Practicum Student: Case Study

The following document is a review of the the initial consultation meeting between consultee, Ms. Jordin Hall, and consultant, Ms. Kenyatta Braggs (School Psychology Practicum student). The process began by the consultant introducing herself as the School Psychology practicum student and then the consultant allowed the consultee to introduce herself. This segment was part of the rapport section of any meeting, it gives the consultant insight about the environment and daily duties the consultee has. After the introductions the consultant moved to the next phase the problem analysis. The consultee informed the consultant about her student, Joe. Joe is a seventh grade student and he is experiencing difficulty with reading; he is reading on a third
grade level. The consultee explained that Joe has previously been monitored through a system that Ms. Hall’s school uses to create baseline data. Ms. Hall explained that the data reveals that the student is reading 78 words per minute, yet his performance is below his peers. She also stated that the student’s reading performance is slightly where they would like to see him perform, yet they need assistance in helping him perform on grade level. The consultant continued to examine the student’s current and desired level of performance. After the initial problem analysis overview the consultant explained what will take place during the meetings between the consultant and the consultee.
She explained that the process is a collaborative experience and that the consultant's job is to assist with the problem identification and implementation of the intervention. She then asked about the student’s interest, to discover what type of intervention would be more helpful for the student. After the consultee explained the student’s weaknesses and strengths the consultant, paraphrased a brief portion of the consultee’s statement to ask if that would be an area of interest for Joe’s intervention. Once the consultant stated a few of their frustrations of being in the inclusion class and exhausting the resources of the classroom, the consultant moved to the next step. The next step is to set goals and make an intervention plan, that can help the consultee monitor progress in the classroom. During this process the consultant repeated the problem that was identified and asked the consultee if she noticed anything else to be the problem. Then they went into establishing the routine of monitoring the student’s
progress. The team created a schedule that the consultee could maintain, and then the consultant introduced the fact that the amount of monitoring at the beginning would be more immediate, yet as the student begins to grow and develop the skill the monitoring can taper off. Prior to the consultee leaving the consultant summarized the entire session and the intervention that is going to be put in place. The consultant allowed the consultee to monitor the progress in whichever way she found the easiest. Prior to the ending of the session the consultant stated that if the intervention was not working, then both parties can bring a more intervention ideas to the evaluation meeting. The consultant also stated the target goal that the student should be meeting to show that the intervention is helping the student reach their goals. The consultant ended the session by reiterating that the relationship is open, and that the consultant is there whenever the consultee needed any help.

Overall, I believe that the consultant’s performance was handled extremely well, especially as this being an initial meeting.
The consultant made sure that she hit the most important parts of a consultation meeting which are, a support, non-hierarchical meeting, a collaborative experience, a fluid problem solving process, and an experience that concise. On the other hand, the consultant should relax when delivering the information she knows about the process. Several times throughout the process you can hear the consultant stumble over her words. To assist her with this process she should take the time to pause before she speaks. Do not feel that every statement needs an immediate response. Nonetheless, the three main points of the initial process were identified and ready for implementation: definition of student’s behavior, discrepancy between current and expected level of performance, and expectations to create a
trendline.