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School Social Work Now!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership & Applied Research
February 2013 - Vol 3, Issue 20 |
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Come on . . . Follow Us!! | |
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| Greetings! | |
National School Social Work Week is fast approaching. As in many other service professions, we aren't often recognized for the work we do--nor do we seek it. But March is social work month and March 3-9 is School Social Work Week. ACSSW has put together a number of ideas regarding ways to celebrate and share the importance and joy of school social work. The ACSSW 2013 School Social Work Week Poster is now available for you to download. School Social Work Week Celebration Ideas are also ready. Start to plan how you will promote and highlight the profession! You'll be surprised how many people will be happy for you.
Colleague and ACSSW member Steve Button is looking for a policy as well as district procedures for suicide prevention, intervention and postvention. The Lewiston, ID school district is revising and updating their documents. If you can help, please email your documents by clicking his name, Steve Button. If you prefer to send something "hard copy", mail to Steve at: Lewiston School District, 3317 12th Street, Lewiston, ID 83501. Thanks so much!
Highlights of the ACSSW Conference in New Orleans
Monday keynote: Steven Korr, of the International Institute of Restorative Practices, is a trainer and consultant with the IIRP and has brought restorative practices to schools in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit and New York. He has trained educators and other professionals from all over the world. With extensive experience in the fields of mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, outpatient counseling and alternative education, Steve has been working with young people and their families since 1985.
Tuesday keynote: Marleen Wong,PhD, MSW, Assistant Dean and Clinical Professor of Field Education, University of Southern
California, is recognized by the White House as one of the "pre-eminent experts in school crisis and recovery" and as the "architect of school-safety programs" by the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Wong has developed mental health recovery programs, crisis and disaster training for school districts and law enforcement in the United States, Canada, Israel and Asia for the past 30 years. Formerly the director of crisis counseling and intervention services for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Dr. Wong is one of the original developers of the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), an evidence-based program using skill-based group intervention to relieve symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and general anxiety among children traumatized by violence, bullying and other events.
Don't miss these experts!! In addition, be sure to read below about the new "Bring One, Take One" book table. See you in New Orleans!
Judith Kullas Shine
President |
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Recommended Read for February | |
 The Immortal Life ofHenrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
Non-fiction
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose [cancer] cells--taken without her knowledge in 1951--became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, but her family didn't know and received no money for this. She remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance. Read more. Book trailer.
Another review ...
Henrietta Lacks died eight months after her diagnosis, leaving behind five small children, including a one-year-old daughter, Deborah. The family, still oblivious to the fact that her cells were thriving in vitro after her death, buried her in an unmarked grave on their land in Virginia, too poor to even buy a headstone.
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ACSSW Conference in New Orleans
February 18-19 Only 11 more days!! | |
Late fee effective February 1st
ACSSW -- Louisiana Conference
The Science & Art
of School Social Work
February 18-19, 2013
Tulane University, Lavin-Bernick Center, New Orleans
New feature: Do you have a number of professional books sitting around collecting dust? But you hate to throw them out? This year's ACSSW school social work conference in Louisiana is going to feature a Bring One, Take One book display. Attendees interested in participating are asked to bring one or more books, primarily professional, with publishing dates of 2000 or newer. For each book you bring you may take a book home. Here's an opportunity to refresh your professional library and help others to refresh theirs. Start reviewing your bookshelf today!
Team discounts are still available for groups of 3 or more from the same district/parish. Registrations may be made online at Conference Registrations. If you do not receive a return email confirmation, you are not registered. You may also download the registration page from the brochure and email or fax to the addresses on the page. Email/fax registrations will receive a confirmation within 48 hours of receipt. If you do not receive confirmation contact Sally Carlson, sally.carlson@acssw.org or 414-659-5853. $25 late fee effective February 1st.
2013 NOLA Conference Brochure. One workshop has been CANCELED, Debunking the Model Minority Myth. A NEW WORKSHOP, Developing a Social Justice Model of School Social Work, is now being offered in that time slot. The Social Justice workshop was a popular choice at the June 2012 National ACSSW School Social Work Summit. The new description is in the updated brochure. School social work and social justice--a natural match!
Conference hotels: Drury Hotel Accommodations and
Holiday Inn Superdome Accommodations. As of February 1st both hotels have released rooms to the general public and the conference rates may not be available. You might still try to get lodging at either hotel but may need to make other sleeping arrangements. |
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Practice Points | |
When Children Experience Trauma: A Guide for Parents and Families
All parents and caregivers try to protect their children from experiences that cause trauma, but unfortunately, in today's world this can be difficult to do. Whether on the television, in the schoolyard, or at home, children are likely to be exposed to some level of violence and other kinds of trauma in their early years. However there are many things that parents and families can do to lessen the impact of such experiences. How does trauma affect children? What can parents and families do to lessen the impact of such experiences? Please read on.
Child and Adolescent Bipolar Disorder: Focus on Differential Diagnosis and Management
Bipolar disorder is a common mood disorder that has a highly variable age of onset. It is most commonly diagnosed in persons between the age of 18 and 24, but as many as 59% of adult patients with bipolar disorder experienced their first episode before the age of 18.1 The expression of bipolar symptoms is developmentally variable among children and adolescents. Youth may experience a variety of overlapping, comorbid conditions, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or substance abuse. Confusion with other conditions and a limited understanding of the incidence of bipolar disorder among patients with early onset (adolescent onset) and very early onset (child onset) contribute to the underdiagnosis and undertreatment of this disease by physicians.2 The purpose of the present monograph is to provide current information related to bipolar disorder in children and adolescents to help improve the identification and treatment of young people. (While targeted to physicians, this monograph may be of interest to school social workers).
Distinguishing Between Trauma Activation and Healthy Discharge of Trauma
Trauma is physiological, not psychological-trauma literally lodges in the body. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for most of the processes that occur under the conditions of danger, while the parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for a variety of processes that take place under conditions of safety and relaxation, as well as for the freeze response that takes place during extreme danger.
Neuroscientist Dr. Stephen Porges, who developed the polyvagal theory, explains that when any animal-especially the human animal-faces a threat to its survival, it will assess whether social engagement or social disengagement will manage the challenge. Under conditions of increased threat, the animal will go into hyperarousal and respond by fleeing or fighting. If either strategy does not work, the animal will freeze and become immobile.
Once the threat has passed, this biological response is "shaken off" and the animal's autonomic nervous system returns to normal. However, if this natural, biological discharge does not take place, the animal becomes fixated in a state of hyperarousal. More.
Choosing Assessment and Evaluation Tools for Direct Practice
Assessment and evaluation tools can contribute to practice effectiveness if social service provessionals choose them well. In this essay I provide guidelines for choosing tools for practice. The first section discusses standardized instruments; that is, instruments that have known psychometric properties of reliability and validity. The second section is on instruments that practitioners construct themselves or that they help clients construct. The third section is brief but points out some of the complicated issues involved in practitioner use of instruments. Read complete essay. |
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Leadership News | |
4 Leadership Messages Your Talent Needs to Hear
Young professionals and experienced individual contributors need to be part of the leadership equation, too. These overlooked leaders are the people who are working on project teams, influencing others and taking on ever-larger and more complex assignments. . . Both groups are in the right place to leverage leadership skills, but they need the nod from you. Continue.
10 Ways to Sharpen Your Leadership Skills
When Niki Leondakis joined San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants as director of restaurant operations in 1993, she heard rumors that some in the company's HR department didn't think she was up to the task within the male-dominated department.
"I came in [thinking] I had to prove I was tough," Leondakis says. As a result she took a firm stance with her employees, fired people who made missteps and earned herself the nickname, "the Terminator."
In order to overcome the negative opinion of her abilities, Leondakis had unknowingly assumed a stereotypically male leadership style. However, she wasn't comfortable in the role she had created.
Read Niki's story.
No Name-Calling Contest
In your capacity as school change leaders, you can make a difference in the lives of students. Words can hurt. A Creative Expression Contest is open to students to submit poetry, essays, music and artwork centered around experiences with name-calling in schools. Contest deadline: March 1. |
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Research Highlights | 
Classmates Not Cellmates: Effective School Discipline Cuts Crime and Improves Student Success
This research report, produced by a law enforcement membership organization, calls attention to the excessive suspension and expulsion rates in California. It examines alternative responses to suspension and expulsion and prevention approaches that reduce behavior and discipline problems before they happen. It highlights several promising programs, such as The Good Behavior Game and Incredible Years, that can improve school climate and reduce disciplinary problems. Access report.
First Step to Success: A Report
First Step to Success was found to have positive effects on external behavior, potentially positive effects on emotional/internal behavior, social outcomes, and other academic performance, and no discernible effects on reading achievement/literacy for children classified with an emotional disturbance. Brief summary. Download full report.
Matrix of Children's Evidence-Based Interventions
. . .This matrix includes for each intervention a description, the evidence of its effectiveness, availability of technical assistance and training materials, the population and setting with which the program was tested, andsources that identified the program or intervention. Some of the information for specific interventions was derived from blending sources (i.e. the evidence, population, or setting of a particular intervention may come from different sources), or was expanded on by further search. Therefore, the information presented for each intervention is not necessarily uniform where the population, setting and outcomes may not all stem from the same study. Technical assistance and training materials for each program/intervention were sought, and those found are listed. The matrix does not contain all known information on the programs or interventions listed. . . The matrix contains 92 entries and several factors must be taken into consideration while using it. Read more.
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In the News | |
How Poverty Influences a Child's Brain Development
. . . Kids from communities that are underresourced and subject to economic stress think differently than their wealthier counterparts in ways that can ultimately affect behaviour. . . Dr. Hertzman - who teaches at the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health and was Canada's health researcher of the year in 2010 - is part of a rapid evolution of the field that has grown from merely recording the demographics of cognitive disparities to building a bottom-up understanding of the molecular changes that cause them.
The change has gathered momentum in recent months, fuelled by a bounty of new findings that bolster the long-observed link between social environment and development with a newly emerging biological perspective.
It also underscores the stunning human cost of what is called the "socio-economic gradient." Only 3 to 4 per cent of Canadian children are born with inherited differences that will limit their physical, emotional or intellectual growth, yet an average of 25 to 30 per cent exhibit some level of developmental vulnerability that could include a cognitive "deficit." Complete article.
Schools Must Open Sports to Disabled
The Obama administration for the first time is telling school districts across the USA that they must give disabled students equal access to extracurricular sports, a move that advocates say has been years in the making.
In a letter to schools .. . Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Seth Galanter of the Department of Education says schools should provide "reasonable modifications" to allow disabled students to participate - for instance, providing a deaf track athlete with a flashing light that goes off simultaneously with the starter pistol that others hear.
He said schools don't have to radically alter games or stop choosing the most qualified athletes for competitive teams. They can look to "allied" or "unified" sports teams, in which students with disabilities participate with students without them. Continue.
New Zealand: More Social Workers in "Low-Decile" Schools
A further 80 schools will be covered by the expansion of Social Workers in Schools (SWiS) when students return to classrooms from this week. Social Development Minister Paula Bennett announced the expansion of SWiS to all decile 1-3 schools last year, with coverage planned to increase from 285 to 673 schools. There will be 35 new full time social workers starting the 2013 school year at primary schools in Kaipara, Greater Auckland and the South Island.
"If we're serious about protecting children, we need specialist staff in the right places and Social Workers in Schools are a vital frontline response to preventing and addressing abuse and neglect," says Mrs Bennett. Read more.
Connecticut School Shooting National Position Statement
Nine school violence prevention researchers and practitioners nationwide have developed a position statement in response to the tragic acts of violence at Sandy Hook Elementary School. This position statement has been endorsed by more than 200 professional organizations, including ACSSW, and nationally recognized researchers and practitioners, including the Center for School Mental Health. The driving force behind the statement is to communicate scientifically informed principles and recommendations for practitioners, policymakers and the public at large. The co-authors' goal is to help build consensus on a course of meaningful action. Read statement. |
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Survey Completion Request |
You are invited to participate in a brief 20 minute anonymous survey. The Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine is conducting this survey (a) to understand the barriers to engaging caregivers in school-based mental health treatment, and (b) to develop best practices for engaging caregivers in school-based mental health treatment. Mental health professionals who provide school-based mental health services are invited to complete this survey. Participation involves completing a 20 minute online survey of mental health professionals' experiences with engaging caregivers in school-based mental health treatment. Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary. In addition, your responses are completely anonymous and confidential. If you decide to participate, you may discontinue participation at any time, or if you feel uncomfortable answering any questions, you may choose "skip" as the answer or you may leave the text box blank. By completing the survey, you are providing consent to participate in this evaluation. Please contact Dr. Nicole Evangelista Brandt at nbrandt@psych.umaryland.edu or 410-706-0980 with questions. Thank you in advance! Go to School-Based Mental Health Survey. |
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Webinars | |
ARCHIVED & AVAILABLE
This session focused on strategies for preventing bullying, with a focus on enhancing overall school climate to minimize bullying behavior. In addition, participants explored practical approaches for recognizing the signs of potential bullying onset, risk analysis, support and interventions when such behavior does occur. Best practice guidelines for a comprehensive approach to addressing this issue were also explored. This Webinar is most appropriate for school administrators, professional and certified staff, guidance counselors, school climate team and social workers. Access Webinar. Presentation slides.
Understanding the Developmental Needs of Young Families Experiencing Homelessness
Young families who are homeless often have unique needs based on both the challenges of trauma and homelessness and their developmental stage. A developmental perspective is essential to tailoring services to meet the needs of this population. During the first session of this course, we will provide an overview of development from birth through young adulthood; child and adult brain development; expected behaviors and responses at each stage; and the impact of trauma on development. Register to access.
Understanding the Impact of Trauma in the Lives of Displaced Children and Families
The prevalence of traumatic stress in the lives of displaced children and families is extraordinarily high. Experiences of trauma can have a significant impact on how families interact with each other and with service providers. In this webinar, participants will learn about the connection between traumatic stress, displacement, and homelessness; the mind-body response to stress and trauma; factors that influence our responses to trauma, particularly cultural factors; and the impact of chronic trauma on all areas of functioning. Register here to access.
The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Healthy Students Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center is pleased to announce that the course, Large Events Emergency Management at Schools (K-12 population) is now being offered to provide emergency management training for schools. This course focuses on enhancing emergency management planning efforts throughout districts and schools by providing guidelines, checklists, and specific action items for school officials to consider. For more information and to access this course series, click here. |
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Calls for Proposals - STILL TIME TO SUBMIT! |
Special Issue on School Social Work and Military-connected Schools: New Directions in Practice, Research, Policy and National Leadership
Deadline: February 28, 2013
Guest Editors: Ron Avi Astor, University of Southern California Schools of Social Work and Education & Rami Benbenishty, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Children & Schools will publish a special issue on the needs of public schools serving military-connected students. These students experience multiple deployments, family separations, and other stressful life events that their non-military-connected peers do not undergo. Recent studies have shown that supportive schools can shield students from intense depression, conduct problems, feelings of alienation, anxiety, and school failure; however, for schools to serve as protective settings for military-connected students, school personnel need to be aware of both this population's presence and its particular needs. . .
School social workers can take a national leadership role developing and implementing practices and policies that address the needs of military-connected students. . .
The overarching goal of this special issue will be to present articles that describe the current state of school social work knowledge and best practices in military-connected schools and provide insights and implications that will help teachers, principals, school social workers, and other staff better serve military-connected students in the future. Manuscripts examining the perspectives of school staff, students, and parents in military-connected schools and outlining best practices for such schools are encouraged. More information and to submit. |
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Grants & Funding | |
Ezra Jack Keats Foundation Accepting Minigrant Applications
Established by children's book author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is accepting applications from public schools and public libraries anywhere in the United States and its territories for program or event mini-grants of up to $500. The mini-grants program is intended to support projects that foster creative expression, collaboration, and interaction with a diverse community. The funding program provides an opportunity for educators, whose efforts are often inadequately funded or recognized, to create special activities outside the standard curriculum and make time to encourage their students. For more information and application, click here. Deadline: March 15, 2013
NEA Foundation-Nickelodean Big Help Grant
Sponsored by Nickelodeon and the NEA Foundation, NEA Foundation-Nickelodeon Big Help Grants provide up to $5,000 to K-8 public school educators in the United States. The Big Help Grants program is dedicated to the development and implementation of ideas, techniques, and approaches to addressing four key concerns - environmental awareness, health and wellness, students' right to a quality public education, and active community involvement. The grants target these four concerns as areas of great promise in helping students in the twenty-first century develop a global awareness that encourages and enables them to make a difference in their world. Applicants must be practicing U.S public school teachers or public school education support professional. The application process is the same as for the NEA Foundation's Student Achievement grants. Applicants should specify that their request is for the Big Help Grants program in their application. Application deadline is June 1, 2013. Link to RFP. |
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ACSSW Activities | |
ACSSW's present activities include:
If you have interest in participating in any of these activities, contact Judie Shine. ACSSW strives to be inclusive and transparent in all of its activities and welcomes, whether lengthy or short, the participation of its members. |
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