Volume 3, Issue 3 - Winter 2012

Important Dates March 22BCASP Board Meeting during lunch at PD March 22BCASP Happy Hour at RA Sushi in Harbor East April 2nd thru 9th Spring Break April 10thPsych PD (half day) April 21stBCASP Habitat for Humanity May 4thMSPA Conference, Martins Crosswinds Greenbelt

Presidents Pen
So its March. March typically signals the beginning of the end for most people in the school system. It also can mean a lot of extra stress. For those of you in elementary and middle schools, its MSA testing time. Not only are you struggling to test, see your students, and throw in some consultation here and there, but you also need to deal with the demands of administrators who are looking for you to help during testing time. For those of you in high schools, the nicer weather can lead to more student absences, which means more running around looking for students and documenting your efforts. Now that Ive stressed you out because youre thinking about all of those things that you need to get done, lets just stop for a moment. Think back to all youve accomplished so far this year. Reflect not only on the number of assessments youve completed and the number of ET notes youve written in the past year, but about the people and the impact. Think about the teacher who you finally got to buy into PBIS, and how her classs behavioral improvement has led to better academic outcomes. Think about the student who started coming to you to ask for help when they were getting upset instead of getting into a fight. Think about the parent who felt such relief when you finally were able to give a name to problems that their child had been experiencing for so long and were able to offer solutions to those problems. I think it also helps us to build a community and to inspire each other when were able to share about our successes. I hope youll be inspired by this issues Spotlight on Erin OKeeffe, as it shows that we can really make a difference for an entire school building. If you need more inspiration, remember Sharon Flynns butterfly gardens and Dana Deises volunteerism from earlier Spotlights this year. If you know of someone in the city doing great things, please let me know so we can Spotlight them next. If you want to be a part of this BCASP community and help continue spreading the positivity, or are thinking of someone who you think would be perfect, please consider nominating yourself or someone else for the BCASP board. We have had a lot of success in the last few years building our local community of school psychologists and would like to continue. If you want to nominate someone, please contact Brad Petry at bpetry@bcps.k12.md.us by April 1st. As my last note about celebrating success, I wanted to let everyone know that Pamela Cocol and I (MSPA Co-Representatives for Baltimore City) nominated Brad Petry for MSPAs Outstanding Practice Award. He has done such great things in supporting not only the students and school-based staff in Baltimore City over the years, but has also provided so much to so many school psychologists in Baltimore Cityfrom supervising interns to providing PD to helping peers talk through a complicated case, or to just making us laugh. We thank you, Brad, and wish you good luck in April when the award recipient will be announced!

Inside this issue:

Breaking the Behavior Barrier 2

BCASP Working for YOU!

Psychologist Spotlight

4-6

Committee Updates

Are Anti-Bullying Programs Effective? Curriculum Based Assessments Managing Anxiety

8-9

10-12

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Breaking the Behavior Barrier

Written By: Erin OKeeffe
Breaking the Behavior Barrier is a recurring column that will highlight class-wide intervention ideas to help teachers improve classroom behavior management so the focus can be on learning. Please contact Erin at eokeeffe@bcps.k12.md.us if you would like more information about the featured intervention. Intervention: You vs. Me Behavior Game Materials Needed: Blackboard, chalk, strips of construction paper, stapler Grade Levels: Elementary and Middle School Purpose: This is an easy way to keep students on task and engaging in positive behaviors as a whole group. The teacher can quickly put a tally mark on the board to signal to students that their behavior is good or that they need to get back on track. This leaves less room for arguing as the teacher doesnt have to say anything, and lets the students work as a class to obtain a goal. Once the goal is reached, the class earns a fun activity or other reinforcer. Steps for Implementation: 1. Discuss what behaviors are expected in the classroom with your students. Make sure they understand what positive behaviors you are looking for and those that are inappropriate. Then explain that the class will be playing a new behavior game as a way for them to earn a fun activity. The rules of the game are as follows:

The teacher will draw a column for You (the students) and Me (the teacher) on the board. When the students are engaged in the class activity and behaving appropriately as a whole, they earn a tally mark. If the teacher finds that there is too much noise, off-task behavior, etc., then the teacher gets a tally mark. At the end of the class period, subject block, or other time frame, the class will look to see who has more tally marks. If the students have won that round, they earn a link. When the students earn a link, the teacher will staple the ends of a construction paper strip to make a circle and hang it from the ceiling. For each link the students earn, it is connected to the previous ones. When the chain hits the floor, the class has earned a fun activity or reinforcer.

2. Agree upon the activity or reinforcer the class is working toward. It can be beneficial to make it

different for each completed link or to incorporate mystery motivators based on a list the class creates of preferred reinforcers. 3. Make sure to be consistent with the tally marks for students. It is easy to forget to give them credit when they are behaving well and class is going smoothly. 4. If the teacher has multiple classes, consider adding a bonus reinforcer for the class who completes their chain first.

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BCASP Is Working For YOU!

On January 6th, 2012, Jessica Munch, Pamela Cocol, and Kate Shoemaker met with Psych Services Coordinator, Beckie Milburn, to discuss member concerns regarding clinical supervision, the formal evaluation process, and the topic of burnout and stress in the workplace. A follow up meeting was held with Dr. Olley and Ms. Milburn and the following information was discussed: Our supervisors are trying to keep weekly memos and such correspondences more positive. They recognize how hard everyone is working and want to try to find little ways to encourage us.

Principal Input forms for both mid- and end-of-year evaluations are taken into perspective and not necessarily used as judgment of your overall competency as a school psychologist. This year, one of them sent the forms directly to the principals while the other asked school psychologists to distribute. They have not had a high return rate in past years and were trying to get more principals to do it (the principals are actually supposed to take it upon themselves to get the form and send it in). Keep your supervisors in the loop about any concerns you may have about your principal (i.e. you dont frequently interact with them or there have been conflicts)the supervisors have our back. They understand that our perspective may be different than the principals priorities, so just keep your supervisors informed- and dont wait till the end of the year to tell them- let them know now. Because of our new contract and the need for documented leadership positions above and beyond, please let our supervisors know if you are interested in presenting on a specific topic, or if you have other strengths that you would like to utilize. Dont be shy! Beckie is already looking for topics for professional development next year and we were able to provide her a few ideas based on your suggestions. In addition, dont be shy about sharing what you are doing at your school that is above and beyond with them since they wont know otherwise! The supervisors responded well to a discussion about one topic that many people expressed concerns about. They frequently have to engage in more administrative supervision (i.e. related to guidelines, paperwork, etc.) as opposed to clinical supervision. They prefer to be doing clinical supervision, but unfortunately administrative tasks take up a great deal of time and energy. They were very clear that if you have questions about a case or an issue in their school, please pick up the phone and call them. Even if they are drowning in compliance paperwork, they would be glad to talk things through with you. They also want to ensure that professional needs are met, and in addition to continue to being dedicated to trying to give us good PD during our meetings, Beckie created a needs assessment that was distributed at the last PD to try to come up with some ways to teach new assessment skills to those who are interested. If you are feeling burned out/frustrated/unsupported, our supervisors will attempt alleviate some of the stress by pulling us out of problem schools (if they can and if we have demonstrated/communicated our attempts to resolve the problem ourselves-but again keep them in the loop). However, peer supervision is a great way to prevent isolation and burnout. Consider communicating with your colleagues to see if you can create a group of peers to use as a sounding board/support group. If you are interested in coming to peer supervision sessions or in helping to build or be a part of an email listserv specific to the population you work with, please contact our Professional Development co-chairs (Miriam Yarmak or Ketreia Moore).

Overall, the take home message of the meetings was: keep your supervisors in the loop. Tell them what is happening in our schools, both the good and the bad. Dont wait until the last minute to share what has been occurring all year. And if you need more support, consider networking and collaborating with other school psychologists. At some point everyone needs a little support- if its not you now, pay it forward, and if you need support now, ask for it and accept it. Isnt that a coping skill we attempt to teach many of our students? We hope this information was helpful and rememberBCASP works for you!

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SPOTLIGHT
Written By: Elizabeth Niemiec

Erin M. O'Keeffe is only in her third year as a school psychologist here in Baltimore City, but she is already emerging as a valuable member of our professional community. In addition to her work with BCASP and contributions to our newsletter, Erin is leaving her mark at Hampstead Hill Academy #47, where this year she initiated a school-wide positive behavior and anti-bullying program called Rachels Challenge. Read the following question and answer session to find out more about how Erin is hoping to start a chain reaction. How did you decide to pursue school psychology as a career? I was always interested in working in a school, but I never really wanted to be a teacher. Throughout high school and college I worked as a camp counselor, tutor, and Special Olympics coach, and I became very interested in working more one-on-one with those kids that really needed something different. When I learned about the field of school psychology it seemed like a perfect fit. Tell us about Rachel's Challenge and why you chose to implement it at your school. One of the major realizations I had in my first three years of practice was that so many of our behavioral problems, office referrals, detentions, suspensions, etc. were the result of bullying. In graduate school, one of my professors introduced us to the program, and I really liked the way it came at bullying in a completely different way. Rachel's Challenge shows the students how hurtful and serious bullying really can be through the story of the tragedy at Columbine High School. Through this very powerful story, it teaches students that one positive influence can make a change in the world. This emotional impact is one of the reasons it can be more effective than the traditional antibullying programs. How does Rachels Challenge work? To give more background on Rachels Challenge, Rachel was the first person killed in the Columbine tragedy. She was known for her kindness and seeking out ways to help someone in any way she could. She really focused on students with disabilities, new students, and those who were bullied. Rachel believed that she could change the world one person at a time by starting a chain reaction of kindness. The day that Rachel's Challenge came to our school, they did two separate assemblies: one for the elementary level and one for the secondary level. The elementary students did not learn about the Columbine tragedy, but celebrated Rachel's life and why she was such an admired person. The middle school students did learn about the shooting and heard the stories of some of the students and families. They also learned about Rachel, how her kindness made people remember her so fondly and really changed the lives of many (both while she was alive and since the shooting). After the assemblies, there was a follow-up training session for 100 middle school students in which they learned some more applicable ways to interfere and stop a bully that don't seem as uncool as some of the other ones they are usually taught. They worked in groups to come up with what they thought needed to change at school and ideas for how to do it. There was also a session at night for parents. The goal is to get parents, staff, and students all on the same page in what we are trying to do and make a positive school-wide, and eventually community-wide, change. That is a huge goal, but we're working on it step by step. Since that day, we formed an afterschool Friends of Rachel Club that meets weekly with the middle school students to

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perform acts of kindness. We are starting small, targeting different groups of adults in the building to recognize, as well as supporting student activities. For example, the club is giving flowers and cards to the secretaries, hosting a breakfast for the cafeteria staff, and even getting gifts and cards for the custodians. The club attends sporting and arts events together, and as a fundraiser for our end of the year event, the club is partnering with a school community service club to host a bake sale for all three showings of the school play. The club is also making concern boxes for each grade level so that students and staff can anonymously express concerns about bullying or suggest who might need an extra act of kindness that week. How are your students benefitting from Rachel's Challenge? I think it has been really helpful for our younger students to learn about kindness and what that means early on. We are finding that many of our middle school students were not really taught about kindness (or so it seems). It is easier to build those values in younger students and they are very excited about it. For example, two of our kindergarten teachers have told me that their students were acting out bullying scenes and one of them would play Rachel and stop the bullying! Our middle school students are also going out of their way to be kind more often and it is great to have a schoolwide thing going on so that as it becomes more of a part of the school culture; everyone sees it as an expectation. The students are definitely enjoying finding kind things to do for others. Not that it has solved all the problems, but we have definitely seen some progress. Are you working on any other projects that you could tell us about? Our biggest project this year has been the Chain Links project. For each act of kindness a student does, they get a link (construction paper strip) where they write who the act of kindness was to, who it was from, and what it was. Our teachers are linking the chains and putting them up in the classrooms. As they fill up the classrooms, teachers will start putting them up in the hallway and connecting to other classrooms. At the end of the year we are going to connect all of the chains and include it in our end of the year rally. At six weeks we were around 1,000 chains of kindness our goal is 4,000 links for the year. Another project we are doing involves our Kindness Cards. We gave out a bunch of these cards that look like credit cards to students in second through eighth grade. When a student receives a card, they are to register it online and then do an act of kindness for someone. They give that person their card and they in turn register that act of kindness online. Every person who has had that card in the past will receive an email and know how many acts of kindness came out of their one act. They can also see where their card is and see how it travels to other states, etc. This has been a little more challenging as getting the cards registered online and making sure everyone records the acts has been difficult. Still in the planning stages for this year is our Rachel's Walk, commemorating the anniversary of Columbine. These are done all over the country at schools that use Rachel's Challenge. We also plan on doing a rally at the end of the year to celebrate our successes and show the community what we have been doing all year. The students want to make banners to hang on our fences and do a walk to show off our chain of kindness as part of our celebration. Logistically, what does a school need to pull something to this scale off? The cost of Rachels Challenge ranges from about $2,500-$5,000. My school got the whole package which includes all

of the assemblies and materials for both an elementary and a middle school club. It also gives you small group and classroom curriculums to keep the message going school-wide. The planning was not too stressful as Rachel's Challenge tells you what you should do and what is neededyou just have to figure out the logistics. It requires buy-in from teachers and administrative support, but the time investment is the biggest demand. As you have read, we are doing a lot of different things and I have about five other staff members helping me run the club and its different projects. More recently each of those staff has been taking on one project with a
small group of students to make the club more efficient.
Spotlight Continued on next page

Page 6

Spotlight Continued from page 5 Do you have any advice for school psychologists looking to initiate a program/intervention like this? Be prepared for it to be a learning process for everyone, with successes and some failures along the way. It is definitely a work in progress year for us as we learn what projects go well and which ones are not as well received. It will definitely take a few years for the students to see kindness as a way of life rather than just a goal they are working on for the month. It can be frustrating to see a project going really well and then interest wanes, but you have to remember that there are still improvements even if they aren't as big as you would like right away. Im already thinking about next yearwed like to have more students in our club, have a larger impact on the community through doing service projects, and come up with a new school-wide project. Do you have any suggestions for those of us looking to find a professional identity and establish ourselves at the beginning of our careers? I would say that the best thing to do to establish identity is to find out what interests you or what you would like to see improve. Then you can find a way to work on it in a way that excites you and works for your school. Erins work with Rachels Challenge really embodies a preventative, school-wide approach to improving school culture, and is addressing problem behaviors before they start. From the numerous activities described above, it is clear that Erin is building a whole new dimension to her school community. Thank you, Erinyour efforts have certainly sparked inspiration in your colleagues, and we look forward to adding even more links to the chain! For more information about Rachels Challenge, visit their website: http://www.rachelschallenge.org/

News from the Professional Development Committee Registration for the Cohort 2 of the Model Process has closed. The BCASP PD Committee is asking that those who are interested in participating in the 2nd Model Work Group (a time when those applying can get together to work through the process and bounce ideas off of one another) and havent done so yet, please contact Miriam (myarmak@bcps.k12.md.us) or Ketreia (kvmoore@bcps.k12.md.us) as soon as possible. In addition, BCASP is considering organizing peer supervision times when members can get together to discuss difficult cases, as well as possibly setting up email list-servs based on the differing populations of who we serve. If you are interested in either one of those, please email Miriam or Ketreia. The Nominations Committee is now accepting Nominations for 2012-13 Office Nominations for the 2012-2013 BCASP Officers is now open. Please consider nominating a colleague or yourself for President, Secretary, or Treasurer. Contact Brad Petry, Chair of Nominations, for more information (bpetry@bcps.k12.md.us). The Public Affairs Committee is sponsoring a Habitat for Humanity Event If you are interested in joining other BCASP members to help build a Habitat for Humanity House in Baltimore City on Saturday, April 21st from 8:00-3:00, please email Nadine Warrick at nmwarrick@bcps.k12.md.us. Spaces are limited, so reserve early! If there is enough interest, we are looking into doing another day later in the year or next fall. News from the Social Committee Join us for the next BCASP Happy Hour on March 22nd following the Professional Development. We will be meeting at RA Sushi Bar at 1390 Lancaster Street, Baltimore 21231. Metered street parking or garage parking is nearby.

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Are Anti-Bullying Programs Effective?

Written By: Jonathan Lasson
The news of yet another school shooting, this time at Chardon High School in Ohio, has once again brought out talk of the effects of bullying on children and the drastic consequences it can have when mixed with other problems such as witnessing domestic violence and having few friends. The Ohio school shooting that left three students dead and one clinging for his life will undoubtedly be the focus of discussion amongst school administrators. One notable difference between T.J. Lane and other school shooters was the alacrity in which information was publicized about his troubled past. News reports were replete with information about long-winded manifestos he shared via social media which depicted a young man who was reportedly the victim of severe bullying. The question that school systems grapple with after horrific school shootings such as the one in Ohio is how to address the problem of bullying in an effort to prevent another Columbine or Chardon High. As school psychologists, we have been charged with the development and implementation of anti-bullying programs that focus on prevention and early intervention. A 2007 journal article in Educational Psychology studied the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs in primary schools. The results indicated that the program contributed to a positive reduction in outsider behavior (children remaining uninvolved and thus silently allowing bullying to continue) and enhanced students' self-efficacy beliefs for both assertion and intervening in bully/victim incidents. However, the long-term effectiveness of the program was limited. More recently, it has been reported that anti-bulling programs have shown long-term effectiveness and most states have since passed anti-bullying legislation that is being implemented in most major school systems in the United States. Michigan has struggled to get legislation passed because of the mixed results regarding the efficacy of antibullying programs. They suggest that in order for anti-bullying programs to be effective, there must be a three pronged focus. Firstly, the focus must be on educating all school personnel and not just teachers in recognizing bullying behaviors. Secondly, the students who are referred to as bystanders must be educated to understand the effects of their inaction. The guilt of knowing that something could have been done had someone spoken up is sometimes too much for a child to bear. This diffusion of responsibility when students feel that someone else has the responsibility to alert school personnel of bullying behavior contributes to the lack of efficacy of reporting bullying and other suspicious behaviors in their fellow classmates. Thirdly, it is necessary to clearly define bullying to students and teachers so they do not miss the warning signs of bullying behaviors. Students might not attribute a negative comment or one group ostracizing another as precursors to bullying. An article in School Psychology Review also questioned the efficacy of whole school anti-bullying programs and found that these programs had little success. This was mainly due to the lack of systematic monitoring. The article suggests that those programs that are monitored more carefully and are more age appropriate show the greatest level of efficacy. In summary, anti-bullying programs can only be as effective as teachers and students make it. We can no longer ignore and stand passively as young children grow into bullies. We will not be able to completely eliminate bullying from our schools, but by recognizing the signs and implementing school-wide anti-bullying programs, we can at least make a move in the positive direction towards the goal of making our schools safer for students.

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Using Curriculum Based Assessments (CBA)

Written By: Christina Burton
According to the National Reading Panel (1999), approximately 10 million children will encounter reading problems in the first three years of their schooling. Oftentimes, reading is the primary reason for referral for students we are asked to evaluate. Many of us received training in administering and interpreting assessments measuring phonological processing and decoding, which are essential skills needed for reading. Another option for evaluating a students reading skills, however, is curriculum-based assessment. Curriculum based assessment (CBA) is a type of informal and relatively quick assessment in which the examiner uses materials from the schools curriculum to obtain data regarding the students performance. When conducting a CBA of a students reading skills, it provides data about the students accuracy and fluency when reading connected text, specifically materials they have read or will read in class. The steps for conducting a CBA are as follows:

Obtain 3 reading passages from the students teacher: a previously read passage (1-2 weeks ago), a passage currently being read in class, and a passage that will be read in the future (in the next 1-2 weeks). Make 2 copies of each passage (student and examiner copies). Present each passage to the student allowing them to read for a pre-determined amount of time, such as 2 minutes. Do not provide any assistance to the student during reading. While the student reads, record errors including substitutions, omissions, insertions, repetition of words and phrases, self-correction, and other observations of the students reading skills on your copy of the passage. If allowing the student to read for more than 1 minute, indicate stopping points at each minute (e.g. 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, etc.). If interested in the students ability to retain what he/she has read, you can request that they retell you the passage, provide main idea and/or details, and/or respond to multiple choice questions.

Once the CBA is administered, accuracy and fluency rates can be calculated by following the directions below. Accuracy: Count the total number of words the student read correctly. Count the total number of words in the passage. Divide the number of correct words by the total words to obtain a percentage of words correct per minute (WCPM). Fluency: The correct number of words per minute is considered the students fluency rate (if the student read for more than 1 minute, calculate the average of correct number of words per minute across the samples). For example, if the student correctly read 45 words in the first minute and 39 words in the second minute of a passage, his/ her fluency would be 42 WCPM. CBAs provide the evaluator with information regarding the students instructional level (level at which the material presents an appropriate degree of challenge) and frustration level (Gickling, 1985). When reading connected text, students should know 9397% of the words in order to comprehend what is read. If students know less than 93% of words presented, the text is considered to be at their frustration level. When considering a drill format, such as practicing spelling or sight words, students should know 70-85% of words to benefit from such practice. Several researchers have studied reading fluency and developed fluency charts using their data (e.g. Shinn, 1988). The table on the following page presents oral reading fluency data obtained by Hasbrouck and Tindal in 2006. Evaluators can use this table to determine if the fluency of the student they are assessing is at a rate similar to his/his peers (e.g. between the 25th and 75th percentile ranks). CBA is such a useful assessment tool for school psychologists
Continued on next page

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CBA Continued from page 8 because it allows us to directly assess student reading performance with grade level texts and subsequently develop interventions specific to the students needs and the schools curriculum. It can inform teachers and interventionists of instructional mismatches if the presented curricular materials are considered to be at the students frustration level. If this is the case, the material either needs to be substituted for more appropriate materials or should be modified so that the student can benefit from reading the text (i.e. teaching the student key vocabulary words they will be reading prior to exposure, engaging in guided repeated reading, etc.). Additionally, results can indicate other deficits including poor knowledge of phonemes, difficulty blending sounds to read words, and difficulty tracking when reading to highlight just a few areas. With reading being such an essential part of life, identifying difficulties and providing specific interventions are crucial. Because CBA uses curriculum materials, data obtained provides a wealth of relevant information about a students reading skills that can directly be linked to intervention. It is also an assessment that is relatively quick and easy to administeranother advantage in our profession when time is limited and timelines pass by so quickly! If you are interested in more information about conducting CBAs, go to interventioncentral.org. If you are looking for reading interventions, review the Ingenious Intervention Idea articles in BCASP newsletters from 2009-2011.
Grade Percentile 90 75 1 50 25 10 90 75 2 50 25 10 90 75 3 50 25 10 90 75 4 50 25 10 90 75 5 50 25 10 90 75 6 50 25 10 90 75 7 50 25 10 90 75 8 50 25 10 Fall WCPM Winter WCPM 81 47 23 12 6 125 100 72 42 18 146 120 92 62 36 166 139 112 87 61 182 156 127 99 74 195 167 140 111 82 195 165 136 109 88 199 177 151 124 97 Spring WCPM 111 82 53 28 15 142 117 89 61 31 162 137 107 78 48 180 152 123 98 72 194 168 139 109 83 204 177 150 122 93 202 177 150 123 98 199 177 151 124 97

106 79 51 25 11 128 99 71 44 21 145 119 94 68 45 166 139 110 85 61 177 153 127 98 68 180 156 128 102 79 185 161 133 106 77

Page 10

Managing Anxiety: From What If to What Else

Written By: Cindy Smith
There are a wide variety of anxiety disorders that affect children and adolescents, and collectively, they are the most prevalent (and, thankfully, one of the most treatable) psychiatric conditions that affect school-age populations. It has been estimated that anxiety disorders affect over 13% of children and up to 25% of teens aged 13 to 18 years old. Students experiencing a high degree of anxiety can be at-risk for poor outcomes related to somatic complaints, academic achievement, attendance, and relationships with others. This article is designed to summarize the content of a recently reviewed book which addresses anxiety in children and adolescents, and to encourage the reader to seek out this book for themselves or for families with whom they are working. Dr. Tamar Chansky is the founder of the Childrens Center for OCD and Anxiety in Pennsylvania, and the author of the 2004 book Freeing Your Children from Anxiety: Powerful Practical Solutions to Overcome Your Childs Fears, Worries and Phobias. Dr. Chansky has taken the core components of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and translated the theory into suggested activities in user-friendly language. Using and teaching these techniques to others have been very valuable to my own practice in working with children, teachers, and families in the school setting. Dr. Chansky described how children with anxiety can be described as a swimming swan, as they appear to be gracefully gliding on the surface, but paddling furiously underneath the water just to stay afloat. Children with a variety of anxiety-related difficulties (panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, separation anxiety, etc.) may not always be high on a teachers radar. Students have been observed to bottle up their distress during the school day and express it more overtly at home first thing in the morning, over the weekend, or after school hours. In such cases, consistency in a supportive adults management approach to the child is critical. For the child who is clearly distressed (where the feelings of fear or worry are not just uncomfortable, but unbearable to the student), intervention (such as school-based CBT counseling, parent/ family/teacher training, and partnership with community-based mental health providers) can assist the child who is not progressing in his/her management of these feelings. Dr. Chansky describes anxiety as a tense emotional state where you cant predict the outcome or guarantee that the outcome will be a desired one. The author discussed some of the biological, environmental and temperament factors which appear to set the stage for anxiety disorders. One of the key ideas that Dr. Chansky highlights throughout the book is keeping in mind that anxiety is a survival (fight versus flight) mechanism. She gave the example that an individual would not jump in a pool if they cannot swim. It provides a helpful perspective to imagine the state of expected anxiety one could anticipate in that same situation. She describes children with anxiety as students who are over correcting for a real or imagined risk. A common survival mechanism begins to look like more disordered thinking when clinicians begin to see a pattern of automatic exaggerated risk and underestimation in his/her ability to cope with stressors. The author provides a crash course on CBT in this book, taking the reader through the key stages of this approach. Dr. Chansky notes that using CBT as designed results in a significant reduction in anxiety symptoms in approximately 50-80% of children treated. The CBT steps highlighted are summarized on the next page.

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Psychoeducation/demystification

Summarizing for the child and family what anxiety is; identifying and highlighting a childs existing strengths and resources; creating a goal for the child around what the child would rather be doing (e.g. drawing, playing soccer, etc.) instead of worrying. Teaching, modeling and practicing skills such as deep breathing scripts and progressive muscle relaxation when the physiological signs of anxiety (e.g. sweaty palms, racing heart) are first recognized. Identifying anxiety-producing automatic thoughts (e.g. I am going to fail 5th grade if I dont pass this quiz) and thinking errors (e.g. all-or-nothing thinking); learning realistic coping thinking skills. Setting up opportunities to practice newly acquired skills one step at a time in the target situation, starting with a setting very far removed from the most anxious setting and with the event that provokes the least amount of worry. Teaching the student how to identify and recognize signs of possible relapse and create a plan to manage relapse if/when it occurs.

Somatic management

Cognitive restructuring

Exposure

Relapse prevention

Regarding behavior plans to promote increased use of positive coping skills, Dr. Chansky encourages the following as general strategies to consider integrating: (a) gradual exposure (see above) or got used to it exercises, as Dr. Chansky calls them; (b) avoid distracting a student from their worryhelp the child to dismiss it all together instead by helping them to identify it as a worry thought rather than calm brain; (c) move children quickly along to a more desirable, healthy activity preferably with movement (e.g. hot potato game) after the triggering event has been addressed; (d) consider reciprocal inhibition a competing emotion will often win out over worry, as teaching and encouraging the child to be silly or goofy, for example, can temporarily break the tense emotional state long enough to re-engage coping skills. The highlight of Dr. Chanskys book is teaching what she calls her master plan to children. The goal is to help kids to identify intrusive anxious thoughts as unreliable. She shared that once you have devalued the worry thoughts, you are suddenly free to dispense with them. The author provided the analogy which suggested that people do not generally take out their highlighter when reading junk mail, and children should be taught to do the same when such ideas come up. The master plan includes six steps which are highlighted on the next page. Dr. Chansky also suggests ways to deal with more specific anxiety-related issues, such as tips for managing specific phobias or separation anxiety. Both the discussion and strategies suggested are highly relevant to work with our students in the school setting and particularly in counseling. I have found that teaching these to teachers with a simple handout that is a bulleted list of the master plan as a reminder has been helpful to teachers working with anxious children. In addition to reading this book for yourself, it may also be helpful to have a copy to lend to parents who are looking to try to support their child at home.

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The Master Plan for Managing Anxiety

Empathize Supportive adults often try to dispel worry for children (e.g. Theres nothing to worry about there are no spiders here!). It is important to recognize the worries, small and large, are vividly real to a child, regardless of your perception or reassurances. Resist the urge to say theres nothing to worry about. Empathetic responses include statements like I see that you are really upset right now. Teach children to differentiate fact from worry brain. Ask the child to write a worry list in order or priority (e.g. on a scale of 1-100, how worried do he/she feel about each item) and focus on one at a time. To engage in self talk like thats a technical glitch; just a false alarm; worry brain or brain bug jumping to conclusions; thats another what if thought; dont trust it! (etc.) Students may wish to choose the language that works best for them to visualize and comfortably say to use this strategy. Give worry brain a voice (try Adam Sandler, not Peter Jennings to further devalue it!) The idea is to teach the child that it is possible to act with our smart not with fears. Support the child in challenging the first response (How likely is it really? How bad would it really be? What ELSE could actually happen instead?); tape the child bossing back their worries in a confident voice for them to hear it. Help children to calm all the bells and whistles that the body will send out: deep breathing; balloon breathing; taking a worry temp check with a feelings thermometer; teach the student how one thing they can learn to do can slow things down when theyre ready. Refocus the childs attention back to their personal goal. Try something like: What would you be doing if you werent hearing the worry tape? (and then later) Now that youve bossed it back, lets get busy with that! In general, it takes about three weeks to establish a new behavior, so reinforcing the new behavior until its a habit is critical. It is important for supportive adults to highlight success in coping, and remember to look for cumulative success (e.g. a total of 5 days staying in seat without washing hands) instead of consecutive success (setting the goal to be every day for 5 days). Gradually fade rewards, and beware of the extinction burst (the it-gets-worse-before-it-gets-better effect).

Relabel the problem as worry brain

Rewire and resist

Get the body on board

Refocus Reinforce

Join BCASP for a Day of Work with Habitat for Humanity Giving back to our Baltimore City Community When: Saturday April 21st, 2012 Time: 8am to 3pm Who: BCASP Members How: Contact Nadine Warrick
nmwarrick@bcps.k12.md.us

Volume 3, Issue 3

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BCASP News and Notes

BCASP made a donation to Viva House in honor of colleague Jeanne Fischer and to the Butterfly Fund in honor of Kara and Colin Tozers son, William Masen Tozer. A benefit will be held on Saturday, April 21st in Kennett Square, PA to provide funds for the medical care of Reid Unangst, son of past BCASP secretary and member Meredith Unangst. If you are interested in attending or donating, visit http://www.gingersplace3323.com/Friends_of_Reid.html. For those of you who submitted for Model status, submissions are being scored in the order in which they were received. Candidates will be notified of decisions on a rolling basis via City School email address as their completed scores are submitted by the PPRC. The JPG will be contacting you periodically with updates. As a reminder, any candidate who is recommended for placement on the Model Pathway will earn compensation retroactive to July 1st 2011. The MSPA Spring Protocol will be available soon to current MSPA members on the MSPA website. Look for a number of articles from your Baltimore City Colleagues! Check your inbox for monthly email blasts from our President, Jessica Munch, with updated BCASP News & Notes. If you have not received these email blasts and are a current member in good standing, please contact Jessica Munch at jakouvel@bcps.k12.md.us.

Baltimore City Association of School Psychologists 2011-2012 Officers: President Jessica Munch Past-President Kate Shoemaker President-Elect Pamela Cocol Secretary Eve Northrup Treasurer Sam Chavez BTU Representative James Blanchard

Thank you for reading! Your Newsletter Committee:

Christina Burton Pamela Cocol Layout & Design Editor Jennifer Ganz Jessica Munch Editor-In-Chief Liz Niemeic Erin OKeefe Teresa Serkes Cindy Smith

Interested in a BCASP leadership position?

Nominations for the 2012-2013 BCASP Officers are currently being accepted. Please consider nominating a colleague or yourself for President, Secretary or Treasurer. Contact Brad Petry, Chair of Nominations, for more information (bpetry@bcps.k12.md.us)