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The Oklahoma School Psychological Association |
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Judy Oehler-Stinnett Two School Psychologists Earn Board Certification in Neuropsychology Two Nationally Certified School Psychologists, Dr. Andrew Glenn and Gunda Palmer, have successfully completed a two-year post-graduate program in neuropsychology through the Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara, California and were awarded the Diplomate from the American Board of School Neuropsychology, Washington, D. C. The two-day Diplomate examination, held on January 19th and 20th, required passing a comprehensive written examination along with the successful defense of a case study. Neuropsychology involves the study, evaluation and treatment of the brain and neurologically-based disorders. Training was held at Texas Women's University in
Denton, Texas, under the direction of Dr. Daniel C. Miller, Chair of the Psychology Department. The competency-based
program consisted of 240 hours of classroom instruction covering functional neuroanatomy, cognitive neuroscience,
neurophysiology, neuropathology, neuropharmacology and specialized neurodiagnostic techniques. In addition, they
completed a 1,000-hour practicum and received 200 hours of clinical supervision. Distinguished faculty included
Dr. Allan F. Mirsky, Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Daneen
Milam, Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, Child Protective Services, San Antonio, Texas, and Dr.
Philip A. DeFina, Director, Neuropsychology Program, Fielding Institute. Andrew is employed by Norman Public Schools
and Gunda is employed by Broken Arrow Public Schools. A Current Review of Supervision at the Specialist and Doctoral Level Stacia Blakeman, Kelly Gilbert, Suneeta Mani, Dana Tiffany, Mika White Oklahoma State University Supervisor Requirements Supervision is required in school psychology programs nationwide, and is very important in the development of future quality professionals. There seems to be no published model for supervision which allows great concern for all those involved. Students and supervisors are questioning their responsibilities because there is no definite course to follow. The need for a more stable model of supervision would be beneficial for the students requiring supervision and for the professionals who want to be a supervisor. Certain requirements must be met in order to become a supervisor. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and the State Department of Education have requirements for both the specialist level intern and the doctoral level intern. According to NASP, the supervisor must be credentialed as a school psychologist. The supervisor must also have one year of experience in the particular setting being supervised. In addition, the supervisor should meet the requirements for independent practice, which is at least three years of supervised experience. Field-based supervisors are allowed a maximum of two interns at a time. If the supervisor has no other assigned duties, the maximum number of supervisees is six. Each intern must be provided with at least two hours of supervision per week. Also, the State Department of Education holds the requirement that a supervisor must be a credentialed school psychologist (Stinnett, Oehler-Stinnett, & Carlson, 2000). In addition to NASP and the State Department of Education, the Board of Examiners and the American Psychological Association (APA) hold requirements for the doctoral level internship supervisor. According to the Board of Examiners, the supervisor must be licensed and accept the responsibility for the integrity and quality of the training program. The supervisor must also be trained in the major program of doctoral study of the applicant, or a related field. Supervisors also must be able to be employed outside of the school district. Two or more licensed psychologists must supervise each school psychology intern. The supervisors must not be members of the supervisee's immediate family, or anyone with whom the psychologist has had an intimate relationship (Stinnett et al., 2000). Finally, according to APA the supervisor needs to be a doctoral psychologist who has the appropriate credentials to practice in the particular setting of the internship. This must be a core faculty member, who is primarily responsible for directing the training program, and must display leadership and have substantial competence in the program's objectives and goals (Stinnett et al., 2000). A Need for Supervision Guidelines Although APA, NASP, the State Department of Education, and the Board of Examiners all have criteria outlining the necessary credentials to be a supervisor, including the frequency and duration of supervision sessions, there are no specific guidelines concerning the process of being an effective supervisor. In 1998, a national survey was conducted by the Committee for Supervision, Evaluation and Accountability to explore the content and process of intern supervision. The results of this survey are considered a first step in understanding the needs of supervisors. The survey reveals that although most of the psychologists participating in supervision met the credentialing requirements, 90 percent of them had little or no training in school psychology supervision prior to becoming a supervisor. Some suggestions have been made as to the types of support needed by supervisors. These suggestions include a supervisor Listserv, supervision classes and a supervisor mentoring/visitation program. These suggestions would help meet the desire, displayed by many supervisors, to meet with other supervisors on a local and national level. (Hunley, Harvey, Curtis, Portnoy, Grier, Helffrich, 2001) Another finding of the survey is that supervisors, on average, spend more than one work-day per week working on supervisor duties. An overwhelming majority of these supervisors receive no incentives for the time and energy they put into supervision. It is unfair to continually add more duties to these supervisors already busy days without offering any compensation. (Ward, 2001). Guidelines for the Provision of School Psychological Services have been proposed by the National Association of School Psychologists to more clearly define the roles and responsibilities of supervisors. These guidelines could become a source of needed support for school psychology supervisors. The Students Perspective of Supervision During graduate programs, students are given the opportunity to apply the knowledge they have learned through coursework to real world settings. These real world settings are the practica and internship components of the university curriculum. One of the most important aspects of the practica and internship is the supervision each graduate student receives. There are many aspects of supervision graduate students find critical and expect of their supervisor. One component of supervision, in which graduate students report as beneficial, is having the opportunity to shadow their supervisor. This allows the graduate student an opportunity to observe and develop an understanding of the roles, functions, and responsibilities of a school psychologist. Shadowing gives the supervisee the opportunity to apply classroom learning to real world experiences. Graduate students also report a desire to have very close supervision when working on their first assessment cases. Close supervision and guidance promotes the development of professional competencies within the graduate student. This will, in turn, help to promote the graduate student's confidence in their assessment skills (Dehn, Albrechtson, & Schaefer, 2001). When students in an informal meeting at Oklahoma State University are asked what their expectations of a supervisor are, they report that first and foremost, the supervisor must be trained as a school psychologist. The supervisor must be familiar with ethics and standards and be thoroughly knowledgeable of relevant federal, state and local legislation. It is also important that the supervisor be familiar with current literature and research. The supervisor should be aware of the supervisee's strengths and weaknesses and assign responsibilities that are within the supervisee's level of expertise and experience. Students also expect their supervisor to sense when to guide and assist and allow the supervisee to work increasingly more independently. The supervisor should be an advocate for the supervisee. The supervisor must discuss the roles and functions that the supervisee is expected to perform, and there should be open communication between the supervisor and supervisee. The supervisor should also provide encouragement to the supervisees by keeping in close touch with them and making himself or herself readily available to the supervisee. The supervisor should also be flexible. For example, the supervisor must be willing to try new and creative approaches; in addition they must have expertise in organizing the situations presented to them efficiently. Finally, the supervisor should remain optimistic and enthusiastic about the field, and should be somebody who wants to help the supervisee become a good school psychologist. There is abundant evidence on supervisors and supervisees need for support. The supervisee's needs and wants should also be considered to promote cooperation toward a common goal. Guidelines have been proposed by NASP, but currently there is no model for supervisors to follow. Further research should be conducted to develop a supervision model.
References Dehn, M., Albrechtson, R., & Schaefer, J. (October,
2001). Supervising practicum students: Issues, benefits and suggested practices. NASP Communiqué
[On-line], 26
(6). Available: Internet: http://www.nasponline.org/publications/cq283super.htm Stinnett, T., Oehler-Stinnett, J., & Carlson,
J. (2000). OSU
School Psychology Internship Handbook: Ed.S Program.
Unpublished Document, Oklahoma State University. For the third consecutive year, the Special Education Services of the Oklahoma State Department of Education is continuing the tuition scholarship/reimbursement program for students seeking school psychology certification at Oklahoma Universities. Oklahoma and the nation are experiencing critical shortages of school psychologists. This has significant impact on special education and related services for students with disabilities. In response to this need, Oklahoma is continuing to provide IDEA, Part B, funds for tuition of eligible students who are obtaining their school psychology certification. Already, enrollment in school psychology programs has greatly increased and many students are now seeking practica experiences, internships, and employment opportunities.
On behalf of these students and the children and families they will serve, OSPA says THANK YOU OSDE! OSPA participated in the Oklahoma Education Association
State Convention on October 18, 2001. Members volunteered to set up and staff a booth to provide information to
attendees regarding our organization and the many duties of school psychologists. Those assisting with this effort
were Angela Love, Rosemary Mulkins, Tracy Fenton, Nancy Barton, Shelley Geyer, Mary Ellen Jones, Kelly Davis, and
Susan Linde. A drawing was held for the NASP publication, Helping Children at Home and School. The winner was Janet
Oman from Muskogee. As part of our long-term goals and objectives, OSPA members continue to educate the general
public regarding our organization and the important work we do for children in our state. Volunteers are always
needed for this endeavor. If you would like to assist with future events, please contact Angela Love. Angela Love Named School Psychologist of the Year Dr. Angela Love has been chosen as OSPA's School Psychologist of the Year. Dr. Love is very active in OSPA, having served as the 95-96 President, current Public Relations and Information Chair, and member of the Oklahoma School Psychology Task Force. She is currently a school psychologist for the Union Public Schools and adjunct professor at OSU Tulsa. Dr. Love is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist
and Licensed Psychologist. She received her Ph.D. in 1993 from Oklahoma State University, M.S. in Education from
Pittsburg State University, and B.S. in Education from Missouri Southern State College. Rosemary
Mulkins Announces Her Retirement Mary Jo Keatley Paul Warden Graduate Studies Award Winners Announced It's time to announce the winners of the Mary Jo Keatley-Paul Warden Graduate Studies Awards. Mary Jo Keatley and Dr. Paul Warden are two of the pioneers in School Psychology in Oklahoma who helped found the Oklahoma School Psychological Association. The graduate studies awards of $500 each are given each year to two exemplary students enrolled in state programs for school psychology. Our first recipient is Kathryn (Kitty) Beaman, who is currently enrolled as a candidate for a Ph.D. in school psychology at Oklahoma State University. Prior to embarking on her doctoral program, she was employed as a school psychologist for Jenks Public Schools. Her current research interest involves the ethical decision making processes of school psychologists. Our second recipient is Kara Benson Parks, who is currently enrolled at the University of Central Oklahoma and is a candidate for the Master of Arts in School Psychology. Prior to beginning her program at UCO, she served as a Staff Assistant to U.S. Senator Don Nickles and then served as a Casey Aide in the Casey Family Program. As a professional in the field of school psychology, she believes it is important to assist teachers in designing individualized learning techniques that may assist each child in need even if they don t qualify for special services. One of her long-term goals is to seek to establish and maintain effective open lines of communication with all the individuals in the schools including school staff, colleagues, children and parents.
Linda Nickell Awards, Honors, and Scholarships
The OSPA Spring Conference 2002 was held at the Moore-Norman Technology Center on April 18. OSPA President, Dr. Judy Oehler-Stinnett welcomed attendees and Tom Bell (Oklahoma State Department of Education) gave opening remarks. The conference speaker, Dr. Hector Ochoa, gave a wonderfully informative presentation titled, Psychoeducational Assessment of Children From Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds. Dr. Ochoa is a professor at Texas A & M University. With 37% of the US population being ethnically diverse and14% speaking a language other than English, it is imperative that all school psychologists have knowledge in this area. Dr.Ochoa distributed a handout with excerpts from his upcoming book and presented information on psychologists competencies for assessment, the many issues of second language acquisition and bilingual education, common reasons for referral, common difficulties in assessment, language proficiency assessment, the exclusionary clause, and a case study. During lunch, Judy Oehler-Stinnett conducted OSPA's
annual business meeting. OSPA's President-elect, Candis Hogan, presented the 2002-03 nominees for the OSPA Executive
Board. OSPA's Graduate Studies Award winners and the School Psychologist of the Year winner were presented their
awards. (See articles in this issue.) Treasurer, Nancy Barton, distributed the budget for next year. OSPA's lobbyist
gave a short talk on current legislative activities. |
