It is not often that I am at a loss for words. I know, you are surprised, right? But recently, I did an assessment with a 15-year-old boy who was in a special school for kids with emotional disabilities, and part of this assessment was to interview the parent. Now, I try my best not [...]

It is not often that I am at a loss for words. I know, you are surprised, right? But recently, I did an assessment with a 15-year-old boy who was in a special school for kids with emotional disabilities, and part of this assessment was to interview the parent. Now, I try my best not [...]

Hi Educators and fabulous blog-readers!
A while back, I mentioned that I was editing a book called “The Teachable Moment” and sent out a call for stories. For a while, I even had a fancy Amazon link to the book from this blog. Then, the economy tanked and they put the book on hold. [...]

As a school psychologist, I get many little notes in my mailbox when I enter my school building. They are usually cryptic and anonymous:
Check in with Darius. He’s sad
Susana wrote in her journal that she wanted to hurt herself. Can you see her?
Not signed. No last names. Detective Branstetter is on the case.*
One I got [...]

For those of you who don’t know what a school psychologist does, a big part of our job is to assess children for disabilities. A popular referral question is: “Does my child have Attention Deficit Disorder?” An assessment for ADD is often the most complex of all assessments because there is no “test” for ADD. [...]

You ever have one of those days when you find out a 14-year-old former student murdered another student? Erm. Me neither.
But if I did, it would be awful. And there would be guilt about not doing enough. And there would be scanning of all interactions to see if there was something else I could [...]