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vision statement

Emergency Information

At Risk/ Special Education Counselor             Kristi J. Henry                     

           H.O.P.E.    Help & Opportunity Producing Excellence

Office

Phone

Fax

E-mail

Anahuac Elementary,

Rm. # 109

409-267-2073

409-267-6119

henryk@anahuac.isd.esc4.net

Welcome to the At-Risk/ Special Education Counselor web page! 

My goal is  to help students & their parents obtain access to school and community resources that will provide HOPE, i.e., the Help & Opportunity necessary for Producing   Excellence for the children & families of our district who are most in need.

 

If you need assistance with accessing school and community services to better help you to meet the somewhat challenging and/ or changing needs of your family, please contact your child’s campus counselor today to schedule a meeting to discuss how I can best serve you and your child(ren). 

 

School Services That I Can Provide for You and Your Family

  • Parent Resources Consultant for Academic, Attendance, Behavioral, Organizational, Career, and Family Issues
  • Parent-Student/ School Liaison
  • Individual & Group Counseling for Students
  • Teacher-Administrator Consultant for Academic, Attendance, and Behavioral Issues
  • AISD/ HCC Counselor Liaison
  • AISD Liaison for Out-of-School Students Who Still Need to Take & Pass One or More Parts of the Exit Level TAKS
  • AISD Liaison for AISD Dropouts Who Want to Come Back & Obtain Their AHS Diploma
  • Certified Irlen Screener
  • AISD Parent Access Trainer
  • AISD District Testing Coordinator
  • Cover for Campus Counselors When They are Absent
  • Other Services As Needed and Approved by District Special Education Director

 

Check out these websites...There’s a little something for everyone!
Keep checking back for additions to this section of my webpage.  If you need more information about one of these topics or another related topic that is not on here, please let me know and I will research it for you.

At-Risk Programs

http://www.ngycp.org/site/state/tx/  “Reclaiming the potential of young Texans through education, training, volunteer service, and mentoring!”

http://www.equiquest.net/  “EquiQuest, Inc. offers Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Equine Assisted Learning opportunities for individuals, groups, families and corporations. EAP and EAL are non-traditional experimental approaches which involve hands-on activities with horses. The structured activities with the horses are used as metaphors to build life skills and explore one's own behaviors.”

http://www.wtbr.org/  “Children come to West Texas Boys Ranch in need of restoration - for themselves, their families and their home towns.  The services provided by West Texas Boys Ranch provide care and guidance for a child, and outreach services to the child's family (when possible), all with the goal of restoring the child to his family and community.”

ADHD, What is it really & how to cope…

http://www.chadd.org/  “Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder”

http://www.amenclinics.com/clinics/information/ways-we-can-help/adhd-add/ 

 

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, How to get help…

http://dasis3.samhsa.gov/Default.aspx  “Substance abuse Facility Locator”

http://www.tcada.state.tx.us/   “Department of State Health Services Substance Abuse Services”

 

Autism Spectrum Disorders, What are they & how to cope…

http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer  “Improving the Lives of All Affected by Autism”

http://www.autismspeaks.org/  “Our Mission: Science, Awareness, Advocacy, and Family Services”

http://templegrandin.com/templegrandinbooks.html  The Way I See It:
A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger's

http://www.aspergers.com/   “Asperger’s Disorder Homepage”

Behavior Disorders, Strategies for coping…

http://specialed.about.com/cs/behaviordisorders/a/handling.htm  “Effective Behavior Management”

 

Bullying & Relational Aggression (“Girl Bullying”), School safety topics

http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/topics/bullying.asp  “National Youth Violence Prevention Center”

http://www.relationalaggression.com/index.html   “Relational Aggression is Emotional Violence.  It takes aim at social relationships and hurts by damaging other’s opinions of (and relationship to) its victims.”

 

Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Protective Services

http://www.newhorizonfamilycenter.org/  “Offering Shelter, Advocacy, and Support Services” (Baytown, TX)

http://www.ndvh.org/  “National Domestic Violence Hotline”

http://www.endabuse.org/  “The Family Violence Prevention Fund works to prevent violence within the home, and in the community, to help those whose lives are devastated by violence because everyone has the right to live free of violence.”

http://www.preventchildabusetexas.org/index.html?id=T9RjGQCx  “Prevent Child Abuse Texas (PCATX) is a statewide non-profit organization working to prevent child abuse and neglect in all its forms throughout Texas.”

http://www.familywatchdog.us/  “National Sex Offender Registry”

http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Default.asp   “TX Department of Family & Protective Services”

 

Children’s Health Concerns

http://www.txccc.org/content.cfm?menu_id=55

http://www.texaschildrens.org/Default.aspx

 

College Readiness, Preparedness & Testing

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/scores/understanding/howscored.html 

“Understanding How SAT Tests Are Scored”

http://www.nhra.net/yes/   “National Hot Rod Association Youth and Education Services”

http://www.hispanicforum.org/ced.html   “Houston Hispanic Forum Career & Education Day”

http://www.collegefortexans.com/  “Here’s Everything You Need to Plan for College”

 

Colleges & Universities

 

Dyslexia & Related Learning Disorders, Identification of & Strategies for…

http://www.dyscalculia.org/#Dyscalculia   “Math Learning Disability Resource”

 

Grief, Dealing with…

http://www.childgrief.org/  “The Child Grief Education Association is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the needs of grieving children and families and to providing education and support to those who serve them.”

http://allkidsgrieve.org/

 

Healthy Choices, Making them…

http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/brain-health-club/50-brain-dos-and-brain-donts/   “50 Brain Dos & Don’ts”

http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/creating-brain-healthy-families/   “Creating Brain-Healthy Families”

 

Homework Sites That Help Parent & Kids…

http://www.bookadventure.com/   “Book Adventure is a FREE reading motivation program for

 children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 7,000 recommended

titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they've read, and earn points and prizes for

their literary successes. Book Adventure was created by and is maintained by Sylvan Learning.”

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/thesaurus/   “Find synonyms and word suggestions in

this free online searchable thesaurus that features 260,000 synonyms and cross-references in

an easy-to-use format, succinct word definitions, and an innovative hyperlinked category index.”

http://math.about.com/od/reference/a/MathCOS.htm   “Math Courses of Study Grade by Grade”

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/parent-reading-brochure.html  “

 

Inspirational/ Motivational/  Fun Stuff

 

Internet Safety

http://www.netsmartz.org/index.aspx  “Educate, Engage, Empower”

 

Irlen Syndrome (aka, Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome)

 

 

 

Mental Health, Other issues…

http://www.nami.org/   “National Alliance on Mental Illness: America's largest grassroots mental health

organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness.”

http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/   “National Mental Health Information Center”

http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs/managinganxiety/tips.asp

Organization & Time Management

 

Parent Involvement

http://www.pta.org/topic_parent_involvement.asp#   “PTA is committed to being the leading resource for

parent involvement. We offer comprehensive resources for helping parents get involved and stay involved in the

lives of their children.  Look through these parent involvement categories and learn about new ways you can make a

difference in your child's life. This section also serves as a  clearinghouse for parent involvement ideas and resources.”

http://www.lyrics.com/  “Find the lyrics to any song.”  Know what your children are listening to…

http://www.kidsinmind.com/  “The purpose of kids-in-mind.com is to provide parents and other adults with

objective and complete information about a film's content so that they can decide, based on their own value system,

whether they should watch a movie with or without their kids. Unlike the MPAA, we do not assign a single, age-

specific rating and we do not make recommendations. Instead we assign each film three distinct, category-specific

ratings: one for SEX & NUDITY, one for VIOLENCE & GORE and one for PROFANITY. Each rating is on a scale of

zero to ten, depending on quantity (more F-words, for instance, will mean a higher Profanity rating, and so on) as

well as context (especially when it comes to the categories of sex, nudity, violence and gore, since they are not as

easily quantifiable as profanity).  In addition to assigning three ratings, we also explain in detail why a film rates high

or low in a specific  category, and we include instances of SUBSTANCE USE, a list of DISCUSSION TOPICS

(topics that may elicit questions from kids) and MESSAGES (what values the film conveys).”

http://www.connectwithkids.com/websource/

http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/creating-brain-healthy-families/135-best-things-you-

can-do-for-your-child/   “135 Best-Things-You-Can-Do-For-Your-Child”

 

 Social Services, State & Local Agencies

http://www.texaschip.org/   “A statewide coalition working for strong Children's Medicaid and CHIP programs in Texas.”http://www.dars.state.tx.us/   “Dept. of Assistive & Rehabilitative Services” State Testing  Suicide & Self-Mutilation, Prevention & Interventions http://nineline.org/index.html  Teen Dating Violence http://www.loveisrespect.org/  “National Teen Dating Abuse Hotline”http://www.ndvh.org/?s=teens “National Domestic Violence Hotline for Teens”http://www.abanet.org/publiced/teendating.shtml  “National Teen Dating Violence Prevention Initiative” Youth Extracurricular Activities, School & Community http://www.anahuac.isd.esc4.net/Athletics/athleticshome.html  “AISD Athletics”http://thsra.info/  “TX High School Rodeo Association”http://www.eteamz.com/seabreeze/index.cfm?  Seabreeze Youth Soccer Club—Fannett, TX

 

Handy Contact Numbers for School & Government Agencies


Keep checking back for additions to this section of my web page

 

 

FAQs About Differences Between At-Risk/ Special Education Counselor & Campus Counselors

  1. If I am a student, parent, teacher or other staff member, or administrator w/ a concern about a student, whom should I first contact?  Always contact the Campus Counselor first.  If it is a case for which the Campus Counselor thinks a consult is needed, she will contact the district’s At-Risk/ Special Education Counselor.
  2. How are the Campus Counselors’ jobs different from the at risk/ special education counselor’s job?  An easy way to look at this is that the campus counselors serve their entire campuses’ students & the students’ parents/ guardians as well as their campuses’ staff members in a more immediate day-to-day fashion.  Campus Counselors deal with daily concerns & crises that crop up as well as academic, career, and behavioral issues specific to their campus populations.  Also, each campus counselor has duties she is responsible for with respect to the campus on which she works.  The at-risk/ special education counselor’s duties are specific to the students  ON ALL 3 CAMPUSES in AISD who have been identified for her to follow, i.e., consult w/ parents/ guardians & staff members on how to help these students be successful in areas where they have not experienced success before, to provide direct counseling services to these students, to assist the students families in accessing school &/or community resources, etc.
  3. More questions???  Please contact me.  If I do not have the answer, I will find someone who does.

FAQs About the Benefits of  the At-Risk/Special Education Counselor Position

  1. What benefits do AISD hope to gain for its students and their parents/ guardians through this position?  Per AISD Supt. Dr. Linda Kay Barnhart,  “We have wished for a social worker for many years and for this one year, will be able to have a social worker in the form of this At-Risk/ Special Education counselor.”  Although I am not a social worker by training, I hope to provide &/or assist in making referral contacts to parents for community & government social services as well as to assist parents/ guardians and their children with accessing school services more easily.
  2. How can this position benefit the district’s teaching & administrative staff in any way?  One of the many objectives of having this position is to assist our teaching & administrative staff in fine-tuning our system of identifying students in need of specialized assistance & interventions as well as to build a network of resources that our campus counselors can maintain and use to better assist the at risk & special education students and their parents/ guardians on the 3 campuses.  Since time is precious for everyone, the emphasis will be on finding ways to help staff identify, diagnose, evaluate, and monitor these students in the most time-efficient yet valid and reliable manner possible.
  3. More questions???  Please contact me.  If I do not have the answer, I will find someone who does.

 

My Credentials

Bachelor of Arts, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX (1989)

   Major in English, Minor in Speech Communications, Secondary Teacher Certification

Master of Education, Texas A&M @ College Station, TX (1997)

   Educational Psychology w/ an emphasis in School Counseling

Provisional SBEC certifications in Secondary English, Grades 6-12 (1989); Secondary      Speech Communications, Grades 6-12 (1989); and English as a Second Language, Grades 6-12 (1999)

Standard SBEC Certification as Counselor, Grades PK-12 (2001)

Course work from Lee College, Baytown, TX,  toward licensure as a Licensed Chemical   Dependency Counselor

My Experience as an Educator in AISD

Teacher (8th grade language arts, 6th grade reading, ESL, Career Investigations, etc.), 1989-2000

Volleyball & track coach, 1990-1996 & 1997-1999

AMS Counselor, 2000-2009

District At-Risk/ Special Education Counselor, Present