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School Social Work NOW!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership, and Applied Research
Vol 5, Issue 21
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Culturally Competent & Responsive Social Assessments
Still needed! A member has inquired whether any individual or district is using, or aware of, a culturally sensitive/responsive assessment tool or social development template when evaluating a student, particularly for special education. Of special interest is a strengths-based tool that can provide evaluation teams the necessary information to address challenging issues in a positive way. If you use such a tool or have a social assessment template that seems to fit this request, please email to me. And thanks in advance!!
Thunder Clap and Twitter Storm
On March 26th Congressman Loebsack (D-IA) introduced H.Res. 183, a SISP resolution recognizing April 13-17th as National Specialized Instructional Support Personnel Awareness Week. Please contact your Congressmen and ask them to support this resolution. The National Alliance of Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (NASISP--formerly the National Alliance of Pupil Service Organizations) is working hard toward this end.
As part of the celebration, NASISP--of which ACSSW is a member--is hoping to do a Thunder Clap and a Twitter Storm on April 13th. Stay tuned and get those smartphones ready!
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Forgiveness is often misunderstood. It does not require forgetting or condoning or even reconciling. Luskin, as quoted by Vesela Simic in an article titled "The Challenge of Forgiveness" (Shift: At the Frontiers of Consciousness, Issue 13, pp. 32), defines forgiveness as "the ability to make peace with your own life by no longer arguing and objecting to the way it unfolds. It means that difficult things happen in life, and first you have to grieve them, then accept them, and finally move on. ... Forgiveness means that unkindness stops with you. ... This is not a one-time response. ... It's about becoming a forgiving person."
Simic adds, "Forgiveness is a pro-social change in someone's experience after a transgression. When people choose to forgive, they change." Forgiveness is the end point of a process of coming to terms with enormous harm and with the reverberations of that harm. Learn more.
A lifelong tendency of certain nonpsychotic individuals to respond to other people with habitual and characteristic suspiciousness has been noted by writers on mental health since at least Kraepelin (1921), and paranoid personality disorder (PPD) has been present in every edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, including the first. PPD's acceptance into the official nomenclature thus predated that of schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), which was not introduced until DSM-III but since then, as we shall see, has in large part subsumed PPD in research and clinical practice.
Since the introduction of DSM-III, in fact, PPD has been among the least studied of the personality disorders, with relatively few empirical investigations specifically devoted to it in the published literature. Access full article.
The main body of this report documents gross disparities in the use of out-of-school suspension experienced by students with disabilities and those from historically disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and gender subgroups. The egregious disparities revealed in the pages that follow transform concerns about educational policy that allows frequent disciplinary removal into a profound matter of civil rights and social justice. This implicates the potentially unlawful denial of educational opportunity and resultant disparate impact on students in numerous districts across the country.
... the number of students suspended in just one school year could fill all of the stadium seats for nearly all the Super Bowls ever played-(the first 45). Moreover, recent estimates are that one in three students will be suspended at some point between kindergarten and 12th grade (Shollenberger, 2015). If we ignore the discipline gap, we will be unable to close the achievement gap. Executive Summary. Full Report.
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In trying to understand leadership, it is a good idea to take a brief look at some negative motivational techniques so that we understand what leadership is not. This list is by no means comprehensive; but it does include some of the most common offences:
Leadership is not the absence of guidance. Ken Blanchard has a great description for this; He calls it "leave alone, zap." It describes many managers who provide their staff with absolutely no guidance; then they criticize them the moment that they do not meet an un-communicated set of expectations or they transgress over an invisible line that they had not been told about.
This is often caused by a manager who does not really know what s/he wants or what her/his expectations are. Complete article.
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Conventional wisdom says that abused children often grow up to be abusive parents, but a 30-year study of American families suggests it's more complicated than that. In one striking finding, researchers uncovered little evidence that physical abuse is passed from one generation to the next. "That was extremely surprising," said lead researcher Cathy Spatz Widom, a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in New York City. "The theory has been that children of parents who were abused are at increased risk of physical abuse."
That theory has been supported by past research. But, Widom explained, those studies have been hampered by limitations, such as working "backward" -- starting with parents accused of abuse, and asking them if they'd been mistreated as kids. Read more.
Study Suggests Emotional Abuse is as Damaging as Physical and Sexual Abuse
"I wish you were never born." Such a simple phrase, yet capable of causing deeper, long-lasting scars in children than bruises and broken bones, according to a study published in January. The study, conducted by Casey Family Programs and the Richard H. Calica Center for Innovation in Children and Family Services, examined emotional maltreatment in children's association with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and illegal activity as an adult. However, the report argued, the child welfare system is currently more focused on the prevention of physical and sexual abuse than on the assessment and mitigation of emotional trauma. Read more. |
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Recommended Read for April
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recommended by reader Mallory Knipe, SSW, Black River Falls, WI
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook: What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing
By Bruce Perry, Maia Szalavitz
What happens when a young brain is traumatized? How does terror, abuse, or disaster affect a child's mind--and how can that mind recover? Child psychiatrist Bruce Perry has helped children faced with unimaginable horror: genocide survivors, murder witnesses, kidnapped teenagers, and victims of family violence. In The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, he tells their stories of trauma and transformation through the lens of science, revealing the brain's astonishing capacity for healing. Deftly combining unforgettable case histories with his own compassionate, insightful strategies for rehabilitation, Perry explains what exactly happens to the brain when a child is exposed to extreme stress-and reveals the unexpected measures that can be taken to ease a child's pain and help him grow into a healthy adult. Through the stories of children who recover-physically, mentally, and emotionally-from the most devastating circumstances, Perry shows how simple things like surroundings, affection, language, and touch can deeply impact the developing brain, for better or for worse. In this deeply informed and moving book, Bruce Perry dramatically demonstrates that only when we understand the science of the mind can we hope to heal the spirit of even the most wounded child.
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ACSSW is very pleased to offer an opportunity for any school social worker to earn 1.5 FREE CEUs due to ACSSW's sponsorship of an excellent program:
Plan, Prepare, Prevent: The SOS Online
Gatekeeper Training Module
The SOS Signs of Suicide® Prevention Program is an award winning, nationally recognized program designed for middle and high school-age students. The program teaches students how to identify the symptoms of depression and suicidality in themselves or their friends, and encourages help-seeking through the use of the ACT® technique (Acknowledge, Care, Tell). This course is available free to school social workers. With sponsorship from ACSSW, all learners will receive 1.5 contact hours upon completion. Click to Learn More. Or to register call 781-239-0071 or email SOS Registration and mention that you'd like to register.
Columbia University Teachers College Press published 4 guides geared to support teachers, administrators, student personnel staff, and parents. For a limited period, and as supplies last, TCP has agreed to provide FREE copies of the guides to social workers and educators working with military kids in schools including: teachers, school administrators, PPS workers, and military parents. School social workers should be aware of this wonderful, time-limited, FREE offer from TCP. Many school social workers will benefit from these guides.
The process is simple. Each individual desiring a free book would need to click on the link, select the type of book s/he desires, and fill out name, mailing address, etc. on the Qualtrix form after selecting the book desired. The book will be mailed in a few weeks.
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School Social Work Positions
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Continued - listed by state abbreviation
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Bethel, AK
Tucson, AZ
Connecticut (various)
Barrington, IL Summer
Chicago, IL
Lisle, IL
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Palatine, IL '15-'16
Schaumburg, IL
Waukegan, IL
Evansville, IN
Topeka, KS
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Boston, MA '15-'16
Southfield, MI
Blue Springs, MO
Clark, NJ
Utica, NY
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SSW: ˜I helped turn a young boy's life around - and now he's a soap star."
When I began working with Craig, he found home life very difficult. His family was struggling with debt and his mum was also trying to cope with mental health problems. His seven siblings had been placed in care and he himself had only been living with his mum for the last couple of years. Relationships were strained and there were often arguments. Neither mother nor child found it easy. Working for the Caritas school social work team based in Salford, I have now been involved with him and his family for the last two years, and I know first-hand what a positive impact social work can have on a young person's life and future. A lot of people's image of a social worker is ultimately based around power and control. Continue. |
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Suicide Prevention in Schools is Essential: Understand the Liability and Mental Health Issues
Wednesday, April 22 at 2 p.m. EDT - free
Screening for Mental Health is offering a free webinar featuring Dr. Scott Poland, a national expert on suicide prevention education in schools. The increase in youth suicide means that schools cannot ignore the issue and instead need to face it head on. However, schools have many concerns about suicide prevention education that Dr. Poland can answer, such as:
- How do we deliver the most effective suicide prevention programming while considering liability?
- What do our students and community believe about youth suicide that we need to address first?
- Unfortunately there has been a suicide in my community, now what can I do to prevent further suicides from happening?
Death and grief will affect the lives of almost all children at some point, often leading to struggles with academic performance, social relationships, and behavior. The death of a loved one is immensely challenging for anyone, but children and teens can find it particularly difficult.
Scholastic.com, through the generosity of the New York Life Foundation, hosted a live, interactive webcast on the subject of Children and Grief. Using actual scenarios from children and parents, childhood grief expert, pediatrician, and author Dr. David Schonfeld, MD, and Chris Park, president of the New York Life Foundation, talked about misconceptions, and imparted valuable advice on how educators and all other caring adults can best support grieving children-whether it's right after the loss or years later. Download webcast.
Archived by SAMHSA & KSOC-TV
Various Archived Webinars from the Center for School Mental Health, University of Maryland
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Elaine Chapin Fund Accepting Applications for 2015 Scholarship Program (for students affected by MS)
Deadline: April 30, 2015
1st Quarter Deadline: March 31, 2015
Grants of up to $500 are available for "innovative programs, events, or projects" from the Meemic Foundation. Apply online using their easy application that takes less than 30 minutes to complete. These grants are open to any employee of a K-12 public or private school. Universities and colleges may also apply. Fill-in-the-blank application.
Grants are accepted year round, but the first quarter cycle ends March 31st. Grants are up to $1000. Recipients will be notified by May 15th.
The foundation says it supports "basically anything that supports teachers and enhances the student's educational experience" - from field trips to books to behavior modification programs; science, music, or art equipment to professional development.
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