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SPECTRUM
Burke-Little & Associates Educational Specialists
August 2009
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| Greetings! |
Welcome to the Summer 2009 Edition of Spectrum. I hope this finds you and your loved ones enjoying the days of August with easy living and relaxation. I suspect though you all are busy with preparation and plans for upcoming schools and programs which creates a lot of emotion and rush of adrenaline.
I have been traveling a lot in the last few months with trips to New England and Utah. Tomorrow I am on the plane to Kalsipel, Montana to look at programs and go horseback riding and certainly go fly fishing.
Continuing on our series of articles about Mindfulness, I have an article on Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Also, you will read a rather interesting article on a recent Supreme Court ruling that has far reaching implications for federal and state support of private education for students with learning disabilities. For your children whose goal is to make a lot of money after college, there is an article from CNN on the most lucrative professions for students to pursue.
There are some signs that the economy is making some improvements. I do hope you are weathering this difficult time. As always, we at Burke-Little appreciate your loyalty and support, and we look forward to years of support to you and your family.
Milton D. Little PhD
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15 Years Helping Students Achieve Academic Success In:
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Traditional and Specialized Day Schools
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Traditional and Specialized Boarding Schools
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Therapeutic Schools
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Colleges and Universities
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Programs for Young Adults
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A Look at Dialectical Behavior Therapy |
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was developed as a treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder by Marsha Linehan Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Having roots in Behaviorism, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Zen Buddhism, DBT is anchored by Zen concepts of radical acceptance and mindfulness. As Linehan states, the DBT philosophy is "you're perfect, now change." Lineman's goal is "To save the most miserable people in the world." How? By accepting them as they are and teaching them self-acceptance so they may change their destructive behaviors and learn healthy coping mechanisms.
DBT has set treatment protocols which remain consistent from one mental health organization to another. Because of this consistency, DBT programs are easier to evaluate. DBT is used by state mental health systems, forensic hospitals, substance abuse centers, and prisons in the United States and abroad. Studies show that DBT reduces the rate of self-injury, suicide attempts, emergency room and inpatient hospital visits (making DBT more attractive to insurers.) While studies indicate DBT lifts depression, there is no data (as of yet) to support increased happiness in patients.
A candidate for DBT must have a strong and conscious commitment to change along with the acceptance of oneself without judgment or blame (radical acceptance). DBT consists of the counselor and patient working together to develop strategies for overcoming conflict and unwanted behavior. Skills training is the heart of the program. There are four primary skill sets used to determine the best ways to implement these strategies in a variety of real world situations. Each skill set is designed to address an area of an individual's life which may need improvement. These four skill sets are:
Core Mindfulness: Based on the teachings of self-awareness by Zen Buddhists, practicing mindfulness means we should pause for a moment, observe what is happening inside and all around us, live and breathe in that moment while relinquishing all thoughts of the past or future. Mindfulness is effective when faced with challenging situations that cause pain, anger, frustration, and sadness. You must recognize these emotions and allow them to flow through you. You must choose to let them pass rather than dwell on them. Mindfulness should also be practiced during the best of times allowing yourself to experience pleasing moments without external aggravation or interference. Forget the stressors in your life, commit to the moment and enjoy a glorious sunset-a wonderful coping mechanism for us all!
Emotional Regulation: This module is designed to help patients decrease the intensity of their fear, anger, shame, and sadness-how to regulate and control their emotions. This is a crucial component for those with anger management issues.
Interpersonal Effectiveness: Interpersonal effectiveness teaches a patient how to deal with others. Designed to decrease patients' interpersonal chaos and fear of abandonment, patients learn to have a more positive outlook on their environment, their relationships, and most importantly, themselves. They learn healthy conflict resolution and discover ways to make better decisions when interacting with others.
Distress Tolerance: With this skill set, a patient learns to confront negative events in a positive, constructive manner rather than avoid them. The patient learns how to get through a bad situation without making it worse. One of the methods taught is exercising of opposite action. For example: Do something nice for someone with whom you are angry.
One of the fastest growing applications for DBT is alcohol and drug rehab. A cognitive therapy counselor works with the recovering addict to create strategies to live substance and addiction free. Topics that are addressed:
- How to break the cycle of addiction by improving one's self image
- Removing the need to escape through drugs and alcohol
- Understanding how one's actions affect others
- Developing strategies to treat family and friends with more respect
- How to rebuild trust
- Learn how to say "NO" to those who offer substances.
- Gain an understanding of the conflict and social problems that come with substance abuse and addiction-confront and deal with these issues.
DBT is also being used in treatment of Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Anxiety, Clinical Depression, as well as dual diagnosis.
Although DBT is not a very revolutionary idea as a treatment, it has proven its helpfulness with a variety of issues. Undoubtedly, it will remain in the forefront of therapeutic approaches for its effectiveness.
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| Supreme Court Ruling is a Win for Children with Disabilites |
On June 22, 2009, the Supreme Court settled an emotional and contentious issue that has long divided frustrated parents and financially challenged school officials. The Court ruled by a 6 to 3 vote that parents of children with disabilities may seek tuition reimbursement for private school even if the child has never attended public school.
In the written opinion of Justice John Paul Stevens, he said Congress intended for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide an appropriate educational experience for all children even if they had never received special educational services from a school system.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guarantees free, appropriate public education to all children with disabilities; however, a 1997 Amendment made the act more specific and exclusive by stating that tuition reimbursement was for students who had "previously received special education and related services." An Oregon school district leaned on this amendment to avoid reimbursing private school costs for a boy whose parents decided that public schools could not appropriately serve his needs. This boy had attended public school from kindergarten to high school. The public system never diagnosed him with a learning disability; therefore, he never received special education services. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit sided with the parents and ruled that they were entitled to tuition reimbursement.
Justice Stevens said the intentions of Congress were clear (while their wording may not have been.) He further wrote, "restricting the reimbursements to children who had previously been served by public school systems would immunize the systems for never providing the help a disabled child needed." That would be "a rule bordering on the irrational."
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| Most Lucrative College Degrees |
Math majors don't always get much respect on college campuses, but fat post-grad wallets should be enough to give them a boost.
The top 15 highest-earning college degrees all have one thing in common -- math skills. That's according to a recent survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which tracks college graduates' job offers.
"Math is at the crux of who gets paid," said Ed Koc, director of research at NACE. "If you have those skills, you are an extremely valuable asset. We don't generate enough people like that in this country."
This year Rochester Institute of Technology hosted recruiters from defense-industry firms like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, as well as other big companies like Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson.
"The tech fields are what's driving salaries and offers, and the top students are faring quite well," said Emanuel Contomanolis, who runs RIT's career center. Specifically, engineering diplomas account for 12 of the 15 the top-paying majors. NACE collects its data by surveying 200 college career centers.
Energy is the key. Petroleum engineering was by far highest-paying degree, with an average starting offer of $83,121, thanks to that resource's growing scarcity. Graduates with these degrees generally find work locating oil and gas reservoirs, or in developing ways to bring those resources to the Earth's surface. "Exploration for new energy sources is high," Koc said. "The oil and gas industry has done relatively well the past year, even though oil prices are off right now." Other highly-paid engineering majors include chemical engineers, who employ their skills to make everything from plastics to fuel cells and have an average starting offer of $64,902. Mining engineers start at $64,404 on average, while computer engineers, who have an expertise in both coding and electrical engineering, pocket roughly $61,738 their first year out of school.
Left behind. Of course, not every student with an engineering degree will score a fat paycheck. RIT's Contomanolis noted that "average" graduates are feeling the pinch of fewer job offers. Still, in a tough job market, graduates with technology degrees have an advantage.
"It's a tech-driven world, and demand [for engineers] is only going to grow," said Farnoosh Torabi, employment expert and Quicken blog editor. "You can't say that about many fields, especially in a recession."Perhaps that's why more and more college students are picking their majors based on a field's earning power, ultimately "choosing a major that pays," Torabi said.
Top non-engineering fields. Only three of the 15 top paying degrees were outside the field of engineering -- but they each still require math skills. For computer science majors, who specialize in programming and software, the average salary was $61,407. Graduates with degrees in actuarial science took home about $56,320; and jobs for students in construction management paid about $53,199. Each of these fields has paid well throughout the years, Koc said.
What happened to well-rounded? There are far fewer people graduating with math-based majors, compared to their liberal-arts counterparts, which is why they are paid at such a premium. The fields of engineering and computer science each make up about 4% of all college graduates, while social science and history each comprise 16%, Koc noted.
As a result, salaries for graduates who studied fields like social work command tiny paychecks, somewhere in the vicinity of $29,000. English, foreign language and communications majors make about $35,000, Koc said.
"It's a supply and demand issue," he added. "So few grads offer math skills, and those who can are rewarded."
Julianne Pepitone
Friday, July 24, 2009
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