We had a great turnout at our fall meeting, despite the rain! In case you were not able to make it, here is what you missed...

We welcomed Dr. Smith and Dr. Mire and learned about their current research projects and ideas for the program. Dr. Kubiszyn spoke about the recently submitted self-study for APA accreditation and went over APPIC match statistics. Dr. Smith presented his ideas for several new program initiatives, such as representing the program at national conferences and sponsoring a school psychology conference for the program. We also elected two new student-faculty representatives for the 2013-2014 year. Congratulations to Sarah Ochs and Kerri Nowell; we know you will both represent us well! Thank you to everyone for contributing to the delicious potluck meal and to Dr. Kubiszyn and his wife for hosting us in their beautiful home!

Fall 2013 Town Hall Meeting! I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Publications 2

Presentations

4

Students in action! 6

Meet our new faculty

members!

7

Milestones, Awards &

Honors

8

Conference &

Research

Opportunities

9

UH School Psychology Newsletter V O L U M E 7 , I S S U E 1 , F A L L 2 0 1 3

E D I T O R : N A T A L I E R A F F

A S S T . E D I T O R S : K A R R I E H I L L I A R D &

M A D E L I N E R A C I N E

Sonia checking out a very

impressive dessert spread!

In Press: Christ, T. J., & Keller-Margulis, M. A., Marcotte, A. (in press). The basics of curriculum-based assessment. In S.G. Little & A. Akin-Little (Eds.) Academic Assessment and Intervention. Dempsey, A. D., Keller-Margulis, M. A., Mire, S., Abrahamson, C., Dutt, S., Llorens, A., & Payan, A. (in press). Overview of functioning of school-aged children born preterm across multiple domains: Guidelines for assessment. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion.

Keller-Margulis, M. A., & Mercer, S. (in press). R-CBM in Spanish and in English: Differential relations depending on student reading skill. Psychology in the Schools. Keller-Margulis, M. A., Abrahamson, C., Llorens, A., & Dempsey, A.G. (in press). Early intervention service utilization among children born preterm. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology. Mire, S., Nowell, K., Kubiszyn, T., & Goin-Kochel, R. (in press). Psychotropic medication use among children with autism spectrum disorders within the Simons Simplex Collection: Are core features of ASD related? Autism. Olvera, N., Dempsey, A., Gonzalez, E., & Abrahamson, C. (in press). Weight-related teasing, emotional eating, and weight control behaviors in Hispanic and African American girls. Eating Behaviors. Terry, J. Strait, G., McQuillin, S., & Smith B. (in press). Dosage effects on motivational interviewing on middle-school students’ academic performance: Randomized evaluation of one versus two sessions. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion. Terry, J. T., Smith, B. H., & McQuillin, S. D. (in press). Teaching evidence-based practice in service-learning: A model for education and service. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching. Pelham, W. E., Meichenbaum, D., Smith, B., Sibley, M. H., Gnagy, E., & Bukstein, O. (in press). The effect of MPH on parent-directed conflict behavior in adolescents with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders. Pelham, W. E., Gnagy, E. M., Sibley, M. H., Kipp, H. L., Smith, B. H., Evans, S. W., & Bukstein, O. (in press). Attributions and perception of methylphenidate effects in adolescents with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders.

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Recent & Future Publications (Current students and faculty indicated by boldface type)

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Recent & Future Publications cont. 2013 Publications:

Boyce, A., Schanding, G. T., Burridge, A. B., & Keller-Margulis, M. (2013). Effect of videogame play and extracurricular activities on parent perceived socio-emotional functioning in children and adolescents. International Journal of Psychology: A Biopsycosocial Approach, 12, 29-49. doi: 10.7220/1941-7233.12.2 Keller-Margulis, M. A., Mercer, S., & Shapiro, E.S. (2013). Seasonal differences in growth on math curriculum-based measures using tri-annual benchmarks. Assessment for Effective Intervention. doi: 10.1177/1534508412452750 Kubiszyn, T., & Borich, G. (2013). Educational testing and measurement: Classroom application and practice (10th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Kubiszyn, T., & Borich, G. (2013). Instructor ’s manual for educational testing and measurement (10th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Kubiszyn, T., & Mire, S. (2013). Recent FDA Drug Safety Communications for Pediatric Psychotropics. Journal of Child and Family Studies. doi:10.1007/s10826-012-9706-x Mancil, E., Bird, J., Lyons, M., Van Eck, K., & Smith, B. H. (2013). Considering positive psychology constructs of life satisfaction and school connectedness when assessing symptoms related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 1, 63- 77. McQuillin, S., Terry, J., Strait, G., & Smith, B. (2013). Innovation in school-based mentoring: matching the context, structure, and goals of mentoring with evidence-based practices. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 6(4), 280-294. Pelham, W. E., Smith, B. H., Evans, S. W., Bukstein, O., Gnagy, E. M., Greiner, A.R., & Sibley, M.H. (2013). The effectiveness of short- and long-acting stimulants for medication for adolescents with ADHD in a naturalistic secondary school setting. Journal of Attention Disorders. Perez, E. R., Schanding Jr, G. T., & Dao, T. K. (2013). Educators' Perceptions in Addressing Bullying of LGBTQ/Gender Nonconforming Youth. Journal of School Violence, 12(1), 64-79. Schanding, G.T., Nowell, K. P. (2013) Universal screening for emotional and behavioral problems: Fitting a population-based model. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 29(3), 104-119. doi:10.1080/15377903.2013.751479 Strait, G., Terry, J., McQuillin, S., & Smith, B. (2013) Motivational interviewing: ready for adults and emergent for adolescents. The Community Psychologist, 46(1), 26-28. Terry, J., Strait, G., Smith, B., Wilson, W., & McQuillin, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing to improve middle school students’ academic performance: A replication study. Journal of Community Psychology, 41, 902-909. Voelkel, E. A., Lee, K. M., Abrahamson, C. W., & Dempsey, A. G. (2013). Social Anxiety and Socialization Among Adolescents. In Handbook of Treating Variants and Complications in Anxiety Disorders (pp. 177-192). Springer New York.

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Fearrington, J. Y., Masland, L.C., Keller-Margulis, M. A., Mercer, S. H., & Anderson, C. (2014, February). Psychometric validation of the Florida problem-solving RtI evaluation tool. Poster accepted for presentation at the 2014 National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention. Washington, D.C.

Fischer, A. J., LeBlanc, H., Dart, E. H., & Florell, D. (2014, February). The present and future of

integrating technology into school practice. Symposia accepted for presentation at the 2014 National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention. Washington, D.C.

Keller-Margulis, M. A., Mercer, S.H., Payan, A., & Brewton, C. (2014, February). Annual growth

patterns in written expression curriculum-based measurement. Poster accepted for presentation at the 2014 National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention. Washington, D.C.

Kinsaul, J., Shah, S., LeBlanc, H., Hirstius, B, Vinci, C., Copeland, A.L. (2013, November).

Comparing brief mindfulness interventions for body image in college women. Poster accepted for presentation at the 2013 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Annual Convention. Nashville, TN.

LeBlanc, H., & Fischer, A. (2014, February). Evaluating the moderators of the acceptability of

vidoeconferencing in behavioral consultation. Poster accepted for presentation at the 2014 National Association of School Psychologists Annual Convention. Washington, DC.

Olenchak, R., McQuillin, S., Keller-Margulis, M. A. (2013, December). From whence have we

come and where are we going? The marriage of psychology, education, and talent development. Paper accepted for presentation at the 2013 Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented Convention. Houston, TX.

Abrahamson, C., Dempsey, A.G., & Keller-Margulis, M. (2013, August). Developmental out-comes of children born preterm: Comparisons between clinician observation and parent report. Poster presented at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Honolulu, HI.

Alexander, M., E. (2013, April). Assessing Multi-

cultural Competence in School Psychology. Post-er presented at the Graduate Student Organiza-tion Research Symposium, Houston, TX.

Babu, S. (2013 April). Indirect Services as a Nec-

essary Alternative to Direct Services in School Psychological Services: Considerations for Train-ing and Innovation. Poster presented at the GSO Research Symposium, University of Houston, Houston, TX.

Catherine presenting her poster at APA in Hawaii

Future Presentations

Recent Presentations

Boyce, A.,Smith, B. W., & Nowell, K. P. (2013, January). Ethnic differences in educational placement of students with autism spectrum disorders. Poster presented at the National Multicultural Conference & Summit, Houston TX.

Boyce, A., Graham, K. T., Roberts, R. L., &

Sitomer, A. L. (2013, July). Food selectivity in a five year old female with autism. Paper presented at the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), Texas Chapter’s 38th annual conference, Houston TX.

Brewton, C.M., Nowell. K.P. & Allain, E. (2013,

July). Race proportions within autism and intellectual disability categories. Poster presented at American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Texas Chapter (AAIDD Texas Chapter) annual conference, Houston, TX.

Gealy, W. (2013, April). Racial and Ethnic

Differences in Recognizing, Diagnosing, and Intervening with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Poster presented at the Graduate Student Organization Research Symposium, Houston, TX.

Gealy, W., Dovi, A., Kubiszyn, T., McQuillin, S.,

Lambert, B., & Messinger, D. (2013, May). Teachers rate more adaptability than parents in Hispanic, ASD sample on BASC-2. Poster presented at the Association of Psychological Science (APS), Washington, D.C.

Whitney and Allison presenting at APS in Washington, D.C.

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Halpern, R. (2013, April). Asian American parents: differences in their perception of stress and the challenging behaviors of their children with ASD. Poster presentation at the Graduate Student Organization Research Symposium. Houston, TX.

Kubiszyn, T. & Mire, S. (2013, August). A

review of recent FDA drug safety communications for pediatric psychotropics. Poster presented at the 121st Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI.

Llorens, A.V. & Graves, S. (2013, August).

Educational experiences of students with autism: A look at ethnicity. Poster presented at the 121st Annual American Psychological Association Convention, Honolulu, HI.

Nowell. K.P., Brewton, C.M. & Allain, E.

(2013, July). The Influence of Cultural Factors on the Timely and Accurate Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Paper presented at the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Texas Chapter (AAIDD Texas Chapter) annual conference, Houston, TX.

Payan, A., Keller-Margulis, M., & Burridge, A. (2013, February). Gender Differences in at

the National Association of School Psychologists. Seattle, WA.

Pearson, D.A., Loveland, K.A., Aman, M.G.,

Santos, C.W., Mansour. R., Lane, D.M., Vanwoerden, S., Perez, E., Phillips, E.,

Miekka, C., Dang, T., & Cleveland, L.A. (2013, May) Cognitive task performance is

related to ADHD—not autistic—symptomatology in children with ASD. Paper presented the 2013 International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR), Donostia, Spain.

Thomas, E. (2013, April). Perceptions of RTI

Implementation of Secondary School Administration and Staff. Poster presented at the Graduate Student Organization Research Symposium, Houston, TX.

Recent Presentations cont.

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Catherine, Ashlie, Tasha, Dr. Mekel Harris (’09 program graduate), & Dr. Kubiszyn

enjoying Hawaii during the APA conference.

Allison and Whitney participating in a flash mob during the APS conference in

Washington, D.C.!

Brittany, Natalie, Erika, Allison and Sarah, excited about finishing the Diva Dash in

Austin, TX.

School Psychology Students in Action!

Christie and Natalie posing with some superheroes at the Houston Walk

for Autism!

Meet Our New Faculty Members!

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Dr. Smith is the co-director of the School Psychology Ph.D. Program, and is very interested in helping students prepare for careers in academia. For the past 30 years, Dr. Smith has been involved in providing evidence-based interventions for youth provided primarily by college students. He is a co-developer of the Challenging Horizons after-school and summer programs, and is interested in helping implement this award-winning, evidence-based service-learning program throughout the Houston area. Other projects of interest include seeking best practices in school-based mentoring and motivational interviewing, and studying school-based yoga.

His research interests include: Mentoring and talent development programs, Motivational Interviewing, Service-learning, After-school and summer programs, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Yoga and interventions that promote subjective well-being.

Dr. Mire joined the faculty of the

UH School Psychology PhD program in Fall 2013. Her research focuses on treatment and family issues for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), particularly when compounded by comorbid DSM diagnoses and/or school-related difficulties. She is interested in individual, family, and regional factors contributing to various ASD treatment choices (e.g., school-based, psychosocial, psychotropic, etc.); the role of parent/caregivers and teachers in managing treatment and service-delivery; and issues in treatment of ASD and comorbid diagnoses during early childhood through adolescence. Dr. Mire is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP), is licensed by Texas as a specialist in school psychology (LSSP) and as a

Provisionally Licensed Psychologist (PLP). She completed an APA-accredited predoctoral clinical internship and subsequent post-doctoral fellowship at Western Youth Services in Orange County, California.

Dr. Sarah Mire

Dr. Bradley Smith

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Students Currently on Internship

Kennetha Frye, Dallas ISD, APA-Accredited

Ronda Reyna, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, APA-Accredited

Evelyn Perez, Sheldon ISD

Scholarships

Sonia Babu Awarded the Velma Glass Chambers

Scholarship Endowment by the University of Houston College of Education for the 2013-2014 school year.

Rachel Halpern Awarded the Helen and Melvin Wimpelberg

Memorial Scholarship- $1200 by the College of Education for the 2013-2014 school year.

Awarded Weinstein Fund Scholarship- $1300 by the College of Education for the 2013-2014 school year.

Grants Funded

Principal Investigator, Keller-Margulis, M.A. (2013). Advancing the study of written expression curriculum-based measurement. ($4,000 – Funded). College of Education Faculty Research Grant Award.

Co-Principal Investigator, Keller-Margulis,

M.A. & Dempsey, A.G. (2013). Early indicators of academic and behavioral difficulties among children born preterm. ($19,530.53- Funded). Society for the Study of School Psychology, Early Career Research Awards Program.

Recent Program Graduates

Dr. Sonia Dutt (currently undertaking an APA-accredited postdoctoral fellowship at Dallas Children’s Hospital)

Dr. Ruth Hoffman-Lach

Proposals & Defenses

Ashlie Llorens successfully proposed her dissertation in May!

Allyson Tagliarina successfully defended her candidacy proposal!

Allison Dovi, Ericka Flynn, and Natalie Raff successfully proposed their candidacy projects!

Other Milestones

Catherine Abrahamson and Natashia Comeaux passed their comprehensive exams!

Honors & Awards

Kennetha Frye

Accepted a secondary rotation with Henry Wade Juvenile Detention Center

Became a member of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA) of Division 16 for APA- Early Career Psychologists

Ronda Reyna

Received the Student Award for Excellence in Knowledge, Support or Empowerment by the Texas chapter of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) in July 2013 at the annual conference in Houston.

Milestones, Honors & Awards

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Dr. Smith’s Research Lab Dr. Smith is in the process of starting 3 different research projects within his lab. The first will focus on mentoring research, specifically the effects on mentors and preventing drop out among college students. The second will look at school-based motivational interviewing and the final project will ex-amine school-based yoga for improving academic outcomes. Future interests to address include service-learning and after-school and summer programs. The lab will have weekly meetings at 2 pm on Mondays in 318H and other meetings or retreats TBA. These projects are in the early stages of being developed and welcome any input and ideas students may have. If you are interested in any of these projects please contact Dr. Smith or come to one of the weekly lab meetings.

Dr. Keller-Margulis’ Research Projects

Dr. Keller-Margulis is currently working on several research projects around the practical and tech-nical issues associated with curriculum-based measurement (CBM) as well as the developmental outcomes for children born preterm. A grant from the Society for the Study of School Psychology is currently funding a project, in collaboration with Dr. Allison Dempsey at UTHealth, to follow a cohort of children born preterm to determine when evidence of difficulty in academic, cognitive, and behav-ioral skills become apparent. Several other projects designed to answer questions about universal screening using CBM are also underway. These studies focus on the conventions of universal screening using written expression CBM, the use of CBM and computer-adaptive tests for screen-ing, and screening for academics and behavior in early childhood. Anyone interested in these re-search projects is encouraged to contact Dr. Keller-Margulis.

Conference Opportunities

Research Opportunities

Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Proposal Deadline—October 14, 2013

Conference—March, 5-7, 2014, Chicago, IL

International Society for Autism Research (INSAR)

Proposal Deadline—November 1, 2013

Conference—May 14-17, 2014, Atlanta, GA

American Psychological Association (APA)

Proposal Deadline—

Collaborative proposals (two or more divisions)—November 1, 2013

Division proposals—December 2, 2013

Conference—August 7-10, 2014, Washington, D.C.

Association for Psychological Science (APS)

Proposal Deadline—

Symposia—December 1, 2013

Posters—January 31, 2014

Conference—May 22-24, 2014, San Francisco, CA

Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT)

Call for proposals has closed for 2013— look out for 2014 call for papers (generally closes at the beginning of March)

Conference—

2013 —November 21-24, Nashville, TN

2014 —November 20-23, Philadelphia, PA

School Psychology Program

University of Houston

College of Education

Dept of Educational Psychology

491 Farish Hall

Phone: 713.743.5043

Fax: 713.743.4996

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UH Academic Mentoring Program for Educational Development (AMPED) Dr. McQuillin, Brittany McLelland, and Brent Smith are rolling out a manualized academic mentoring program at Yes Prep-5th Ward this semester. UH-AMPED is designed to increase academic and personal success of middle school students by using a motivational interviewing inspired approach to conversation, as well as goal setting, and teaching specific skills. The team has been revising a manual that has demonstrated previous success in South Carolina with student math grades, life satisfaction, and behavior referrals. Anybody interested in being a part of this project is encouraged to contact someone on the team. Check out the UH-AMPED website at: http://mentor.coe.uh.edu/.

Dr. Kubiszyn’s Pediatric Psychopharmacology Team

The pediatric psychopharmacology research team is focused on three primary areas of inquiry. These include the comparative safety and efficacy of psychological and pharmacological treatments, measurement of response to treatment to inform psychological and pharmacological treatment (i.e., which treatment, when, with whom, for how long, at what dose), and the impact of psychotropic side effects on school learning, behavior and standardized testing. The Team will also survey attitudes about, and experience with psychotropics among school psychologists and other professionals.

Autism Interest Group and Lab

Dr. Mire’s team is currently working on four projects within the AIGL: 1) parent perceptions in driving ASD treatment decisions; 2) setting-specific perceptions of emotional/behavioral characteristics of children with ASD; 3) school-based services for students with ASD; and 4) ASD and representation in special education placement. The structure of the AIGL includes opportunities for students with a range of research experience to gain increasing competencies in developing and completing pro-jects for presentation at local and national/international conferences, manuscript development, as well as opportunities to collaborate with professionals from the Texas Medical Center and local school districts. Project development is ongoing, and students interested in working within the AIGL should contact Dr. Mire directly.

Research Opportunities cont.

The School Psychology Program at the University of Houston is

accredited by the American Psychological Association. The Program

adheres to a scientist-practitioner training model, and is committed

to developing professional school psychologists who are competent to

engage in applied research and ecologically sensitive evidence-based

practice (i.e., students learn to apply critical analysis and inquiry to

identify, select, implement, and evaluate evidence-based practices

with sensitivity to cultural and linguistic considerations, and in

consideration of diverse client preferences). Sensitivity to diversity

issues is addressed in specific course work and embedded throughout

the training experience. Awareness of diversity issues is ensured

because the UH is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse

research institutions in the nation.