Field Experience 3

Jake Byma
Seasons Center for Behavioral Health
2/9-2/13
8 hours


1.  This week brought some actual observation, which was pretty cool.  It was interesting to actually see two of the tests I have been grading for awhile put into practice.  We had an 8 year old girl come in to test and I observed about an hour and a half of testing.  She had a totally different dynamic during the test and post-test.  During the test she was very quiet and started to get frustrated and shut down.  After the test, however, she became a little chatterbox.  We spent a little time afterwards discussing how things went, some of the patient's background, why the company only uses certain subtests from the whole test and what they are looking for, etc.  After that I spent a little time packing some test files for future testing that needs to be done.  On Tuesday I went into the office in the morning to grade a couple different tests before heading to class.  After class and lunch I came back and was taught the rest of the tests that they use in their testing.  They aren't actually that difficult to pick up and are pretty easy to grade after a week or so.  I am about 98% ready to score a full battery if they need.  Trevor also showed me how to find test scores in their computer manuals instead of looking them up in the appendixes of the books all the time.  The most important learning opportunity was definitely observing a test.  It let me see what I have been scoring in action, which makes a huge difference. 
 2.  I got pretty excited to see an actual test for once.  It is frustrating at the same time because you want the child to score as high as possible but you can't help them out at all.  I also feel like I am doing a lot of positive work for the company, which is a nice little boost.  Trevor has remarked several times to the other employees (and to me as well) how nice it is to have someone else around and someone that is saving him time and work so that he can concentrate on other things. 
3.  One thing that wasn't really a problem but caught me off guard and left me without something to say was when an employee asked if I would be staying on once the Trevors left for grad school.  I kind of just joked about how they might keep me if I didn't mess up too much but wasn't entirely sure what to say. 
4.  How does everyone else feel about the work they are doing?  Is it worthwhile or more just busy work from the company?