jennifer schultz, ispa president - loyola university chicago · jennifer schultz, ispa president...

I hope this issue finds everyone well and looking forward to Spring Break! I saw so many colleagues and friends at the Annual Convention that it felt like a wonderful reunion. I just wanted to personally thank everyone who braved the inclement weather to attend the Convention. I truly hope you enjoyed

the program and the workshops – the “Using Mindfulness as a Vehicle for Change” is near to my heart. I discovered the meaning of mindfulness a couple of years ago and I can honestly say that it has made a profoundly positive influence within both my professional and personal lives. So, in case you did miss the Convention, here are the highlights! There were over 600 people who attended. A big thank you to all of the 2015 ISPA Convention Committee Members, which include the following: Shirley Pitts (Convention Co-Chair), Denise Meyer (Convention Co-Chair), Kathy Martin (Convention Co-Chair), Carrie Meanwell (Exhibits), Kristy Kelly (Papers/Symposia), Rachel Losoff (Papers/Symposia), Kasia Kula (Job Placement), Chris Lewandowski (Job Placement), Genevieve Lukes (Scholarship Raffle), Katherine Townsend (Scholarship

Raffle), Bruce Kelsay (Volunteers), and Anthony Adamowski (Workshops). The Convention Committee Co-Chairs were recipients of the 2015 Presidential Award. The committee has three co-chairs: Shirley Pitts, Kathy Martin, and Denise Meyer. These ladies put in a lot of work to make each ISPA event a success and I was so pleased to award them with this honor. What a success!

There were many award recipients this year at the Awards Banquet. Congratulations to Michelle Eschman (Ted Smith Practitioner of the Year Award) as well as the Illinois Fund for Careers in School Psychology recipients Keeshawna Brooks (Loyola University Chicago), Ricardo Camacho (Loyola University Chicago), and Caitlin Cox (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology). The 2015 ISPA Distinguished Service Award was given to Carrie Emrikson and Cathy Stein for their work as Co-Chairs of the Professional Standards Committee and being so successful in navigating the CPDU proposal changes that ISBE had mandated. These ladies made sure that ISPA had the correct ISBE paperwork filled out appropriately and turned in with a specified time frame so that ISPA continued to

Presidential PerspectiveJennifer Schultz, ISPA President

:: Presidential Perspective

:: Editor’s Note

:: Ted Smith Practitioner of the Year

:: Presidential Awards

:: IFCSP Minority Scholarship Awards

:: Scenes From the 2015 ISAP Annual Convention

:: The School Neuropsychologist: Tourette’s Disorder in the School

:: The Union Way

:: Avoiding Power Struggles

:: Book Review: The Smartest Kids in the World

:: Bilingual/Bicultural Committee: La Casa Central Holiday Party

:: Book Review: The Kohlberg Legacy for Helping Professions

:: Dates to Remember

Vol. 36 No. 3 :: March 2015

Jennifer Schultz, ISPA President2014 – 2015

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Dear Members,

While I was not in attendance at the successful Convention just discussed by Jennifer, I was thrilled when she announced that the theme for the Convention would be “Mindfulness.” Thrilled.

If you’ve read a few of these columns over the past 4 years, first of all thank you, and second, you may have noticed that when it comes to my “philosophy” or “orientation” as a school psychologist, I come out strongly as a humanist. Our students are humans, our colleagues are humans, the parents are humans, and heaven forbid, we ourselves are humans. As I’ve mentioned before, I am not a school psychologist; I work as one. And while it is our job to meet our students’ needs, those needs are best met person to person with the basic human needs coming before the academic needs.

So I was thrilled to see “Mindfulness” as our theme, because it is a theme that acknowledges our own humanity. The theme wasn’t all the things we can do for others, it’s what we can do for ourselves. When we’re not regarded as human by those around us or above us, and pulled in so many directions, it’s easy for us to lose sight of our own humanity. And that’s on us. Because we can only control ourselves, and sometimes not even that. Thinking of everyone’s needs at the expense of your own is disordered thinking and I would highly recommend some outside resources. Because if we can’t meet our own basic needs, we’re in no shape to be of service to anyone else. And that’s where mindfulness comes in.

I won’t work under any one definition of mindfulness, since it can mean so many different things, both for ourselves and our constituency. And I won’t position myself as any kind of authority or expert, rather just say I’m trying.

During my second semester of my 2nd year of grad school, a friend brought me to a mindfulness meditation session on campus shortly before I was to change into my suit and drive to

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Official Publication of theIllinois School Psychologists AssociationSchool Psychology in Illinois (SPII) is published quarterly for the ben-efit of ISPA members. Views expressed in the newsletter do not necessarily reflect the position of ISPA’s Governing Board. Letters, comments and articles are welcome and should be submitted to the Editor. Material will be reviewed by the Editor for its appropriate-ness for inclusion in the newsletter. No unsigned material will be published. Material submitted for publication may be edited to con-form to space and format limitations and to improve clarity without permission of authors. Expressions of opinion may be edited only with the author’s consent. Editors of state school psychology asso-ciation newsletters and editors of NASP publications are authorized to reproduce uncopyrighted articles in SPII, provided that the author and SPII are credited. Editors are expected to note for their readers any modifications of reprinted SPII articles.

Editor: Tristan Harter, [email protected]

Editor Emerita: Breeda McGrath

Past Editors:Christy Budt Jeanette Quirk Charles Saltzman Mark Swerdlik

Contributors:Shawn Jamehdor Brian Lazzaro Charles Saltzman Dennis Simon Bill Turton Kurt Wagner

Art Director:Michelle Hansen, [email protected]

Deadlines for receipt of material by the Editor• February 10 • April 30 • July 10 • November 10

Submissions:Please submit articles and advertisements as email attachments in Word or PDF format to the editor at: [email protected] Website: www.ilispa.org

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be a recognized provider of CPDU credits. I’m sure everyone at the convention was grateful for their CPDUs!

Dr. Rosario Pesce received the 2015 ISPA Life Membership Award. Dr. Pesce has had a remarkable career as a school psychologist and ISPA leader, and he truly embodies all of the characteristics of a genuine and compassionate school psychologist! The 2015 ISPA Spirit Award was won by Loyola University at the All Association Party, featuring Piano Fondue. I must say, I was very impressed with the performances that occurred at this event from all of the training programs! Especially Jimmy Walsh from the Chicago School

of Professional Psychology and his “Elvis” performance! I hope for an encore next year! Again, congrats, Loyola University! You really raised the “ceiling” on next year’s performances!

I would also like to take this opportunity to also remind people to be diligent when it comes to staying informed about legislation that is going on in Springfield. As many of you are aware, there is a “new sheriff in town” with Governor Rauner and other new officials being sworn in. Please let ISPA be one of your primary sources for information about how to get involved in decisions that affect school psychologists and education in general throughout the state!

In conclusion, thank you for reading and I hope that this spring is full of better weather and opportunities to apply the new skills you had learned at the Convention to your daily lives!

ISPA Convention 2015 Awards2015 Ted Smith Memorial Practitioner of the Year – Michelle EschmanBy Lisa Brentlinger

Michelle Eschman is currently a school psychologist who works for the Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative (BASSC) and provides services to Mascoutah Elementary (grades K-5) and Mascoutah Middle School (grades 6-8). Prior to moving to the elementary level, she worked with high school students in the district ensuring that they were “college and career” ready. Her home district of Mascoutah #19 views her as an integral member of their team and family. This is evident to all of us at BASSC by the amount of Mascoutah attire that she owns! Michelle provides a significant amount of professional development and support to her schools in the form of ongoing trainings on current topics, RTI and PBIS team building efforts, consultation and collaboration with staff and parents, as well as pre-referral intervention planning and psycho-educational evaluations. She is also a lifelong learner who recently completed her administrative degree in December of 2012.

All in all, Michelle is a valuable asset to the field of School Psychology, a loving mother and wife, a dedicated member of her community, and a great friend. It is truly an honor to have her as a colleague at BASSC and to celebrate this great honor with her. Way to go Michelle!

Photo Courtesy of Ross Pesce

2015 Ted Smith Memorial Practitioner of the Year Michelle Eschman celebrates her award with presenter, colleague, and friend Lisa Brentlinger.

Presidential Perspectivecontinued from page 1

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an internship interview. It was getting close to having all my large projects due, I was a few weeks behind my cohort in securing an internship, and I was stressed out, which admittedly doesn’t take much. So when the meditation leader said to stay completely still and recognize every sensation, not even to scratch an itch, needless to say it was pretty difficult. I think I spend most of the session trying to get Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody” unstuck from my head. (By the way, if you do like Kings of Leon, try listening to The Features; they’re more talented and less [jerky]). But it was way outside of where my head and body had been the rest of the day. I was offered the internship I went to interview for that afternoon. Connection? No idea.

But mindfulness is taking a moment for ourselves, to regroup, refresh, detach from chaos, and regain connection with our humanity and the world before reentry into whatever situations may be screaming out for us. Because the day throws so much at you. When one of your coworkers is constantly running you down both in front of other colleagues and behind closed doors, when everyone just stares at you and asks what they should do like you’re the only one capable of sentient thought, when an escalated third-grader with autism has just punched you in the face, when the building and district environment has everyone on edge for fear of making a mistake, when your deadlines for 3-years don’t give a damn if you’ve just been neutralized for a month administering PARCC, when your district likes to have its cake and eat it too so often that it probably has a tab at Rolf’s Patisserie (Disclaimer: This is not entirely what my job is like, rather just a list of things that are unpleasant made up from various employment experiences. Also Rolf’s Patisserie is in Skokie and where we got wedding shower cakes back when I worked in publishing. It’s delicious). Even one moment to relax and breathe could be exactly what you need. I can’t find the passage that a wanted to quote here, but it essentially said that taking time to meditate every day is essential. And when you’re really busy and feel extra rushed, take twice as much time.

At my job last year, a colleague started a meditation club during most people’s lunch break. (And suddenly, a deluge of school psychologists reading this judged me for taking a lunch break at my job last year. Because that’s how we’ve been conditioned to view time for oneself as school psychologists). It was generally just the two of us, but he’d put on a guided meditation or some relaxing music and I’d lie down on the rug in the music room and temporarily leave the pressure cooker mentality of my building for a few minutes. The first day we did the meditation was actually the day I found out I was losing my job and when I saw my coworker at the end of the day, he asked how my afternoon had gone

after meditating. I replied, “It was all downhill from there.” He said, “That’s not what’s supposed to happen,” and I replied, “It’s still positive that there was a spot to go down from.” As a lame duck for the next 3 months, that time was invaluable. Sure, it may have been a little antisocial, but as one of the few unmarried, childless education professionals in the United States, taking a break from hearing about potty training was pretty fantastic.

Taking a moment to quiet yourself and reflect is also a good way to check in on our motivations. Why is getting this done so important to me? Why did that bother me so much? Is this really even about me? Am I making this all about me? In general, people’s reactions are about them, or as a social worker once said to me, “Everything is diagnostic.” More globally, at least professionally, this may sound like a sales pitch, but writing these columns helps me check in on how I feel about my profession and the state of education. (Spoiler alert: It varies). Maybe the same may happen for you.

And mindfulness isn’t just about us. We can bring it to our students. How many of us teach deep breathing and counting to 10 when we’re upset? Mindfulness. The social workers and OT at my school, who are awesome by the way, made deep breathing “wands” out of toilet paper rolls and streamers so students can include a calming visual effect with their deep breathing. There’s a growing body of research (and of course, consumer market) about doing yoga with students. At my school this year, they do it with the students in the district ED/BD program housed at our school; last year one of the 5th grade teachers, who was a licensed instructor, did it with her students; when I was an intern, one of the specials teachers did yoga with all the students. On Thursdays, after I’ve gone to yoga class before school, I’m more focused and energized. I’m pretty excited to try to help out with the ED/BD yoga so I can then hopefully work with some other students, even if the visual of my doing yoga is pretty hilarious.

So not only was I thrilled to see Jennifer use “Mindfulness” as the theme for the Convention, I’m also ecstatic to announce that she will be continuing her commitment to that theme right here in these pages. Starting next issue, Jennifer will be writing a mindfulness column (title TBD) for SPII, which will surely be easier once Kurt is stuck writing the Presidential Perspective.

Until then, best of luck with PARCC, stay safe both physically and emotionally, stay human, and remember that you are enough.

Thanks so much for all you do,Tristan

Editor’s Notecontinued from page 2

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ISPA Convention 2015 AwardsISPA 2015 Presidential AwardsBy Jennifer Schultz

2015 Distinguished Service Award

Recipients: Carrie Emrikson and Cathy Stein. Over the last couple of years, many of us have had the pleasure of having to log in to the Educator Licensure Information System (ELIS) on the ISBE website. This action is usually followed by feelings of frustration, anger, and exasperation based on the difficulty of making sense out of this site that holds vital information to our professional licenses. However, because of two dedicated and tenacious women, Carrie Emrikson and Cathy Stein, Co-Chairs of the Professional Standards Committee, many school psychologists throughout the state of Illinois have timely answers to even the most difficult questions regarding licensure.

No matter what time of day, Carrie and Cathy have always promptly answered any question I posed to them with sound advice. Whether the question is about if NCSPs are exempt from entering in CPDUs to how many days professionals have after attending a professional development to enter the credits into the ELIS system, Carrie and Cathy are never unnerved – there is no question big enough to scare them!

Carrie and Cathy have already been a big part of your year. As of January 1, 2015, there was a new packet from ISBE to fill out in order for an organization, such as ISPA, to continue to provide CPDUs. The application process was rigorous and required many finite details that were not required before. Because of the commitment that Carrie and Cathy have made to this organization, they were able to fill out the required forms so that people attending the 2015 ISPA Convention could continue to get the high quality CPDUs they expect from their state organization.

Because of them, ISPA will continue to be a main source of professional development to practitioners throughout the state. On behalf of ISPA, thank you, Cathy and Carrie, for all that you do on the Professional Standards Committee and your CPDU savviness!

2015 ISPA Spirit Award

Recipient: Loyola University. Rather than being awarded by the President at the Awards Banquet, the ISPA Spirit Award was the result of a contest at the All-Association Party. Each competing school had to compose and sing a song about School Psychology.

2015 Presidential Award

Recipients: Shirley Pitts, Denise Meyer, and Kathy Martin. It is with immense pleasure that I am able to honor three recipients with the Presidential Award this year. Those individuals are Shirley Pitts, Denise Meyer and Kathy Martin, Co-Chairs of the Convention Committee.

Without this team, ISPA members would not receive the perks that they do, which include delicious meals and decadent desserts and snacks. These women are the true foundation for ISPA Events; they plan everything from the convention booklets to the place where you sleep at night during the Convention. As an ISPA supporter, you will see their personal touches everywhere; these women take pride in their work and it shows as we have had record turnouts at our last couple of events.

Shirley, Denise, and Kathy work tirelessly though out the year on the major ISPA events such as the Fall Conference and Annual Convention. They spend hours on registration, booklets, ribbons, lanyards, answering

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Photo Courtesy of Mike Grenda

Professional Standards Committee Co-Chairs Cathy Stein (left) and Carrie Emrikson celebrate their well-deserved Distinguished Service Awards.

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questions, organizing handouts, takeaways, providing the evaluations/CPDUs to the workshops, and scouting out locations to hold our events, using their charismatic personalities to score the best deals for ISPA members and supporters.

Shirley, Kathy and Denise form an invaluable team. They are always eager to help others and treat everyone the way they would want to be treated; that is true compassion. I am proud to call them colleagues and friends.

Thanks so much for the loyalty you demonstrate to ISPA and to all of its ventures! Thank you so much for all that you do on behalf of ISPA!

2015 Life Membership Award

Recipient: Rosario Pesce. Dr. Rosario Pesce has been involved with the ISPA Governing Board for almost two decades. In approximately 1997, he was asked to represent ISPA on a committee for the Illinois Mental Health Association. Since that time, Ross has been an active and influential member in ISPA, serving in a variety of roles including Committee Chair and President. Whenever Ross has been asked to do anything for ISPA, he always responds with his trademark wry smile and a “yes.” In many cases, Ross has ultimately said thank you for pushing him out of his comfort zone and helping him grow. While serving many years on the ISPA Governing Board, Ross has always been a voice of reason and has assisted ISPA leaders with guidance and support.

Ross continues to make significant contributions to the field of School Psychology on the state and national levels as well. Many years ago, he was at the forefront of advocacy for school violence prevention efforts, providing mental health supports in schools, and alternative to suspension. Ross has also been a leader and trainer for the NASP PREPaRE program since the early days of PREPaRE.

Ross has also been a leader in training for school psychologists. During his career, Ross was a highly sought-after intern supervisor and has supervised scores of interns. His former interns have supervised interns and those interns have supervised even more interns. We could officially name Ross the “grandfather of school psychology interns” and could easily play a game of 6 Degrees of Separation and trace every school psychologist in Illinois back to Ross! In his “retirement,” Ross continues to focus on training of school psychologists as he coordinates practicum students in Loyola University’s School Psychology program.

Lastly, Ross has always emphasized how important it is to be involved in one’s state organization. He has recruited countless people to become engaged in ISPA and two of his former interns have gone on to be President of state organizations. Thanks to Ross, ISPA continues to thrive as one of the best state School Psychology organizations in the nation. Dr. Rosario Pesce has previously been honored as Illinois School Psychologist of the Year, National School Psychologist of the Year, and now we would like to honor him with the ISPA Life Membership Award in recognition of all he has done for School Psychology in Illinois. – Anthony Adamowski & Jim Wilczynski


The Loyola student association celebrates its 2015 Spirit Award victory at the All-Association Party.


2015 ISPA Life Membership recipient Dr. Rosario “Ross” Pesce (center) celebrates his award with presenters Anthony Adamowski (left) and Jim Wilczynski.

ISPA 2015 Presidential Awardscontinued from page 5

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Keeshawna S. Brooks

Keeshawna is an African-American second-year doctoral candidate in the School Psychology Program at Loyola University Chicago, who is currently completing her practicum in Chicago Public Schools. Her motivations for choosing School Psychology as a career emerged from a synthesis of experiences that have a common underlying theme of social justice; she wanted to explore the notion of equity, human development, and the mechanisms that drive humans toward achievement and the deleterious forces that can counteract positive internal motivations. Keeshawna desires to use her research experience combined with her interest in developing interventions to help “shore up the gap in the social and developmental factors that can negatively influence the psychological well-being of adolescents.”

Keeshawna has volunteered at The Bridge Teen Center in the south suburbs of Chicago, which welcomes students in grades 7 through 12, and offers programs that focus on everyday life, community connection, educational support, mind/body, and the expressive arts. She currently participates on two research teams at Loyola; one involves leading an anti-bullying leadership group at a middle school just south of Chicago, and the other involves the drafting and editing of a survey to capture adolescent and young adult perspectives on sexual health education.

One of her professors stated, “From the outset, it was evident that Keeshawna is a special talent.” He describes her as “bright, perceptive, sensitive, and a natural leader. Keeshawna leads by stepping up to make sure that things happen well and by the moral example that she sets. She is a person of the highest ethical character.”

Ricardo Camacho

Ricardo is a Latino first-year student in the School Psychology program at Loyola University Chicago. He attributes his desire to pursue a career in School Psychology from his upbringing as a young Latino male in the city of Chicago, where every day was a life lesson in learning how to overcome obstacles placed upon his education and on himself. He intimated that the daily routine of having to constantly learn how to remain on the path to succeed has remained invaluable in how it has ignited a light to his aspiration to help similar youth who are currently experiencing such a journey. Living in various parts of Chicago,

ISPA Convention 2015 Awards2015 IFCSP Minority Scholarship WinnersBy Richard Harley

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IFCSP Minority Scholarship recipients Caitlin Cox (second from left), Ricardo Camacho, and Keeshawna celebrate with their professors James Walsh of the Chicago School (left) and Lynne Golumb and Markeda Newell of Loyola.


IFCSP Minority Scholarship recipient Keeshawna Brooks of Loyola with her professor Lynne Golumb.


IFCSP Minority Scholarship recipient Ricardo Camacho of Loyola with his professor Lynne Golumb.

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Ricardo’s experiences led him to witness individuals being limited by the inability to receive the appropriate support to move forward, which entails the heart of the work he does and plans to continue doing as he grows professionally. It is Ricardo’s belief that the burning light that has been ignited by labels that exist in our education that entails less and often expects less has guided him in propelling the success of our underrepresented minority youth.

Ricardo currently works with Loyola University Chicago’s Target New Transition (TNT). This is an academic support program designed to help high school freshmen in their transition to high school (e.g., help with homework; expose them to educational resources, and provide a safe environment where the students are able to develop their academic and social skills to succeed).

One of Ricardo’s professor states, ”I have become immeasurably impressed with his compassion for the field of School Psychology, his true desire to help others and his earnest approach in learning all he can.”

Caitlin Cox

Caitlin, a member of multiple racial and ethnic cultures, is a second-year student in the School Psychology program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Caitlin chose the field of School Psychology to be an advocate for children. Based on her personal upbringing and personal experiences, she witnessed the results of teachers and administrators trying to perform a job for which they were not trained. Additionally she notes that many of her extended family members attended schools that lacked state funding, had limited resources, and lacked committed staff, and watched many of her family members pushed through the system without ever receiving the adequate resources to succeed. Caitlin reported that on top of this turmoil came the unnecessary stigma of being a minority student living in a lower socioeconomic area.

As a result of her experiences, Caitlin came to the realization that she wanted to dedicate her life to working with under-represented students in lower socioeconomic areas. She has purposely sought out field placements in these types of areas. She currently works at a school with three self-contained classrooms for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders and oversees a weekly social skills group for children with emotional disabilities at another school. Caitlin has a desire to look at


IFCSP Minority Scholarship recipient Caitlin Cox of the Chicago School with her professor and department chair James Walsh.

the environmental variables to which these children are exposed which elicit inappropriate external responses, but also cause lasting damages to their brains.

Caitlin’s aim is to earn her doctorate degree specializing in Prevention, Intervention, and Neuropsychology, as well as obtain clinical licensure. One of her professors indicated that, “What makes Caitlin extra special is the amount of effort she expends in doing out-of-class activities that provide concrete examples of her motivation to “do good” for her fellow students, the community, the School Psychology Department, and the University, as well as her commitment to academia and cultural & racial diversity issues.”

Caitlin is currently President of the School Psychology Student Organization, Co-Facilitator of the School Psychology Student Diversity Council, Lead Student Ambassador for the Ed.S School Psychology program, and Student Representative on the faculty TCS Multicultural & Diversity Council.

2015 IFCSP Minority Scholarship Winnerscontinued from page 8

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Scenes from the 2015 ISPA Annual Convention


Loyola practicum students (from left center, counter clockwise) Simona Strugariu, Amanda Middleton, Caressa Buchanan, Marissa Ristich (somewhat hidden), Larissa Antognoli, Stephanie Rosas, Alysa Berenson, Molly Falkner, Amanda Berngard, Samantha Arnold, Nisa Gabiddon, and Whitney Creamean at Loyola’s hospitality suite.


Two presidents! Dr. Stephen Brock, President of NASP, and ISPA President Jennifer Schultz discuss life at the top.


Loyola’s Markeda Newell presents on Advanced Consultation Competence.

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Convention Committee Co-Chair and Presidential Award winner Shirley Pitts models the latest in ISPA haberdashery for Dean Brown, Kurt Wagner, Jennifer Schultz, Jim Wilczynski, Daphne Perry, and Anthony Adamowski at the Winter Governing Board meeting.


He knows his first name is Stephen. NASP President and multiple-time ISPA Convention presenter Dr. Stephen Brock presents on the DSM-V.


Illinois State’s Gary Cates presents on Targeted and Useful FBAs. Photo Courtesy of Ross Pesce

Christina Kane, ISPA Technology Co-Chair Mike Grenda, and Kate Simcox (left to right) convene in between sessions.


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ISPA Ethics Committee Chair and Chicago School department chair Jimmy Walsh presents on … surprisingly enough, ethics.


The ISPA Convention is family friendly as Convention Committee Co-Chair and Presidential Award winner Denise Meyer brought her daughter, Addison Holck, along with “Uncle Fred” Spitzzeri.


Loyola students performing their 2015 Spirit Award-winning song at the All-Association Party.


Membership Committee Co-Chair Mary Satchwell and NASP Liason Katherine Townsend represent NASP, who put on an outstanding Convention two weeks later.

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Past President Jim Wilczynski and ISPPAC Liaison Blake Martin perform karaoke of some sort at the Carnivale-themed IFCSP Minority Scholarship Raffle event. I’m imagining “Love is Strange.”


Emma Richer (left) and Alisen Surbey help session attendees sign in and receive their presentation packets.


Vernon Bergkoetter presents on word attack skills during the poster presentation session. I’m sure “OG Style Methodologies” means something more academic, but I really just want it to mean what I want it to mean.


Loyola students Nisa Gabbidon, Sam Arnold, Amanda Middleton, Alysa Berenson, Christina Tanzi, and Molly Falkner (left to right) at the Carnivale-themed IFCSP Minority Scholarship Raffle event.

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The School NeurospsychologistTourette’s Disorder and the School SettingBy Jeremy Ceja, Ed.S., NCSP

We are privileged to have a guest writer for this issue – Jeremy Ceja. Jeremy is a licensed school psychologist who is completing his Doctoral level internship at the CHSD 218 INSPiRE Neuropsychological Clinic. This is a clinic to which any district can make a referral if they have a case that would benefit from a neuropsychological viewpoint (a topic for a future column). If anyone wants further information on the clinic or wishes to submit an article for this column, please contact: [email protected]. – Dr. William Turton

Introduction

An individual with Tourette’s Disorder [TD], according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (APA, 2013), would have both motor and vocal tics, albeit not necessarily occurring simultaneously, with the first occurrence before age 18 and duration of more than one year. Also, tics must not be the result of side effects due to a foreign substance. This neurodevelopmental disorder differs from someone who has Chronic Tic Disorder, which is characterized by exclusively motor or only vocal tics. Motor tics range from eye blinking and facial twitches to head jerks and shoulder shrugs (Brown, Antonuccio, Dupaul, & Fristad, 2007). Vocal tics include sniffing and coughing, in addition to coprophenomena (expressing socially-inappropriate words/gestures), echophenomena (copying other’s speech and gestures) and paliphenomena (repeating one’s own words) (Cavanna et al., 2013). Tics can be considered simple or complex. Simple tics involve few muscles and are short in duration such as eye blinking or sniffing. Complex tics, such as jumping up and down, spinning, or echophenomena, involve movements produced from many muscle groups. During childhood and adolescence, one’s tics usually increase and decrease in severity, often spiking during stressful times. While it is certainly true that some individuals with TD do not experience comorbid conditions, it is not uncommon for those with TD to have concomitant behavior problems and comorbid neuropsychiatric illnesses. Individuals with TD may have comorbid illnesses including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Anxiety, Depression, Conduct Disorder and Personality Disorder (Phelps, Brown & Power, 2002). Related behavior difficulties can include aggression and self-injurious behavior (Robertson, 2000). Gaze, Kepley, and Walkup (2006) state more than 50 percent of adolescents and children with TD suffer from comorbid psychiatric disorders, with others estimating it to be near 80-90% percent (Khalifa & von Knorring, 2006).

Social Relations, Quality of Life, and Medication

Cohen, Sade, Benarroch, Pollak and Gross-Tsur (2008) explored how environmental conditions factored into one’s perception of his/her TD and associated effects. Participants with an external locus of control (poor ability to cope with daily life stressors due to it being uncontrollable and/or out of their hands) reported higher levels of anxiety and depression (Cohen et al., 2008). Many times, comorbid conditions do not reach diagnostic significance, but the individual has related behaviors that those surrounding them may or may not see. Children can present with oppositional or self-injurious behavior for different reasons. Social rejection faced by students with TD can be distressing and influence poor social behaviors. A related factor lies in poor anger control; a retrospective analysis of over 3,500 participants with TD located in 22 countries revealed a positive relationship between higher number of comorbid disorders and increased anger control problems (Freeman et al., 2000). When analyzing the impact of tic severity on measures of executive function for monozygotic twins, those with more severe tics tended to display more behavioral problems relating to impulsivity and external behavior problems (Randolph, Hyde, Gold, Goldberg, & Weinberger, 1993).

Eddy et al. (2011) reported students with TD were rated by their classmates as more aggressive. Participants in one study who reported being bullied due to their TD also reported more explosive episodes (Zinner et al., 2012). Freeman et al. (2000) concluded that 14% of all included cases presented with self-injurious behavior (SIB), comorbid OCD was a risk factor for SIB, and that higher comorbidity resulted in more occurrences of SIB. In fact, Mathews et al. (2004) concluded that mild SIB was related to the presence of comorbid OCD, while severe SIB was related to severity of tics and poor impulse control, suggesting varying levels of SIB may require different treatment methods. These conclusions inform school personnel of the complexity of each individual case in addition to the strife that individuals with TD may encounter but not necessarily share openly.

Treating TD with medication is common; 70% of children and teens with TD used psychopharmacological intervention (Gadow, 1993). While few

continued on page 15

15


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medications when taken will completely suppress tics, many are effective at controlling tics. Antipsychotic medications, even in children, are generally prescribed to reduce tics (Palumbo & Kurian, 2007). Antipsychotics prescribed for TD work on regulating the neurotransmitter dopamine, and are classified as typical and older, like Haldol and Orap, or atypical and newer, such as Risperdal and Geodon (Brown, Antonuccio, Dupal, & Fristad, 2007). Non-dopamine alpha-adrenergic agonists also have been prescribed for use in treating TD and include Clonidine and Guanfacine (Robertson, 2000). Unfortunately, the most-effective medications tend to have the most side effects. Side effects from antipsychotics may include an increase in extrapyramidal [movement] symptoms such as tightness in muscles, uncontrollable shaking, drooling, and facial-motor difficulties [tardive dyskinesia]; other side effects include sedation, poor attention and memory, changes in weight, and altered heart rate (Phelps, Brown & Power, 2002).

When considering comorbid conditions, such as ADHD, OCD, GAD, Depression, oppositional and/or self-injurious behavior, it is very common for individuals with TD plus one condition to take more than one medication. The side effects from one medication alone can be distressing; for example, a medication which causes a drastic increase in dopamine can produce symptoms of schizophrenia (Seeman & Kapur, 2000). Side effects are amplified when two or more medications are taken. A student can be simultaneously taking an antipsychotic and a selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant not to treat one’s mood, but for the obsessive compulsive features associated with TD (Palumbo & Kurlan, 2007). Additionally, a student with TD can take an antipsychotic to help suppress tic behavior, a benzodiazepine for anxiety symptoms related to TD, as well as concurrent stimulants for comorbid ADHD (Palumbo & Kurlan, 2007). Interactions between two or more medications can significantly impact one’s daily global

Tourette’s Disordercontinued from page 14

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functioning. Managing multiple medications affects an individual’s perceived quality of life and the whole child. It is important for the savvy school psychologist to help the student monitor behavior and communicate internal and external behavior to his/her prescribing physician.

Demographics and Comorbidity Rates

The occurrence of TD is estimated to be, in the general community, 0.6% of the population (Scahill, Sukhodolsky, Williams, & Leckman, 2005). In children and adolescents, it is estimated to occur in 3 to 8 per 1000 school-aged students (APA, 2013). Estimates of the broader term Tic Disorder range from 5-24% of all children (Singer et al., 1995) to 1-2% of all individuals across the lifespan when considering community occurrence (Scahill et al., 2005). Comorbid ADHD for individuals with TD has been estimated to occur in 21-90% of clinical populations (Robertson & Eapen, 1992), while comorbid OCD for those with TD has been estimated to occur in 11-89% of clinical populations (Robertson, 1989). In cases of very severe TD, ADHD is almost always implicated, with comorbid OCD almost as common as well. Nonetheless, the overall occurrence of TD in the general population is mostly low. However when there is a diagnosis of TD, the likelihood of comorbid conditions is high and an implication for practitioners. Relatedly, the adept school staff member considers differentiating tics from the manifestations of epilepsy. In these instances, it is important to remember that seizures are not stereotyped movements and cannot be suppressed.

It is also relevant to consider whether a student’s behavior is related to his/her TD or to a comorbid illness. Often, motor tics such as tapping or touching can be mistaken for compulsions typically seen in OCD; in such cases the meaning, intent, and function behind the behavior needs to be examined. In regards to children and adolescents, if the intent is to reduce anxiety, then understanding the behavior as a product of OCD versus a tic has implications for how a student interacts with his/her environment and classroom, as well as psychopharmacology. Neurologically speaking, the basal ganglia, a collection of nuclei involved in motor functions that is found near the thalamus in the base of the forebrain, is believed to be functioning abnormally in cases of TD and OCD. Interestingly enough, the basal ganglia is also implicated in Huntington’s and Parkinson’s Disease.

Neuroanatomy

In cases of medical conditions with a neurological basis, a basic understanding of brain-behavior relationships can empower staff to draft appropriate behavior and service plans. Overwhelmingly, research cites the involvement of the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and the neurotransmitter dopamine as factors in TD. The basal ganglia are implicated in the initiation and automaticity of movements and send projections to many parts of the cerebral cortex (3DBrain, 2013). The basal ganglia are made up of the following subcortical structures, albeit not all are directly implicated in TD: striatum (putamen and caudate nucleus), substantia nigra, nucleus accumbens, globus pallidus, and subthalamic nucleus (Blumenfeld, 2010). The basal ganglia have motor and sensorimotor projections that travel to many different parts of the brain. It is through the complex interactions of various cell types within the basal ganglia where dysfunction occurs, causing poor linking between perceived sensory cues and planned motor movements, resulting in tics (Leckman et al., 2010).

Similarly, the prefrontal cortex, generally responsible for executive functions, projects glutamate to the striatum, which gets projected either directly or indirectly via various basal ganglia structures to the thalamus (Leckman et al., 2010). Thalamic activity then returns to different areas of the cerebral cortex. This loop is referred to as the Cortico-Striato-Thalamo-Cortical (CSTC) circuit. When the circuit is irregular or the striatum has a smaller volume and is unable to inhibit the thalamus appropriately, the information returning to the cerebral cortex is over-excited, and this hyper-excitability is believed to lead to an increase in the obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors seen in OCD (Felling & Singer, 2011). Dopamine is purported to be involved in TD due to the remediation of tics when medications which block the reuptake of dopamine are used (Freeman et al., 2000). Dopamine originates from the substantia nigra, one of the subnuclei present in the basal ganglia, as well as the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain (Blumenfeld, 2010). While not an extensive review of the neuroanatomy of TD, it is easy to see that there is a lot of complex activity occurring within a somewhat small number of structures within the brain; this irregular activity causes a rather large degree of behavior challenges.


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Other Considerations

One area of life often unexplored by school practitioners when working with families who have a child with a chronic illness is sleep quality. Freeman et al. (2000) concluded that a significant positive relationship exists between comorbid conditions and sleep problems, specifically a history of sleep problems and current irregular sleeping patterns. The astute school professional should always ask one’s guardians about their child’s quality of sleep, such as whether he/she attains deep sleep and how many times does the child wake in the middle of the night. Due to the complex nature of TD and all the brain structures and neuro-cortical circuits involved, not just one factor affects sleep, but exploring factors which can affect sound nighttime sleep (access to technology, daily naps, and medication side effects), and trying to proactively address them can make a huge difference in the day-to-day functioning of a student with TD. The early-career school professional may be used to seeing antipsychotics prescribed for adolescents who present with mania, hallucinations and/or delusions, or extreme aggressiveness. Nonetheless, the adept school professional should be that aware a student with TD will probably be taking some dosage of an antipsychotic. An increase in stress-provoking situations, such as the start of a new school year, silent class time, all-school assemblies, and others can cause an increase in tic behavior. One should be aware of these environmental implications before reporting a medication to not be working. Due to comorbid conditions, a student can be on more than one medication and the likelihood of complicated medication interactions and side effects is high. As previously mentioned, social relations for students with TD are affected. The overwhelming public belief regarding TD is that all people with TD swear. Freeman et al. (2000) concluded just 14% of males (n=2846) and 15% of females (n=654) presented with coprolalia; upon analysis, this was most likely to occur in individuals with higher comorbid conditions. Nonetheless, many students report a history of bullying from peers and feeling ostracized either directly or indirectly by adults. Zinner et al. (2012) surveyed 211 10-17 year-olds with Chronic Tic Disorder and 26% reported being bullied, with degree of victimization positively correlated to the severity of their tics. Increased explosive outbursts have been reported in some students with TD compared to students without TD (Freeman et al., 2000; Zinner et al., 2012). The perceptive school professional remains sensitive to the possibility of

poor social relations and/or a history of bullying for students with TD. At a time where students do everything to fit in and not stand out, having this neurodevelopmental condition can be incredibly difficult and overwhelming.

Interventions

A comprehensive plan is needed when intervening in cases of TD. Medication is a start but rarely eliminates tics completely. Also, there are side effects to medication. Skills that school personnel can work on with youth who have TD include:

• Self-monitoring to identify the situations when increases in tic frequency occur.

• Relaxation training to help sooth erratic physiological activity.

• Mass negative practice where tics are practiced continuously until fatigued.

• Habit reversal training, which includes elements of self-monitoring and relaxation, in addition to developing a competing response to the tic.

• Cognitive therapy to address one’s possible rigidity and unrealistic expectations regarding tic suppression, in addition to the technique of distraction.

• Parent behavior management training to assist guardians in how to handle externalized/disruptive behaviors.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Blumenfeld, H. (2010). Neuroanatomy through clinical cases. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.

Brown, R. T., Antonuccio, D. O., DuPaul, G. J., & Fristad, M. A. (2008). Tourette’s and tic disorders. In Childhood mental health disorders: Evidence base and contextual factors for psychosocial, psychopharmacological, and combined interventions (pp.43-50). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Cavanna, A. E., Luoni, C .L., Selvini, C., Blangiardo, R., Eddy, C. M.,

Silvestri, P. R., Cali, P. V., Gagliardi, E., Balottin, U., Cardona, F., Rizzo, R, & Termine, R. (2013). Disease-specific quality of life in young patients with tourette syndrome. Pediatric Neurology, 48, 111-114.


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Cohen, E., Sade, M., Benarroch, F., Pollak, Y., & Gross-Tsur, V. (2008).

Locus of control, perceived parenting style, and symptoms of anxiety and depression in children with tourette’s syndrome. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 17(5), 299-305.

Eddy, C. M., Rizzo, R., Gulisano, M., Agodi, A., Barchitta, M., Cali, P.,

Robertson, M. M., & Cavanna, A. E. (2011). Quality of life in young people with tourette’s syndrome: A controlled study. Journal of Neurology, 258(2), 291-301.

Felling, R. J., & Singer, H. S. (2011). Neurobiology of tourette’s syndrome:

Current status and need for further investigation. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31(35), 12387-12395.

Freeman, R. D., Fast, D. K., Burd, L., Kerbeshian, J., Robertson,

M., & Sandor, P. (2000). An international perspective on tourette syndrome: Selected findings from 3500 individuals in 22 countries. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 42, 436-447.

Gadow, K. D. (1993). A school-based medication evaluation program.

In J. L. Matson (Ed.), Handbook of hyperactivity in children (pp. 186-219). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Gaze, C., Kepley, H. O., & Walkup, J. T. (2006). Co-occurring psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents with tourette syndrome. Journal of Child Neurology, 21(8), 657-664.

Khalifa, N. & Von Knorring, A. (2006). Psychopathology in a swedish

population of school children with tic disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 45(11), 1346-1353.

Leckman, J. F., Bloch, M. H., Smith, M. E., Larabi, D., & Hampson, M.

(2010). Neurobiological substrates of tourette’s disorder. Journal Of Child And Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 20(4), 237-247.

Mathews, C. A., Waller, J. J., Glidden, D. V., Lowe, T. L., Herrera, L. D.,

Budman, C.L., & Reus, V. I. (2004). Self-injurious behavior in tourette syndrome: Correlates with impulsivity and impulse control. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 75(8), 1149-1155.

Palumbo, D., & Kurlan, R. (2007). Complex obsessive compulsive and impulsive symptoms in tourette’s syndrome. Neuropsychiatric Disease And Treatment, 3(5), 687-693.

Phelps, L., Brown, R. T., & Power, T. J. (2002). Tics and tourette’s disorder. In Pediatric psychopharmacology: Combining medical and psychosocial interventions (pp. 203-229). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Randolph C., Hyde, T. M., Gold, J. M., Goldberg, T. E., Weinberger, D.

R. (1993).Tourette’s syndrome in monozygotic twins: Relationship of tic severity to neuropsychological function. Archives of Neurology, 50(7), 725–728.

Robertson, M. M. (1989). The gilles de la tourette syndrome: The current status. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 147-169.

Robertson, M. M. (2000). Tourette syndrome, associated conditions

and the complexities of treatment. Brain, 123, 425-462.

Robertson, M. M., & Eapen, V. (1992). Pharmacologic controversy of cns stimulants in gilles de la tourette’s syndrome. Clinical Neuropharmacology, 15(5), 408-425.

Scahill, L., Sukhodolsky, D. G., Williams, S. K., & Leckman, J. F.

(2005). Public health significance of tic disorders in children and adolescents. Advanced Neurology, 96, 240-248.

Seeman, P. & Kapur, S. (2000). Schizophrenia: More dopamine, more D2 receptors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 97(14), 7673–7675.

Singer, H. S., Brown, J., Quaskey, S., Rosenberg, L. A., Mellitis, E. D., & Denckla, M.B. (1995). The treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in tourette’s syndome: A double-blind placebo-controlled study with clonidine and desipramine. Pediatrics, 95, 81.

3DBrain. (2013). DNA Learning Center (Version 1.0.2) [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from: play.google.com.

Zinner, S. H., Conelea, C. A., Glew, G. M., Woods, D. W., & Budman,

C. L. (2012). Peer victimization in youth with tourette syndrome and other chronic tic disorders. Child Psychiatry And Human Development, 43(1), 124-136.


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Like my grandfather, my brother, and now my nephew, my father is a diehard Local 597 member. At 82 years old, he still passionately debates his friends on the merits of the Union. “Historically, if men would have been paid fair wages and benefits, there would have never been a need for a Union.” My nephew told him that the management of his company had tried to do something that was a direct violation of their federation contract. My father cried, “Fight them and don’t give an inch…brave men have died for those rights.” Unions once thrived as the pillar of justice in the world of blue collar workers. They were the collective voice of righteousness and equality for those who were powerless to speak. With their unified efforts, decent wages and benefits were fairly traded for sweat and hard work. But despite their success, I have grown dubious of the current role of the union as it pertains to our public schools. After 30 years in education, I have talked to endless teachers, aides, parents, observed classrooms, assisted administrators and have worked directly with students in many schools. What I have seen often defies everything that I know about education. School personnel who humiliate students, surf the internet during class time, turn their backs on bullying, allow vulnerable students to be unsupervised, talk on their cell phones while they show a cartoon movie, take advantage of uneducated parents, disregard the law, set up children to fail, claim a student is disabled just to get them out of their class, and the worst offense of all…I have seen them pilfer hope where it is needed the most. I have also seen some fantastic teachers. After all this time, to see a talented teacher work his/her magic on a room full of young, curious learners still astonishes me. Unless you have worked in the classroom, you have no idea how difficult teaching really is. It’s an extremely challenging balance of student needs, instruction, standards, and discipline with an audience of increasingly shrinking attention spans. How difficult it must be to sustain such boundless effort, and potentially be next to a colleague who has callously traded teaching for babysitting.

Somewhere along the way, some teachers unions seem to have lost their way. When did they shift from protecting employees’ rights to enabling poor performance? Besides an inordinate amount of time, the lowest estimate for getting rid of a poor teacher equates to about $50,000 and reams of documentation. Teachers can file endless grievances that are typically dealt with in a timely manner, but if they themselves flagrantly fail in the classroom, they may be pushed from school to school, but chances are they will retire before being actually let go.

Precious administrative energy cannot be channeled into fixing public education while it is being squandered fighting endless internal battles. During these battles, contracts are often passionately debated, details are dissected, and leaders from both sides draw lines in the sand, while the potential of a generation of students gets lost in the power struggle. Where is the voice of justice for the children?

With each new charter school or state take-over, teachers unions lose power and relevance. Our Chicago and Northwest Indiana region once flourished as proud industrial cities and the unions were a vital part of that success. Clearly there are great teachers and great unions still out there to represent them. But there are also ones that cling to mediocrity and become senseless obstacles to desperately needed change. Make no mistake, the wave of school reform will move forward despite the undertows, because continued failure is not an option. Our schools are currently at a very dangerous crossroads, with the potential threat of privatizing public education looming as a viable legislative solution.

Generations of my family are proud union members and I genuinely appreciate their critical role in brokering the fragile balance of power. The answer is not to dissolve them, but to collectively ensure that the quality of the product will always be the utmost priority.

Certainly the brave men and women who gallantly died for the rights of workers did not intend for those privileges to be used as tools of inequity. The real battle in education should be about generating positive student outcomes and supporting teacher integrity. All children, who are the products of our public schools, deserve a fair, unobstructed path to empowerment. No one has the right to steal hope.

The Union WayBy Barb Butcher

“

“

Precious administrative energy cannot be channeled into fixing public education while it is being squandered fighting endless internal battles.

- Barb Butcher

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1. Anxiety level is typically the first sign of a problem. Signs may include: talking too much, talking too little, head down, pacing, etc.

a. Intervening here requires a supportive stance… asking the student quietly if they need help or to take a break. If the anxiety can be lessened at this point, the behavior can deescalate quickly lessening the chance of a power struggle.

2. Defensive level: Here the student may be giving cues that they are starting to lose control. Signs include: verbal belligerence, hostility, abusive language, soliciting help from onlookers, or straying from the original activity (bringing in different topics or situations).

a. Intervening here is VERY critical. Here is where you may make or break the situation depending on the responses by the staff. The irrational behavior by the student may be pushing your buttons and you may lose your own cool.

b. The best approach during this stage is to set clear limits. Procedure:

2.b.i. Make sure the limit is clear to the student. Must be understandable by the student in clear language.2.b.i.1. Do this assignment now or do later at lunch/

after school.2.b.i.2. Complete task by self or with a partner.2.b.i.3. 2 min break at your desk or walk to the washroom.2.b.ii. Limits should be simple (2 options).2.b.iii. Limits must be enforceable (not do this or your parents will get mad at you).2.b.iv. Limits should be objective and non-threatening (keep to the activity you want the student to perform).

3. Help the student feel as if they have a choice and control over the choice. Using this approach will keep them from a no-win power struggle.

4. As soon as compliance is met, do not push other tasks. Thank the student for making an appropriate choice and move on.

5. Only one person can be giving the choices. Other staff should not be engaging the student in conversation at this time.

References

Crisis Prevention Institute Official Website. Retrieved from: www.crisisprevention.com.

How to Avoid Power StrugglesBy Carrie Emrikson, Ph.D., NCSP

Why is it that American teenagers, with access to high tech schools and the benefit of well-educated parents, perform below affluent kids in twenty-seven other countries in Math? This is the question Amanda Ripley, a literary journalist, sets out to answer in this, her second book. Her tools are the usual tools of the journalist— the interview, questionnaires, library, and computer—which she employs with curiosity and intelligence. Her sample size is small, at its core three American kids and their insightful comparisons of their experiences in both American and foreign schools. What we can learn from this makes an interesting and well-written book.

Ripley’s starting point is the observation and disappointment in the ranking of American students on a recent critical international measure—the PISA Test (Program for International Student Assessment, a measure of advanced thinking and communication skills), coupled with a second finding that these rankings are changing rapidly for some countries.


Book ReviewThe Smartest Kids in the WorldAmanda Ripley, Simon and Schuster, New York (2013)Reviewed by Charles Saltzman, Contributing Editor

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Ripley, a Time magazine contributing writer and a Fellow at the New American Foundation, a non-profit policy research organization, presents an interestingly conceived study and detailed discussion of American education and its problems. She talks to educators, high school students, and school administrators to find answers to challenging questions she was posing to herself. With the job market shrinking, academic mediocrity is becoming a heavy legacy for American kids to bear. Poverty and diversity seem to take too much of the blame for low test scores and high dropout rates.

Ripley spent a year traveling around the world, a “personal field trip,” she calls it. To learn more, she follows three American high school kids who have earned trips to study abroad—Kim, from Oklahoma heads to Finland, Eric from Minnesota to South Korea, and Tom from Pennsylvania to Poland. The three receiving countries have moved up dramatically on their PISA test scores in recent years. Ripley surveyed hundreds of other exchange students about their experiences in the United States. “I concluded,” she writes, “that we in America had been wasting a lot of time and money on things that didn’t matter. More than anything our schools lacked clarity of purpose and engagement that was evident in Finland, Korea, and Poland.” These educational systems had problems with bureaucracies and union contracts, but they were doing well and improving rapidly.

Ripley makes a serious case for a needed shift in American policy on education, more hopeful for the changes she seeks than I would be.

In Korea, Eric’s classes ended around nine in the evening, back in the United States his classes ended at ten after four. In the US, when kids do not do well on a test, they claim the test was unfair. In Korea, the kids conclude they didn’t work hard enough. American schools spend relatively large sums on iPads and interactive whiteboards with little evidence that the investment pays off.

In Finland, getting into a teacher training program is as prestigious as getting into a medical school in the United States. In 2000, ten out of ten new Finnish teachers graduated in the top third of their high school classes; only two out of ten American teachers had done so.

Whatever the intent of American teachers, their praise of student efforts is probably not always specific, authentic, and real. Asking serious questions about a child’s work is more valuable than congratulating the

child for finishing it. Parents and teachers, who manage to be both warm and strict, strike a resonance with children gaining their trust.

The education superpowers believe in rigor—schools exist to help students master complex academic material.

“I’d been looking around the world for clues as to what other countries were doing right, but the important distinctions were not about spending or local control or curriculum. None of that matters very much. People in these countries agreed on the purpose of school. These countries have a consensus about rigor.”

At the conclusion, Ripley offers advice to parents who are intent on finding the best schools for their children. She directs their observations to things that matter, including questions to ask. She shows little patience with Diane Ravitch’s conclusion that our problem is poverty, not our schools. Ripley responds: That is nonsense!

For another perspective, see the Editor’s Note in School Psychology in Illinois, 35(3).

The Smartest Kids in the Worldcontinued from page 20

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This past December, Rosalinda Barragan, Gaby Garibay, Lynae Maciel, Dr. Rosario Pesce, Karen Tipp, Tamara Salamon, Sandy Flores, and Karlee Quaritsch of the ISPA Bilingual/Bicultural Workgroup engaged in their 2nd annual volunteer effort at Casa Central’s holiday party. The volunteers aided in the festivities by crafting with the children and later serving dinner and dessert to all party participants. Other excitement included a holiday musical performance by children in the choir, as well as a raffle! Fun was had by all.

Casa Central was founded in 1954 and is located in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. The organization, self-described as having a special focus on Hispanics, seeks to provide services to children and families in order to promote self-sufficiency and build a higher quality of life. Ideals include strength in diversity and investment in the community, and Casa Central believes everyone has the potential to improve their life. Casa Central provides a range of services from in-home head start programs to programs for senior citizens.

Bilingual/Bicultural WorkgroupBilingual/Bicultural Workgroup Volunteers at La Casa Central’s Annual Holiday Party For Second Straight YearBy Karlee Quaritsch, Bilingual/Bicultural Workgroup Co-Chair


The Casa Central children’s choir sings holiday songs at Casa Central’s annual holiday party.


Karen Tipp, Lynae Maciel, Karlee Quaritsch, Rosalinda Barragan, and Sandy Flores (left to right) and the rest of the Bilingual/Bicultural Workgroup volunteers contributed the dessert table for the party.


Sandy Flores, Karen Tipp, and Gaby Garibay (left to right, not counting the guy in the black vest) contribute their artistic talents at Casa Central’s annual holiday party.

ELL CORNER

Check out the ISPA website

for the following information:

• A list of ISPA members with Bilingual Special Education Approval

• How to attain Bilingual Special Education Approval

• ELL Resources

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On a recent visit to a university bookstore, I found on the bargain table a curious looking paperback about a man whose name I recognized. It was priced at a difficult to decline $1.99. The name was Lawrence Kohlberg, a professor at the University of Chicago, who I knew briefly, many years ago.

Not handsome in a conventional way, and always unkempt, he was nonetheless frequently in the company of students, mostly women, buzzing about Piaget. By then he was considered an important Piagetian scholar.

My most recent recollection of anything about Kohlberg was a strong critique by Carol Gilligan pointing out that Kohlberg had seriously misconstrued the moral development of women. Kohlberg had found them to score lower than men on his scale of moral development. Gilligan pointed to the need to distinguish between moral reasoning and moral action. A strong valuation of “caring” was evident in the thinking of teachers, yet caring was placed at a relatively low level in Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning. My new bargain book was a collection of tribute papers published in 1991, four years after Kohlberg’s death, praising the enduring riches of Kohlberg’s work, all by students or colleagues of his during his time at Chicago, and later, Harvard.

I had not fully associated Kohlberg with the helping professions, which now made the book particularly interesting to me. Kohlberg was intent on schools becoming “just communities,” where the governance structure and major portion of decisions were made jointly by students, teachers, and administrators. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development was “content free”— it accommodated diverse religious beliefs, and he believed it would not be seen as unconstitutional were it challenged in a court of law as a religious intrusion violating the separation of church and state in public education. Moral education is education for justice. The function of moral thinking is to resolve competing claims among individuals on the basis of principle, he argued.

In Richard & Hayes’ (1999) chapter titled “Counseling and Clinical Implications,” one finds the following astonishing sentence: “Cognitive development is the key to understanding not only the psychology of morality but also of the process of internalization, imitation, and identification, sex role identity, early education, the influence of culture and social experience in personality formation, social dependency and attachment, mental health, adaptation, and pathology, and virtually all of the topics on social development that have a bearing on counseling practice” (p. 177). The references list two 1969 publications of Kohlberg. What is most astonishing about the sentence is its exhaustive cross-disciplinary comprehensiveness, and its glaring failure to include “affects” as specifically important in psychological functioning, on a par with cognition.

Cognition and affect may in contemporary school reform discussions be seen as a fault line separating two camps—the evidence-based practice group aligning themselves with quantitative measurement most frequently derived from tests of cognitive functioning (IQ and achievement), and the emotionally centered groups pointing to empathy and caring as essential in the practice of education, both in the setting of goals and in the determination of outcomes. When one takes inventory of the many crises in the world today, the glaringly absent attitudes and values among leaders are trust and cooperativeness – not reading or math abilities.

Book ReviewThe Kohlberg Legacy for the Helping ProfessionsLisa Kuhmerker, Doxa Books, Birmingham, AL (1991, 1994)Reviewed by Charles Saltzman, Contributing Editor

Dates to Remember

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It’s not too early to plan for the NASP Summer Conventions – July 6-8 in Milwaukee and July 20-22 in Atlantic City. Alice Cooper will have you know “it’s pronounced “Millie-wah-kay” which is Algonquin for “the good land.”

ISPA Research Grant applications are due April 17. Win up to $2000 for your beloved research project. For more application information, see: http://www.ilispa.org/membership/ispa-awards-and-grants/

jennifer schultz, ispa president - loyola university chicago · jennifer schultz, ispa president...

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