The first article this month is a book review and interview with Dr. Gil Tippy. He is the author of the the book “Respecting Autism: The Rebecca School DIR Casebook for Parents and Professionals” and the clinical director of the Rebecca School in Manhattan. Stay tuned for this article! For those of you who don’t know DIR stands for Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-Based Model. This intervention model is also called Floortime and it was developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan.

Date: February 23, 2012

Time: 8:30-5

Location: Desert Willow Conference Center, 4340 East Cotton Center Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85040

Registration: Register before January 31st to save $50 off the regular registration price of $199

Early Bird Registration price before January 31, 2012
$149
Registration price after January 31, 2012
$199
On Site Registration price on February 23, 2012
$229

Registration includes breakfast, lunch, AM and PM refreshments, parking, plus all materials and resources which will be posted online during and after the conference. Click here for more information and to register.

Occupy Education Together!

Be a part of the first annual conference on exponentially improving student achievement by addressing the primary cornerstones of learning in the 21st Century: Behavior, Education, and Technology. Learn how schools in Arizona are improving achievement and decreasing disruptive behaviors through Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and explore how you can leverage technology as a pillar of a strong education system.

This conference brings together experts from across the nation and showcases local expertise including superintendents, administrators, and teachers to share high quality research and practices in positively impacting student behavior and education using technology.

Keynote

Amplify Achievement: Alternatives to Suspension
“What can I do to get kicked out of school.” Some students actually set themselves up to be suspended and are rewarded if they act up. Many schools today still utilize suspension; even though it has been found to be an ineffective intervention. If we want to actively engage our students and promote academic achievement, we need to keep our students in school.

Beverley Holden Johns has 40 years experience working with students with learning disabilities (LD), and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) within the public schools.

My resolutions usually cross over all aspects of my life, from personal to professional.  As I think about some of the children with whom I have worked with over the years, my top three resolutions might look something like this:

Resolution #1: Provide more opportunities to communicate.

This one will always make the top of the resolution list.  I can’t stress how important it is to do a little bit of planning and organization.  If you don’t specifically plan and organize these opportunities – then chances are, these opportunities will be missed.  The more opportunities to practice skills the better communicator your child will become.

Tip: Use the Selecting Activities Worksheet to start planning and organizing opportunities!

Resolution #2: Have more fun with learning and communication.

Communication and learning can be fun sometimes.  I am personally more motivated to do something if it is fun and something that I enjoy doing.  I also get bored quickly (Guess what?  So do your kids!) so I like to mix things up a bit when teaching new skills.  While many children need repetition in order to learn new things, it is not necessary to present things in the exact same way every time (Zzzzz…BORING!).

Resolution #3: Expect greatness.

High expectations, good instruction and appropriate support can lead to learning and communication skills beyond what might have been expected.  I can’t tell you have many kids I’ve met who far exceeded what everyone thought – just because we gave them a chance and believed in them.  I hate to hear things like, “He’s not smart enough.” or “She will never be able to do that.” If your child picks up on the dread and negativity, they will start to feel the same way in regards to learning and communication.  I believe that when children hear statements like this it could potentially become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Keep in mind that a self-fulfilling prophecy can be positive too.  If children hear that they are smart, funny and good communicators – well, I think you know what might happen.

• Recognize communication opportunities throughout the day.
• Prioritize opportunities based on frequency of occurrence (more opportunities to practice) and motivational factors.
• Collect and organize vocabulary needed in order to participate in each activity.
• Implement communication strategies consistently.

For children with significant communication challenges, it is important for the entire team to work together to ensure communication success all day long.  To help you and your child’s education team get started, I would like to share some information about a great planning tool called the Selecting Activities Worksheet.  This 14-page worksheet will provide you with detailed step-by-step instructions for identifying opportunities for communication throughout the day and creating an overall strategy.  Sample plans are provided to guide you through the process.

The Selecting Activities Worksheet is broken down into 5 sections:

• Section 1:  Instructions for using the worksheet
• Section 2: Sample plans
• Section 3:  Weekly Calendar Worksheet
• Section 4:  Identified Activities Worksheet
• Section 5:  Implementing Prioritized Activities Worksheet

You may come across some terminology in the worksheet that you aren’t familiar with. I’ve list a few of them below.

AAC user:  AAC stands for augmentative and alternative communication.  These are tools used to help a child with communication challenges be a more effective when interacting with others.

Language elements:  The five common communication strategies used on all DynaVox communication devices to help people be more efficient and effective communicators.  To learn more, watch the Interacting with InterAACT – Overview of Language Elements Video

Communication Partner Techniques:  The strategies that are used by communication partners (e.g., parents, teachers, friends) to better support individuals with communication challenges. To learn more, visit the Communication Partner Techniques Learning Path on the DynaVox Implementation Toolkit.

http://www.dynavoxtech.com/implementation-toolkit/learning-paths/list/?id=3

Via: Online College Advice

Here are the types of information you’ll want to keep in order so you can easily access the information when needed:

• Medical Information – doctor contact information, diagnosis, medical/genetic testing results
• Assessment Results – school evaluation, speech, occupational therapy, behavioral
• Schedules – daily therapy times, program start/end dates, deadlines
• Individualized Education Plan – current plan, all prior written notices, amendments
• Correspondence – copies of all letters and emails sent to school

Check out the Autism Speaks Toolkit for a few more tips and sample forms.

Young children often learn new words by pointing to pictures and line drawings in books and by getting constant feedback from the people around them. A very early skill that many children learn is categorization. This is an important skill for children who may use communication books or augmentative communication devices because vocabulary is often organized into categories (e.g., parts of speech, similar items, etc.). To help with your child’s vocabulary development, start creating picture symbol libraries that can be used to teach important language skills. Pictures can be found on the internet and magazines or by using a specialized software program (e.g., Boardmaker). Once you have collected and organized your symbols, you can use them to play games, to read and talk about books and to model appropriate use of vocabulary during every day activities.

Game Ideas:

What’s in the bag?
Place several picture cards (or objects) in a bag and have your child pull out one at a time. Depending on their language level, have them:

• find the picture symbol for the word (e.g., picture card or on communication device)
• use vocabulary symbols to describe the item (e.g., big, blue, round, etc.)
• Answer a wh-question about the item
• Place the item in a category
• Spell the item on a keyboard

Category Round Up
Choose 2 to 4 categories (ex. food, clothing, animals, transportation, body parts, etc.) and create picture cards of items found in each category. Create a corresponding background for the category (ex. kitchen, closet, barn, etc.). Have your child match the object to the most appropriate category using the device and picture cards.

To help you get started, print the Categories page below. To make this activity more interactive, cut out the individual symbols on the left side of the page so that your child can place the items on the appropriate category.

Tip: To make picture symbols last longer, laminate or cover them with clear contact paper.

Sample board was taken from BoardmakerShare.com. Board courtesy of Stephanie Hershberger. All rights reserved. To learn more about the Boardmaker Family of Products, download a free 30-day trial of Boardmaker.

This form, just like it’s name suggests, is a quick glance at a student’s IEP. On this document, I would list important dates and information, services, goals, accommodations and modifications, and behavior intervention plan strategies. This was really helpful because many IEPs were upwards of 20+ pages, and many times would go un-read (or just skimmed) by aides and teachers. The at-a-glance document gave them a snapshot of the basic information needed to serve the needs of the individual students. This is not the only document needed to keep things organized for the IEPs of your students (you will also need data forms for each of the IEP goals so you’re consistently tracking the data) but it is a big step in the right direction.

Are you a teacher of students with special needs? What strategies do you have to keep yourself organized? Please share forms if you’re able! The more we share and work together, the better we will be able to address the individualized needs of the students we serve!!

Binder 1: Medical/Legal Matters
This binder may include information such as:

• Medical contact list
• Diagnostic report
• Log of medications
• Other Medical paperwork
• Transition planning log
• Special needs trust
• Guardianship
• Conservatorship
• Social security information
• Medicaid information
• Home and community based waivers information
• Letter of intent

Binder 2: Transition Matters
This binder may include information such as:

• Contact log for support personnel (see form in toolkit)
• Post secondary goals from transition plan
• IEP goals
• Transition plan tracker (see form in toolkit)
• Community living
• Employment
• Day programs
• Post secondary education
• Housing

I highly recommend getting your own copy of the toolkit (download is free, or they can send you a copy) because it is full of valuable information that will help you with this process. In addition to getting yourself organized physically with binders and other organizational tools, I also recommend getting yourself mentally organized by seeking out support of other parents who are going (or have gone) through this process. Take advantage of these community support groups because they can help you navigate through the many times confusing maze of transition services. If you are a parent who is going through this process or has gone through it previously, please post your questions or comments below. Together we can help each other make amazing things happen!