2004 FALL CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS AND SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Abstracts
  1. Helping Design Interventions for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Moore)
    This session will focus on the components of effective programs for young children with autism as identified in the research literature. Emphasis will be on specific ways to use the components to plan and evaluate programs for young children with autism. Several examples of educational programs for young children with autism will be shared.

  2. Research-Supported Assessment-Intervention Links (Berninger/ Davis)
    The focus of this workshop is implementation of research at the Univ. of Washington over the past 15 years into practice in school settings. Participants will learn about and receive handouts illustrating research-supported assessment and associated interventions at each of three tiers (tier one-early intervention, tier two-improving performance on WASL and tier three-diagnosis and treatment of dyslexia, dysgraphia and language learning disability). Assessment tools will focus both on identification and diagnosis of students and progress monitoring (response to instruction). Participants will also learn about the partnership between the Northshore School District and the U. of Washington, sponsored by OSPI and headed by a school psychologists that forged connections between general education and special education in implementing research supported practices in school settings.

  3. Curriculum-based evaluation and the problem-solving model (Howell)
    This presentation will describe the process of Curriculum-based Evaluation (CBE) and the basic assumptions that underlie the use of CBE within a problem-solving framework. This system has a prominent role in one of the currently employed Response to Intervention (RTI) approaches. Today many people are familiar with the use of curriculum-based measurement systems such as the DIBELS, to monitor student performance and to screen for those who are having problems. Once problematic learners have been identified, CBE is used to fulfill the 'Diagnostic' function by helping evaluators decide what to teach students and who to teach it. For many, the use of CBE requires changes in both the techniques of measurement and the assumptions one uses when trying to solve learning problems.

  4. Plans, Plans and More Plans-The School Psychologists Role in Supporting Students with Disabilities (Rich)
    HB2195, the new graduation requirements, and other school reform legislation and their implications for school psychologists will be discussed. Section 504 plans, IEPs, high school and beyond plans, and student learning plans are now required for students with disabilities. The requirements, implementation, and coordination of these plans will be discussed with an emphasis on how school psychologists can be integrated into the process.

  5. Diagnostic Decision Trees and treatment of Childhood Psychiatric Disorders (Rice)
    The ability to learn and the normal developmental progression of a child are of paramount concern to school psychologists, nurses and counselors. These goals are affected by the recognition of the presence and early detection of psychiatric disorders in children and the impact that these disorders have on a child's normal development. Conversely, there is equal concern about the misdiagnosis of psychiatric disorders in children.
    This workshop will address the issues, approaches and treatment of the most common childhood psychiatric disorders. The current standards of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry will be reviewed along with the current treatment recommendations and guidelines.
    By the end of the workshop, the participants will be able to identify the differences between attention deficit disorders, mood disorders, bipolar disorders and psychotic disorders in children. Through examination of the symptoms associated with these disorders, the participants will be able to more effectively screen, refer for treatment and design more appropriate learning activities for children with psychiatric disorders.

  6. Technology assistance in the classroom for children with Learning Disabilities (Dupuy)
    A hands-on workshop featuring a variety of cool tools ranging from Personal Digital Assistants to Voice Recognition Software to Digital Voice Recorders that can make the lives of students with Learning Disabilities much easier. This session will cover a wide range of hardware and software applicable for school use, where to get the tools and how much they cost.

  7. Connecting the dots: Using CBA and CBM data to bridge the great 'data divide' between School Psychology and Special Education (Simonsen)
    This session will present practical strategies for linking curriculum-based measurement (CBM) data through all steps of the IEP process (from prereferral through intervention monitoring). Further, this session will demonstrate how IEP teams can use these assessment tools to create a roadmap for planning instruction and measuring student progress toward their goals and objectives. Specifically, this session will show how to a) measure what you plan to teach b) teach what you plan to measure and c) celebrate measurable student success.

  8. Tools for Enhancing Parent Communication: The View from the Other Side of the Table (Morris)
    This workshop will focus upon the eligibility and IEP team meeting experience, from the parent point of view. A philosophical framework for understanding the parent experience and enhancing comfort/communication will be offered. Anecdotal comments and recommendations from parent exit interviews and district surveys will be shared, as qualitative representations of the parent experience. Practical communication tools will be offered to enhance the parent-school partnership.

  9. Traumatic Brain Injury and School Reintegration (Don)
    This workshop will review the epidemiology, neuropathology, neurobehavioral consequences, and natural course of recovery in traumatic brain injury (TBI). The primary focus of the workshop will be on school reintegration, from pre-discharge school re-entry planning through long term stable integration in the school system. Differences between mild, moderate and severe traumatic brain injuries will be discussed. Research on cognitive remediation in brain injury will be reviewed with an emphasis on application for intervention in the schools. Brief case presentations will be presented throughout to illustrate points. The final portion of the workshop will be reserved for questions and problem solving with participants.

  10. Putting Your Analytic Skills to Work: Use of Oral Reading Fluency to Evaluate Intervention Effectiveness in WASL Preparation (Hirsch)
    The value of the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency for purposes of identifying and monitoring progress in children deemed 'At-Risk' has been well documented (attend Mike Jacobsen's talk if this is still new to you). This research project attempted to establish an empirical criteria for identifying 'At-Risk' students. Then, by calculating expected school or district WASL scores both pre and post intervention, it is possible to quantify the impact of any given intervention. This would obviously be of tremendous value to school and district administrators who are often 'victimized' by workshops promoting one intervention or another for improving WASL reading scores despite lack of adequate research base.

  11. Finding the Right Intervention Tools (Shirley McCune, OSPI)
    The No Child Left Behind legislation and state educational reform effort requires a new level of staff collaboration and cooperation. The primary task for all staff is to provide high quality learning programs which meet the diverse needs of students. This calls for a new emphasis on building positive classroom, school and community cultures.
    The focus of educational reform is on improvement of curriculum, instruction and use of assessments, but the success of these efforts will be determined in large part, by the supportive climate and specialized interventions which are provided by the total staff.
    This session will provide a review of research based interventions which are needed to support student achievement and demonstrate interventions which may be used for improving elementary reading instruction and program and middle school mathematics teaching and learning.


Biographies
  1. Marion Moore is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational, and Developmental Psychology at Eastern Washington University. She received her Ph.D. in special education from Utah State University. Her areas of research include autism, early childhood special education and effective interventions for students in special education.

  2. Virginia Berninger, PhD (Psychology, John Hopkins U.) has been a professor and trainer of school psychologists at the U. Washington since 1986. She has been Principal Investigator of NICHD-funded Literacy Trek and Write Stuff Interventions (longitudinal studies of listening , speaking, reading and writing in non-referred children, grades 1-9 and instructional interventions for children with reading and writing disabilities) since 1989 and Principal Investigator of NICHD-funded Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Center (genetics, brain imaging treatment and teacher training) since 1995.

  3. Steve Davis, M.Ed, Ed.S. (School Psychology, Seattle University) has been a practicing school psychologist in North Shore for 12 years. He is a former general education and special education teacher. Steve has a leadership role within his district in helping school psychologists work more effectively with special educators and general educators in preventing reading and writing disabilities and reducing the number of children referred for special education.

  4. Kenneth Howell, PhD. is a Professor in the Department of Special Education at Western Washington University. Dr. Howell has published extensively in the areas of Curriculum-Based Evaluation, Curriculum-Based Measurement and assessment. He is currently working on the fourth edition of his book, Curriculum-Based Evaluation: Teaching and Decision-making, with John Hosp and Mischelle Hosp. He is also co-editor of an up-coming book on Response to Intervention (RTI). Dr. Howell is well-known in the fields of school psychology and special education. He has conducted numerous workshops and presentation on Curriculum-Based Evaluation, academic interventions, Juvenile corrections and social skills across the country.

  5. Jim Rich is program director in special education with the Puget Sound ESD. He has 35 years experience in special education working at the local and state levels in Alaska and Washington State. His areas of expertise include secondary special education and Section 504. He recently participated on the Superintendent's Task Force on Certificate of Mastery and Special Education Students.

  6. Dr. Flint Simonsen is a professor of Special Education at Eastern Washington University. He has conducted research in the areas of behavior management, academic interventions for students with disabilities, severe disabilities, and school-wide reform. Dr. Simonsen consults nationally on behavioral and academic assessments and interventions for students with disabilities.

  7. Dr. Susan Morris, a nationally Certified School Psychologist, is currently in practice with the University Place School District. She has instructed for the psychology and education programs of the University of Virginia, Central Washington University and the University of Washington, Tacoma. Through her school and clinical experiences on both coasts and Germany, she has consistently found that parent involvement, comfort and communication, have been common ingredients to reducing conflict around mutual decisions, and ultimately enhancing student success.

  8. Dr. Frank Gresham is a Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School fo Education at the University of California-Riverside where he also directs the School Psychology Training Program. He has published over 200 journal articles, books, book chapters, and tests on topics ranging from social skills assessment and training, emotional and behavioral disorders, learning disabilities and consultation. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Division 16 of APA (School Psychology) and Division 5 of APA (Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics). He is also a member of the national Association of School Psychologists and the Association for Behavior Analysis. He is the only school psychologists to be awarded Fellow status within the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Gresham is the recipient of the Lightner Witmer Award and the Senior Scientist Award from Division 16 of APA for outstanding career research contributions. He is a licensed psychologist in California, Louisiana and Florida. He is Co-Principal Investigator for Project REACH, a five-year longitudinal intervention study for children and youth with severe social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

  9. Audrey Don is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in assessment and intervention for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, acquired brain injuries and learning disabilities at the ARK Institute of Learning in Tacoma, WA. Previously, she worked at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup on the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit and Children's Therapy Unit and completed a three year postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Audrey received her Ph.D. from the University of Windsor in Ontario where she was awarded the Louis L. Odette Bursary in Child clinical Neuropsychology. She has published articles in peer reviewed professional journals and given presentations on varied topics including neuropsychological assessment and intervention, medical factors affecting learning and traumatic brain injury.

  10. Steve Hirsch, Ph.D. is currently the director for the WSU-EWU Post-Master's Certificate Program in School Psychology. Additionally he is affiliated with the East Valley School District as a part-time Psychologist. Previously, for twelve years, he was a Psychologist for the Sumner School District and helped pilot the psychologist/counselor model. Current research interests center around the use of screening assessment tools for the identification of At-Risk students and then utilizing these tools to measure effectiveness of intervention. Previous published research included using rats as an intervention tool with EBD children, and various bio-behavioral research including "The genetic recognition of predators in deer mice", "Hormonal influences on activity and food preferences in rats", and even a study on "The sex life of praying mantids." Much of his time is spent coordinating these state conferences as Conference Chair for WSASP.