April-2020-Special-Edition

SUPPORTING

SPECIAL EDITION • APRIL 2020 CEA ADVISOR 7

college classes online here from home. I’m not sure how other parents do it with school-age children—this distance-learning stuff is not for the faint of heart.

What are some things that educators are working through in this new environment? The key concern for teachers and the rest of us is student engagement. This is where I’m spending most of my time. Teachers have numerous students to work with, so I’m trying to support them by reaching out to the students who are not responding. I have a Google Voice account that allows me to call or text parents as well as students. I also email, and I’m in the process of writing letters to students via snail mail. My advice for anyone involved in distance learning is to try to engage students as much as possible utilizing whatever means are available. School psychologists face unique challenges in this new distance- learning environment. For example, much of my job involves assessment, and due to standardization concerns as well as confidentiality, it is impossible to conduct evaluations. Because our school is home to the district’s middle school level Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Program, I work with many students on the autism spectrum who are nonverbal. Engaging these students in social skills instruction can be extremely difficult. I’m trying to support parents as much as possible.         Suzanne Talbot has been a school psychologist in Groton for the past 22 years of her 27-year career. This fall, she will be one of three school psychologists at Groton Middle School.

SUPPORTING STUDENTS, TEACHERS IN A TIME OF REMOTE LEARNING School psychologists weigh in on challenges, priorities Across Connecticut, the impact of school closures has been felt by students, teachers, and families—many of whom describe being overwhelmed and disconnected from their peers. Like classroom teachers, school psychologists are working out how to serve students with existing needs as well as those struggling with relatively new issues, such as feeling cut off from their friends and coping with changes in the normal flow of their day. CEA spoke with two Connecticut school psychologists to get their take on the situation and their best advice for educators and families.

MINDFULNESS MATTERS One of the many free virtual supports CEA is providing its members is a series of webinars designed to help teachers make the best use of distance-learning tools, protect their privacy, connect with students, and take the best care of themselves. One such workshop, presented by CEA Teacher Development Specialist Kate Field, focuses on mindfulness, a therapeutic technique for raising moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts and feelings. Field began a recent webinar by asking participants to use the chat box to complete a sentence describing how they were feeling at the present moment. Their responses included frustrated, exhausted, stressed, overwhelmed, tired, anxious, and unsure about the future . “Many of you are trying to figure out distance learning and how to make it work for all learners,” said Field. “You may be juggling teaching and parenting responsibilities at the same time, and you may be grieving a life you miss and wondering if and when things will return to normal.” While encouraging teachers to validate their feelings and concerns, she also reminded them that we are all “architects of our own thinking” and that it is possible to create new pathways of thought by choosing what types of thinking to prune and what to foster. Watch CEA’s weekly Mindful Moments videos at cea.org. “Purposeful and repetitive actions to rewire your brain can take as little as ten minutes a day,” she said, walking participants through a variety of simple exercises—both mental and physical—aimed at promoting feelings of wellness, awareness, and positivity. To illustrate the power of positive thinking and our ability to nurture it, she shared a parable from the Cherokee Nation about a grandfather who describes a battle taking place inside his own heart. “There are two wolves in my heart, a good one and a bad one,” the old man tells his grandson. “The good one is kindness, charity, resilience, and hope. The bad one is fear.” The dueling wolves, he says, exist in the boy’s heart as well. Curious, the boy asks, “Who wins?” “That depends on which wolf you feed.” Webinar participants were eager to use new mindfulness strategies on their own as well as with their families and students, and Field shared additional resources. These included Mindful Games Activity Cards: 55 Ways to Share Mindfulness with Kids and Teens , by Susan Kaiser Greenland and Annaka Harris; happify.com , which contains short videos and meditations suitable for most ages; and hundreds of guided meditations from tarabrach.com , an app available by subscription at calm.com , and a similar free version for teachers at headspace.com/educators . Many of CEA’s webinars are

Twenty-eight-year veteran Cathy Williamson has been at Manchester High School for the past 10 years. The daughter of a former school psychologist and a retired school librarian, she is also a parent of two high school students. What is it like for a school psychologist working in this new virtual environment? Everything feels different now! There are a host of practical, logistical, and ethical considerations when it comes to how you deliver school psychology services remotely. In Manchester, we are lucky that our district has worked hard to ensure all families have access to technology, which allows us to maintain communication and some level of support for our students and families. However, a major part of what we do—evaluating students and assisting with the planning of their educational programs—is not doable from a distance. Our evaluation instruments are designed to be administered face to face and certainly aren’t normed on populations of students experiencing the stress of a global pandemic. The best interests of our students remain at the forefront of our practice. Toward this end, we are continuing to engage in the consultation and

moving forward. We expect that as interim learning continues and the needs of families change, we will need to be prepared to support a larger number of students and families. What tips do you have for teachers looking to help their students, especially those for whom school provides a social-emotional lifeline? Ask students how they are doing, maintain routines, encourage kids to engage in virtual classroom learning experiences and maintain connections with classmates, and be positive. What are some things that teachers can or should be contacting their school psychologists for at this time? Pretty much the same concerns they would be sharing if we were at school. They may also reach out for ideas on helping students with specific needs be most successful with online learning. If they sense students are becoming more overwhelmed academically or emotionally, it would be appropriate to contact support staff as well. At the high school level, all of our teachers have training in responding to students who may be immediately at-risk, in which the protocol is to contact local emergency resources. What’s your advice for parents? Above all, in order to ensure the safety and well-being of their children, they need to take care of themselves physically, socially, and emotionally during these difficult times. Being able to provide a home environment where they can encourage and support the continuation of routines, talk about their child’s experience at developmentally appropriate levels, and promote continued connections with friends and family are all important. Parents also need to be realistic around expectations for themselves and their children. While interim learning should hopefully provide some sense of normalcy for students, it requires a period of adjustment for everyone and may be a lot easier for some students and families than others—and it’s all okay. What do you want your students to know? We miss them! We know this is super challenging for many. Speak to adults at home or school if you need support or help maintaining a routine, coping, and staying connected. We are here to help.

What challenges does learning from home present for students? One of the biggest is keeping a schedule and finding time and space to complete assignments. Many students are staying up late and sleeping in, which can make accessing school personnel (who typically keep 8:30am- 3:00pm schedules) difficult. There are often also distractions at home, which could include studying in the same environment where the TV is on, siblings are playing or doing schoolwork, and parents are working. What are some unique issues middle school students face? So many changes! Their bodies are entering puberty, and their social lives are heavily impacted by peer interactions. With distance learning, middle school students are missing out on those face-to-face social interactions with both their peers and adults outside the home.  What message do you have for your students and colleagues? We all care so much about them. We’re here for them! My colleagues need to know that they’re doing a great job, even if students are not always engaged. The teachers I work with are phenomenal and put forth a tremendous amount of effort! I’m one of the lucky ones, because my two daughters are grown and taking

intervention roles of our profession. In Manchester, school psychologists are members of Student Assistance Teams, which are meeting regularly to monitor student concerns and progress. We are reaching out to families and students to provide them with supports and resources to maintain students’ well- being. We engage in problem-solving with our colleagues and are highly attuned to the fact that the population of students we were servicing three or four weeks ago may look different from the one we need to be supporting

recorded and available at cea.org/2020-coronavirus .