School

The

Psychologist’s

Psychologist

Thank you. It was an honor to provide two 3-hour workshops to the 160 people strong for CVA-CASP on Sept 20, 2024. In Depth Look at Larry P. & Keeping the Status Quo With No Response From CDE Regarding CASP’s Response to CDE’s 2022 Memorandum Part 1: Critical Look at Intellectual Disability Evaluation Best Practices & Part II: Specific Learning Disability through Discrepancy and PSW Lens Best Practices.

James provides 3-hour workshops for Districts, SELPAs, and CASP (California Association of School Psychologists) affiliate associations for:

  • Demystifying Intellectual Disability (ID) eligibility criteria:

    • Intellectual Disabilities (ID) is the least desired of all special education eligibility categories. Parents report that they would rather their child be Autistic, than ID. A great deal of weight is placed on this eligibility determination and there is only one sentence that describes it in CCR 3030(b)(6). How does one make the case for Intellectual Disability? What are the “best practices”? What are the criteria to be used when the one-sentence definition is vague? How does one make meaningful recommendations when a student cannot perform on a standardized test of intelligence? How does one make a convincing eligibility or recommendations to skeptical parents? All of these questions and more will be addressed in this workshop. 

  • PSW and Discrepancy Models - Theory to Practical Application -Intermediate and Advanced Concepts To Consider

    • For the school psychologist who wants to take a deeper dive into looking at PSW’s CHC theory that is used by popular tools like XBASS. We will discuss why might significant subtest score differences occur within the same processing area and how to talk about it without having to pull out another subtest that might cloud the issue further. This workshop will help make clearer the actual statistics that underpin these theoretical constructs. It will go into the mysteries of the 8 processing areas of CCR 3030(b)(10) and how they came to be defined in the way they are (yes, there are actual definitions of what Cognitive Conceptualization, Association, and Expression are) and where might Executive Functioning fit into this. We will go through some case studies and there will be ample time for questions and answers.

  • How are we to proceed given Larry P?

    • On September 14, 2022, the California Department of Education (CDE) issued a Memorandum on Special Education of African American Students. Its intent was to clarify issues, especially after everyone's first full year of resuming full-time in-person instruction post-initial COVID restrictions. However, confusion remained, and many members, districts, and SELPAs are seeking clarity before they modify their practices or if the practices they have been using are or ever were appropriate. This workshop is intended to help clarify these issues and will address questions that districts and SELPAs may still have with the latest information from CDE, as well as the latest OAH cases. Including: Clearly stating what is known and not known at this time and its implications; Increasing school psychologists' understanding of what the district/SELPA's responsibilities are in test selection; And what steps districts/SELPA can take to address the needs of marginalized groups.

  • Any two workshops can be combined for a full day

  • Additional workshops to come

  • Previous list of workshops provided upon request

Updated Availability:

Oct 28, Nov 18, Dec 9 & 16, Jan13 & 27, Feb 10 & 24, March 31, April 14 & 28, May 12 and Jun 2

Apologies for the late release of workshop dates for 2024-2025. I’m beginning a new position in September; see More Info.

If you attended Perry & Villarreal LLP’s July 29&30 Summer Camp, you will receive a 15% discount for any workshop training by me for the 2024-25 school year.

Please email or schedule a Zoom time to talk about what type of workshop your group is looking for.

Dates Already Committed:

Workshop(s) Being Offered

Cost of Workshops

  • The total cost for an in-person 3-hour workshop for a district, SELPA, or CASP Affiliate is $2500 (not including travel costs and per diem). Your venue determines the limit on the number of attendees. Any two 3-hour workshops can be combined for a full-day workshop for $4000 (not including travel costs and per diem). An extended Q&A can also be added to any workshop to address specific cases raised by participants. The fee for this will be roughly $300 per hour. And if you don't see a workshop that you need? Check my CV to see if I have done something like what you need in the recent past or develop one given my areas of experience. Updating or developing a new workshop will have added costs to be negotiated.

  • The total cost for a workshop that includes Zoom or is completely over Zoom for a district, SELPA, or CASP Affiliate adds $100 (this includes a video recording of the workshop that lasts for 1 year before being taken down). The limit to the number of attendees is 100.

  • 3 or 6 hours of CEUs can be made available through CASP for those with NCSPs and LEPs. The Board of Behavioral Science charges a fee, which CASP will collect from the district/SELPA as a lump sum for the total number of people needing CEUs. This fee covers NCSP and LEP documentation for each person requesting it. The total cost will depend on the number of people seeking CEUs. If you wish for one of the workshop(s) to provide CEUs, please contact CASP’s Interim Executive Director, Greg Wilson (gregw@casponline.org), and cc me on the email.