP leadership and highlight some of their accomplishments! Thanks to our Public Affairs committee heads, Kerri-Jean Carter and Sharon Flynn, BCASP was involved in a number of community events this year including the Out of Darkness Walk. KerriJean and Sharon also created the Unsung Hero Award, which recognizes all nominated school psychologists for their hard work! Check out our nominees from the past few months on page 13. Given the hard work of our Information Management Committee, led by Liz Niemiec, BCASP has entered the 21st century and is on the web with our own domain name! If you have not checked out our website, please do so at www.bcasp.net; you can access past newsletters with a member password, catch up on BCASPs current events and activities, and coming this fall find more professional development opportunities and resources. This year the Professional Development Committee, led by Brad Petry and Miriam Yarmak, has been hard at work and was awarded a MSPA Professional Training grant. This committee has also been developing supports for applicants to the model pathway, keeping an ongoing list of professional development opportunities for school psychologists, and assisting Liz in posting these opportunities and resources on the website. As president this year, I was so happy to see our Nominations committee also move forward with technology having our first online election (Thanks to some help from Kerri-Jean)! Thank you to the hard work of Susan Akers for seeking nominees resulting in a complete and contested ballot. Thank you to all members who voted electing Nadine Warrick, Abby Courtright, and Brad Petry and approving changes to the BCASP Constitution. Continued praise to the hard work of our Membership and Social Committees, headed by Sam Chavez, Colleen Mariella, and Kate Shoemaker, for kicking our year off with an Orioles game, coordinating and supporting the annual charity event, and planning regular social events for our 70 plus members! Be sure to check out the invitation to the End-of-Year Celebration on Thursday, June 13th following professional development! And of course, a special thank you to our Newsletter committee, headed by Christina Burton and Liz Niemiec! BCASPs newsletter is an incredible publication and resource, not only for our members and colleagues across the state and nation, but also our teachers. If you have not shared a copy with your teachers yet this year, please do so! There are many resources and strategies that classroom teachers find useful. Despite all of BCASPs achievements this school year, there continues to be room for growth. My hope for BCASP in the coming year is to support all of the achievements mentioned above and to make continued strides towards our mission: to promote the interests of children; promote understanding and communication between child and parent and other concerned adults; to promote those conditions under which children best learn and grow; and to promote those programs and conditions in the school and in the community which best serve the needs of children. One important step BCASP can take is to support YOU, our members, who are on the front lines with our students. In order for you to adequately support students, you need to be adequately supported, especially with the ever increasing workload. I applaud you all, in the midst of this workload, for continuing to collaborate with your peers, offering assistance when and where you can, and continuing to provide support to one another. I am always so appreciative of the BCASP social events where I know I will take some time out of my day to relax with colleagues. Yet, social hour always turns into consultation as before I know it, we are talking about difficult counseling cases or assessments. Your constant dedication to your students is truly incredible. Your opinions and input has not gone unheard. This summer, the BCASP leadership team plans to work towards using the data and information collected this year, especially from your specific concerns, to strengthen the association, and in turn, the school psychologists voice. We will keep you attuned to our progress and in the meantime, I encourage you to take time for yourselves and your families this summer; Rest, Relax and Recharge!

June 12 Last Day for Students June 13 - 14 Professional Development June 13 BCASP End of Year Celebration June 17 Last Day for Staff June 25-27 MSPA Summer Institute
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Internship Experiences

Breaking the 4 Behavior Barrier Shaking up the Schoolhouse Getting Resources Academic Intervention Selective Mutism Committee Updates Unsung Hero Awards

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Pamela A. Cocol, M.A., C.A.S. Nationally Certified School Psychologist

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Organization

BCPS Internship Experiences

Written By: Brad Petry, PsyD

Oh, to be an intern again! Young, fresh out of training, ready to take on the world, make positive changes, and fix everyone and everything! At this time of the year, it is often difficult to remember that fresh-faced feeling of optimism and excitement. Last year, I had a unique experience as a doctoral intern; I was experiencing new professional challenges, yet I encompassed a more world-weary view of our school district. I was also exposed to the intern cohort, which reminded me of that hopefulness, eagerness, and (more than) a touch of anxiety that comes with the intern experience. City Schools affords lots of great opportunities for interns to be exposed to unique situations; these situations are often attractive to optimistic interns insisting on realizing positive change. The district is an urban environment, and our children often experience needs that not only require an empathetic approach, but that also stretch the clinical muscle of even our most veteran practitioners. Above and beyond the experiences that come with such an environment and diverse population, there are many schools that provide services to students with unique needs. There are schools with programs that specifically address needs and age-ranges, such as emotional disability and autism services. There are schools that serve over-aged and under-credited students. There are schools that have early learning programs. As I entered the William S. Baer School in the fall of 2011, it did not take long to recognize that practicing school psychology in a public separate day school environment was going to be far different from the type of comprehensive service I was used to providing. Despite the inherent challenges, it did not take me long to realize the distinctiveness of this school. It also did not take me long to realize what a wonderful opportunity I had to be able to practice school psychology in such an environment. My intern point -of-view recognized the potential of the experience, while my veteran point-of-view recognized the potential for systematic change. Last year I invited the six other interns to each spend a six-week rotation (one day per week) at Baer with me. This experience was widely indicated as favorable by the interns. The 2011-2012 interns also completed twoweek rotations at other alternative or unique school environments around the city, but these rotations did not commence until late spring, when (as we are currently experiencing) testing demand is high, end-of-the-year requirements are pressing, and for interns, portfolio and hour-logging assignments have approached. With the support of the administrators, this year the interns began the scheduled rotations at the beginning of the year, in order to spend a significant amount of time in each setting. William S. Baer remained a site, and all of the interns were able to spend six days over six weeks there. The other sites were the Elementary Life Skills and AOP with Tiffany Dial, the Elementary Emotionally Disabled setting with Elaine Moore, and

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the Middle School Emotionally Disabled and Early Learning Environments with Rosslyn Kooser. Several of the interns were also able to shadow Nadine Warrick as she worked with the Office of Early Learning. Early in the year, interns went to a High School AES site with Rob Zissel, but low student attendance and population at this site became barriers to meaningful intern experiences. Informal feedback from the interns has been positive. As a large, urban educational environment, we have many unique schools, and we are now making positive use out of these potential learning experiences in our training program. Interns indicated that their respective cohort members of their universities did not have opportunities like these. Most interns suggested that one or two of the rotations were very eye-opening experiences. One intern said, It was really great to get a chance to see the other city -wide programs and how to serve those subgroups as a clinician. It is also nice to get the opportunity to see school structure/functioning/etc, outside of our main site. There is also another positive consequence to establishing these rotations; interns are exposed to multiple supervisors; all of which are veteran practitioners. Traditionally, an intern received the most direct supervision from the site-based supervisor. By meeting with a rotation supervisor, the interns were exposed to different supervisory styles as well. Interns are also exposed to differing points-of-view and opinions, practice methods, and theoretical backgrounds. As another intern indicated this year, Allowing me (as an intern) to rotate to different schools throughout the year helped diversify my experience. In doing so, I had opportunities to work with a wide range of students and age groups, alongside school psychologists with different styles of supervision. The intern rotation program is not without some room for improvement. Being a new initiative, some issues require troubleshooting, such as the challenges of the High School AES. Also, some interns had programs at their primary sites, so rotating was redundant. Occasionally, there were scheduling conflicts or a specific rotation site may experience a down-time when interns might require more structure to get the most out of their visits. However, by identifying the areas of need, this program can only become better organized and increase in effectiveness. Baltimore City School Psychologists should be proud that our district can provide these experiences to trainees. This experience is the function of having many opportunities within our large, urban district and is also the function of having a committed supervisory staff, as well as dedicated and talented school-based professionals. It is the ethical duty of school psychologists to give back to the development of the profession. If you have a unique program at your school, and think that having interns visit your school would offer a unique, meaningful, and positive experience, feel free to contact Brad Petry at bpetry@bcps.k12.md.us.

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Breaking the Behavior Barrier

Written By: Erin OKeeffe, Ed.S.
Breaking the Behavior Barrier is a reoccurring column that highlights intervention ideas to help improve classroom behavior management so the focus can be kept on learning. Intervention: Critters Materials Needed: Critter Prize Slips (included on the next page) Grade Levels: Elementary School; can be adapted for Middle and High School Purpose: This is a positive reinforcement intervention that can be used with the entire class. It may also be adapted for older students by using paper money instead of critter slips. Steps for Implementation: 1. Preparation: Create a list of up to five positive behaviors that will be used for this intervention. Include student ideas about the most important behaviors. Then, generate a list of reinforcers or privileges that the critter slips can be used to earn. Post a list of each privilege and the number of critter slips needed to earn each one in the classroom.

Critters! is an intervention that can help the entire classroom engage in targeted positive behaviors.

2. Introduce the program to your students explaining that one of the behaviors will be chosen each day. Students displaying the behavior of the day will earn a critter slip when the behavior is demonstrated. Discuss when the slips will be given out and set guidelines for when reinforcers will be awarded. This can be at the end of each day, on Fridays, etc. 3. Begin using the intervention on a daily basis. Put a pre-determined number of critter slips aside (10-15). Be sure to use all the critter slips put aside each day being careful to randomize the students who earn them. Each student should write his/her name on the slip and store them until it is time to trade them in. 4. When the agreed upon time for reinforcers comes, allow students to trade in their critter slips for their chosen rewards. 5. Begin to fade the intervention by first reducing the number of critter slips given out each day. Then, certain days can be picked during which the intervention does not occur such as once a week. Eventually, the intervention can be used only once in a two to three week period. Reference: Critters! Rewarding positive behaviors. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2013, from Intervention Central Website: http://www.interventioncentral.org

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Critters! Prize Slips

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Shaking up the Schoolhouse Standards

Submitted by: Cindy Thorne, NCSP
In "Shaking up the Schoolhouse (2001), Phil Schlechty asks "What are the qualities, or attributes, that are likely to make school-work more engaging?" (p. 107). He highlights ten process standards that are found to be the fundamental indicators of quality, meaningful, and engaging work. Understanding these key points provides a helpful framework for observing students to gauge the quality of work presented. For school psychologists who are frequently consulting with teachers to improve student performance at school, these indicators provide one concrete method for giving teachers feedback on their instruction if it is observed to affect a students progress in their classroom. These standards include the following: Content and substance teachers and administrators share an understanding of what students need to know and be able to do Organization of knowledge content organized to maximize learning possibilities for all students Product focus the work and the tasks that students engage in. Includes the issues to consider, the problems to solve, the products that result from this inquiry, and their performances and exhibitions Clear and compelling product standards students understand exactly how the results of their work will be evaluated Protection from adverse consequences for initial failure teachers promote a climate that encourages risktaking and supportive analysis when failure occurs Affirmation of significant of performance involving the student support network (peers, parents, teachers, community members) who participate by affirming students work Affiliation supporting student opportunities to work in groups of two or more with classmates, staff, parents, other community members Novelty and variety providing a substantial range of learning opportunities that are exciting, challenging, and employ simple to complex technologies Choice Students are given the opportunity to choose tasks that reach the intended goals of the curriculum (or the days objective) Authenticity supporting tasks and consequences that are meaningful to students.

The author noted that this framework (what he calls working on the work (or WOW) is not a lesson plan format, nor does it assume that all students respond to the same qualities in the same way. Nonetheless, it is a helpful roadmap to consider best practices that increase stu-

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Shaking up the Schoolhouse Standards, continued from page 6

dent engagement in their learning to support teachers who may have difficulty implementing one or more of these instructional principles. This is especially critical when the team has worked collaboratively to understand what forces motivate and frustrate the student, and it is hypothesized that inconsistent implementation in one of these areas may be reinforcing a behavior that impedes learning. In the course of consulting with general and special educators, two of these ten areas seem to be often overlooked: clear product standards and protection of adverse consequences after initial failure. Letting kids know when they will be tested or even what kinds of questions will be asked (e.g. it will be all multiple choice with two BCRs) can be helpful. Helping teachers to consider how to be more explicit, such as giving a pre-test with the same format (with different questions) before the exam could be an especially effective instructional practice. With regarding to failing test grades, even teachers who have a fairly lenient make-up policy for failed work (including allowing the child to re-take one test because they were getting sick that day) rarely have a standard procedure for ALL failing grades. Some simply mark the grade in their books as it stands (allowing it to be reflective of the childs lack of content knowledge) while still others may have the student take home their failing grade for a parent signature. The idea of having a parent to bear witness to the failure accomplishes little else other than making the student painfully aware of their lack of understanding. Supporting the teacher to create classroom policies that do not just allow for but INSIST on having all grades of 69 or below to be re-administered after the student received instructional feedback is an intriguing idea for best practice. Careful consideration to how this is done is paramount, where teachers would need to give feedback on the process (where the childs thinking went off track), verify their new understanding before re -exposure to the assessment, consider how to modify the assessment (e.g. using the exact same or slightly different questions), and avoiding coaching the correct answer rather than the correct process. This allows for celebrating the success of the students improved process (even offering partial credit) even if the students grade does not change dramatically. Children who are chronically low performing in class often develop negative feelings around work production because of assessment tasks. Refocusing the testing experience to be an opportunity to learn more and feel better when they see their scores improve, however slightly, is a helpful tool to increase student motivation for learning. These process standards are found to be the fundamental indicators of quality, meaningful, and engaging work.

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Theres an App for That: Resources for School Psychologists

Written By: Kerri Jean Carter, M.A./C.A.S.
Apps to make your life easy! For all you smart phone and Ipad users, here are some great apps to make your job a little easier. Digital Dropbox- forgot your flash drive? Dont worry! With this app, you can access your documents from any computer or smart device. Just download the digital dropbox to your desktop (all of them) and onto your phone. Documents automatically sync between your devices when connected to the internet. Docusign Ink This is a free app that you can also access from a computer. Docusign is a program that allows you to electronically sign reports, progress reports, legal documents and even ET notes electronically! Just create your signature by either taking a picture of a hard copy or actually sign your phone/Ipad screen. This will store your initials and your full signature. -Sign electronic copies of your reports before submitting them to psychreports.
-Great option for supervisors to review and sign their mentees reports or ET notes from a distance. -Pull up documents from your online digital drop box off your phone and sign away easily. -Can e-mail your signed documents to your IEP chairs, psych reports, or even parents.

BehaviorLENS - $29.99 (Ipad only) Behavior Lens is a multimodal behavior observation tool created by school psychologists to identify the frequency, duration, and function of behaviors of interest. No paper and pencil interval data collection needed. Now you can have all of your observations in one place. This is an absolutely awesome app that is worth the money- better than any data collection apps I have tried so far! The website is: www.behaviorlensapp.com Generates graphs in PDF format so they can be e-mailed, printed, or attached to documents. Peer comparison Ability to take notes during the observation Can create specific behaviors that you want to observe or use the lengthy list provided

Counseling Apps for Elementary students by category: https://sites.google.com/a/kis.or.kr/korea-international-school---elementary-counseling/poll

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Academic Intervention Highlight

Written By: Twila Beck, M.A., School Psychology Intern
At IEP or SST meetings, teachers may indicate that they commonly use peer tutoring as an intervention to help students increase their reading comprehension and fluency. However, the implementation of peer tutoring can vary greatly from teacher to teacher, and may or may not be evidenced or research-based. Fuchs and Fuchs (2005) implemented a peer tutoring intervention called Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), which is an intervention that has indicated positive effect sizes in favor of increasing students reading skills. The PALS intervention is outlined below: Recommended for: Students in 2nd- 6th grades Purpose: To meet the academic needs of a broader range of students in reading fluency and reading comprehension What Teachers Need to Know Prior to Implementing PALS: -Implement three 35-minute sessions each week with all children in the class. -Teachers train and model students how to use PALS in seven 45 to 60 minute sessions. -Each student pair should include one student who is performing high in reading with one student who is pe forming low in reading. -The pairs can be assigned by generating a class list that ranks students from strongest to weakest reading skills. -Then, a distinction is made at the median. The first student on the high reading list is paired with the first student on the low reading list, and then the second student on each list is paired. The pairing of students continues until no students are left on the list. What Teachers Need to know During Implementation of PALS: The student who has stronger skills in reading goes first. Make sure that the reading material is at the instructional level of the lower reader Pairs are assigned to 1 of 2 teams and points are awarded for desired behaviors. At the end of the week, each pair reports its total and top teams are given a reward.

The Intervention: Partner Reading: 1) The higher performing student reads for 5 minutes 2) The lower performing student reads the same material for 5 minutes 3) The lower performing student retells the story sequence in 2 minutes. Paragraph Shrinking: 1) A student reads one paragraph and then stops at the end of the paragraph 2) The other student asks, What was the main idea? When identifying the main idea, the student asking the questions can say, Who or what was the paragraph about? to prompt the peer. 3) Then, the student will be asked to summarize the paragraph in 10 or fewer words. 4) Students switch roles after 5 minutes Prediction Relay: 1) The first reader reads a half page aloud, while the other tutor corrects errors 2) For each half page, the reader predicts what will be learned next 3) The other peer confirms or disconfirms the prediction 4) The main idea is stated 5) Switch roles after 5 minutes Reference: Fuchs, D. & Fuchs, L.S. (2005). Peer-assisted learning strategies: Promoting word recognition, fluency, and reading comprehension in young children. The Journal of Special Education, 39, 34-44.

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Selective Mutism: A Case Study

Written By: Jessica Munch, M.A./C.A.S.
At the beginning of this school year, a kindergarten teacher mentioned to me that her student was not talking very much. After doing some exploration, we found out the student was getting outside counseling for tantrums she was engaging in at home. After getting a release to speak to the students therapist, I realized that even though the student had not spoken directly to the therapist at all during the evaluation and first few sessions, the therapist had not noted it as strange since she had seen the child talking and playing appropriately with her mother through a two-way mirror. The therapist provided me some suggestions on what the teacher could do with the student in order to get the student to talk more. At that point, I consulted with the teacher and thought the student was opening up more, especially since I had seen the student in the classroom from afar playing with other children and raising her hand to volunteer to participate. Apparently I was wrong, since I found myself sitting at an initial IEP meeting for the student soon after that, and although she would play and raise her hand, she would not verbally participate. My team decided that they were suspecting an emotional disability since they felt her learning was being impacted by not speaking since learning to read relies so heavily on verbal activities, such as practicing rhyming, segmenting, and blending. In addition, the student's teacher felt she was unable to determine where the student was functioning academically, so assessments were ordered. At this point, the student would speak softly to the teacher when standing right next to her and provided with immediate incentives (e.g. If you whisper your answer to me, you can earn a sticker!) or try to communicate in other ways when she needed to (e.g. tap the teacher on the back, say the word "pencil and point to another student to convey that another student took her pencil). I also was not aware that this student had never talked directly to another student as far as the team could tell. Although I did not know a great deal about selective mutism, I knew that we had to act as soon as possible to get the student talking or else she may get worse and it may become more difficult to intervene later. After getting permission from the students mother to observe, work with, and later videotape the student, I found out what the student liked, which happened to be cats and drawing. I went into the classroom and observed the student, making sure to interact with the other students near her. At the end of the day, I spoke to the students mother in front of her and had her mother intr oduce me to the student. I referred to my being in her classroom that day to increase familiarity and told the student I would be working with her the following week. The student's mother was able to encourage the student to say hi and bye to me. The following week, I had the teacher work with the student as I sat next to them, and the teacher was able to get the student to whisper a few answers in front of me. I then took out my cat coloring pages and asked her if she wanted to color while the rest of the students went to the carpet. We both colored, and I first got her to shake her head to indicate yes or no to questions, then slowly worked my way to getting her to request certain colors by whispering them. Since the teacher had talked about how she was unsure of what the student actually knew and that on a recent test the student only identified a few letters by name, I had the student go with me to the back of the room where they have a large carpet with rhyming words on it. I made a game out of asking the student to find and point to a letter after I said it, and she was able to indicate twenty five letters correctly. I was then successful in getting the student to whisper some answers to questions about herself to me, including telling me that she likes the Ravens and to play princesses with her sister. The following week, I had the students mother come in during the class lunch time. While the class left, I setup two video cameras and had the students mom engage in pretend play and some academic activities with the student. In the weeks since I started working with the student, I had gathered resources from NASP and fellow school psychologists (including friends from different states and districts) who had worked with students who were selectively mute. I also practiced and figured out how to use my schools video camera and found a fellow school psychologist (thank you, Heidi Trassati!) who was proficient in using video editing software who was willing to help me. During this years NASP Convention, I had attended two sessions on video self-modeling, which is something I was planning on using for teaching my students with autism spectrum disorders appropriate social skills. Video self-modeling consists of videotaping the student performing the desired behavior, and if need be, editing in other people or editing out mistakes so that they can see themselves doing the appropriate behavior. Since all of the research I gathered indicated that video self-modeling was an effective intervention for students who are selectively mute, I wanted to try it. My video self-modeling session was a success! Soon after I brought the student to her mother, she began talking loudly and conversing appropriately, which was all caught on tape. I came in a few times and checked the cameras, and although the student at first lowered her voice and looked nervous when I entered, she soon was too engrossed with play that she continued to speak. After the session, I had the student, her mother, and her grandmother come with me into another room. I talked with them, and then they began asking the student to do things like say the ABCs and count for me, which she ended up doing, even agreeing to let me tape her do that and directly tell me about her favorite foods, TV shows, and activities. I then asked her why she does not talk much in school, and she responded that she was scared that the other children would laugh at her. At this point, when she offered barely audible responses in the classroom, which was rare, other students gasped and made comments like "Wow, she can talk," and it seemed as if they were starting to talk for her.
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Selective Mutism: A Case Study; Continued from page 10

These two scenarios make it more likely that the student will not talk in the future, and so my next plan was to show the video of the student talking and playing to the class and have a conversation about it so they could know that the student is very capable of talking. When I asked the student what she thought about me doing that, she became upset because she was unsure of how the other students would react. This reaction, however, opened the door up to the student agreeing to meet with me and one student who she liked and might eventually be willing to talk in front of. My plan was to the take the selectively mute student with this female student and work on shaping her behavior towards talking by playing copycat-like games where the student (and her new friend) would first do things that are successive approximations of speaking, like blowing bubbles, then making a noise (like clearing her throat), and eventually speaking individual words. I was prepared that we might just need to start with rapport building and I might need to facilitate interaction without speech at first, but with the amount that the student was now talking to me, I felt like it was doable. Here comes the unfortunate part. I never had the opportunity to edit in peers in the self-modeling video so it would look like the student was talking to another student or the teacher, or show it to the student so she could see that she could do it. I also never got the chance to facilitate those peer interactions. The student's mother moved their family to another state. Luckily, I was able to contact the student's mother and get written consent for me to consult with school psychologist there. Since selective mutism is so rare and occurs in only about 1% of the population (Kehle, Bray, & Theodore, 2004), the school psychologist had also never worked with a student with selective mutism. Through consultation, I have been able to share my ideas and suggestions based on the research I found. It is my hope that this school psychologist will continue to work with this student, her mother, teacher, and all those who can help intervene on this problem as early as possible. Even though I was disappointed I was unable to follow up on my ideas and see continued progress with the student, I felt successful with the small steps that the student made over the short amount of time in which we extensively worked together. I also am thankful I now have had some experience with a student exhibiting selective mutism so that I will be better prepared to recognize it and deal with it more immediately, and can offer my help to other school psychologists working with students who are selectively mute.

Things to Keep in Mind about Selective Mutism:

Students who are selectively mute typically do talk regularly in certain situations, like at home, but not in other situations,
like in school. Instead of speaking, they might still communicate, such as with gestures or very minimal verbal output. These students may even speak in front of certain people or within certain locations or during certain activities in school, but not others. Selective mutism usually starts and is first noticed when students begin school. Factors that might be related to selective mutism include family history of shyness or anxiety (my student's mother and sister both had periods of selective mutism), limited opportunities for socialization of children his or her age outside of school, adjustment to new settings, and/or possible early trauma. Researchers believe this is a learned behavior that students have been reinforced for, such as the teacher moving on to ask another student the question or other students providing verbal answers for the child. It is very important to involve parents in the process, as they might not fully understand the severity of their child's silence in school. Although my student was able to open up and speak to her mother in school when no one else was around, many service providers need to do home visits in order to hear their selectively mute student speak. The parents also know their child the best and can inform school personnel about what their child can do academically, what motivators or incentives might work, and to be a partner in intervening in school and carrying over reinforcement. Video self-modeling, use of successive approximations, and fading are good strategies for a therapist to use. Teachers should consider such strategies in the classroom as seating the student next to (not in front of) someone they may talk to, limit the number of students around them/sit them away from high traffic areas, allow for alternative methods of testing (i.e. point instead of say) and participation methods (white boards that students can write on and hold up) to allow the student to show what they know.

References and Resources: Kehle, T.J., Bray, M.A., & Theodore, L.A. (2004). Selective mutism: A primer for parents and educators. Helping children at home and school II: Handouts for families and educators. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. www.selectivemutismcenter.org - Selective Mutism Anxiety Research and Treatment Center www.selectivemutism.org

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BCASP Committees
Information Management Committee
We are still looking for committee members and contributors including: bloggers, photographers, and tweeters! Hope you can join us next year! Co-Chairs: Liz Niemiec (eaniemiec@bcps.k12.md.us) & Stephanie Metz (smmetz@bcsp.k12.md.us)

Legislative Committee
Co-Chairs: Courtnay Oatts (comohammed@bcps.k12.md.us) & Sharon Gorenstein (sgorestein@bcps.k12.md.us)

Membership Committee
We currently have 76 registered and active members! Co-Chairs: Sam Chavez (sdchavez@bcps.k12.md.us) & Colleen Mariella (cmmariella@bcps.k12.md.us)

Newsletter Committee
We are proud to share the last issue of the year! As always, your feedback is appreciated, as well as suggestions and contributions! Thank you. Co-Chairs: Christina Burton (clburton@bcps.k12.md.us) & Liz Niemiec (eaniemiec@bcps.k12.md.us)

Nominations Committee
Congratulations to the BCASP Leadership Team for the 2013-2014 School Year: President Sam Chavez, President Elect Nadine Warrick, Secretary Brad Petry, Treasurer Abby Courtright Chair: Susan Akers (sakers@bcps.k12.md.us)

Professional Development Committee

Our goal for next year is developing and maintaining an online library of professional development opportunities. However, this will require some volunteer assistance in gathering PD opportunities and updating them on the website. If you are interested in assisting please email one of the chairs. Co-Chairs: Miriam Yarmak( myarmak@ bcps.k12.md.us) & Brad Petry (bpetry@bcps.k12.md.us)

Social Committee
Our end of the year celebration will be held Thursday, June 13th after PD at The Green Turtle in McHenry Row 1606 Whetestone Way, Baltimore, MD 21230 Chair: Kate Shoemaker (keshoemaker@bcps.k12.md.us)

Public Affairs Committee

Check out the Unsung Hero Awards on page 11! Also, anyone who has created a DonorsChoose.org project and sends Kerri-Jean Carter the link will get a $50 gift card towards their project!! The first four people to respond will receive the donations! Co-Chairs: Sharon Flynn (sflynn@bcps.k12.md.us) & Kerri-Jean Carter (kjcarter@bcps.k12.md.us)

Correction from our last issue (Volume 4, Issue 3, Spring 2013):

The School Psychologist Spotlight: Sharon Gorenstein, misstated Sharon as an active recruiter. While Sharon informally engages in networking at numerous events and encourages new school psychologists to participate, she has no official involvement with the recruitment or hiring process of Baltimore City School Psychologists or their interns.

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BCASPs Unsung Hero Awards!

An Unsung Hero is a person who makes a substantive yet unrecognized contribution; a person whose bravery is unknown or unacknowledged. Every day each of us is hero in our schools and in our communities. If you would like to make a nomination, please email Kerri-Jean Carter at kjcarter@bcps.k12.md.us or Sharon Flynn at sflynn@bcps.k12.md.us or look for the box to make inperson nominations our next PD.

2013 Unsung Hero Nominations

January Jonathan Lasson - Jonathan was seriously injured (requiring surgery, occupational therapy, etc.) on the job, trying to protect a student from harming himself. I dont know the details, but I know that the student was successfully saved from harm and Jonathan is still dealing with the effects of his injury. February Mike Errion always full of good resources and knowledge when he is asked a question and he frequently responds to questions on our listserv; always willing to help out! Miriam Yarmak also always full of good advice and very supportive to those who have questions on our listserv and especially when someone needs a summary edited or wants feedback for a report. Jill Logan Knowing that she is entirely swamped this year she also is always giving feedback and support to other peoples case questions on our listserv. March James Blanchard- for always being available with important information and being a wonderful representative of school psychologists at the BTU. Dana Deise- She has made an incredible difference at several schools this year in training and facilitating with FBA/BIP data collection and implementation. Her ability to make everyone feel empowered and appreciated is so subtle, yet so important. Thank you Dana for the countless hours you have spent with our staff. Brad Petry- Recognized for creating the AU courses to better all school psychologists in Baltimore City and being available for countless questions and resources to anyone who comes to him for support. He is an amazing teacher, leader, and professional. He is also covering IEP meetings for his colleagues when they are unable to attend. Heidi Trasatti- For creating an afterschool animal empathy group, contributing to the AU memory course and covering IEP meetings for colleagues when they are unable to attend. Liz Neimiec- She has worked hard to improve the public communication of BCASP and its members. She has also done an amazing job with the newsletter layout and editing. Christina Burton- She always goes above and beyond. Even when she is busy she is always volunteering to help students, staff and fellow school psychologists. She is also a very dedicated supervisor. Pamela Cocol- She has done an outstanding job of serving as BCASP president, fulfilling her job responsibilities, assisting colleagues, all while planning her wedding! Gail Levy- always available for assisting others, reviewing assessments, providing support and giving feedback to others. April: Gail Levy- She has made herself available to score protocols for whomever needs it with her scoring materials. She will take the data over the phone and email the scores etc. by the next day. Kudos to Gail! Sherry Miles -I have called her numerous times to ask her help with Spanish speaking parents and her responses have been timely, generous, gracious and helpful. Nadine Warrick- Nadine has coordinated several amazing events for her school including a school based habitat for humanity project and she has recently worked to collect athletic clothing for our students so they can participate in the Special Olympics this year! Ana Maria Garcia-Fernandez- She is so diligent in her efforts to help out a colleague, even when she is over-loaded. I could not complete a very sensitive assessment without her amazing support. May: For helping colleagues on the Assessment Team when they desperately needed it. Taking on an assessment at a strange new environment is tough. We were drowning. Awesome Job: Sachele Edwards, Angela Seriki, Rick Busey, Michelle Ross, Judi Miller, Colleen Mariella, Stephanie Metz, Julie Morrow, Brittany Meli

Thank you for reading!

2012-2013 BCASP Board: Pamela Cocol-Brown, President

Sam Chavez, President-Elect Jessica Munch, Past-President Christina Burton, Treasurer Cindy Thorne, Secretary

Newsletter Committee:

Christina Burton, Editor-In-Chief Liz Niemiec, Design & Layout Editor Cindy Thorne Pamela Cocol Jennifer Ganz Erin OKeefe Twila Beck

Were on the web! www.bcasp.net

Join the Team!

The BCASP Newsletter is always looking for more material! If you are interested in writing with us (one time articles or reoccurring columns are welcome), please contact our editor, Christina Burton at: clburton@bcps.k12.md.us If you are interested in writing monthly blog posts for our website, (sharing your thoughts, experiences, resources, and/or insights to the field of school psychology), please contact Liz Niemiec at: eaniemiec@bcps.k12.md.us Please include a sample blog post, short bio, and a picture.