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The holiday season is upon us and a well-deserved break is rapidly approaching! Special Services has been very busy the past several months and we are excited to share with you a few snippets of our activities. This year we began Parent Self-Advocacy and Professional Consultation opportunities for our parents/guardians where they can receive professional consultation regarding any questions or concerns about their child’s special education services. Parents have been extremely appreciative of this service and have rated Special Services 5/5 satisfaction rating! Please follow this link for the flyer for our next meeting in January: http://specialservices.sweetwaterschools.org/news/. Over the last couple of months and finishing in January, Special Services and School Site Teams have been engaging in a collaborative meeting process. During our collaborative meetings we have had the opportunity to share/review our district mission, beliefs and vision for students with disabilities, review the site’s “data at a glance”, share available resources and realignment of resources as well as discuss lingering questions or concerns. Below is a sample of a site’s data at a glance which includes data from the dashboard as well as LRE, higher education/employment and overall percentages of students with disabilities compared to the district wide average. In addition, program managers share data that speaks to co-teaching percentages and percentages of students with disabilities in all classes.
A Story of Perseverance
Victoria Rahal was selected to deliver her speech representing her graduating class of 2019 during the Rainbow Graduation Ceremony. Victoria’s achievements in life are a testament in perseverance and her ability to utilize self-control to work through challenges. Throughout the 3 years that I have known Victoria she has always faced challenges. These include, utilizing her mental toughness to fight through years of severe anxiety and depression. Her struggle to stay in school was compounded with panic attacks, reoccurring bouts with hopelessness and self-doubt.
Victoria has allowed her support team into her life to meet her personal goals. It’s important to point out that Victoria didn’t give up no matter what and never quit. As each personal goal was met, she would move on to a different goal without striving for perfection.
No matter what the challenge, Victoria’s perseverance and drive helped her to get through the obstacle and slowly build her self-confidence. As Victoria stated during her graduation speech, “We set goals and work hard to achieve them even if the clock or calendar differed from our peers graduation date.”
Victoria's future plans included attending the Students’ 2020 Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities this coming summer at Sacramento State University. Victoria would like to one day have a career supporting students with disabilities to help them achieve their goal and aspirations.
Mustang Magic
The beginning of the 2019-20 school year has been an exciting and busy time at Otay Ranch High School for freshman Abrianna Izaguirre-Wiles. While the transition to high school can be a formidable task for many incoming freshman, Abby has had to navigate these challenges without the benefit of sight.
Many of the staff at ORHS have had years of experience working with students with visual impairments. As a result of this VI-inclusive school culture, Abby immediately felt welcomed and supported by her teachers and peers. Having this sense of security gave Abby the confidence to take on the challenge of joining her high school marching band, building on her experience of playing the flute in middle school.
At first, the idea of a student with no vision participating in a competitive marching band seemed impossible. Not only did Abby need to quickly learn a variety of new music using braille (involving a much higher cognitive load than reading music by sight), she also needed to learn how to march and play in time with her entire band in intricate formations. It was soon apparent that Abby required a sighted-guide to assist her on the field. Miraculously, freshman Alisha Smith stepped in to volunteer at the perfect time. Alisha selflessly chose to forego the spotlight to allow Abby to participate to her full potential. Present at every practice, half-time show, competition, and showcase, Alisha could be found following closely behind Abby gently guiding her into proper position.
Under the direction of Mr. Shafer Burnett and with hours of collaboration with the VI team, Abby and Alisha have formed a successful partnership that has helped the Mustang Entertainment Corps reach 1st place in their division twice this season! Abby reports that despite the long hours and its many challenges, band is her favorite class and she plans to be a part of this family for her entire high school career.
You are strongly encouraged to come support Otay’s music program and witness this young trailblazer in action along with all of her hardworking bandmates at future band events. When you do, please don’t hesitate to come say hi to Abby and introduce yourself! Go Mustangs!
YouTube link to ORHS 1st place performance on November 9, 2019:
BITE OF REALITY
Special Services, in collaboration with California Coast Credit Union, is bringing Bite of Reality to nine school sites during the 2019-2020 school year. Five of the sites, MOH, ELH, OLY/EHA, and MVH have participated in this interactive, technology-based financial literacy experience. During the hour and a half simulation, students are assigned a career, a family, and well, all the fun that comes along with it: responsibilities, bills and debt! Participants have to navigate their individual circumstances, and, ideally, have money left over. But, as most of us know, ‘adulting’ isn’t always easy and there are roadblocks along the way (i.e. flat tire, student loans, credit cards, DAY CARE!). This is an engaging activity with real-world (and potential for ITP) applicability!
Several dates remain available for Spring semester. If your site is interested in hosting, please reach out to Kristina Josafat for details @ (619)796-7526
Bite of Reality @ Oympian High School
Bite of Reality @ Mar Vista High School
Bite of Reality @ Hilltop
High School
SWEETWATER STUTTERING SUMMIT 2019
The first ever Sweetwater Stuttering Summit was a success! Students, parents, siblings, SLPs and community members came together to learn and share about what it means to be a person who stutters. A panel of successful individuals (including two, very brave Castle Park students) shared their stuttering journey and discussed everyday issues they come across. Many people are unfamiliar with stuttering. They might question what stuttering is and what it means to be a person who stutters. As SLPs, we get questions all the time from teachers, staff and family members about how to communicate with students who stutter and how to support them.
Parents and students listened to panelists share their stuttering journey
Sweetwater SLP, Ms. Angkiangco and Castle Park High School students
Students and community members participated in advocacy activities
This event allowed our students and their families the opportunity to connect with one another in a supportive and safe environment. Students were able to meet other students and adults who stutter while attendees engaged in small group activities, learned about stuttering and educated each other. Family members were able to meet other parents of children who stutter and discussed practical ways to help their children. Being a person who stutters can by lonely. We hope this event showed students who stutter that they are not alone and that a full, exciting life is waiting for them. Our goal is to empower our students through education and advocacy. A huge thank you to all our attendees and our panelists who shared their personal experiences with the group. For more information about stuttering, please visit www.westutter.org.
Ashton Tanner TOSA, Assistive Technology Specialist
Hello, my name is Ashton Tanner and I am excited to join Special Services as part of the Assistive Technology Team. I am a SUHSD (BVH) alumni and have worked in Special education with SUHSD as an Instructional Assistant, Health Care Assistant and M/S Special Education Teacher. My passion is Special Education and helping our students increase, maintain, and improve access to their education and lifelong functional skills. I look forward to continuing to support student growth and be of assistance as part of the Assistive Technology Team.
SCHOOL GAMES AND MORE
School games have started. Southwest High hosted both Sweetwater and Bonita Vista for Unified Flag Football while Montgomery hosted East Hills Academy for Unified Basketball. School games give schools an opportunity to showcase Unified Sports to their school by providing an assembly where students can come cheer on the teams. If you want to schedule a future school game, please contact Valerie Ruiz.
November 21 - IEP Parent Self Advocacy and Professional Consultation
For the last several months, the Special Services department with the support of school Psychologists from across our district, have held Parent Self Advocacy nights on a monthly basis. The purpose of these meetings is to provide parents with guidance with questions they may have regarding their childs IEP, and to provide suggested next steps. Additionally, we designed the meetings to build capacity within parents to advocate for their student during IEP meetings. We have been able to meet with over 60 families from across the district, and the feedback by parents has been extremely positive with parents providing us feedback on a 5-point rating scale. We will continue to provide these Parent Self Advocacy nights for the remainder of the school year and we look forward to working with our families in order to provide the support and built capacity. Our next meeting is on January 22, 2020
November 19 - Financial Resources for Families of Children with Special Needs
It was a dark and stormy night…but over 100 people made it to the November 19th presentation on Financial Resources for Families of Children with Special Needs. Charlene Autolino was a ray of sunshine as she illuminated the steps families should take to ensure that their children with special needs have financial stability throughout their life.
We all know the importance of planning for the future, but many of us procrastinate on it—more than half of Americans don’t have a will. And long-term financial planning is especially important for the parents of children with disabilities, who may face significant challenges in employment and housing if they are left without financial support from their parents. Charlene helped the attendees wade through the flood of acronyms associated with the process--SSI, SSDI, SDI, ABLE—and provided resources and next steps for them to begin the process.
Her information-packed presentation always leaves the attendees motivated and energized to begin the process of providing long-term financial security and a sunny future for their children.
Materials and resources from the presentation is available on the home page of the Special Services website (Click Here)
November 14 - Understanding your students Transcripts
Special Services held an All-District Understanding Your Child’s Transcript Parent Meeting at the PDC on L Street. Parents from all schools in the District were invited to the presentation lead by School Psychologist Kenya Bratton, Teacher on Special Assignment Julie Barker-Rachow, and School Counselor Joe Kreitinger. Information covered included the importance of transcript accuracy, why review transcript information, transcript uses for university, college, and career training programs. Presenters also covered the topics of Financial Aid and how to apply, what questions to ask your child’s school counselor, how to use the IEP after graduation, and finally various community resources available to parents and students. Parents were able to get their questions answered during and after the presentation.
There are two holiday events were held that all athletes and partners were invited to. The first event was a Friendsgiving Potluck on November 25th at East Hills Academy. There will be a Cookie Exchange on December 21st from 10am to 1pm also at East Hills Academy. Please RSVP to Valerie Ruiz for the Cookie Exchange Event.
On November 20th, Unified Lacrosse for the Middle Schools was held at Granger Junior High. The San Diego Seals will be hosting a lacrosse clinic for our students. Our last sporting event will be the Unified Soccer Camp on December 7 from 9am to 12pm at Southwest High. It is not too late to sign up to attend. Please click here for the year’s schedule.
Last, if you want to apply for funding, please submit your Unified School’s Agreement to Valerie Ruiz by the time we go on Winter Break. This money can be used for uniforms, transportation, and equipment.
SUHSD - Special Services
Email: SpecialEducation@sweetwaterschools.org
Website: specialservices.sweetwaterschools.org
Location: 670 L Street Suite A Chula Vista, Ca 91911
Phone: (619) 796-7500
Twitter: @SUHSD_SPED