Peter Arsenault Interview

I interviewed Peter Arsenault who is the School Psychologist at Memorial High School in Millville, New Jersey. This is Mr. Arsenault’s third year at the high school level. Previously he worked at the middle school in our district. During the interview we discussed consultation and inclusion, particularly at the high school level. Before we even began to discuss the topics of consultation and inclusion, Mr. Arsenault and I spoke of the differences between middle school and high school. One major difference is the way credits for classes are applied at the high school level. This impacts the student placement in various ways. In particular, when considering placing a learning disabled student in an inclusion class, many factors must come into …show more content…
Arsenault believes his ability to consult on behalf of the child, greatly benefit the special needs student. In order to do this effectively, building relationships is paramount. Furthermore, he states that “I need to be receptive to the consultative opinion of others regarding the kids I case manage.” (Arsenault) Mr. Arsenault believes that it is imperative to critically listen to the opinion of others. For example, if a teacher, administrator, or parent feels strongly against what he is advocating for, it is important that he or any consultant, listen to that opinion. Consultation is all about communication. Many of the cases that Mr. Arsenault manages are very difficult cases. Often times emotions, egos and general education doctrine can become hurdles to consultation, but keeping the lines of communication open can help. “In particular it is useful for school psychologists to consider ways to facilitate change as well as understand whether teachers and administrators are actually implementing new practices.” (Codding, Hagermosser Sanetti & DiGennaro Reed, p.530) The school psychologist is a key player in this process. “Consultants do not control consultees decisions about whether to accept or implement specific strategies, ultimately they cannot be accountable for the failure of the consultation outcomes if they have appropriately carried out their part of the process.” (Friend & Cook, p.218, 2013) There are times that consultation is not successful. One example of …show more content…
Mr. Arsenault believes that when inclusion is done well, it can alleviate many students needing the resource room. The right way for inclusion to be done, in his opinion, “would be to have the children exposed to everything the general education curriculum mandates, however, the special education students work, grading, tests/quizzes are modified, they receive copies of notes when needed, they have lessons reinforced within the classroom by the special education teacher, they have different percent’s applied to their grading and their grades would be based on the goals and objectives of their IEP.” (Arsenault) He also believes that the infinite campus grading system we use at our school would not be used to determine the student’s grades. In order to increase the effectiveness of inclusion, solid data on the students must be used to determine who is appropriate. According to Mr. Arsenault, evidence based teaching practices are essential in an inclusion classroom. Another aspect of inclusion that is important is having general education teacher value inclusion and having them also see the disability for what it is and not just laziness. “When teachers seek assistance from consultants, one incidental outcome is an increase in the knowledge and skills.” (Friend & Cook, p.219, 2013) Consultation is professionals working together to provide supportive services for the students. The goal is to provide effective programs for students and