MSPA NEWS

Students who are academically impaired due to mental and behavioral health needs require interventions that span the school and community settings. Changes in community-based service delivery are underway due to recent legislation, and these services can impact the role of school psychologists. This article provides some history of these changes and highlights the need of our members to attend the upcoming Fall conference to prepare their school systems to address these needs.

Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI)
The Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative is an undertaking by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and MassHealth to implement the Order in a lawsuit known as Rosie D. et. al. vs. Patrick. In 2006, a federal court found that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts had not provided the mandated “early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment services” or the “reasonable promptness provision” for children with emotional disturbance. This finding indicated that there were insufficient coordinated, community-based services behavioral health services for children with emotional disturbance serviced by MassHealth. To address the inadequacy of community-based services, the 2007 court order outlined services new community-based mental health services that are being overseen by the CBHI Office. The mission of the CBHI is to strengthen, expand and integrate Massachusetts services into a comprehensive system of community-based, culturally competent behavioral health and complementary services for all children with serious emotional disturbance and other emotional and behavioral health needs, along with their families.

The new services to meet this court order are being rolled out between July and December, 2009 and include Intensive Care Coordination (ICC) using the Wraparound model as well as mobile crisis intervention, family partners, in-home behavioral services, therapeutic mentors, in-home therapy services, and crisis stabilization services. But what is the role of school psychologists in coordinating care and meeting the mental health needs of students? The court finding indicated that students with emotional disturbance as defined by IDEIA are eligible for these community-based services.

Effective interventions for students with complex mental health needs must be proactive, uniquely designed with the youth/family, and carefully coordinated across home, school, and community. How do school-based clinicians facilitate the redesigning of environments and positioning of natural supports (e.g. teachers, family members, etc) to ensure student success in natural settings? The Fall conference presentation, led by Dr. Lucille Eber of the Illinois State Department of Education, will describe the potential role of school psychologists in implementing System of Care-based supports for students with complex emotional/behavioral needs.. The step-by-step wraparound process for developing unique, community-based teams and plans for the 1-3% of students with the most complex needs will be presented; examples of the wraparound process as applied in communities and schools will be included. The Worcester Public Schools has been using this model as part of their Positive Behavior Support programs and they will share examples of how they have implemented these coordinated support services in Massachusetts schools.

As you may know, MSPA’s legislation that would require health insurers to pay for the services of Educational Psychologists, has been refilled in the House and the Senate for the 2009-20010 legislative session. The House bill’s lead legislative sponsor is State Representative Kay Khan (D-Newton) and the Senate bill’s lead legislative sponsor is State Senator Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge). Both bills are identical and are titled, An Act to Increase Access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. The re-filed bills do not have numbers yet – but they are the same as the bills that were filed last session.

Please contact your state legislators NOW and request that they sign onto the House or Senate bill as a co-sponsor. It is important that MSPA get as many cosponsors as possible, to demonstrate widespread support for this legislation for the 2009-2010 legislative session. Legislators have until February 4 to co-sponsor bills, so it is critical you make your calls as soon as possible! The specific bills are: Senate no. 744 and House No. 941.

Ask your state senator to sign on to Senator Moore’s bill by contacting his aide. Ask your state representative to sign on to Representative Khan’s bill by contact her aide.

The main state house number is 617-722-2000 and the operator will connect you to the offices of your state senator and state representative. If you do not know who your state representative and state senator are, click here and type in your address.

MSPA believes that all students, especially those who are from minority groups, would benefit from the availability of more minority school psychologists. The minority population in the U.S. has been growing at a great rate. To be considered for this scholarship, the candidate must:

• Be enrolled in a NASP-approved or regionally accredited school psychology program in
Massachusetts
• Be a United States citizen
• Be in good academic standing
• Have a minimum cumulative overall GPA of 3.0

To be considered for this scholarship award, the entire application package MUST be received by the MSPA Minority Scholarship committee by April 1st 2009 To download the application, please click here.

The Global School Psychology Network (GSPN) is an Internet community for school psychologists and graduate students in school psychology. The vision is to develop and continuously improve a true learning community, where participants advance their professional knowledge and have a sense of belonging. The participants of the community strive to create and maintain a safe, supportive and intellectually stimulating environment. Northern University and the Massachusetts School Psychology Association support the Global School Psychology Network.

The GSPN is beginning its 12th year. It is easier than ever to participate in the discussions. To reach the GSPN website, click here.

A MSPA online learning experience, ‘The Ethical Practitioner’ is now open for registration. You have the choice of working toward 6 hours of professional development points/PDPs or 10 hours of PDPs/CEUs. MSPA is an approved provider with the Massachusetts DESE. For those who need APA CE’s, you will need to wait until we receive approval of our application to award online CEs.

Click on the course banner to the right to take you to the online learning information page and to register. You will find more information about CEUs and CE’s at the bottom of this page. Professional development in Ethics is required for all Nationally Certified School Psychologists as of January 2009. This exciting learning opportunity is not to be missed!