School Assessments: Finding Meaning & Advocating for Success
Feeling overwhelmed by school assessments? GPS Education Consulting’s life-changing advocacy & consulting services will guide you from confusion to clarity.
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Today we’re continuing our series exploring services that we use to help get your learner on a path to school success. Last week, we continued our deep-dive into the often emotionally-charged and confusing world of school assessments and psychological reports. We summarized some obstacles that are encountered when hardworking school professionals attempt to juggle competing demands within overburdened systems. We focused on implications of, and remedies for, the first obstacle.
Let me paint you an image to introduce the second obstacle:
“Opportunities to collaborate…felt less meaningful.”
You enter a small room filled with people you might not know. You’re carrying a stack of documents that describe your learner with a series of numbers and jargon.
You see reports detailing your learner’s: medical & educational history; cognitive & information processing abilities; executive functioning skills; social, emotional, and behavioral functioning; adaptive skills; achievement abilities; articulation, expressive, receptive, and pragmatic language skills; fine motor, gross motor, & sensory processing abilities; and more…
You look up, trying to hide the uncomfortable feelings you’re experiencing from this overwhelming situation. While doing so, you’re registering about half of what is said as people introduce themselves and mention the many things they want to accomplish during this hour-long meeting. They ask if you read the reports.
You did your best, but it was a lot of information to digest, and it’s hard to understand how it will be used meaningfully to help your struggling learner.
You tell them you “tried, but it was a lot.”
Schedule your FREE conversation today to find meaning & lose that overwhelming feeling.
Out of necessity, they then do their best impression of a pharmaceutical drug commercial narrator and attempt to each review their lengthy assessment reports in five minutes (to leave a few minutes left to make extremely important decisions regarding your learner’s educational programming).
Meanwhile, they shuffle in-and-out trying to be everywhere at once due to limited resources and a student body with increasing support needs. To avoid an additional meeting (the meeting calendar is already bursting at the seams), they must focus mostly on what your learner can’t do. They ask if you have questions, but you know this would take more time, and could delay supports for your learner by weeks. You say “No.”
With the best of intentions, they start talking about eligibility, or FAPE, or other words defined in laws you don’t fully understand. You hear things like “not eligible for SLD,” and “there’s a 504 team that can schedule a different meeting to determine eligibility.”
You’re confused and you haven’t heard your learner’s name in a while. The meeting ends as the next family arrives for their meeting. You leave feeling unsure about how that stressful experience will be useful and meaningful for your learner.
If you can relate…we’ve got a solution for you! Our life-changing educational consulting and advocacy services will guide you from confusion to clarity.
GPS Education Consulting L.L.C. provides expertise, knowledge, resources, and guidance every step of the journey.
Before the meeting:
Our record review services will break the documents into manageable chunks - highlighting the strengths and concerns we see based on our distinguished training and experience.
We’ll review the reports together in a comfortable place and at a convenient time for you, discussing what it means for your learner, and ways schools might interpret them.
Ask all the questions you have in the privacy of your home until you feel ready for the big meeting!
During the meeting:
We’ll join you as a non-attorney advocate to:
Support your understanding and make sure your input is heard,
Ensure your learner’s rights are upheld, &
Serve as a liaison between you and the school team, helping to find shared understanding, and productively collaborating to develop a plan that’s meaningful and personalized to your learner.
Afterward:
We’ll be there for you to: answer questions, plan next steps, and ensure proper and accurate documentation.
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Together, as one… Navigating the path to school success!
Psychological Assessments: From Confusion to Clarity
Assessment obstacles blocking the path to school success? GPS Education Consulting helps you understand reports, and advocate effectively for your learner.
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Today we’re continuing our series exploring services that we use to help get your learner on a path to school success. When applied with the expertise and tact of GPS Education Consulting L.L.C., these tools work wonders!
Last week, we wrote about psychological assessment reports. We summarized (from our experience writing hundreds of reports over the years) some challenges and threats that are encountered when hardworking school professionals attempt to do the impossible within overburdened and under resourced school systems. We’re talking about: completing comprehensive assessments while effectively communicating the results to parents and staff, and collaboratively applying the findings to important decisions for a learner’s education.
This is a recipe for several obstacles. Today we’re tackling the first obstacle:
“Opportunities to collaborate with experts in various aspects of the learner’s life shrank.”
While this is often an unfortunate reality, it doesn’t have to be this way.
Today we’re sharing additional insights and ways we can help you move past obstacles to get your learner on the path to school success without wasting any more precious time in their educational career.
Unfortunately, when parents are advocating on their own it is often challenging to get all the people that are needed into the same room (or Zoom call) for a meeting, and even harder to get people to stay for the whole meeting.
There are many reasons for this, but usually, its because it’s not possible to find coverage for staff to attend the meetings, or because related service providers are split across multiple schools and have to choose between missing services for students and attending a meeting. It usually points back to the recurring theme of allocating limited resources to the system’s ever-growing needs.
This may sound like an inconvenience (and it is), but there can be more serious implications. Here are just a few:
Parents / Caregivers don’t have the opportunity to ask questions to fully understand and meaningfully participate in decisions because:
A staff member is absent,
There’s not enough time,
Parent/Caregiver is feeling pressured to proceed to avoid wasting time, etc.
Drafts of documents needed for the conversation are not sent home ahead of the meetings or are put together haphazardly.
Meeting minutes and follow-up documentation are hastily completed and may leave out key details needed by interested parties (e.g., attorneys, private psychologists, therapists, parent representatives, future IEP Teams, school district staff, etc.) to effectively advocate for your learner’s growth. Think:
Types and Frequency of services,
Testing and Instructional Accommodations,
Goal/Objectives,
Location of services (Inside or outside General Education),
Placement (what school/setting can implement the student’s educational program), etc.
Input is condensed into a few sentences, and there may be key pieces of the puzzle that are not shared due to time constraints.
Meetings require rescheduling or additional meetings because a school professional isn’t available to share their insight and expertise.
Professionals are pulled into meetings without advanced warning and opportunities to prepare, review data, and seek input from colleagues.
How we help:
Often times, when a parent informs the school that they have representation from a Non-Attorney Advocate, additional resources and meeting calendars tend to free-up quickly.
While we wish that this wasn’t the case, we’ve previously detailed the daily challenges that well-meaning school staff face when the school system is overburdened and under-resourced. As a result, resources (including time) are often triaged and allocated to the highest priorities.
So…the first way that GPS Education Consulting can help you move from confusion to clarity is simply by serving as the child’s educational advocate.
Hiring us is just the start though, we provide life-changing education consulting and non-attorney educational advocacy services every step of the journey.
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Together, as one… Navigating the path to school success!
Understanding Psychological Assessment Reports (Post-Covid)
Psychological assessment reports are confusing! GPS Education Consulting is here to help you understand your child's report and advocate for their needs.
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We’re back with the second topic in our series about our most popular services that help get your learner on a path to school success! When applied with the expertise and tact of GPS Education Consulting L.L.C., these tools work wonders! Previously, we discussed how comprehensive educational record reviews are the first step to school success.
Today, we’ll start the conversation about psychological assessment reports. In this post, my goal is to normalize and validate the uncomfortable feelings many folks experience related to psych reports. I’ll also share a bit about my experience as a school psychologist who wrote hundreds of reports over the years.
In our next entry, we’ll cover more aspects of this complex topic, including how GPS Education Consulting L.L.C. can help you avoid these issues and get your learner on the path to school success without wasting any more precious time in their educational career.
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Unfortunately, this topic probably stirs-up a lot of uncomfortable feelings in our readers.
Psychological evaluation reports are often at the crux of the most important decisions in your learner’s educational career.
While attempts are made to write these reports in language that is easily understood by parents and caregivers, they’re also written to be useful to those using them to make significant decisions about the child’s educational programming.
As a result, psychological assessment reports are often complex and difficult to understand, especially for those who do not have training and experience in administering and interpreting psychological assessments. To make things worse, they are often used within systems (e.g., schools) that also require you to be fluent in language from IDEA and Section 504 of the ADA.
For these reasons, it’s crucial for parents to receive experienced assistance in understanding their child's assessment results…and that’s where we come in.
As a school psychologist, I considered assessment reports to be one of the most important and meaningful contributions that I made to a child’s life. I wanted to write reports that would be understood by parents but found it difficult to do so while balancing the necessity of being clearly understood and useful to the IEP and/or Section 504 Team. Often, I fell short of my intention to write for parents/caregivers because of my experience seeing well-meaning school staff misinterpreting parts of the document.
So…what did I do? I tried to find time to review the results with parents/caregivers several days ahead of the IEP / 504 Meeting where we would review the report. Truthfully though, this was exceptionally challenging to accomplish, as kids and staff went about their days at school and the inevitable walky-talky calls came to help kids deescalate from crises, hold impromptu counseling sessions, or review emotional regulation strategies with kids in need.
So…then I tried to spend 30 minutes reviewing the report with the parent/caregiver and school team during the Meetings. Sometimes this was effective, but more often it felt rushed since there were back-to-back meetings on the calendar. This got more intense as we returned to school following the Covid closures.
As a school psychologist who strives to find and adequately convey the strengths and needs of learners/children/students with the goal of helping the child’s support team to 1) better understand them, 2) value their differences, and 3) advocate for their growth across all areas of life…my aim often missed the mark despite best intentions.
To function within this overburdened system, I felt like I had to condense a child’s life, a parent’s hopes and concerns, and a teacher’s path to helping into a series of sound bites.
Opportunities to collaborate with experts in various aspect of the learner’s life shrank and felt less: 1) meaningful, 2) productive, 3) thoughtful, and 4) supportive. Eventually, I left the schools…
Now, GPS Education Consulting works tirelessly to reverse this trend!
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Email Evan@GPSEducationConsulting.net with questions!
Together, as one… Navigating the path to school success!
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How Educational Record Reviews Lead to School Success
The benefits of Comprehensive Educational Record Reviews. Ready for GPS Education Consulting to see whether your learner is on a path to school success?
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Today, we are kicking-off our newest series of posts! Each post will give you a deeper understanding of some of our most popular services designed to help get your learner on a path to school success. When applied with the expertise and tact you can expect from GPS Education Consulting L.L.C., these tools can work wonders!
In this first post, we’re going to do a deep-dive into the importance of a comprehensive educational record review. Not the most thrilling topic, but you’d be amazed at what these reviews can uncover!
When was the last time you had someone comb through your learner’s educational records? This is a judgement-free zone…Chances are good that you’re not sure, and that’s okay; it makes today’s post even more important! You might also be asking, “what is a comprehensive educational record review?” Good question…
Ever since your learner started their academic career, they have been accumulating an educational record. It’s the file that houses educational records that pertain to your learner, including grades, test scores, attendance records, intervention data, 504/IEP records, disciplinary reports, etc.,
It lives tucked-away somewhere in the school inside a crowded drawer, and is usually only opened by a few folks:
Administrative Assistants, Special Educators, & Section 504 Case Managers placing more documents into it,
Administrators adding discipline records or locating emergency contacts, and
School Psychologists reviewing them prior to an initial referral to the IEP and/or 504 Team, and while writing their reports.
Depending on 1) how big the educational file is, 2) how much time/bandwidth staff have, and 3) how critical the situation is, these reviews can take minutes or hours. As a school psychologist, I completed hundreds (if not thousands) of comprehensive record reviews.
Here are some lessons I learned through my experience:
Often, there are errors or inconsistencies in the educational records that require time and teamwork to sort out.
Frequently, it is challenging to find the data used to make important decisions about a learner’s educational programming.
Think: eligibility for services, dismissal from services, progress on IEP goals & objectives, strategies and interventions used to make progress, etc.
Strategies and supports sometimes stopped without explanation.
Most people don’t look further than the last year or two during their reviews.
Looking further backward establishes a stronger pattern for identifying personal strengths and differences in learning styles that require more support.
It also provides a chance to highlight the strategies and supports that the school implemented that were especially useful, and could help your learner succeed now.
There are also occasions when a review reveals that the many folks working to support the learner over multiple years and schools are doing everything “by the book.” We love these times!
But realistically, with the staffing shortages many schools have faced, increasing workloads and breadth of responsibilities, lack of time for collaboration and problem-solving, reduced opportunities for effective professional development, backlog of work resulting from Covid school closures, and increasing employee burn-out, it’s becoming increasingly rare despite best intentions.
While I empathize with the folks attempting the impossible, I also passionately expect your learner to have the individualized and thoughtful attention they deserve.
As a result, I believe our Record Review Services are more important now than ever before. It allows us to efficiently advocate to get the supports your learner needs. It also gives you the peace of mind that your learner is either on the path to school success, or there is a plan to get on that path, and that you’ll have an empathetic, collaborative, and effective advocate supporting you on the journey.
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Email Evan@GPSEducationConsulting.net with questions!
Together, as one… Navigating the path to school success!
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Collaborating with Your Child’s Teachers: Tip 3
Start the school year on a path to success! Here’s our third tip in GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.’s series designed to help you collaborate effectively with school staff.
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Next up in our series of tips and strategies for fostering collaborative relationships with the people supporting your learner(s) throughout the new school year…
#3: Suit-up and Show-up!
If you missed the first two tips, check them out here, and here!
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Back-To-School Night (BTSN) is likely just around the corner, and it is a great way to get to know your child's teacher and learn about the upcoming school year! Obviously, scheduling conflicts beyond our control can occur, but do try your best to make it to BTSN.
If I had a dollar for every time a teacher said they “wish ____’s parents and caregivers attended BTSN,” I’d be typing this up from a massage chair on a screen big enough to see from the neighbor’s house! Jokes aside, this is an incredible opportunity to establish and improve relationships with the folks that you’re entrusting to help your child learn, make emotional and social growth, and feel safe.
During the pandemic’s early stages, schools became increasingly proficient at using video-conferencing software to reduce barriers to becoming an active member of the school community. If your school isn’t advertising a virtual option and you aren’t able to attend in-person, ask if they could set something up to allow you to support the school!
Previously, we focused on the importance of combining the “what,” with the “how/when” of our message of collaboration. Well…BTSN is one of the best opportunities you’ll get. Obviously, you’ll have a chance to meet your child’s teacher, learn about the curriculum, get a sense of what your child’s learning environment and schedule look like (literally), and make connections with other parents. Other benefits include getting the chance to learn about staff interests, and engaging with them in a context where the topic isn’t about someone having done something wrong. So, don’t miss this opportunity to make positive “social interaction deposits” with the team!
“Withdrawals” will likely happen throughout the year, and these positive encounter “deposits” can be crucial to maintaining a healthy and effective team.
If you would like personalized guidance to get on (and stay on) the path to a successful school year, contact us today!
Another added bonus: the curriculum (most likely) looks a lot different than it did when we were students. This is a great chance to learn about different websites and resources that will help you support your learner’s growth without accidentally teaching them strategies that aren’t emphasized in the curriculum (looking at you, Common Core Math).
While attending, continue to mindfully and intentionally project a message of support, partnership, and respect.
This is also an excellent opportunity to share information about your learner. It can be helpful to create a brief (one page) informative document for staff to better understand your learner’s strengths and needs. Consider including:
Situations and variables that consistently lead to improved learning outcomes (e.g., they are more likely to ask questions if it’s not in front of peers, they benefit from visual supports when learning, etc.)
Situations and variables that often produce sub-optimal learning outcomes (e.g., they are sensitive to corrective feedback in front of others, difficulties planning to accomplish multistep tasks, selecting their own partners for groupwork, etc.)
A few of your learner's hobbies and interests. This can be super helpful for establishing reward systems if needed, or to help them connect less-preferred topics and activities to more engaging and preferred interests (e.g. writing topics, independent reading, presentation styles, etc.)
Top 3 goals that you and your learner have for the year.
Reminders of any supports that your child has in place (e.g., “they have an: IEP, 504, Health Plan, Behavior Intervention / Reinforcement Plan, Interventions/supports that were in place last year, etc..)
We hope the suggestions from this series have been a helpful resource as you trudge the challenging and productive initial miles toward building effective and collaborative relationships with your learner’s new school team. Check out our Services if you’d like some help collaborating with your learner’s team.
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Email Evan@GPSEducationConsulting.net with questions!
Together, as one… Navigating the path to school success!
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Collaborating with Your Child’s Teachers: Tip 2
Start the school year on a path to success! The second tip in GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.’s series designed to help you collaborate effectively with school staff.
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Our last blog kicked-off a series with tips and strategies to help folks make meaningful connections with the people who will be supporting their learner(s) throughout the new school year.
If you missed it, check it out here!
As a quick recap, we painted a picture of how unmanageable the “to-do” lists are for staff at the start of the year. We focused on the importance of combining the “what,” with the “how/when” of our message of collaboration. We discussed how well-timed encounters tend to lead to more effective communication and collaboration throughout the year.
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Our second tip to help you establish a solid foundation for effective collaboration is…
Offer to help with their to-do lists.
Please note that this content is written with the assumption that the learner does not have an IEP, Section 504, and/or Health Plan. Follow the school’s protocol to get in contact with the designated staff/case managers.
Educators have extremely long to-do lists at the start of the year. Often times, they are coming to school an hour or two early, and leaving when the custodians kick them out at night.
Think about your available resources, and offer some of these to school staff.
If you’ve got free time in your schedule…volunteer to help around the building! If you’ve got some extra financial resources, see how you can supplement their budget to offset some of the costs that they are often paying for out of their own pocket. If you have artistic skills, see how you can beautify the school. More of a social butterfly? Offer to help organize other community members to support the school’s priorities and initiatives! You get the point…You know your strengths, and you also know the limitations that are unique to you and your family. Use what you’ve got to be a blessing to the folks trying to welcome a building full of kids. Here are some tasks that could be useful to your learner’s school community:
· Cutting and laminating,
· Working on a bulletin board,
· Volunteering to help with lunch and recess,
· Offering to buy some school supplies for the classroom (Tissues and Hand Sanitizer go extremely fast in a classroom),
· Offering to help set-up an Amazon classroom wishlist,
· Offering to help communicate with the other parents/caregivers in the classroom,
· Making copies,
· Making food or treats for them, etc.
You probably already have a good idea of what could be useful at your learner's school, so feel free to offer to help with it! Also, you can leave it open-ended to get a better idea of what they might need help with.
If they say no, don't take it personally. Again, it's a stressful time of year, and sometimes finding the time to email back in a timely manner might be enough of an obstacle that they decide it's better to just do it themselves.
If they say yes, follow through! Try not to add stress to the environment. Focus on building “social capital” by doing your best to be a non-threatening and accepting addition to their space.
Introduce yourself, inform them that you are looking forward to partnering together this year, and briefly mention your child, then follow their lead. If they want to chat, go ahead. If not, consider saying something about how “their plate is really full right now, but you'd love to schedule a 15 minute conversation with them when they're available once things are in full-swing.”
By doing so, you're communicating from the start that you respect them, their career, and their time. Respect is a critical component of the foundation for collaboration; It is seldom intentionally communicated early-on.
We hope these suggestions help you demonstrate your commitment to being a contributing member of the team. Stay tuned for more tips to start the school year on a path to success!
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Email Evan@GPSEducationConsulting.net with questions!
Together, as one… Navigating the path to school success!
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Collaborating with Your Child’s Teachers
Start the school year off right by intentionally timing your communication with school staff. Try these helpful strategies to build collaborative relationships!
Needless to say, the start of the school year is a busy time for everyone. You already know that it's important to take some time to get to know your child's teachers and other school staff. Just as important though, is to do so when it's convenient for school staff. During my years working as a school psychologist I saw well-meaning parents and caregivers make the attempts at the wrong time, and I saw it backfire. I also saw parents and caregivers make meaningful connections with staff during opportunities that were preferable for staff. Often times, their message and actions were similar, but the big difference was their timing. The well-timed encounters tended to lead to more effective communication and collaboration throughout the year. To help you get the new school year journey off to a good start, I am going to share a few tips with you all over the next few weeks.
Please note that this content is written with the assumption that the learner does not have an IEP, Section 504, and/or Health Plan. Follow the school’s protocol to get in contact with the designated staff/case managers.
This week’s tip: Timing is everything.
While they (often) have a great poker face, the start of the school year is one of the most stressful times for school staff. Typically, staff are spending the few days that they have in their buildings before the students return in meetings and professional development sessions. These trainings are incredibly important (most of the time), and often satisfy requirements from the school system. These opportunities to have all staff in a building without students are rare. Subsequently, a good chunk of their time is spent completing these trainings.
While sitting in these meetings, they are learning about changes to:
their student rosters,
their classroom locations,
the subjects or grades they will be teaching this year,
their building administrators (e.g., bosses), etc.
I have even seen teachers learn that they'll be working at another school just a day or two before the students return. It's a really stressful time. Understandably, they may feel as though they don't have enough time to prepare for the start of the school year.
At the same time, it's extremely important to work on developing a relationship with them so that you all can be a team for your learner's growth throughout the year. So, here are a few tips:
When you reach out to connect, try to time it in a way that's convenient for them (if it’s possible for your schedule). Some teachers are great about listing their preferred methods of contact and the best days/times to connect. Do your best to find time in your calendar that aligns with their schedules. For other staff members, you may need to ask them how they prefer to connect.
Be intentional. Think about the 3 most important things to share with them before the school year gets going. Consider writing it down to focus your message and to provide them with something they can go back to and reference as they are digesting all of the information at the start of the year.
Be mindful. Set a timer for 15 minutes and try to stick to it! By doing so, you're communicating from the start that you respect them, their career, and their time. Respect is often an element that is not intentionally communicated early in a working relationship, and it's a critical component of the foundation for collaboration that you're trying to build for the year.
Be patient. They are looking for opportunities to respond, but between the meetings, classroom preparation, trainings, and emails from other staff and parents/caregivers, it can be tough to quickly reply to everyone .
Hopefully these tips will help you deliver the message of “collaboration,” and to deliver that message in the most effective and favorable manner. Stay tuned for more suggestions!
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Email us at Evan@GPSEducationConsulting.net if you have any questions!
Let’s navigate the path to success together!
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Ready or Not…There Goes the Summer! #BackToSchool2023
Try these school collaboration strategies to smooth-over a few bumps in the road at the start of the new school year. www.GPSEducationConsulting.net
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The end of summer is always a bittersweet time for kids. On the one hand, many kids (and caretakers) are excited to start a new school year with new friends, teachers, and activities. On the other hand, they're sad to say goodbye to long, lazy days of summer vacation (think of their "emotional soundtrack" as abruptly switching from Pharrell's "Happy" to Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone.").
So - You are either in the midst of it, or are currently staring down the following situation:
Transitioning from the self-directed and less-structured days of summer to the impending, and seemingly never-ending days of teacher-directed and (hopefully) structured demands and environments of school.
I think it comes as no surprise to us that this can be a challenge for both kids and parents. Here are a few tips to help make the transition a little smoother:
Start slowly, and don't buy into the pressure from the various school-supply retailer marketing campaigns. If you don't get your kid those brand-name noise cancelling headphones, I'm pretty sure they'll still be fine, and I'm very certain that it doesn't make you a bad parent/caregiver. So, take a deep breath, and don't try to cram everything into the first week of school. Start by gradually adjusting your child's bedtime, wake-up time, and mealtimes. You can also start adding in some academic activities, such as reading, math, or writing, for a few minutes each day.
Talk to your child! Hopefully this won't be the first interaction since schools closed their doors for summer. Either way, find a time when you all are feeling emotionally calm, have at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted time (or however much time you know you and your learner need to have a productive conversation), and everyone's able to focus for a bit. Also,\ this doesn't have to be (and probably shouldn’t be) a one-time conversation, and you don't need to cover all of these topics at once (or ever, if you don't think it would be useful to your situation). Ask them what went well last year! Rating Scales and Visual Supports can be helpful for our learners who have a hard time communicating, so please use whatever method of communication and supports you know work for you all best. Ask them what could have made the year better (an 8 or 9 out of 10, big smiley face, etc.). Be sure to avoid criticizing! Walk away or hit the “pause button” on the conversation if either of you get caught-up in the challenges and frustrations of last year, AND have a hard time moving past it. Validate their feelings. Thank them for sharing with you. Have them ask you the same questions if this can be done in a fun and supportive manner. Brainstorm a few things that you all tried last year to help make school easier and more fun. Decide whether they were really helpful, a little helpful, a little unhelpful, or super unhelpful. Talk about whether it would make sense to do the things that were helpful again. Think about whether any of the unhelpful or less helpful strategies could be adjusted to be more helpful. Come up with structures and strategies together. They need to be realistic/doable, worth the effort, and most of all, they need to be something that your learner is excited about (but we will settle for "curious and open to trying"). Ask about their concerns. Some kids may be worried about making new friends, doing well in school, or being away from home for longer periods of time. For some kids, it might feel uncomfrotable or unsafe to discuss concerns with others. If that rings true to you and your learner, try to share some of your concerns about your upcoming year. It's important to normalize talking about fears, and using these situations as opportunities to look past the problem or fear and identify and practice strategies to use if those situations arise. Talk to your child about their concerns and help them come up with strategies for dealing with them. Consider modeling how you might use this approach with fears that you have about your year.
Get organized. Help your child get organized for the new school year by setting up their study space at home, their backpack, getting their school supplies ready, making schedules, etc.. It is super important to teach them why the structure that the school is asking the kids to use is useful (8 times out of 10, it actually is). Talk about what tends to happen if we use organizational systems effectively and consistently (e.g., Your teachers are happy, you don’t lose your hard work, you won’t feel anxious or angry looking for materials as often, you earn points/marbles/stickers toward your home reward system, etc.). If there are opportunities for more creative approaches, have your learner think of ways that their strategies for organizing materials could be useful. If they are able to do some of their own research, Pinterest can be a treasure-trove of organizational strategies. Help them see the pros and cons to different organizational strategies. You can also help them create a to-do list for each day.
Be positive. Show your child that you're excited for the new school year. Talk about all the fun things they'll get to do, such as learning new things, making new friends, and participating in extracurricular activities. Reassure them that they have a lot of people on their team who are there to help them if anything comes up.
Be patient. It takes time for humans (e.g., toddlers, children, tweens, adolescents, adults, and everyone in between) to adjust to a new routine. Be patient with your child and give them time to get used to the new school year. Show your child grace, and do your best to channel your inner “Mr. Rogers” when you have to talk through the structures, strategies, and routines together for the 100th time. Just as important as showing patience with your child is to be patient with yourself. It’s not just kids who would benefit from a Fred Rogers pep-talk. Remember, it takes time to develop new routines and habits, and time takes time.
With all of that being said…Please remember that there is NO magic formula to ensure your learner's school year goes perfectly, so don’t put that pressure on yourself (go back to the mantra of "I/We will focus on what is within my/our realm of control.").
However, we do believe that following these tips is one way that you can help set the stage for a successful transition from summer to school. We hope that these strategies can help smooth-over a few of the bumps in the road at the start of the new school year. Wishing you all a meaningful Back-To-School Season filled with hopes for a growth-filled year!
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Email us at Evan@GPSEducationConsulting.net if you have any questions!
Also, visit our contact page to schedule your FREE review.
Let’s navigate the path to school success together!
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Why I Left the Schools: A School Psych’s Journey to Advocacy
The start of GPS Education Consulting. Join us on our journey to help folks navigate the education system & advocate for their learner’s success!
We're excited to launch our first ever blog post, and we're glad you're here!
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GPS Education Consulting L.L.C. is an Education Consulting, and Non-Attorney Educational Advocacy company that specializes in improving academic, social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes for children and adolescents (birth through 21) who require more support and creativity than typically provided in the classroom. On behalf of these amazing children and their champions (looking at you, reader), we work with families, schools, and community partners across the country.
We know that the education system can be complex and confusing, especially for families of children with academic, social, emotional, and/or behavioral needs. Let’s be honest… it can also be complex and confusing for people working within the education system.
We are strong supporters of the education system. There aren’t sufficient words to describe the admiration we have for the herculean efforts of the majority of our country’s education workers. That being said, the system has struggled to keep up with all of the responsibilities that our society has tasked them with. This was absolutely true prior to 2020, and has only been exacerbated following the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
How do I know this? ….Great question!
As a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) with active state Department of Education credentials in both Colorado and Maryland, I worked passionately and determinedly to support kids, families, and their support networks as a School Psychologist for one of the nation’s best school districts for 9 years. The experience and training that I received from them was top-notch, and I am so proud of all of the wonderful work that we were able to do for kids and families. However, I felt like the opportunities to engage in this meaningful work began to dwindle over time as I struggled to be in several places at once to meet the growing needs of our learners. While I cannot speak to anyone else’s experience, I know that:
I felt like there were not enough hours in the day or clones of myself or colleagues to provide the high-quality care, devoted attention, and individualized problem-solving efforts that my students, their families and support networks, and my colleagues deserved. The complex and day-to-day issues compounded, and it felt like I was drinking out of a fire hose. I felt discouraged and defeated. I felt like those moments to create a positive impact on the lives of others were moving further and further out of reach due to an increasing presence of competing and urgent priorities.
I knew from experience that, if there was more time to spend learning from one another, and collaborating as a team of experts on each child (e.g., Teachers, Instructional Support Staff, Administrators, Related Service Providers, Student, Parent/Guardians, Outside Service Providers, etc.), we would be able to create a more meaningful and enduring positive impact for the child.
When my wife learned that she would be completing her career training at a hospital in Colorado in the summer of 2022, I resigned from the school system. I have so much respect for so many of the amazing coworkers and colleagues there, and the students impacted my life profoundly. It felt bittersweet. On the one hand, I felt like I was letting the kids and their families down, and also letting my colleagues down. Yet on the other hand, I also felt a sense of relief to move in a different direction.
I had always thought about other opportunities to use my skills, knowledge, and experience to help kids, and I decided to take steps toward making that a reality.
Since moving to Colorado, I have worked as a Psychometrist within an extremely knowledgable and talented Neuropsychology Clinic team at a hospital renowned for its expertise and quality of care. This position provides me with additional experience and understanding of psychological service delivery within a clinical/medical setting. Additionally, it increases my opportunities to support children and families with complex medical profiles and provides me with opportunities to learn and administer a broader scope of assessment instruments (e.g., language, visual processing, fine motor, gross motor, and direct measures of executive functions and attention). I am very grateful to be on this team!
Even so, I still felt that pull to pursue more opportunities to help kids and families through more than just my assessment skills. I also saw over-and-over just how needed these services are to kids, families, and schools. I believe that my training, experience, perspective, and interpersonal skills allow me to be useful to stakeholders in a unique and valuable way. Furthermore, I felt that I could be most useful working for kids outside of a school system.
So (with my wife’s blessing and encouragement), in April of 2023 I began working part-time at the hospital to focus on developing my Consulting and Advocacy business. As a result, GPS Education Consulting L.L.C. moved from a dream to a reality!
As we look to the new school year we are eager to create a more meaningful and enduring positive impact for kids and their support network! In order to do so, we believe that it is vital to provide you with the information and support you need to advocate for your learner’s education. One way we hope to accomplish this is through a series of blog posts covering a variety of topics related to education, including:
Transitioning from summer break to the school year
Tips on how to start the school year positively
How to advocate for your child's mental health needs
How to advocate for your child’s academic and learning needs
How to advocate for your child’s social, emotional, and behavioral needs
Ways to support your child after a diagnosis
Ways to create and contribute to a culture of collaboration with school staff
Red Flags in an IEP Meeting or Section 504 Meeting
And more!
Feel free to email us at Evan@GPSEducationConsulting.net if you have a topic you’d like us to consider for a blog post.
We hope you will join us on this leg of our journey to help our readers navigate the education system and advocate for their learner’s success.
Best,
Evan Gallena, Ed.S., NCSP
Founder & Lead-Consultant: GPS Education Consulting L.L.C.
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Also, if you haven’t done so already, click here to schedule your FREE conversation with us to see how we can chart a path toward success!