Runninghead: SST MEETINGS

SST Meetings
Gerardo Sanchez
May 01, 2015
Pedro Olvera, PsyD, LEP

SST MEETINGS
SST Meetings
The Student Study Team (SST) meetings were conducted on March 5th and March 18th.
One students parents requested the meeting because they had concerns about their sons
academic scores. This meeting was an initial SST meeting. The second SST meeting is a
triannual review of previous recommendations and progress. For the initial SST meeting those in
attendance were the principal, the students teacher, principal, the students teacher, the school
psychologist, and the students mother. For the triannual SST meeting those in attendance were
the principal, the students teacher, the school psychologist, the students parents. and the Speech
and Language Pathologist (SLP). Both meetings were started off by the administrator (principal)
having those in attendance formally introduce themselves and speak about the students
strengths. This is customary practice to elevate how parents view their children and more
importantly to show that the school personnel also focuses on their childs positive attributes.
In the initial SST meeting the students mother was concerned that her son was not
performing to the best of his ability in school which was evident by his low grades. The
students lowest grade was a C in math and he had Bs in all other subject areas. At one point,
the mother also compared her son to his older two siblings who had straight As. The teacher
stated that he son was a pleasure to have in class and that his academic performance was similar
to that of his peers. She also noted that he sometimes gets a little restless but no more than other
boys his age. He complies with instructions and if he is redirected it only occurs once for him to
get back on task. The student did not have any behavioral issues and he has good attendance.
The mother requested that her son be assessed for some kind of learning disability and she signed
an assessment plan at the end of the meeting. My impression was that school personnel believed
the assessment to be unnecessary, but they agreed without hesitation. The school psychologist

SST MEETINGS
and the teacher came up with some recommendations to help her son have greater success in the
classroom.
The purpose of the triannual SST meeting was to review the students progress based on
the recommendations from the previous years psycho-educational report. The teacher had
examples of the students class work from the previous year and his present work to show the
kind of progress made. While progress was made, the team was not satisfied with the amount of
progress. The school psychologist reviewed the previous recommendations and noted that there
were too many recommendations for the student to follow. She suggested that the team
reevaluate the most pertinent recommendations that will help the student succeed. The teacher,
the parents, and the principal all made suggestions while the school psychologist was
documenting the new interventions to be incorporated in the students curriculum. The principal
also suggested that the parents take home some software that the school already had to assist the
student with assignments at home.
The SST process for both students were individualized to curtail around each of their
strengths and weaknesses. The process preserved the dignity of the students and their academic
goals were at the forefront of those in attendance. This helped the SST process run smoothly and
at the same time earned the parents trust. In each meeting the parents were comfortable with the
input provided as well as the outcome. Each SST meeting is like putting the pieces of a puzzle
together that will help a student achieve.