These stories demonstrate the contributions of school psychologists on a daily basis. School psychologists are well-trained professionals who work to provide positive learning environments for all students.
Elena Alvarez, a school psychologist in the Placentia Yorba Linda Unified School District, Orange County, wanted to build resiliency among the Latino population. This is a greatly under-served population in that district.
She organized a group of school psychologists who met with community organizations to develop resources. These community groups worked with Ms. Alvarez on a presentation for targeted Latino families on parenting, which included behavior modification, and conflict resolution. But instead of a "boring meeting," Ms. Alvarez made it fun. She had mariachi singers and dancers attend to help build cultural pride. And she provided a free lunch.
This was a huge under-taking. She had to convince reluctant administrators who felt that working with this population has never been successful and was not going to yield a large turn out. After some convincing the district was willing to fund busing for the families to attend because many do not have modes of transportation as well as the cost of food, and janitorial services.
More than 200 families attended -- well beyond the expectations of the district. The following year the district was happy to sponsor the event again. This made a huge difference in the lives of many of the targeted families. Many of the families were not aware of services available to help their children succeed in school.
Brian Hartman is a school psychologist who works full time in an urban high school. He provides a variety of services to both special education and regular education students. For several years he has facilitated a school-based grief group for students who have lost a parent and/or sibling. A student (we will call Maria) who had lost her mother to cancer was referred to him by a teacher. Maria had been sent to California to live with her mother's sister (she never knew her father due to substance abuse and legal difficulties). As she participated in the group Mr. Hartman noticed how this amazing young woman, in spite of her tremendous misfortune, demonstrated compassion for others and remained focused on achieving academically. She was a role model for all of the students in the group for her drive to change her life for the better. Maria asked Mr. Hartman to contact the counselor/school psychologist at her brother's grade school so he could also receive grief counseling.
About a year later Mr. Hartman came across information on the Horatio Alger Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to high school students who have overcome significant adversity. He immediately thought of Maria, who had moved with her brother to another state due to family problems beyond her control. He was able to locate Maria and told her about the scholarship. He helped Maria with the application process and wrote a letter of recommendation. Maria was one of 100 students, of 50,000 applicants, who received the $10,000 scholarship. Maria now has the financial support to attend college and she will attend a very fine private university next year.
Rebecca Norton, a school psychologist, started a peer mediation program at a local elementary school in which 4th through 6th grade students were trained to mediate playground conflicts during recess. She also taught conflict resolution lessons to third grade classes. Some parents reported that their children took home what they learned and applied it to their family dynamic.
Ms. Norton has also facilitated counseling groups on the following topics:
- Coping with Separation and Divorce
- Understanding Myself and Others
- Friendship Club (social skills)
- Less Stress Class (for anxious students)
And, in her spare time, Ms. Norton started an elementary school yearbook and served as advisor for two years.
Sherry Miller's elementary school was selected to start a program for severely handicapped kindergarten children. Ms. Miller, a school psychologist, and the school's special education teacher started a social learning program to help her students learn through social play with regular education students (reverse mainstreaming). These severely handicapped students include children who are autistic or have various other disabilities. Twice a week selected regular education students give up a recess period to go to her room and, through structured play, play with the younger, special needs children. The program was started by three fifth grade boys who were interested in working with younger kids. It quickly expanded to include 18 regular education students. The regular education students have learned about various abilities and disabilities. The teacher has done an abilities-awareness session with most classes on the campus, and has brought classrooms of children into her room to explain different types of disabilities and to meet her children. The special needs kids in the program have loved having the older students work with them. These kids now have friends on the campus that say "hello" and interact. It is a great learning experience for everyone.
Sometimes, school psychologists leave campus to do psychological counseling. Walter H. Wheeler, a Porterville school psychologist, was called upon by law enforcement to provide counseling services to the stepchildren of a murder victim. No other social service agencies were called to where the children lived. A few days later, Mr. Wheeler received another call to counsel a traumatized second-grade student and her mother who were caught in a drug raid. Fourteen agencies were involved in the raid on several locations in the Tule River Indian Reservation in Porterville and in Bakersfield. Mr. Wheeler is one of only three school psychologists in the Porterville Unified School District, which has just over 12,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students.
