Day 2: There Is No "I" In "Team"

Peggy was scheduled for meetings all day on Thursday, so my second day of the clinical practicum was on Friday, September 12th. The initial plan was to sit in on RTI meetings all day, which I was genuinely looking forward to. I remember talking about them a lot during SED 450 last semester, so I was excited to be able to experience one first hand. The meeting we attended was centered around third grade, and present in the room were three third grade teachers, the principal, the ESL teacher, three reading teachers, the special education teacher and the Board of Education director. When the three of us followed Peggy into the room, everyone greeted us and seemed to enjoy the fact that we were there. Although we are inexperienced, I really appreciate the amount of our involvement each member of faculty is accepting. Although a portion of the meeting sounded like jargon to me, I was fascinated to discover such a high demand for resources. Basically, what it comes down to, is that there are more students who need resources than there are providers available to give them. However, I was impressed by how well the RTI team collaborated with each other to reach an efficient conclusion despite their lack of resources.

After the meeting, Peggy informed us that 22 out of 70 kindergarteners failed the speech screening at the beginning of the year and assigned us to our classrooms. I am assigned to a classroom of 19 students; 11 of which failed the initial screening and need to be retested in order to determine whether or not they qualify for services. This classroom consists of the most students with the highest need, so I have to admit that I am a little nervous to take on this task. However, I am thankful for Peggy because she continues to cultivate a comfortable environment for us and is open to all questions.

After we were assigned to our classrooms, Peggy modeled two different receptive language tests: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts. Both tests appeared effortless to administer, so we came to the conclusion that it was time to observe Peggy as she administered the tests to a student. Since the classroom I was assigned to is the one with the highest amount of need, we chose to begin with a student who scored a 1 on the screening. However, we were all impressed when he made it to a 12-year-old vocabulary level on the PPVT. Although this test went well, there was some confusion with the Boehm and we collaboratively decided to discontinue the use of that test and replace it with the CASL. Although we did not administer any tests ourselves on Friday, I believe that it is an important skill to learn how to adequately choose which tests to use. I was humbled by how much of our input Peggy takes into consideration.

As a final note, I have noticed how often Peggy tells us how much she appreciates our enthusiasm and excitement about this experience. Not only that, but she continuously reminds us that she is thankful for our help because there is clearly a substantial need for more speech pathologists in the building. I am thankful for a supervisor who considers us part of her team as opposed to just a couple of college students who are trying to complete their practicum. It brings me a lot of comfort to know that I am not alone in this experience.