NDASP NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THRIVING
We see the national initiatives of school safety, school community partnerships,
School Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, Multi-Tiered System of
Supports and School Based Mental Health Services leading the way to help us fully
use our graduate training to expand our roles within the school system.
If you have not explored the NASP Practice Model personally, here is a link
detailing the practice model http://www.nasponline.org/standards/practicemodel/domains.aspx
I encourage you to use NASP resources online to support all 10 domains of practice
http:www.nasponline.org/standards/practice-model/domains-of-practice.aspx
In the future be looking for our NDASP conferences to detail which of the 10
domains we are supporting within each training. Also, be looking for more
discussions on how the NASP Practice Model can support your professional
evaluations to be more comprehensive and reflective of your services to children,
educators and families.
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PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Sarah How, Psy. S. NCSP
As the Winter is settling in across the plains and rolling hills of
North Dakota, I am excited to welcome you back to the start of
a new school year.
In early October, I officially accepted the position as the new
President of the North Dakota Association of School
Psychologists. I would also like to welcome our new
President-Elect Dr. Joe Engler. I am honored to follow our
Past President Kathy Gewont who has lead us to develop our
mission, establish and strengthen committees, and evaluate our
state organization to develop Strategic Plan goals based on the
NASP Practice Model. How exciting that even as a small state
we are aligned with the NASP Practice Model and are working
toward using this model to improve outcomes for students and
schools.
I believe as an organization that we need to continue to support
the goals we have established and explore the goals we
discussed, but have not yet begun practical steps to implement.
We have much to celebrate as we have significantly increased
our membership these past years and have established support
and collaboration from Minot State University which is our
only school psychologist graduate program in the state of ND.
We will continue to work on supporting our membership,
representing that membership at both the state and local levels,
keeping our website current and flowing with usable
information and building our knowledge base as
professionals. I hope you will consider joining us for our
Spring Conference on April 10, 2015 in Harvey, ND at
Cobblestone Inn where we will highlight our next steps toward
our goals in our Strategic Plan as an organization.
As we continue to develop in our roles as school psychologists
the NASP Practice Model is supporting our transformative
change both as an organization and as individual professionals.
WINTER, 2014
Reflecting back I would like to personally thank all those involved in our Fall
Conference this past October in Fargo, ND. Our Fall conference was well attended
and a wonderful gathering of many school psychologists, professors, and graduate
students from across the state.
We learned many new skills from an introduction to the new WISC-V to supporting
families and youth impacted by trauma in our schools. We once again were
reminded of the diversity that North Dakota represents from urban to very rural
settings. The oil boom has indeed placed unique demands on our school
psychologists out west. My hope is that as an organization we can support and serve
all our ND school psychologists from the smallest rural area to the urban
settings. NDASP is here to grow and strengthen school psychologists’ skills in
helping students to thrive and improving outcomes to students and schools.
On a personal note as I conclude this first president’s message, please allow me to
introduce myself. Currently my husband and I live in Fargo, ND with our four
children ages 9 -17. Two of our children were adopted from therapeutic foster
care. I am a full time practicing school psychologist for West Fargo Public Schools
in West Fargo, ND serving students first through fifth grades. However in the past
17 academic years, my experiences have ranged from serving children and adults
ages 3 – 21 years old. I also am an Advanced Trainer for the Nurtured Heart
Approach® which is a relationship methodology built on a set of strategies to help
adults cultivate and build inner wealth in children. Out of my passion for building
stronger children from the inside out, I wrote two children’s book ‘Tell Me About
Your Greatness!’ and ‘Greatness Is My Superpower.’ I am thrilled that the vision of
NASP fits so beautifully into my own passion in this field “All children and youth
thrive in school, at home, and throughout life.”
Thriving is something as school psychologist we are uniquely positioned to support
in the school setting! I hope you were able to enjoy School Psychology Awareness
Week November 10-14, 2014 as much as I did. Here is a link to the NASP website
where ND made the national website based on the activities at my school district in
West Fargo, ND. Scroll to the bottom left and you will see the video we made.
http://www.nasponline.org/communications/spaw/2014/HIGHLIGHTS.aspx I
would love to highlight what you are doing in your schools to support thriving. It
doesn’t have to be School Psychology Awareness Week to do amazing things to
support thriving. Please consider emailing me your activities to highlight in the
next newsletter!
In conclusion, it is a great honor to serve the amazing school psychologists in the
state of North Dakota. I hope that you will consider participating in your state
organization and sharing your voice this next year. A great step is to call or email
me with your questions, suggestions or needs. I can be reached at 701-367-6687 or
by email at [email protected].
To Thriving,
Sarah How, Psy.S. NCSP
VOL #2 ISSUE #1
GOVERNMENT AND PROFESSIONAL RELATIONS
WAYNE LEBEN- NDASP COMMITTEE MEMBER
North Dakota Legislature
As the North Dakota Legislature is scheduled to begin its biennial session on January 6 th, 2015 the following
information is provided to assist school psychologists who may wish to follow or participate in the legislative
process.
The state web site, www.ND.GOV is great place to start for those of you wishing additional information
regarding the legislative process as well as other state agencies. Specific to the legislative process, the site
www.legis.nd.gov has links to rules and regulations, district maps and legislator links, along with calendars of
hearings and votes. For those of you really interested, you can subscribe to the RSS feed at
http://www.legis.nd.gov/rssfeed . Additional legislative analysis is frequently provided by the North Dakota
School Boards Association, http://ndsba.org/ , and the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders,
http://www.ndcel.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1 .
Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly provides guidance for citizens wishing to
participate in the legislative process at this site:
http://www.legis.nd.gov/general-information . A small summary of
requirements for testifying and/or lobbying is available there as well
as a link to the Attorney General office for more specific information.
Specific to School Psychologists
Issues to keep in mind as you participate in the legislative process:
1. Always use your own phone or computer to communicate
with legislators;
2. Always use your personal email address (and/or phone
number), not you school email address, in your
correspondence with legislators;
3. You may use your professional credentials in your
correspondence
For example:
Jane Doe, Psy.S. NCSP
4. You may not imply that your position regarding specific
legislation represents the official position of NASP or NDASP.
Statements of official positions regarding legislation must be
made by representatives of the organization who are
registered as lobbyists to do so;
If you would like to submit an issue for consideration as an official
position, please contact one of the NDASP board members at
http://www.ndasp.org/board-members.html .
I hope that this brief introduction helpful. When the legislature
convenes in January, a listing of the bills introduced, by topic, is made
available. I hope to provide legislative updates regarding education
issues to fellow NDASP members as they emerge.
WINTER, 2014
How to Testify Before a North Dakota Legislative
Committee
You have the right...
You have the right, as do all citizens, to testify before the
North Dakota Legislative Assembly on any bill or resolution.
North Dakota has one of the most open legislatures in the
nation. Every bill must have a public hearing before a
legislative committee, must be publicly voted upon by the
committee, and then must come before the full House or
Senate for still another public vote.
Your opportunity to testify on a bill comes at the committee
hearing.
Legislative committees meet in rooms on the ground floor or
in the legislative wing of the State Capitol. You can come into
a committee meeting at any time, even if the door is closed or
a hearing is in progress.
Lists of the legislative committees, committee members, and
the days and places committees meet are available on this
website and at the legislative information kiosk in the hall
between the Senate and House chambers. Committee hearing
schedules are available on this website and can be viewed on
the monitors by the information kiosk and in the hall of the
ground floor at the Capitol.
Most current versions of bills and amendments are available
on this website. You can also get copies of bills from the Bill
and Journal Room. However, if the bill has been amended,
the printed bill may not include the amendments.
Hearings Before North Dakota Legislative Committees Are
Generally Informal and Few Rules Need Be Observed!
VOL #2 ISSUE #1
GRADUATE CORNER
It is astonishing the amount of knowledge and confidence we
have attained in the past nine weeks in the Minot State University
newsletter text here.
School Psychology program. The professors are so
knowledgeable and passionate that they make coming to school
every day exciting. All of our professors have supported us
throughout the program. Since our first day of classes they have
implemented an open door policy and have made it clear that our
success is their number one concern. They’ve taken the time out
of their busy schedules to help us academically and form
relationships with us apart from school. One way they have been
doing is this is by meeting us for lunch every Wednesday to
discuss topics other than academics.
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The majority of us are new to North Dakota, and within just a
few short weeks we have become integrated into the community
and have had the opportunity to form networks with people in
our field. One of the experiences our cohort has enjoyed has been
going into schools and doing observations on a student for a
SAVE THE DATE
project in our Human Growth and Development class. We have
UPCOMING EVENTS
also been getting experience going into schools for our class Roles
and Functions of a School Psychologist. We’ve really enjoyed
sharing our experiences with each other, as we’re sure everyone
is aware, children can be quite entertaining.
One of the highlights of being part of the Minot State
NASP 2015 Convention
February 17th-20th, 2015
Orlando, Florida

University graduate program has been attending the North
Dakota Association of School Psychologists Conference this fall in
Fargo, ND. The environment at the conference was exceptional.
Everyone was extremely excited considering that this conference
had one of the largest turnouts in the last couple years. For some
This year’s main topic is
stressing the importance of
mental health in our schools.
NDASP Spring Conference
April 10th, 2015
Harvey, ND
Cobblestone Inn

of us, this was our first conference we had ever attended, and we
We will review our Strategic
Plan Goals and have reports
from our committee heads.
were welcomed right away in the school psychology community
in North Dakota. We were able to meet lots of professionals and
make connections that may help us in the future. The conference
was very motivating, and after the conference all eight of the girls
in our cohort became members of NDASP.
WINTER, 2014
NDASP Fall Conference
October 1st-2nd, 2015
Minot State University, Minot, ND

We are excited to have the
support of our state
university for the work we do
as school psychologists.
VOL #2 ISSUE #1
WINTER, 2014
VOL #2 ISSUE #1
GRADUATE CORNER CONT.
We are extremely excited to host the conference next year
in Minot, ND and welcome North Dakota school psychologists
just as we were accommodated and welcomed in Fargo.
Although attending graduate school is a big time
investment, the work is relevant and meaningful to what is
expected out of a competent practitioner. The curriculum is
the perfect balance between group and individual work,
which is comparable to the roles of a school psychologist in
daily life. We continue to be challenged academically and
have still found time to build friendships with each other and
have a social life. We are excited to keep learning and find
out what the future holds for all of us.
-Minot State University School Psychology Graduate
Students
Collaboration Matters
Recently, my family and I moved back to North Dakota where I accepted a position as a MSU
school psychology faculty member and my wife accepted a position as a 3 rd grade teacher.
Immediately, the changing landscape of North Dakota was apparent. Moreover, schools being
inundated with students appeared to be the norm rather than the exception. I am reminded of the
old adage that it ‘takes a village to raise a child.’ In a field such as school psychology, where we are
often isolated, we need each other more than ever. I encourage us all to think innovatively and
collaboratively so that our students are served more productively.
Joseph Engler, Ph.D., NCSP
Assistant Professor of School Psychology
NDASP President Elect