today.

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Job Shadowing

Oh yeah, I forgot to write about my job shadowing experience on Friday.

I am studying to be a school psychologist, and since my mom is a special education teacher, she let me come along to shadow the school psychologist at her school. I shadowed her not too long ago, and when I did, she was testing a student's IQ. This time, I got to sit in on two meetings with the parents.

In the first meeting, my mom (special ed teacher), the guidance counselor, the school nurse, the student's teacher, and the parent were at this meeting. Basically, this kid has severe ADD. He's smart and has the abilities to do well in school, but he just can't concentrate. This particular parent has been resistant to putting her child on meds, and has been trying "herbal remedies" and other stuff that hasn't seemed to work. So, the student's teacher talked about how he can never pay attention in class and how she always has to prompt him to be on task, blah blah blah. I almost laughed at one point because the teacher was saying that the boy likes to talk to himself a lot, "usually about the Incredible Hulk". Ahahaha! I really had to hold back a laugh at that. The student's teacher also showed the parent all kinds of test scores that basically demonstrated that her child is far below the standards of where he should be and that he hasn't shown any progress at all. The "team" was pushing for retaining the student in the 2nd grade, and in the end, after some tears were shed, the parent agreed to retention and possible medication for her child.

I was excited for the next meeting because it was about a Hispanic student, and the Spanish speaking mother was supposed to be attending. At this meeting were my mom, the school psychologist (me, haha), the guidance counselor, and the ESOL teacher (for translating). Unfortunately, the parent didn't show. I was disappointed because I wanted to hear some Spanish being spoken! For this student, retention in the 2nd grade was also decided.

From job shadowing, I've learned that if I really do become a school psych, it'll be sooo easy. I saw the school psych test the students using blocks and reading sentences and other easy stuff, and the meetings were a piece of cake. The only part that sounds tedious is analyzing the test results and writing up the reports. Other than that, I think I will very much enjoy my job. :D

2021 Update: I actually did become a school psychologist and I'm currently in my 8th year. I serve a high school and love it!

12:37 a.m. - Monday, Jun. 02, 2008

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