Special Programs & Services News
February 2021
Message from the Team:
In this month’s newsletter, I'd like to highlight just a few things that I love about serving in Special Programs!
STUDENTS: Our students are incredible…from academics, fine arts, serving in the community and extra curricular activities, I enjoy watching them shine. Our students are engaged learners that strive to reach their goals and are collaborative problem solvers. They truly are a joy to serve and they make each day the best!
STAFF: Our amazing staff works hard each day to meet the needs and challenge each and every student to achieve success. The amount of time and heart that goes into planning meaningful instruction and building positive relationships is truly appreciated.
FAMILIES AND COMMUNITY: Our LISD community is supportive, partners with our educators and values high levels of learning. I would like to send a heart-felt thanks to you for trusting us as we work together to help each child exceed their dreams.
We have the best students, staff and community and I love being a part of #1LISD!
Kimberly Waltmon
Exec. Director, Special Programs & Services
February Parent Education Nights
Feb 4th - Autism Family Support Group
Feb 9th - Parent Education Night - ARD 102
Feb 11th - Medically Fragile Support Group
Feb 17th - Transition to Adulthood - Texas Workforce
Feb 18th - AAC Family Chat
Feb 23rd - Parent Education Night - Coping with Changes
Feb 24th - Autism Parent Q&A
Child Find
The purpose of Child Find is to locate, identify and evaluate children from birth to 21 years of age for their possible need for special education and related services. Child Find is a free referral and information service available through local education agencies and Service Center Region XIII. Referrals can be initiated by parents, educators, physicians, and outside agencies (ex. therapists, ECI, etc.). Once the referral has been initiated, Child Find or LISD staff meet with the family and have an evaluation scheduled. Following the evaluation, the Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee will meet to determine if special education services are needed for the student. At that time, appropriate placement and service decisions will be determined for the student. Take a look at the Child Find section of the Special Programs website to learn more.
If you are concerned your child may be learning, playing or interacting differently from others, please call our office at 512-570-0350 or email Child.Find@leanderisd.org.
Supplemental Special Education Services (SSES)
Tips from Our Speech Pathology Team
Are you looking for motivating ways to get your older children engaged in conversation? Try using these 1- to 2-minute video shorts! Most are wordless videos that present a problem and a solution. They are highly engaging and can be used for cause/effect, making predictions, retelling a story, or even for a brain break after a harder task. Here's a website that lists several with a short description of each!
Here are some questions you can ask after viewing the shorts/ to start the conversation:
Pause the video mid-way: What do you think will happen next?
Tell me what happened at the beginning, middle and end of the video?
What made you laugh, concerned or wonder during the video?
What was the problem and solution in the video?
If you were the director, how would you change the ending?
Self Determination
Self-Determination is making decisions and choices regarding one’s quality of life free from undue external influence of interference. Students who are self-determined are able to make choices and decisions as needed, have some personal control over actions, and understand the effects of their actions. Students can develop self-determination skills by learning problem solving and decision making, self-advocacy, self-regulation, goal setting and attainment, and self-management.
Each month, Leander ISD Special Programs highlights one skill of Self-Determination with all of the teachers and staff so that they emphasize this skill with students with purpose and in the context of what students are learning. In sharing this concept with parents, we know that you will have many opportunities to emphasize these skills at home.
STAAR TESTING UPDATES
As we near the start of the Spring state assessment testing windows, we would like to ensure that all families are aware of upcoming changes to STAAR testing. The Texas Education Agency has communicated that All STAAR testing will be administered online by Spring 2022 (not including STAAR-Alt 2). In light of this change, we have the opportunity to begin trialing online testing this year. Although it is not required for 2020-2021, shifting a student from paper to online testing this year may help to prepare a student for online testing next year. However, Leander ISD will continue to partner with parents to consider the individual needs of our students during this year's STAAR testing season. If your child is currently planning to take a paper version of STAAR, we are encouraging you to reach out to your child's Tracking Teacher to discuss what the most appropriate method of delivery would be for your student and to discuss any questions you may have about state assessments. Lastly, TEA has released that all STARR testing this year will be completed in-person only. Please reach out to your campus testing coordinator with any questions.
For students taking STAAR ALT 2, please know that this test format is paper/hands-on only. The testing window is March 29-May 7. Students will be assessed in person only. For students attending school virtually, Special Education Tracking Teachers will contact Parent/Guardians to schedule their assessment within the window. Additional information about STAAR ALT is available at this website.
VI Support Group
Parent Education Programming Feedback
We are continuing to seek your feedback on the quality of our parent education programming. We want to get your input on topics for presentations and the timing of sessions to reach as many families as possible. Please take a moment to complete this survey. It should take no more than 5 minutes.