Current Announcements
Mark Your Calendars!
It’s a birthday party! KASP is 50 years old this year and we are going to celebrate at our 2013 Fall KASP convention. The convention will be at the Holiday Inn Wichita East I-35, 549 S. Rock Road in Wichita, October 17th and 18th. This year’s theme is Past, Present, and Future: Celebrating 50 Years of Service to Children. Most of the day Thursday the 17th will be breakout sessions. A request for presentations is below this announcement. If you would like to present a session, know someone who would, or want to hear someone please contact Judy Ball, KASP Convention Chair, jkb1841@gmail.com or complete the request form (linked below) and send it in to Judy at 1841 Rd. F Emporia, KS 66801 or her email address.
This year’s featured speaker will be Dr. Steven Feifer. He will spend the day Friday, the 18th, talking about neuropsychology of math and social/emotional issues. See his information below.
2013 KASP Fall Convention Featured Speaker
Steven G. Feifer, D. Ed., NCSP, ABSNP is a nationally renowned speaker and author in the field of learning disabilities, and has authored six books on learning and emotional disorders in children. He has 19 years of experience as a school psychologist, and is currently on faculty at The George Washington University in Washington D.C. He is also a clinical supervisor in the ABSNP school neuropsychology training program, and maintains a part-time private practice at the Monocacy Neurodevelopmental Center in Frederick, MD. Dr. Feifer was voted the Maryland School Psychologist of the Year in 2008, and awarded the 2009 National School Psychologist of the Year. In 2011, he was honored as the distinguished alumni scholar of the year by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania College of Education.
Other information about the convention will be posted over the next few months so start checking for updates. Hope to see you all in Wichita!
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Schools: Training Opportunity for KASP Members Only
The Oklahoma School Psychological Association has a great conference scheduled for April 26th in Tulsa, featuring Dr. Ray Christner, a leading expert in CBT in the schools. Current KASP members may attend for only $90! See https://www.ospaweb.org/sp13.php for conference details. To register, simply email Keely at kpersing@emporia.edu, who will verify your current membership status and send you a coupon code to get the special rate.
Call for Presentations
If you are interested in presenting at the 2013 Fall Convention in Wichita, please download this CALL FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS form and return it by the deadline to Judy Ball, KASP Convention Chair. The contact information is on the form. If you know of someone who would be interested in a session please get the form to him/her or indicate that it is on the website. Suggestions for breakout session speakers can be sent to Judy, jkb1841@gmail.com. Breakout sessions will be on Thursday Oct 17th.
Thanks for a Great 2012 KASP Convention in Lawrence!
See you in 2013 for KASP’s 50th anniversary celebration!
Minority Scholarship Award:
The 2012 Minority Scholarship Award goes to Tera Bird. Tera is a graduate student in School Psychology at Wichita State University. She is researching the Native American community as part of her thesis. She said in her letter, “I chose to put the knowledge I had gained thus far in graduate school to help add to the much needed research done with the Native American community,” she conducted interviews with research participants in the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma to complete her research. As a school psychologist she said she hopes to apply the knowledge she is gaining at WSU to the Native American community as well as all children and families.
Congratulations Meg Braun
2012 Kansas School Psychologist of the Year
The 2012 KASP School Psychologist of the Year was summed up by the nominators as Relentless.
Relentless in asking “how can we do this better” or “how can we support this team or this person more substantially”, or “how can we tackle this problem together.”
A co-worker quoted Winston Churchill in referring to the nominee: “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” “Knowing her, one might assume he was referring to our colleague – she does not admire a problem, but illuminates it as an opportunity.”
While she is relentless in her pursuit to improve outcomes for students, she is not one who seeks to be recognized by others for her efforts. In fact she shies away from the limelight, but would rather recognize others for their contribution, efforts, and innovations. Today, however, the limelight is to be focused on her.
Meg began her college pursuits by earning a BS degree from KSU in Political Science and Government. She obtained her Master’s Degree from Pittsburg State with an emphasis in Behavior Disorders. Meg earned her Ed.S. degree in School Psychology from Emporia State.
Meg has held a variety of positions from general education teacher, special education teacher, school psychologist, measurement and evaluation specialist, and currently as coordinator of school psychology services for Topeka Public Schools.
Meg has worked with challenging populations: first as a teacher for students at the Topeka State Hospital and then as a teacher for Capital City Special Purpose High School. She earned a reputation as someone who was able to work successfully with students with very significant mental health and behavioral needs.
In her current role as School Psychology coordinator, Meg has collaborated with the Social Work department to develop joint staff development opportunities in: Psychological First Aid, Solution Focused Counseling, and Student Improvement Team training. Meg has served on multiple committees examining best practices for identifying and providing services to students, has conducted program evaluations, has chaired the district mental health crisis team; provided assessment, standards, and SIT training for buildings and is an active member of the Topeka Public Schools emergency management team. Meg relentlessly studies and examines the research to determine which interventions and programs are most effective, and then advocates for these programs in improvement planning for the district.
In her “spare” time, Meg serves as a member of the Shawnee County Suicide Prevention Team; chaired a number of committees for children’s services through the Junior League of Topeka; provided tutoring services at the Central Park Community Center; and even served a term as the Mayor of Potwin – a historical neighborhood in Topeka.
Peggy Fisher, Topeka Schools’ coordinator of Speech/Language services, listed five “opportunities” that she used to describe Meg:
- An Opportunity: To persist when others would settle for a more readily available, less satisfactory solution.
- An Opportunity: To bring order out of turmoil.
- An Opportunity: To Comfort.
- An Opportunity: To raise the bar.
- An Opportunity: To change a life.
Meg was nominated for this award by Jackie Stancil, School Psychologist for Shawnee Heights Schools and Dr. Vicki Smith, Assistant SPED Director for Auburn-Washburn schools. In the section in which they are to describe the nominee as a person, they stated:
“It is typical of Meg to always be there to help, whether it is a student, teacher, administrator, school psychologist….It doesn’t matter if it is someone in her district or not. It is this willingness to help and the drive and dedication to improve outcomes for student that makes Meg such and exemplary school psychologist and the perfect candidate for Kansas School Psychologist of the Year.”
Congratulations Diane Farnsworth
2012 Edna Harrison Pioneer Award
The Edna Harrison Pioneer Award serves to validate those practitioners who are engaging in innovative health service delivery and working to meet the needs of children with increasingly more diverse and challenging needs.
Diane has been a school psychologist since 1987. Her innovative practice centers around her bilingual ability to evaluate across a large, urban school district, in various buildings, working proactively with multiple Child Study Teams. Not only does she engage building teams during the evaluation process, but she continually studies current research and mentors teams and individuals regarding bilingual assessment and educational placement issues.
As one bilingual speech language pathologist and ESOL specialist remarked, “Diane is the person I refer others to for further information on the assessment and achievement of diverse learners. Diane is supremely knowledgeable, exceptionally current, genuinely collegial, and culturally responsive in every sense of the word. She not only evaluates student learning and behavior in terms of the individual’s educational, acculturative and linguistic history, but intuits and responds to the culture of the school and educators involved; effectively raising everyone’s ability to recognize and meet the needs of each child she serves.”