With the school year getting underway, I want to start by encouraging you to renew your NASP membership at www.nasponline.org. As a member, you can take advantage of the many resources and opportunities, including those listed below.

As an added bonus, you will want to act now to take advantage of the special discount being offered to NASP members who order ‘Best Practices in School Psychology V’ before October 7, 2010. Visit www.nasponline.org/publications/index.aspx to save $100 off the list price of this practice essential.

Get ready to gear up for School Psychology Awareness Week! NASP has designated November 8?12, 2010, as National School Psychology Awareness Week. This year’s theme, ‘Today is a good day to ? SHINE,’ helps our students and schools focus on strengthening positive relationships and increasing positive experiences. For valuable resources to help your students, staff, and community shine, visit www.nasponline.org/communications/spawareness/index.aspx.

Start planning today for the NASP 2011 Annual Convention, scheduled for February 22?25, 2011, in San Francisco, CA! Registration and access to a limited block of discounted hotel rooms will open on October 4, 2010. Visit www.nasponline.org/conventions now for information about the convention program, hotels, transportation, and the city of San Francisco.

I also want to share some new NASP resources with you. The latest issue of School Psychology Forum is now available online at www.nasponline.org/publications/spf/spfissues.aspx. The ‘research to practice’ oriented articles in this new issue address school-based therapeutic interventions, graphing single-case data, and promoting prosocial behavior in preschool.

NASP has developed School Psychologists: Improving Student and School Outcomes, a document which links to specific things that school psychologists do, with associated research outcomes and expectations. This is a great resource to help make sure elected officials, school board members, principals, colleagues, and the families of the students you serve know the importance of the work you do. The document can be downloaded at www.nasponline.org/advocacy/SP_Improving_Student_School_Outcomes_Final.pdf.

NASP members can learn tips for collaborating with medical professionals in NASP’s latest podcast, featuring one of the editors of the pediatric disorders series, Steve Shaw. Access the podcast and more at www.nasponline.org/resources/podcasts/index.aspx.

I hope that your school year is off to a good start. I look forward to bringing you more NASP updates in October.

Sincerely,

Deb Schwiesow, IA Delegate

As the end of the summer nears, I want to share with you a few NASP updates.

I encourage you to renew your membership, which expired on June 30, to maintain access to your NASP member benefits. Please renew online at www.nasponline.org/membership/index.aspx.

As you begin to gear up for the new school year, you will want to check out the back-to-school resources available at www.nasponline.org/families/index.aspx#back. The offerings include several handouts and audio articles for parents on topics such as homework, school refusal, anxiety disorders, and much more. Don’t forget to utilize the Resource Library, which is organized alphabetically by topic, throughout the school year to easily find resources on the topics you need. You can access the library atwww.nasponline.org/resources/index.aspx. Read More

I am in Washington, DC this week, attending the Delegate Assembly with NASP leaders from across the country. It has been a busy and exciting year at NASP. I wanted to share some of our proudest accomplishments with you.

This year, our Delegate Assembly approved three new NASP position statements and the NASP 2010 Professional Standards. You will be hearing more on the standards and related Practice Model in the coming months. Also, critical to the identity and practice of school psychologists, NASP advocated for the retention of the school psychologist exemption in APA’s Model Act for State Licensure of Psychologists. Thanks to your help, the 2010 Model Act continues to recognize the authority of state education agencies to credential and title school psychologists.
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