Transition Newsletter February 2023
February 2023
Friendship
Happy February!
In many countries around the world, Valentine's Day is celebrated as a day of Friendship!
Throughout the school year at Transition, we have been focusing on identifying different levels of friendship.
Meaningful friendships are very important for our overall quality of life and maintaining meaningful friendships encompasses successful communication across many social settings. From the friends we see at work to newly made acquaintances to our very best lifelong friends, all of these levels of friendship involve an awareness of personal space and social cues.
At Transition, discussions about the levels of friendship and communication skills happen every day in our social groups, community lessons, and vocational classes.
Dana's class is participating in a conversation about levels of trust.
Nick's class is talking about safety and identifying helpers in the community.
Students in vocational class are learning about positive communication skills in the workplace.
In this issue we explore different levels of friendship and trust, and the importance of having safe and healthy relationships.
Conversations About Friendship
Questions for Students
We asked the students in Nick's classroom what they like about having friends and how they can be good friends. Here are their responses.
Tyler: I like spending time with friends, celebrating with them, and playing games. I am a good friend because I am nice, caring, respectful and friendly.
John: I like friends who help me and I help them. I can be a good friend by being helpful.
Alex: I like laughing with friends. I can be a good friend by saying something nice.
Nicolette: I like celebrating with friends, going out and playing with friends and laughing with friends. I can be a good friend by being nice, helpful, respectful and by sharing.
Hannah: I like laughing with friends, talking and spending time together, and exercising with friends. I am a good friend when I listen to others, when I am respectful, and when I share with others.
Tommy: I like giving high fives to friends. I can be a good friend by being friendly, caring, listening, saying something nice, and being friendly and respectful.
JJ: I like having friends because they are supportive. I am a good friend to others by being helpful and patient.
The students in Dana's classroom participated in a group discussion about types of relationships and qualities that make someone a friend. Here is Jane showing us the results of their discussion written on the whiteboard.
Upcoming Calendars
IMPORTANT DATES FOR FEBRUARY
February 17th
- Tri District Institute Day. No school for students
February 20th
- President's Day. No school for staff and students
IMPORTANT DATES FOR MARCH
March 24th through March 31st
- Spring Break. No school for staff and students.
- School will resume on Monday, April 3rd.
New Staff Announcement
We are happy to introduce Anna Kraemer! Anna is a new Teaching Assistant working in Nick's classroom.
Hello! I am so excited to be working here at Lake Forest. I am a recent college graduate from Illinois State University, graduating in December 2022 with a degree in education. I am originally from Gurnee so I am happy to be back close to home!
Psychology with Poladian
It is already February! This month we are focusing on friendship. Something that we have been learning about and practicing at the Transition Center this year is maintaining personal space when interacting with our friends.
Students are learning that personal space is the distance between two people; personal space is the space maintained around your body that helps you feel comfortable around friends and helps them feel comfortable around you.
Students are learning to consider how they feel when they maintain personal space and how that makes their friends feel. For example, our friends might feel uncomfortable or scared if we get too close to them; our friends might feel comfortable and relaxed when we maintain personal space.
We are practicing using an elbow-bump as a polite way to greet a friend while still maintaining personal space. Next time you or your student want to say hello to a friend or congratulate a friend on a job well done, try an elbow-bump! Here are a few video demonstrations of students practicing elbow bumps.
JJ and Tyler demonstrating the elbow bump
Tyler with his Lake College Forest friends
Speech Tips with Sam
We have recently been focusing on the different levels of friendship and relationship. One helpful tool that we have used is the friendship pyramid. The friendship pyramid is helpful for teaching students to decipher their peers' social cues. It is important that they understand the six different levels.
Level 1 Friendly Greeting: Someone you’re friendly to but really don’t know, don’t talk to, and don’t hang out with at all.
Level 2 Acquaintance: You have had some small discussions with these people usually because you worked with them in a classroom group or they’re friends of a friend so you happened to hang out with them for a short while.
Level 3 Possible Friendship: This is when you start to seek out people to talk to them, but you meet up with them in the same general location that you met them.
Level 4 Evolving Friendship: This is when you are demonstrating to people that you would like to spend more time with them by trying to hang out with them in school, work with them on projects, and most importantly contact them to see if they want to hang out outside of the place you met them. At this level you start to work at being friends by making plans with the person to do things later in the day or week, if the person chooses to be your friend as well.
Level 5 Bonded Friendship: This is when people are there for each other. They look out for each other and go out of their way to make sure things are okay for that person. It’s expected you make plans to hang out with friends outside of more structured times (seeing them during the school day). This level represents that you are spending a lot of time with this person in the place you met them but also at home or in the community.
Level 6 Very Close Friendship: These are the friends you can really open up to. Not everyone has a really close friend, but they’re worth having to give you someone else you talk to about feelings, worries, etc.
Circles of safety is used to teach relationships as well as levels of trust and physical boundaries. As you move further away from the purple circle, it represents that physical distance and personal space boundaries should increase as well.
Vocational Spotlight with Diana
This month our students are learning to communicate appropriately in a variety of settings to improve social, academic, and workplace interactions.
Students have been growing their social skills by offering formal greetings, manners, pleasantries with employers. I am super proud of all my students for being good communicators, and I am extremely glad to see connections, conversation exchange, and relationship development in real time real settings for the students.
Tommy Tzioufas, Luke Cast, Jane Riley, and Sebastian Facundo have each demonstrated great communication.
Tommy assembled dental supplies and delivered them to those in need at Lake County PADS. Tommy had good communication and body skills with the employers at PADS. He was kind, respectful, and did his work with positive communication.
Luke had a formal interview and was offered a part time job at Jewel-Osco in Lake Forest. Luke articulated his answers and showed charm to the hiring manager and HR director.
Jane displays excellent customer service at Lake Forest Food and Wine. Jane is friendly and charismatic to customers and exhibits great communication when checking out community members during the lunch rush.
Lastly, Sebastian Facundo earned a well-deserved promotion working at Hawthorn Mall. His new role is Security Supervisor of Shifts. Sebastian is a good communicator and trainer at work for new security hires. He is also supporting all the scheduling for employees. Congratulations to Sebastian! Your Transition friends support you!!
We continue to grow individually and congratulations to all our students for being professional and building relationships with our community supporters and employers.
Health and Wellness Updates with Laurie
A Message from Our Nurse, Laurie Landsverk
We are over half way through the winter and our days are getting a little longer each day! This time of the year we need to be diligent with keeping ourselves and others healthy. With all the germs going around we thought it would be a good time for a refresher on when it's important to stay home from work or school. These are the guidelines that our school district follows. Lake Forest School District administrators, nurses and staff respectfully ask that you keep your student home from school based on the following recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics:
A fever of 100.4 F or higher.
Student should be fever free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication before returning to school.
Diarrhea (defined as 3 or more watery or loose stools in one day, with or without fever) within the last 24-48 hours
Vomiting within the last 24 hours
A rash of any kind with or without fever (unless a doctor’s note is provided that states your child is not contagious)
Severe coughing or sneezing that is disruptive to your student’s learning or that of the other students in the classroom
Sore throats with marked redness and/or white spots.
If your student is diagnosed with strep throat, he/she needs to have taken antibiotics for at least 24 hours before returning to school.
Any sticky or colored drainage from the eyes with redness of the “white part” of the eye could mean that your child has pinkeye (conjunctivitis), which is highly contagious.
Your student can return after treatment with prescribed eye drops for 24 hours.
Colored drainage from the nose
Skin lesions that are “weepy” (pus or fluid-filled)
Severe episodes of asthma, including shortness of breath
Extreme fatigue
What symptoms are acceptable for my student to have and still go to school?
Ear aches in the absence of fever (they are not contagious)
Mild cold or respiratory symptoms if nasal drainage is clear and the cough is mild
Seasonal allergies
Mild sore throats without fever, marked redness or white spots
Headaches in the absence of other symptoms
Should you have any questions please feel free to contact me by email at llandsverk@lfschools.net or phone at 847-235-9716.
Wishing you a happy and healthy year!
Parent Series - Transportation
Lake Forest Transition Center is hosting a second virtual parent series event on February 27, 2023 from 12:30pm-1:30pm. This event will feature a presentation from the Regional Transportation Authority and will cover topics related transportation, including Local Public Transportation Options, Accessibility features on CTA, Pace, and Metra, RTA’s Reduced Fare and Ride Free Program, and Travel Safety Tips. There will also be a Q & A sessions with an RTA Representative.
Please follow the link below to RSVP and join us for the virtual event!
Transition Highlights
Lunch at Potbelly
Nicolette and Jane
Irving, Dana, Luke
and Emerson at Lake
Forest College
Ani's group
Robin and Elliana working with Chromanote Bells.
Anna, Emerson and Hannah
Playing a game
with LFC friends
Fun walking the track
End of day basketball
game at LFC
A game of Uno in
the Lake Forest
College cafeteria
Stretching as a group in the Lake Forest College Sports Center
John and Anna working together at Bernie's
Tommy and Hannah participating
in reading group
Practicing table manners
as a class with Ani
Ani, Tyler, and Emerson at Lake Forest College
Elliana and Tyler in the gym at West Campus
Lunch with friends at the Lake Forest College student center
At the end of the day,
John doesn't like to leave
without his good friend Elliana.
Helpful Resources
Best Buddies Carnival*
Please come to Libertyville High School on Friday, February 11th for the LHS Best Buddies Carnival! This carnival is designed for Lake County students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
*In order to use the inflatable obstacle course, a waiver must be signed and printed by a parent or guardian. Please scan the QR code on the flier below or follow the link https://docs.google.com/document/d/17AVZWUml-l8CCY054w6xX4B4A1JCHPHA/edit.
VFIN Research Study
Has your family member with intellectual and/or developmental disability (IDD) talked about what they want for their future? Not sure on how to prepare your family and loved one with IDD for their future?
If yes, you might be eligible to join the Virtual Future is Now (VFIN) research study, which consists of an online & interactive training program offered by the Department of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois Chicago. The VFIN training program is for adults with IDD & their family members residing in Illinois to help them initiate the future planning process. This training will consist of weekly 1-hour Live Zoom classes and self-paced materials on Google Classroom for 8 weeks in Winter 2023.
To screen for eligibility, click the button below, call (312) 996-1002, or e-mail kkeiling@uic.edu.
IATP WIPA Training Events
Illinois Assistive Technology Program (IATP) Work Incentive Planning and Assistance (WIPA) serves Social Security Disability beneficiaries in Illinois. In cooperation with the sponsorship of Illinois DHS - Division of Rehabilitation Services, IATP WIPA will be hosting 10 WISE events from January through May 2023. In an effort to make WISE events more convenient for beneficiaries and their families, they are hosting them multiple times a month both during the day and the evening. Please see the dates / times and Zoom links below to register in advance:
Opening Horizons Conference April 21, 2023
The annual Opening Horizons Conference will be held on April 21st. This is an opportunity to come to UWW and become more familiar with the process of requesting disability services at the college level. During the event you can expect to hear directly from our staff, as well as from students who are currently utilizing our services! Registration will open February 6th.
Robert H. Farley Jr. offers workshops and seminars to parents, organizations, and agencies on a wide variety of topics related to disability advocacy and disability services.
300 S. Waukegan Rd.
Lake Forest, Illinois 60045