Yet another edge-of-the-seat sort of week gone by and I'm just winding down enough to write about it now.
Lessee... when we last left off our heroine was asked by her erstwhile supervisor to cultivate a bit more proficiency witih the WISC-IV before he was going to let her give the test in a forensic setting. Ok, so she (I) met with the professor who teaches all the testing/assessment classes in the PsyD program and had an 'enrichment' session to hone those skills. This in itself was interesting because we did it at the State [mental] Hospital which I have managed to penetrate all of twice before this (NOT as a patron, mind you), and it is high on my list of predoc intership sites. So anyway, she role played an oppositional/CD minded 15 year old for me. It was great, and she had a ton of good tips for me to make it flow more smoothly; index cards, page numbers, color coded tabs and so forth. I DESPISE the manual for the current WISC. The one for the WAIS-III has nice blue scripting to bridge from test to test, "Now we're going to move on to something a little different. I am going to say some words to you and you tell me how they are alike." etc. In the WISC-IV there is standardized scripting for the examples, but no general introduction for each section, so I fumble.
Whilst in the midst of all that I was getting frantic phone calls from my supervisor at the County, but I didn't know it because we were in a maximum security area (my professor's office) and no cell phones are allowed in there. When I got out to my car around 9pm I got all the messages saying that he had to be in court all day Wed, and could I administer the WRAT, WAIS and MCMI to a 19 year old girl, and the WRAT, WISC and MACI to a 16 year old boy in the Hall. So I'd never given the WRAT? Oh no biggie, it will only take 2 minutes to explain how to administer it, and the MACI is just like the MCMI. Hoo boy... Okay, I'll do it!
So at 8am the next morning I got my two minutes of instruction, and that is not an exaggeration as he had to be in court by 8:30, and sat down to read the client's file. She showed up, miraculously (she's no-showed for everything so far), and I did my best to get a history, but she was about as warm as a snowdrift and belligerent as all hell, so we just moved along to the testing phase. Surprisingly she was very cooperative in that area and in a few minutes I had her laughing and joking with me. Whew! Got to write up a mental status exam on her (which my supervisor gushed over, so I guess I can stop fretting over whether my report writing will be adequate), grab a taco and bolt over to Juvie to do the boy.
One of the MFTs warned me he was 'kinda scary' but I found him to be just your basic frightened and defensive kid who was embarassed and thus a little defended about his shaky academic skills. I didn't have time to get though all his tests, so we'll take up where we left off; about halfway through the WISC, next week, but again he was laughing and talking candidly to me after a few minutes, so I'm encouraged about my clinical skills.
The rest of the week involved prepping for 2 presentations, doing a MCMI report and writing a paper. You know, business as usual... I lived through it, though our whole cohort and all the teachers are SOOOOO done, it's unreal. Everyone is grouchy and getting irritated with each other, including the faculty. Just one more week of this insanity and we get four months off. JOY!!!
Next week I'll make sure to meet with our librarian; an absolute DIAMOND in my estimation, to help me get more comfy with the online library so I can pull up specific articles better. It makes me nuts that I can find abstracts on Google Scholar, but even with all the citation info, I can't pull the damned articles up on our system afterwards. It's just such a pain in the ass to search all the various databases in the school system that I find half the work is done for me on Google. Not that I don't get stuff on their system just fine, but it seems like there's MORE on Google and somehow it's always the ones that don't come up on the library system that I find the most interesting. This summer I will do my dissertation lit review, so I need to get proficient if I'm going to get the work done without losing my sanity. Good Lord... 'this summer' is a week away!
Whobody is going to the APA convention in SF this August? I'll be there! It looks to be really exciting and some of my classmates are presenting a research project, too, so that makes it even more special.
Off to play WoW for the rest of the evening. I try to take Friday afternoons/eves off. Oh, but a little business... I play with two of my classmates (we're pretending we're going to do a research project on WoW to presentat the 2008 APA convnetion) and one of them is getting MFT and doctoral practicum credits for the same hours, so I will text him mid-quest to see how he's doing it. Way to win friends and influence people, eh? LOL!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
WoW is right.
You job sounds fasinating. It sounds like the kids really warm up to you in a short amount of time and that my friend is no easy feat. I know I have been working with not so troubled kids for 7 years and I have seen what they can do to people they dont like so much.. :| I don't have much comments on the testing because I dont know what all that really means but I think it is great that the guy was like hey give these tests for me and you did it. :D
4 months of vacation is on its way. Besides working and writing, are you going to go anywhere for some R&R? 4 months of no school sounds wonderful.
yeah and I know all about salavating over something on Google and not being able to find the damn thing on Ebsco or anywhere else. I love my librarian. I talk to her more than most of the other people at my school. lol Good for you getting a head start on the info for you thesis thats smart.
What are you presenting in SF? I applied to go but wasnt accepted. It would be crazy if I was though we would be at the same convention! lol Thats awesome that your friends are going to be there to maybe you guys could go out on the town a couple of nights. SF is so beautiful.
Uh what is WoW?
Hey but anyways have fun playing with wow and happy friday too.
Dragon
Okay, I think I'd better remind you to breathe. You have that deer-in-the-headlights (who may actually choose to jump in front of the car) tone. I'm very familiar with the feeling!
Breathe. Chill a couple of glasses, pour some nice buttery Chardonney into them. There, isn't that better?
Thank you Tam, I haven't had a glass of Chard in months. Sigh... a function of poverty I fear. I was ogling Rosa's on my way to get fish and chips for AR last night. Been there? A really nice Italian meal with a good wine... sigh. Maybe we can do that for a treat one night while we're in exile for the termite fumigation.
Dragon I'm not presenting this year in SF, but some classmates a year behind me in the program are. I think it will be a poster board and it's on women's issues.
WoW = World of Warcraft, an online role playing game (specifically a Massivly Multiple Online Roleplay Game - MMORPG). It's the largest MMORPG in the world with 8 million subscribers and 1-2 million online at any given time. Three of us in our program play and decided to do some sort of research project on it for next year's meeting. It's amazing how much we're all hearing about this game from therapists; people failing out of school, getting fired from their jobs and finding themselves in divorce court b/c they spend so much time playing.
My dissertation topic (if it lasts) is about the effects, positive or negative, of computers and other electronic communication devices on committed relationships, so it plays into my theme perfectly!
The WRAT is the Wide Range Acheivement Test - or it could also be a Rock radio station in New Jersey. My clients would have been happier about that, I'm quite sure. LOL! The WAIS is Wechsler Adult Intellegence Scales and the WISC is the Wechsler Intellegence Scales for Children. The MCMI is the Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, a personality test that is now beginning to supplant the MMPI in many areas, particularly the forensic arena. It is more attuned to personality disorders and matches up better with the DSM-IV TR. The MACI is the adolescent version of the MCMI. Seeing as the young lady I gave the MCMI balked at answering 147 questions, I cannot imagine she would have gone for all 567 MMPI questions! That's a part of the reason for the shift; the MMPI is just too fucking long for most clients to sit through, and shortened versions are not as accurate by far.
No vacations planned for the summer but for SF. My husband will come with me and play in the City while I go to the conference. Otherwise I am going to be packing in practicum hours by the hundreds to avoid having to do so many during the academic year. I'd like to sneak up to the redwoods or maybe Hawaii, but money is really tight. S'okay, we live in a tourist area so there are lots of great things to do for long weekends and such. Shall try to book a few of those for sure.
My darling daughter plays WoW, so I'm familiar with it :)
You sound like you are getting tremendous experience at your site, especially since you are able to use so many tests. I agree with you on the WISC - the manual is much better on the WAIS-III.
You do sound a little like a deer in the headlights, as mentioned by Tamara. I sooo know that feeling! Thankfully, you'll be off school shortly, right? I can't believe you get 4 months off! That rocks :)
I'm lucky...the databases we use at my school are pretty good, and there's several available. It sucks when you can't access decent databases, and you're trying to write a paper. I can't imagine how much that sucks for your dissertation.
I'm not going to APA, since I have classes. I hope you have a blast!
Oh our library databases are outstanding, I just can't work them for shit is the problem. I've been told our system is on par with UCLA. Our librarian is wonderful though, and it seems as if there is absolutely nothing she can't produce if asked. I'll spend some time with her next week and hopefully she'll get me sorted out. Thankfully she's there all summer to help. Whew!
Hmm... counting I guess I have only 3 1/2 months, from the third week in June to the first week in October. Sorry to hear you're in classes over summer, but then you will be COMPLETELY done after that, no? How exciting!!!
Post a Comment