Division of Disability Resources & Educational Services (DRES) at the University of Illinois and Rural Champaign County Special Education Cooperative
DRES is the disability services office at the University of Illinois and provides services and accommodations to over 1300 undergraduate and graduate students with physical, systemic, learning disabilities, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, acquired brain injury, and psychiatric disabilities (including Autism and Asperger’s). The students registered with DRES are a diverse population in terms of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and culture as U of I has many international students. DRES began providing services to students with disabilities in 1948 and was the first post-secondary institution in the world to provide such accommodations. We continue with our longstanding tradition of excellence in providing equal access to students with all types of disabilities. More information about DRES is available at www.disability.illinois.edu. The internship follows a scientist-practitioner model of training and utilizes experiential learning with extensive, structured supervision which becomes less frequent over the course of the internship, as the intern gains more experience.
Interns spend 2 days a week at DRES and 3 days a week at Champaign Unit 4 during the regular school year. They work full-time at DRES during the summer. The full stipend is $18,000. Interns maintain their own malpractice coverage.
A typical work-day at DRES is from 8 AM to 5 PM with an hour for lunch. Interns are supervised by two doctoral-level, licensed clinical psychologists, one with expertise in rehabilitation psychology and neuropsychology and a second in school psychology. In addition, the interns may have an opportunity to interact with one or two other licensed clinical psychologists, doctoral-level social workers, or psychiatrists. They may also interact with practicum students and/or post-doctoral fellows. Interns will have their own office with computer, office equipment, and telephone. They will have access to numerous testing supplies and resources, including the extensive U of I library system. Interns will take an active role in the assessment process for students experiencing academic difficulties at the University of Illinois. Interns will gain experience in clinical screening interviews, psychological and neuropsychological testing, providing feedback, and report writing. Interns will have opportunities to provide coaching services to students with ADHD, acquired brain injury, or psychiatric disabilities (including Autism and Asperger’s). There are also opportunities for providing individual psychotherapy or group psychotherapy to students with a variety of disabilities who are registered with DRES. Interns will participate in training seminars through the clinical psychology department, counseling psychology department, and counseling center. Opportunities are also available for research and supervision.
DRES Typical Work Week:
2 hours individual formal supervision by licensed clinical psychologist, informal supervision available throughout the week
2 hours training (usually occurs on Friday and is not included in the 16 hours spent weekly at DRES)
4 hours testing
1 hour academic screening or providing feedback
3 hours report writing
3 hours coaching
3 hours individual or group psychotherapy
During the summer the caseload of coaching, individual therapy, and group therapy increases and the intern typically works 32 hours at DRES with 8 hours available for dissertation work and training.
Rural Champaign County Special Education Cooperative (RCCSEC)
RCCSEC is located in Rantoul, Illinois, located in East Central Illinois, about 125 miles south of Chicago, 125 miles northeast of St. Louis, and 125 miles west of Indianapolis. RCCSEC has 11 districts in its cooperative with a combined student population of approximately 7000 students. The amount of racial and ethnic diversity varies dramatically by district. Rantoul City School’s population is 52% White, 32% Black, 8% Hispanic and 4.5% multiracial. Many of our more rural districts are nearly 100% White. However, we also have some very small rural districts like Ludlow who has a population that is 70% White, 5% Black and 23% Hispanic. Similarly, the percentage of Low-income students varies dramatically by districts with some districts exceeding 60% low-income and others less than 5%.
The Special Education Cooperative espouses a Flexible Service Delivery model with an inclusion philosophy and offers a full range of special services on the consultation, resource, and instructional levels. All handicapping conditions are served, including the low incidence conditions of Autism, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Severe and Profound Mental Impairment. It is possible for a student with any combination of handicapping conditions to be included in regular education full or part time. We do house a behavior development program (Pathways) for students who have severe behavior and emotional disorders. This program is in a separate school with 5 classrooms for children from 2nd grade through high school.
In the center of the 11 member districts is the University of Illinois, a world-class university drawing 35,000 students to its campus every year. The university faculty and student population, and a significant refugee population brings a diverse international mix to the area. Urbana and Champaign have separate school districts that are not part of the cooperative.
RCCSEC contributes a rich, diverse internship site to the ISPIC. The district has provided internship experiences for school psychologists in training for more than 35 years. The district releases the intern supervisor to attend Governing Board meetings and the annual Illinois School Psychologists Association Convention. The district supports the goal of the consortium to produce more doctoral level school psychologists in Illinois who will engage in the practitioner-scientist approach to meeting the needs of the widest range of students, staff, and parents.
A typical workday for the intern is from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM. The intern works with Masters, Specialist, and Doctoral level school psychologists as the intern rotates through various settings, including early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school. There also are opportunities for the intern to have experience in private, parochial, and alternative schools. The intern has access to computers, secretarial support, shared office space with the supervising psychologist, and a fairly wide range of formal assessment instruments.
The cooperative serves a large geographic area and the intern will have the opportunity to participate on building level problem solving teams within several districts. The intern will be able to observe several psychologists in all aspects of their work, including engaging in direct work with students through observation, assessment, interview, counseling, and intervention. There also is opportunity for the intern to be involved in coop-wide pre-school screenings and DIBELS testing within several member districts. Direct work with teachers includes consultation, classroom assistance, and intervention implementation and evaluation. The intern works on a team, which typically includes a social worker, special education teacher, and speech therapist. He/she also has parent contact at the Flex meetings, Individual Education Plan meetings, Eligibility Determination Conferences, and possibly, engaging in parent consultation or parent education.
A good deal of flexibility and autonomy is afforded the psychologists in the cooperative and, consequently, to the intern as well. The intern is invited to help plan the internship experience to ensure relevancy and effectiveness. The intern is allowed time as needed to complete university requirements, such as meeting with the university trainer, doing dissertation research or data analysis, or making on-campus visits. The intern is given the opportunity to observe and interview other service providers (speech and language therapists, social workers, special education teachers, program coordinators, and administrators) to expand learning. Within this rich and diverse setting, the intern has the opportunity to engage in research with students across the developmental spectrum and from many racial and ethnic groups, if they choose to do so. They also may visit the homes of students to learn more about the family setting and world in which the student lives outside of school. The work of the intern is fast-paced and challenging, but support from experienced professionals is always there when needed.
SUPERVISORS
Kimberly Collins, PhD, earned her baccalaureate degree in biology with a minor in psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1989 and her master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling psychology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 1989. She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1995. Dr. Collins interned at Hines VA Hospital and completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Professional Health Systems (a private practice of rehabilitation psychologists) both in Chicago, Illinois. She became an Illinois licensed clinical psychologist in 1996 and is also a certified rehabilitation counselor (CRC). From 1996 until 1999, Dr. Collins served as Clinical Director of Rehab Psychology Associates, a private psychology practice in Chicago, Illinois which specialized in rehabilitation psychology issues. She came to the University of Illinois in 1999 as Coordinator of Cognitive and Psychological Disability Services and now serves as Assistant Director. Since coming to Illinois, she has expanded services to include neuropsychological evaluations, coaching, individual therapy, group therapy, summer transition program, and more intensive supports for students with learning disabilities, ADHD, acquired brain injury, Asperger’s/Autism, and psychological disabilities so that they can succeed at the post-secondary level. Dr. Collins is also an adjunct faculty in Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois and is involved in training counseling, clinical, and school psychology graduate students and predoctoral interns to work effectively with people with disabilities. She has made over 50 presentations at international, national, and regional professional conferences on topics of providing supports for college students with cognitive and psychological disabilities, including being an invited speaker at NAMI, USPRA, and the First Annual Depression in College Campuses Conference at the University of Michigan to discuss the innovative programs she has developed.
Katrina L. Pakonen-Hueber, Ph.D, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified School Psychologist. She received her Ph.D. in School Psychology from Illinois State University in 2001. She completed a predoctoral internship in a cooperative agreement with the DeWitt County Mental Health Center, Clinton, IL, and the TriCounty Special Education Cooperative, Bloomington, IL. Following her predoctoral internship, she worked as a Case Manager with Pavilion Behavioral Health Systems, Champaign, IL, where she provided individual, group, and family therapy within the inpatient psychiatric treatment program for children, adolescents, and adults. During her tenure with RCCSEC, Dr. Pakonen-Hueber’s practice has evolved from a traditional school psychologist role of testing and placing, to assisting member districts in implementing Response to Intervention. She has been an essential member involved in the development of universal screening procedures, and has been key in helping school personnel gather progress monitoring data. Over the past nine years, Dr. Pakonen-Hueber’s clinical focus has involved the treatment of children and adolescents with depression and anxiety disorders within the school setting.
Kristina Morrison, EdS has been a school psychologist at Rural Champaign County Special Education Cooperative (RCCSEC) in Rantoul, Illinois for six years. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Illinois State University in 2002. While transitioning from the undergraduate to the graduate world, she worked as a Residential Treatment Specialist at The Baby Fold in Normal, Illinois where she gained valuable experience working with troubled youth in a residential setting. She then broadened her educational horizons and began the specialist level school psychology program at Eastern Illinois University. She completed her internship year at a large special education cooperative near Lafayette, Indiana, where she learned to test and place. During this time, however, she dabbled with universal screening and progress monitoring, and became very interested in Response to Intervention. Her interest in RtI led her to RCCSEC where many districts had already initiated the difficult transition from “test and place” to early identification and intervention. She particularly enjoys anything associated with collecting, illustrating, interpreting, and presenting universal screening and progress monitoring data and is thrilled to observe the transition school staff makes when they begin to understand the power of data.
Video Clip: Kristi Morrison describes the school portion of this partnership. Note: It may take a few minutes to download.