Ms. Bartolomei, School Psychologist
News
September
September is National ADHD Awareness Month. There is a magazine for parents called "ADDITUDE" which has many pages of advice. The magazine has an advice column, directory of professionals, a glossary of educational terms, and several articles on Child/Adolescent/Adult ADHD. There is also a similar website called ImpactADHD, which has many additional resources, newsletters, and webinars.
October
October 7th, 2021 is National Depression Screening Day (NDSD). Held annually during Mental Illness Awareness Week in October, NDSD is comprised of awareness events that include an optional screening component.
NDSD began as an effort to reach individuals across the nation with important mental health education and connect them with support services. Screening for Mental Health (SMH) pioneered National Depression Screening Day as the first, voluntary mental health screening initiative in 1990.
Twenty-five years later, NDSD has expanded to thousands of colleges, community-based organizations, and military installations providing the program to the public each year.
November
November 8th-12th, 2021 is School Psychology Awareness Week. The theme for 2021 School Psychology Awareness Week is “Let's Get in Gear.” The theme's acronym provides a challenge to grow both personally and professionally. It encourages us to engage in best practices and advocate for children's access to mental health and learning supports. To rise implies resilience and renewal despite the challenges of the past.
Resources
Psychological Assessment
I use a variety of assessments in order to meet each student's individual needs. Each assessment tool is able to provide valid and reliable scores of a student's ability level.
It is important to note that assessment scores do not provide the only data used in decision making. Eligibility for special education also depends on teacher and parent input as well as the progress that the student is making in school at the current time.
I make every effort to assess students during academic preparation and non-core classes; however, there is no guarantee that this will always be the case due to assessment timelines.
Executive Functioning
What is Executive Function?
"Executive Function" is a term used to describe a set of mental processes that helps us connect past experience with present action. We use executive function when we perform such activities as planning, organizing, strategizing and paying attention to and remembering details.
People with executive function problems as having difficulty with planning, organizing and managing time and space. They also show weakness with "working memory" (or "seeing in your mind's eye"), which is an important tool in guiding one's actions.
As with other manifestations of LD, disorders in executive function can run in families. Problems can be seen at any age but tend to be increasingly apparent as children move through the early elementary grades; the demands of completing schoolwork independently can often trigger signs that there are difficulties in this area.
How Does Executive Function Affect Learning?
In school, at home or in the workplace, we’re called on all day, every day, to self-regulate behavior. Normally, features of executive function are seen in our ability to:
*make plans
*keep track of time
*keep track of more than one thing at once
*meaningfully include past knowledge in discussions
*engage in group dynamics
*evaluate ideas
*reflect on our work
*change our minds and make mid-course and corrections while thinking, reading and writing
*finish work on time
*ask for help
*wait to speak until we're called on
*seek more information when we need it.
These skills allow us to finish our work on time, ask for help when needed, wait to speak until we're called on and seek more information.
Problems with executive function may be manifested when a person:
*has difficulty planning a project
*has trouble comprehending how much time a project will take to complete
*struggles to tell a story (verbally or in writing); has trouble communicating details in an organized, sequential manner
*has difficulty with the mental strategies involved in memorization and retrieving information from memory
*has trouble initiating activities or tasks, or generating ideas independently
*has difficulty retaining information while doing something with it; e.g., remembering a phone number while dialing.
What Are Some Strategies to Help?
There are many effective strategies one can use in when faced with the challenge of problems with executive function. Here are some methods to try:
General Strategies:
*Take step-by-step approaches to work; rely on visual organizational aids.
*Use tools like time organizers, computers or watches with alarms.
*Prepare visual schedules and review them several times a day.
*Ask for written directions with oral instructions whenever possible.
*Plan and structure transition times and shifts in activities.
Managing Time:
*Create checklists and "to do" lists, estimating how long tasks will take.
*Break long assignments into chunks and assign time frames for completing each chunk.
*Use visual calendars at to keep track of long term assignments, due dates, chores, and activities.
*Use management software such as the Franklin Day Planner, Palm Pilot, or Lotus Organizer.
*Be sure to write the due date on top of each assignment.
Managing Space and Materials:
*Organize work space.
*Minimize clutter.
*Consider having separate work areas with complete sets of supplies for different activities.
*Schedule a weekly time to clean and organize the work space.
Managing Work:
*Make a checklist for getting through assignments. For example, a student's checklist could include such items as: get out pencil and paper; put name on paper; put due date on paper; read directions; etc.
*Meet with a teacher or supervisor on a regular basis to review work; troubleshoot problems
Social Thinking
Social Thinking® is required prior to the development of social skills. Successful social thinkers consider the points of view, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, prior knowledge and intentions of others (this is often called perspective-taking - considering the perspectives of others). This is for most of us an intuitive process. We can determine the meanings behind the messages communicated by others and how to respond to them within milliseconds to three seconds! Social thinking occurs everywhere, when we talk, share space, walk down the street, even when we read a novel and relate to our pets. It is an intelligence that integrates information across home, work and community settings - something we usually take for granted!
In neurotypical (so-called normal-thinking) people, social thinking is hard-wired at birth and learned intuitively from infancy onward. While most of us develop our communication skills as we grow up, steadily observing and acquiring social information and learning how to respond to the people around us, many have great difficulties with this process. These difficulties with learning and applying social information is often considered a social learning disability.
A Challenge for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Asperger Syndrome, ADHD, NLD and Others
Many people can score high on IQ and standardized tests and have quite limited social skills. In fact, the research published by the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders indicates that social thinking methodologies are successful at teaching the ability to interact socially in people with social limitations who have near-normal to way above-normal intelligence. In addition, the social thinking strategies that have helped children and adolescents have also helped adults. Because social thinking is so important to learning throughout life, professionals and parents are using social thinking methods to assist an increasingly broad range of individuals.
The Social Thinking Approach - Dynamic to Meet Individual Needs
Twelve years ago, Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP, coined the term social thinking and developed the social thinking treatment approach for individuals with high-functioning autism, Asperger's and similar challenges. In 2008, she received a U. S. Congressional award for her on-going innovation of the social thinking curriculum. Michelle, Tony Attwood, Carol Gray, Barry Prizant, Kari Dunn Buron, Diane Twatchman-Cullen, Cathy Pratt, Brenda Smith Myles have all contributed to social thinking and related treatment methodologies. Much of the growth of social thinking, both nationally and internationally, can be attributed to its use by professionals, parents and other caregivers who modify strategies for their settings and student needs. The term social thinking now encompasses many treatment programs described as "teaching social thinking and related social skills." These strategies share common traits.
The strategies teach individuals:
*How their own social minds work - why they react and respond the way they do
*The behaviors that make others feel good and bad
*How these behaviors are affecting their own emotions, responses to and relationships with others across different social contexts
For individuals being treated, the objectives of these strategies include the ability to:
*Recognize the different levels of their own and others’ social minds
*Navigate their behaviors while considering how others perceive and respond to them
*Adapt to the people and situations around them - even in casual settings (hanging out, etc.)
Anti-Bullying
New anti-bullying legislation was recently signed into law as a result of an increase in bullying incidents in schools as well as the recent suicides related to bullying incidents.
Trottier Middle School is committed to providing a safe and respectful community where all students feel comfortable. We have taken a number of steps to ensure that bullying incidents get reported and remedied as soon as possible.
If you have any questions about this law or how Trottier is improving its response to bullying, please contact me via phone or email.
Outside Resources
As the School Psychologist, I have compiled a significant amount of resources for parents and families. I have listings of numerous agencies, therapists, psychiatrists, websites, and medical foundations.
Feel free to call me at 508-485-2400 x65248 or email me at rbartolomei@nsboro.k12.ma.us and I will try my best to find what you need.