Welcome to
NJASP's Annual
Winter 2019 Conference!
December 13, 2019
Holiday Inn East Windsor, East Windsor NJ
Keynote
2020 Vision: Leadership in Focus
Leslie Z. Paige, Ed.S.
National Association of School Psychologists President
- Participants will learn how NASP is addressing member needs.
- Participants will learn about NASP resources, activities, and advocacy efforts.
- Participants will learn how it is a time for leadership and advocacy.
- Participants will learn how school psychologists are leaders - and make a difference!
Leslie Z. Paige, Ed.S. began her career as a school psychologist in western Kansas serving children birth through 21. She has also worked as a graduate educator, project director, and is the Director of the Office of Scholarship and Sponsored Projects at Fort Hays State University. Leslie has been active in the National Association of School Psychologists leadership since 1994, serving as treasurer and secretary, and has chaired and co-chaired numerous committees. Her current focus is on developing leadership and advocacy skills for school psychologists and addressing school psychology workforce shortages. Paige was recognized as the NASP School Psychologist of the Year in 1996.
Morning Workshops
8:30 – 11:00 AM
WORKSHOP 1:
School Psychology: Leadership in Action
Leslie Z. Paige, Ed.S.
National Association of School Psychologists President
AM Session Only
The purpose of this workshop is to provide information regarding effective leadership and advocacy. Following a brief overview of major leadership models, the presentation will focus on how school psychologists can use many of their existing skills and knowledge to become effective leaders in schools, districts and at state or national levels.
Learning Objectives:
• Participants will learn how to develop leadership skills.
• Participants will learn effective leadership behaviors.
• Participants will learn how to be leaders at a school, district, state or national level.
See keynote for bio
WORKSHOP 2:
The Why and How of Performance Validity Testing in Children and Adolescents: The Pediatric Performance Validity Test Suite (PdPVTS)
Cecil R. Reynolds, Ph.D.
AM Session Only
The importance of performance validity and effort assessment in child and adolescent evaluations is increasingly recognized, and this is reflected in the rapidly developing literature on this topic. A surprising number of children fail performance validity testing across many settings, including special education evaluations, forensic cases (e. g., mild TBI litigation), assessments for testing accommodations and 504 plans, social security disability, and more. Contemporary research has provided information regarding the prevalence of invalid test performance among children and youth, the frequency that performance validity tests are used during pediatric evaluations, potential factors underlying children and youth’s failure to provide their best effort on testing, and the development of objective methods of assessing the performance validity in pediatric populations.
This training provides an overview of the current literature on pediatric performance validity assessment, with an emphasis on the need as well as methods for evaluating effort in both clinical and school settings when making diagnostic or classification decisions about children and youth based on scores from maximum performance tests such as measures of IQ, academic achievement, and a variety of neuropsychological tests. The training will also provide a detailed introduction to the Pediatric Performance Validity Test SuiteTM (PdPVTSTM), a new digital performance validity measure developed specifically for use with children and adolescents.
This session will help participants:
· Explain the rationale and importance of including performance validity assessment in pediatric neuropsychological, psychoeducational, and related diagnostic evaluations whether the evaluation is completed for clinical or forensic purposes.
· Distinguish between measures of performance validity and symptom validity.
· Define the unique details of the development of measures of effort and performance validity.
· Describe the development and psychometric characteristics of the Pediatric Performance Validity Test Suite.
· Administer and interpret the newly available Pediatric Performance Validity Test Suite.
Cecil R. Reynolds is an Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology, Professor of Neuroscience, and Distinguished Research Scholar at Texas A&M University. He is the author of over 300 scholarly publications, author or editor of more than 50 books, and the creator of numerous widely-used psychological tests including the Behavior Assessment System for Children, the BASC, the most frequently administered test of its type in the English-speaking world, the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales, the Test of Memory and Learning, the School Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory, and 40 other commercially published tests.
Dr. Reynolds is a past president of the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) and APA Divisions 5, 16, and 40 (Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics; School Psychology; and Clinical Neuropsychology). He serves on 11 journal editorial boards. He is past editor of Applied Neuropsychology, Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, and of the APA journal, Psychological Assessment, and a former Associate Editor of School Psychology Quarterly. In April of 2015, he began a 6-year term as editor in chief of the new APA open access journal, Archives of Scientific Psychology, and in January of 2019 became editor-in-chief of theJournal of Pediatric Neuropsychology. Dr. Reynolds has received awards recognizing him for excellence in research (e.g., the Lightner Witmer Award, the Senior Scientist Award from APA Division of School Psychology, and NAN’s Distinguished Neuropsychologist Award, the Academy’s highest award, and the APA’s Samuel Messick Award for Lifetime Contributions to Measurement Science). His service to the profession and to the youth of America has been recognized through the President's Gold Medal for Service to NAN along with the Academy’s Distinguished Service Award, as well as the UNC at Wilmington 50th Anniversary Razor Walker Award for Service to the Youth of America and the APA Division of School Psychology Jack Bardon Distinguished Service Award, and the Nadine Murphy Lambert Award which is given only every 2-3 years for contributions to the field that are extraordinary in both depth and breadth, among others.
WORKSHOP 3:
Effective Academic and Behavioral Services and Supports: Moving Staff and Schools from “Refer-Test-Place” to Successful “Data-based Problem- Solving, Consultation, Intervention” Approaches
Howie Knoff, Ph.D.
This workshop is a half-day workshop with the same session running in the AM and PM
The new definition of multi-tiered systems of support in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act allows school districts to design their service delivery approaches to meet the individual needs of their own students. As such, multi-tiered services for at-risk, unresponsive, and unsuccessful students need to move away from a “wait to fail” and “refer-test-place” approach to an “early problem-solving, consultation, and intervention” approach.
This presentation will discuss ways to systemically design and implement a “Problem-Solving-Consultation-Intervention” approach to service delivery at the district and school levels; and how to implement a functional assessment, data-based problem-solving approach at the student and staff levels. A district-level multi-tiered flow-chart, that has been implemented for hundreds of schools nationwide, will be shared. The steps of the problem-solving approach will be discussed specifically with school psychological leadership in mind.
Participants will learn:
· The limitations of a refer-test-place mode of service delivery, and how it delays effective problem solving and academic and behavioral approaches for students in need.
· The characteristics and requirements of an effective multi-tiered system of support, and how it can be implemented step-by-step at the district and school levels.
· The steps of a functional assessment, data-based problem-solving approach at the student and staff levels—an approach that links assessment results to strategic or intensive services, supports, strategies, and/or interventions.
· How to systematically use and apply the problem-solving model to case studies representing students with an assortment of different academic and/or behavioral difficulties.
Howie Knoff, PhD, NCSP, is an international consultant on school improvement, social-emotional learning, and multi-tiered systems of support. Howie was a university professor at the University of South Florida and Director of its School Psychology Program (18 years). He was also the Director of the State Personnel Development Grant for the Arkansas Department of Education and director of the state’s PBIS and MTSS programs (13 years). A Licensed Psychologist and the author of 24 books and 100+ articles/book chapters, Howie was the 21st President of National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).
WORKSHOP 4:
Promoting Mental Health in Schools: Making the Biggest Difference Using the Resources You Have
Linda M. Raffaele Mendez, Ph.D.
This workshop is a half-day workshop with the same session running in the AM and PM
There are many ways to promote mental health in school settings, including social-emotional learning (SEL) programs, group-based interventions for youth with specific mental health needs, and individualized counseling. Moreover, interventions have been developed not only for students but also for staff and the larger school community. The purpose this workshop is to provide school psychologists with a comprehensive understanding of various options available for promoting mental health in schools within a tiered model of service delivery so they can make informed decisions about the best use of available resources. Participants will learn how to use school climate assessment and student outcome data to inform decision-making about mental health initiatives; examine a variety of evidence-based interventions across Tiers 1, 2, and 3; and work in teams to create specific plans for building upon current mental health programming at their own schools.
Learning Objectives:
· Learn how to use school-level data to inform decision-making about mental health initiatives.
· Become familiar with evidence-based interventions to promote mental health within a tiered model of mental health service delivery.
· Develop specific plans for building upon current mental health programming with one’s own schools.
Dr. Raffaele Mendez is a core faculty member in the School Psychology Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in Teaneck, NJ. Prior to joining the faculty at FDU in 2018, she was a core faculty member in the School Psychology Program at the University of South Florida for 22 years. Her professional expertise is in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), tiered approaches to youth mental health, understanding and supporting youth in high risk contexts and their families, and trauma-informed care in school settings. She has authored over 35 journal articles and book chapters on topics related to youth mental health and supporting individuals with special needs and their families. Her book, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Schools: A Tiered Approach to Youth Mental Health, was published by Routledge in 2016.
Afternoon Workshops
12:45 - 3:30 PM
WORKSHOP 5:
The What, Why, and How of Trauma-informed Care in Schools
Aaron Gubi, Ph.D.
PM Session Only
School psychologists regularly serve children impacted by child maltreatment and trauma. This workshop will examine what trauma-informed care is, why it is necessary, and how such practices are being implemented locally and nationally within school settings. The presenter will share his own experiences as a school and clinical psychologist within child psychiatric, medical, and urban school settings. He will integrate this with recently published and ongoing research he and colleagues have been working on that has been examining the clinical experiences, education and training, confidence and competence, current and desired roles, and perceived barriers and supports of school psychologists regarding the implementation of trauma-informed care practices within school settings.
This session will help participants:
· Explain what trauma-informed care is.
· Discuss why school psychologists should be knowledgeable regarding trauma-informed care.
· Discuss potential roles and functions of school psychologists within trauma-informed schools.
Aaron Gubi, Ph.D., is licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist in NJ, and a NCSP. He currently works as an Assistant Professor within the Department of Advanced Studies in Psychology, at Kean University. He currently serves as the Clinical Director of Kean Psychological Services, the community mental health training clinic. He also works part-time as a Psychologist within the New York City Health & Hospital system. He teaches courses in child therapy, assessment, ethics and diversity across the combined Clinical and School Psychology doctoral program and the Professional Diploma (Ed.S) program. His research focuses on child maltreatment/trauma and diversity issues in professional training and practice.
WORKSHOP 6:
What we need to know from intelligence tests and how best to obtain it: The RIAS-2, Intelligence, and Its Assessment
Cecil R. Reynolds, Ph.D.
PM Session Only
Psychologists spend a great deal of time conducting cognitive assessments, and often the bulk of this time is spent in the assessment (administration, scoring, and interpretation) of tests of intelligence. The expenditure of so much time in intellectual assessment appears to be predicated on the myths of profile analysis, i. e., that a careful analysis of the patterns of subtest scores on intelligence tests will reveal cogent diagnostic and intervention-related insights justifying the hours often spent in such endeavors. Through a critique of the widely publicized failure of profile analysis of IQ tests and the reasons for this failure the lack of value of profile analysis will be noted and the relevant information obtained from intelligence tests revealed. The useful information available from sound intelligence tests as measures of intellect will be emphasized and the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales approach to rapid but reliable and valid intellectual assessment presented in detail, along with a review of the RIAS-2 (and its modifications from RIAS), as a preferred model of intellectual assessment. The design of the RIAS-2 and its development are reviewed including commentary on its standardization, reliability studies, and validity evidence. Administration and scoring changes from the RIAS are taught followed by presentation of guidelines for interpretation. The importance of assessment of complex memory functions in intellectual assessment is reviewed.
Learning Objectives:
By the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to
- Understand the concept of g and its relationship to profile analysis of IQ subscales;
- Define the constructs assessed by the RIAS-2;
- Describe the RIAS-2 development, standardization, and scaling processes;
- Administer and score the RIAS-2 accurately;
- Interpret RIAS-2 scores;
- Understand the importance of complex memory as a component of intellectual assessment and prediction of academic achievement.
WORKSHOP 7:
Effective Academic and Behavioral Services and Supports: Moving Staff and Schools from “Refer-Test-Place” to Successful “Data-based Problem- Solving, Consultation, Intervention” Approaches
Howie Knoff, Ph.D.
This workshop is a half-day workshop with the same session running in the AM and PM
See “AM Workshops” for description
WORKSHOP 8:
Promoting Mental Health in Schools: Making the Biggest Difference Using the Resources You Have
Linda M. Raffaele Mendez, Ph.D.
This workshop is a half-day workshop with the same session running in the AM and PM
See “AM Workshops” for description
For a printed copy of the Winter Conference brochure: NJASP Winter Conference Brochure 2019.pdf
