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Date 6-29-06
Contact David Tisdale 601.266.4499
WITH PHOTO
Hattiesburg—Hurricane Katrina presented
a unique, albeit unwelcome, opportunity for the University of Southern
Mississippi’s School Psychology faculty and graduate students in
the fall of 2005.
With the school year barely underway, the immediate focus changed
from the usual issues of daily school life that School Psychology
program personnel and students focus on -- including programming
for children at risk for behavior and learning problems – to the
impact of the Aug. 29 storm. Katrina, combined with new initiatives
of the State Department of Education, presented significant challenges
to school districts in the state and particularly on the Gulf Coast.
“We immediately looked at the issues associated with the safety,
security and stability of our school children,” said Dr. Joe Olmi,
director of the USM School Psychology Service Center, the clinical
training arm of the School Psychology Program. “We debriefed with
Southern Miss teacher candidates two weeks after the storm in Gautier,
Gulfport and Hattiesburg.”
The focus of the debriefings included assessing teacher candidates
with their own dealings with the catastrophe and to advise them
about what to expect from the students when they returned, including
despondency and preoccupation with what the future might hold and
how those issues related to potentially diminished academic output.
Prior to those trainings, Olmi had provided crisis training to field-based
supervisors of the teacher candidates immediately after the hurricane.
The school setting – even temporary structures that replaced schools
that were destroyed – proved to be a stabilizing force for those
students who did not have a home to go to or who were themselves
living in temporary shelter or in cramped conditions with relatives
or friends. “We were not seeing the degree of problems we anticipated
because the schools provided a secure, predictable environment,”
Olmi said, “whereas when they went home, in many cases they didn’t
have that.”
Olmi used professional contacts in Idaho and through his sister,
who serves as principal of Catholic Middle School in Montgomery
Ala., to secure relief supplies for the teacher candidates, including
professional clothing and supplies.
“We were there just two weeks after the storm, and obviously feelings
were extremely raw for them and the students,” Olmi said. “Many
of them had lost homes and all of their belongings as well.”
In addition to Katrina, Olmi said challenges faced by both teachers
and counselors include working with students who come from complicated
home environments that result in the need for services like the
therapeutic classroom, as well as new state and federal initiatives
such as the U.S. Department of Education’s No Child Left Behind
Act.
“I am extremely proud of the time and effort that the School Psychology
faculty and students put forth to help children, families and teachers
in the aftermath of the Katrina disaster,” said Dr. Stan Kuczaj,
chairman of the Southern Miss Department of Psychology. “The faculty
and students have always been quick to respond when they perceive
a need in one of the local communities or schools, and their response
to Katrina demonstrates the value of this program to southern Mississippi.”
“It’s extremely rewarding to see the needs of kids being addressed,”
Olmi said. “And while we would never wish to be in a situation like
the one Hurricane Katrina has put us in, it has given our graduate
students a research opportunity and training experience that prepares
them to deal with just about any challenge that comes their way.”
Program addresses behavior challenges faced by students
Among the services provided through the School Psychology program
are early identification of children with learning problems; implementation
of teacher support team models; and the State Department of Education’s
three-tiered instructional approach.
Two clinics are supported through the program and include the School
Psychology Service Center--which offers assessment and intervention
services for children, adolescents and young adults who are having
learning problems and/or school/home behavioral and emotional problems--and
the Behavior Analysis Laboratory, which employs applied behavior
analysis in its research and focuses on understanding and improving
human behavior in part through data-based decision making.
When Olmi first took over as director of the Center 13 years ago,
the School Psychology training program had only two test kits and
one assessment room. Today, the clinic is housed in an entire suite
of Owings-McQuagge Hall, a testament to the growth and strength
of the award-winning program and its appeal to students seeking
a rewarding career in school psychology. Last year, the program
received $150,000 in grant funding, and this year Olmi expects that
number to top $200,000.
Working with fellow faculty Dr. Dan Tingstrom, Dr. Heather Sterling-Turner
and Dr. Brad Dufrene, Olmi has generated more than $1 million in
external funding that has supported training; materials; travel
to national, regional and state conferences; and moving expenses
for incoming junior faculty.
The School Psychology program generates approximately 2,300 service
hours per academic year, providing assistance to families, teachers
and school districts across the state. Services include specialized
assessment, behavioral assessment, intervention and treatment designs,
parent training, and school-based consultation.
The program’s faculty and students are also working in collaboration
with the Petal and Forrest County school districts on projects that
focus on K-2 graders experiencing emergent literacy and reading
problems and following identification with intensive interventions
and consultation with classroom teachers; designing and implementing,
along with the Hattiesburg School District and Pine Belt Mental
Healthcare, a classroom-wide intervention model to assist students
who have behavioral/emotional problems with re-entry into general
education; and an early intervention project with the Columbia School
District to assist with early identification and systematic intervention
with students experiencing learning and behavior problems.
School leaders see students benefiting from program
Deborah Martin, director of Special Education with the Hattiesburg
School District, said she’s seeing the Southern Miss School Psychology
Program’s benefit to her students. Martin said the therapeutic classroom
model is helping students overcome behavioral issues that hampered
their academic progress.
With the therapeutic model, students in need of services are placed
in a four-stage behavior management program that focuses on training
and feedback as they progress through the program. For example,
Martin said, if a student is exhibiting inappropriately aggressive
behavior, that student is placed in the therapeutic classroom and
trained to handle situations in an appropriate manner and to model
correct behavior, with the goal of non-aggressive responses in specific
situations.
Once a student in the therapeutic classroom model successfully
reaches the fourth stage, they can return to the general education
classroom setting. “We have seen students who at one time were not
successful in the general education classroom re-entering the general
education setting and being able to progress within the general
education curriculum without having to go back into the therapeutic
classroom or any other alternate setting,” Martin said.
For information about the Southern Miss School Psychology degree
programs and services, call 601.266.4177.
Click to enlarge
Dr. Joe Olmi, Director of the USM School Psychology Service Center
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