SPecial EDition
3rd Quarter - March 2018 - Volume 5 Issue 1
School safety is on all of our minds. Please know that the district has been inclusive in preparing and training for campus safety and security. Two years ago, a workgroup developed safety protocol for students in the moderate/severe program in the event of an emergency requiring evacuation. Just this month, staff met to discuss the recent school shootings and related student walk-outs. For students with disabilities, changes in routine, student/staff unrest, and general anxiety may have a greater impact on their coping ability. Providing anticipatory information, practicing safe and healthy responses, and promoting stress-relieving activities are all part of preparing our students for unexpected events.
# # #
Pardon me if I appear to be a bit frazzled over the next several weeks, but Susie Randle, who has been my administrative assistant for most of my tenure as director, retired on March 7. If you had the fortune of meeting “Randle” or chatting with her on the phone, you know she was intelligent, engaging and hilarious. She and her husband, Mike, relocated to Missouri to be near their twin daughters and grandchildren. Susie will certainly be missed but we wish her the best of luck in this next chapter of her life.
# # #
We are now employing our own Educational Interpreters! Formally, we were contracting with outside agencies. We are building an excellent cadre of ASL interpreters. Recently, one of them, Dennis “DJ” McGee, accompanied an 11th grade student who was travelling with classmates on a four-day tour of CSU’s and UC’s. Independently, he made arrangements for each university to have their ASL staff available so the student could fully evaluate their readiness for her. What a great idea! Clearly, having district-employed staff enhances the services we provide to students.
# # #
I hope you can join us for the Race for Autism at Balboa Park! It falls during our Spring Break--Saturday, March 24. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can still do so by going to raceforautism.org. Two of our Teachers on Special Assignment, Dan Smirniotis and Dave Kerr, are having a friendly competition to see who can gather the most members on their team. Look for their names when you sign up!
Ron Lopez
Director
============
We encourage you as individuals, classes, and schools to participate in Autism Awareness Month. Here is a list of activities you can do to raise awareness and acceptance of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders:
1. Watch a video to educate yourself on Autism such as:
2. Post facts about autism on large puzzle pieces around the school or talk about them in the morning announcements:
· 1 in 68 kids have autism
· More boys than girls are born with autism
· Autism is a disability that makes it hard to talk to other kids
· Having autism makes it hard to know how to socialize with other kids
· Something like lights and noises bother some kids with autism more than they might bother you
· Everyone is different, being different is not a bad thing, we are all different
· Kids with autism look just like you and I do
· Kids with autism like to have friends they just don’t know how to make them
· Kids with autism have feelings just like you and I do
3. Read a book about autism:
· Of Mice and Aliens by Kathy Hoopman
· Buster and the Amazing Daisy by Nancy Ogaz
· Lisa and the Lace Maker by Kathy Hoopman
· Wishing on the Midnight Star by Nancy Ogaz
· Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon
· A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon Clay by Colby Rodowsky
· Haze by Kathy Hoopman To OZ and Back: A Bones and Duchess Mystery by Alexandra Eden
· A Wizard Alone: The Sixth Book in the Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane
. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork
. Rules by Cynthia Lord
4. Join a Sweetwater team for the NFAR Race For Autism http://raceforautism.org
This is a fundraiser walk/run on March 24th. The funds support grants for educators to support students with autism. Currently Dave Kerr and Daniel Smirniotis are having a competition to see who can raise the most money.
5. Hold a poster or door decorating completion to increase awareness about autism.
6. Research about famous people with autism.
7. Have a sensory sensitive day at school with no bells or florescent lights
8. Join Sweetwater Autism Team At BJ’s on April 10th for a fundraiser to Support students with autism in SUHSD
9. Purchase an Sweetwater Autism Awareness Tshirt
Lorna McMurray
Autism Support Specialist
If you wish to support Autism Awareness and order any of these items, please SEND YOU ORDER and make check payable to LORNA McMURRAY with the total amount to SPECIAL SERVICES OFFICES at 670 L Street, Suite A in Chula Vista, Ca 91911 by April 13th.
============
CLUTTERING
Do you work with students who have rapid machine-gun style speech that can be difficult to follow? They may have a lesser-known fluency disorder called cluttering. Although most people have met someone who stutters and have an understanding of what that means, cluttering is often overlooked. In fact, in the world of speech disorders, this phenomenon has also been on the radar for just the last few decades. In 1993, David Daly, a pioneer in this field, defined cluttering as “a disorder of both speech and language processing that frequently results in rapid, dysrhythmic, sporadic, unorganized, and often unintelligible speech”. People who stutter speak quickly, but what makes them hard to understand is that their speech comes out in rapid bursts that do not follow the typical patterns used in more careful speech. They will also sometimes collapse words, so that a word such as “wonderful”, might come out as “wuffel”. At times, they may repeat whole words or phrases or interject fillers, but otherwise their speech does not display the typical dysfluencies characteristic of stuttering. Another factor that sets cluttering apart from stuttering is that people who clutter are generally aware of how their speech is perceived by their listeners. While most stutterers are acutely aware of how their style of speaking sets them apart, people who stutter tend to be oblivious. This lack of awareness is often the first step in helping people who clutter become more effective communicators. A speech therapist may use recordings, a timer, an unfamiliar listener, as well as other strategies to convince the person who clutters that this communication problem is a potential obstacle to success. Therapy will then typically focus on self-monitoring, practice with appropriate rate and phrasing, and more precise articulation. In many cases cluttering may be part of a broader set of problems, including attention difficulties, a learning disability, challenges staying organized, and autism spectrum disorder to name a few. In some more challenging cases, a person’s speech may have characteristics of both stuttering and cluttering. Since people who clutter rarely seek help, and there are often many co-existing conditions, it is easy to see why this condition is often misdiagnosed or just overlooked as careless speech. Fortunately, speech therapy focusing on awareness, self-monitoring, practice with appropriate phrasing, and more precise articulation has a good track record of efficacy.
Robert McKinney
Speech Therapist
=============
Why Validation is so important for our students?
Supporting special education students facing mental health or behavioral challenges can be a tough job. However, when you help students overcome their struggles, that job becomes incredibly rewarding.
Many parents, teachers and paraprofessionals often ask me for tips on how to talk to students that struggle with mental health challenges at school. The answer I often give is listen in a non–judgmental way which in turn can simply mean validation. As a therapist, and a parent of three teenage daughters, I have learned how to master the skill of validation. Validation is a vital skill and tool that everyone can benefit from. I believe the majority of people that work in the helping profession often use validation without even realizing it.
If a student is sharing their feelings and frustrations with you, more often than not, it is because they trust you. Though it is true that most teenagers will often turn to social media and their friends to seek validation, we have the opportunity to model and teach proper validation every day. We may be the only trusted adult in many of these students’ lives.
So what is Validation and how do you do it? Validation is a powerful and successful tool that helps guide the communication process with our students. Validation is a means of recognizing and accepting one’s ideas, opinions, actions or feelings it communicates that they are important and “valid.” Validation is not agreeing with, condoning or approving the other person’s behaviors, thoughts or feelings. Validation is more than empathy. This is especially important when responding to students who are experiencing negative emotions because it shows you understand.
Validation says that you have a right to think the way you do and feel the way you feel.
Validation may seem like a simple thing to do but the key to being successful at it with our special education students is to listen carefully to their words, and summarize them to make sure you heard correctly in a non-threatening, non-judgmental way.
Validating our students may not feel natural at first, and may not be easy, especially when they’re misbehaving and you’re stressed out. But with practice, you will find validation easier. Using the following tips will help our students to feel heard and open to communicating their thoughts, feelings and experiences with you.
Now let’s think about validation in terms or interacting with our special education students:
Be mindful of your reactions: watch out for eye-rolling, frustrated sighs, tone of voice and body language. Be mindful that your reactions reflect your intention, which is trying to understand their perspective.
Actively Listen: Make eye contact, stay focused and think about what they are saying, not what you will say in response. Respond in a way that shows you are taking their concerns seriously. Avoid words like “always”, “never”, “you make me”, because using these words can be interpreted as dismissive or confrontational. Be attentive and listening a non-judgmental way.
Empathize: Share how you might feel if you were in their shoes. Try to reflect an understanding of the reason for their behavior. Do not try to fix the problem or give advice. In other words, agree that they have the right to feel the way they feel and they have the right to think differently than you do. This is when the student will more than likely feel heard. It also shows the student that you are willing to acknowledge them and be present in the moment.
Reflect: Repeat back the thoughts and feelings the student shared. This helps to ensure you heard everything they said.
My favorite quote by Maya Angelo that sums up Validation in a nutshell. “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Our students will be more open to listening to you because they feel valued by you. Think about the last time someone validated you in one of these ways. Did it make you feel good and understood? We all need validation at times. I dare you to try it intentionally.
NaTasha A. Bailey M.S, LMFT
Licensed Mental Health Clinician
=============
When Is Software Considered Curriculum or Assistive Technology?
When is the software you are considering for a student considered curriculum or assistive technology (AT)? When you use technology to teach the curriculum, it is Educational Technology, which is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources (Robinson, Molenda, & Rezabek, 2016). Educational technology helps students learn an academic-related concept. Conversely, assistive technology is any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the access to the content for persons with disabilities (Assistive Technology Industry Association, 2018). Assistive technology helps a student with a disability do something a peer otherwise can access without the technology. As you can imagine these two areas blend quite frequently. However, there is one substantial difference between the two: students with the need for assistive technology have significant functional difficulties, such as difficulty with reading, writing, speaking, eating, standing, walking, etc. If the child does not have a significant functional difficulty, the software is most likely educational technology. Furthermore, when determining AT need, the child’s current educational environment must to be considered. A student in a self-contained program probably does not need an iPad to write, even if they have significant functional difficulties in writing - the child could benefit from an iPad, but a desktop computer could meet their writing needs. So, when determining if software is curriculum or assistive technology, please consider if the student has a significant functional difficulty and their current educational environment.
Jason L. Schmidt, Ed.S.
Assistive Technology Specialist
=============
An Interpreter’s Perspective: Visual Language, Visual Classroom
I am one of many interpreters employed by the Sweetwater Unified High School District. I am NOT one of the foreign language interpreters that you often hear on the headphones during a presentation. I am an interpreter with a more visual presence - American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. American Sign Language is not English. When you think of the phrase “a picture is worth 1000 words” you can equate that to ASL. Imagine the picture being movable (i.e. Harry Potter movie). ASL, like a picture, uses combinations of hand shapes and movements to convey meaning.
While working in the Mod/Severe program over the years, I have found that adding visual graphics for teaching has increased students’ communication and learning. This is true for more than just the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) population; hearing students who are emerging language learners or have a visual learning style will also benefit, as many already know.
Ideas for a visually rich classroom with students who are deaf or hard of hearing:
· Drawing concepts out on the board or paper and/or have the students draw
· Smart board/visuals of actual things, pairing vocab with pictures.
o (Everyone loves seeing pictures of mitochondria.)
· Captions on media.
o (Adding captions to media helps strengthen vocabulary and reading skills.)
· Pictures
o Of students for attendance
o Of school locations for visual schedule
o Of administrators
· Labels
o Sink, fridge, door
o (This is also a vocabulary strengthening tactic.)
· Maps
· Gallaudet font
o This font is the manual alphabet for ASL. Generally, only your IT manager is able to install this on your computer. You can find it at LifePrint. Here is a shortened URL to help your admin get started. https://goo.gl/uRxyXp
o This font is typically for ASL users to spell things out using ASL letters and label things without a sign. It has also been useful in teaching students to read because they are decoding the letters and understanding the words being decoded.
Written in Collaboration by
SUHSD Educational Interpreters
Meet our Educational Interpreters!
Laura Weitz @ Castle Park Middle
Hello! My name is Laura Weitz and I'm excited to be working in the Sweetwater District as an Educational Interpreter. I am originally from Minnesota and became involved with American Sign Language and Deaf culture through a Deaf friend I met in college. I've always loved languages and cross-cultural exchange so one thing led to another and I went back to school to become a professional interpreter. During my career, I've had the opportunity to interpret in a variety of settings including medical, mental health and community college and have now found a great fit working in K-12 Education. Creating an accessible environment for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students and sharing sign language with staff and students makes my job so rewarding. When I'm not at work you can find me taking dance classes, meditating, having beach days and being involved with the San Diego interpreting community.
Dennis (DJ) McGee @ Hilltop High
I’m Dennis McGee, but you can call me DJ, and I’m one of the new educational interpreters. American Sign Language is my second language. I started learning sign language in 1996 when I met my wife whose first language is American Sign Language. I have two master's degrees from Colorado State University - Global Campus. The degrees are in international business administration and organizational leadership.
When I’m not an interpreter, I am busy being creative and active. I’m a geocacher with only about 874 finds. Currently, I am producing a YouTube miniseries for spouses of children of Deaf adults (CODAs). The series is designed to help break the language and culture barriers that accompany a CODA’s relationship. In what’s left of my “spare time”, I’m also producing a podcast called “Thanks For Watching” which is all about movies.
Rick Clayton @ STEP
Hello Sweetwater! I’m James R. (Rick) Clayton and I’ve been an Educational Interpreter since 2007, but I’ve been involved with the deaf community for the past 25 years. In 1992, my wife and I started to learn American Sign Language from associating with deaf family and friends out of a strong desire to communicate with them as fully as possible. It was with this interest in learning languages – ASL and Spanish – that motivated me to earn a BA degree in teaching language.
As a volunteer in deaf education, I regularly attend and teach at weekly meetings conducted in ASL. These meetings center on a valuable education for deaf and hard of hearing people, helping them to improve the quality of their lives in every aspect: with family, friends, and their own personal improvement. It is for this reason that I feel so happy to be a part of the Sweetwater Union High School District Team!
Michelle Sturm-Gonzalez
Program Manager
=============
Unified Sports is in full swing for the start of our second semester. We continued to have basketball and flag football games. Also, we had our first Saturday Basketball Tournament. One important event we had this semester is the R-Word Campaign. Last week was dedicated to promoting respect for all students. Several schools held this campaign to demonstrate inclusion and ending the derogatory use of the word retarded. Please join us for the last three Unified Events. If you would like to volunteer, please contact me via email.
Upcoming UNIFIED SPORTS Events
Unified Soccer Tournament for Middle and High Schools
Southwest High School
April 7 from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm
Skills Camp for Middle and High Schools
Montgomery High School
April 28 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Unified Track and Field for Middle and High Schools
Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center (formerly known as Olympics Training Center)
May 5 from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm
============
A crucial part of the IEP involves a single statement: Concerns of parent relevant to educational progress. Although brief, this statement can have quite a significant impact. We can’t stress enough the importance of making sure to include a response addressing the parent’s concerns. Time and time again legal counsel have advised us to clearly document parental involvement in the IEP process. Even when filling out the section of the IEP referenced above, parents have reported not having been heard or their feelings and thoughts considered. Therefore, it is critical that we clearly convey to the parent that we are interested in their concerns and opinions. It is recommended that we include in the meetings notes evidence of comments the parent made throughout the meeting as well as the team’s subsequent response or discussion. A best practice might also be to reach out to the parent prior to the IEP meeting to inquire about any concerns so the team can be prepared to discuss these at the meeting. Failing to do so may result in a judge deciding against the district. The bottom line is, does the parent feel like a valued member of the IEP team? This is the primary reason our Director, Ron Lopez, is asking IEP teams to provide parents with a letter as they leave meeting. In it, he asks parents to reach out to him if they didn’t feel they were an active participant in the meeting or if they disagreed with the outcome of the IEP.
Mabelle Hernández Glithero
Program Manager
============
Inspiring Story
Did you know? We have a published author in our midst!
JoAnna Barker is a Special Education Teacher at Rancho del Rey Middle School.
Her Royal Family is so proud!
This book is about cancer. It's also about life. Two separate entities battling it out for our bodies and taking up residence in our world. You don't have to have cancer to read this book and you certainly don't have to know anyone who is currently fighting it. You simply have to be curious, keep an open mind, and be ready to have a bunch of my knowledge dropped on you. This book has been specifically designed from the perspective of a 20-something who ended up in the cancer club at 24 years old. A couple of years later, this book is finally completed and hopefully getting into the hands of people who need it. Aren't you tired of reading boring cancer books that just make you depressed? I know I was! So I decided to write this book. I hope it will make you laugh until you cry and give you enough hope to get through another day. You're not alone and I'd love to share my adventures with you.
Happy reading!
J.L. Barker
Rancho del Rey SpEd Teacher/Author
============
Valerie Ruiz was selected as Sweetwater’s Outstanding Special Educator at the annual South County SELPA CAC Art Show and Awards Ceremony in February. As most of you know, Valerie has taken the lead role in introducing Unified Sports to Sweetwater. Bringing together students with and without disabilities to participate in inter-scholastic sporting events has not only made a huge impact on the athletes, but on the entire school community as well. Just about everyone that attends an event for the first time describes the “lump in the throat” experience of seeing a student--for the first time ever—running through the cheerleading tunnel into a stadium or hearing the cheers of a gymnasium filled with his/her peers. It takes a spark to light a fire and Valerie has certainly been the spark to get Unified Sports off the ground in Sweetwater.
At the awards ceremony, Ron Lopez made introductory comments and two “Unified Athletes” from Olympian High spoke about the positive impact of Unified Sports on their lives. It was a moving occasion worthy of the time, energy and passion Valerie has put into Unified Sports.
As students in the Moderate and Moderate/Severe programs near the end of their school careers, parents have many questions about what lies ahead for their adult child. After 10 years of interacting with Sweetwater, the unfamiliarity of the post-school can be daunting.
The South County Regional Center attempts to ease those concerns every year by hosting a Transition Fair at the PDC for families of students in the Moderate and Moderate/Severe programs. On Wednesday February 21st, more than 80 families of students attended this year’s Transition Fair. They were able to hear presentations and talk with representatives from nearly two dozen organizations that provide services to adults with disabilities, including residential, day programs, education, financial, and recreation services.
If you weren’t able to attend, but would like information about the Fair or any of the organizations involved, contact Dan Smirniotis at (619)796-7519 or daniel.smirniotis@sweetwaterschools.org.
Michelle Sturm-Gonzalez
Program Manager
============
7th Annual East Hills Academy Talent Show
Throughout the school year, East Hills Academy strives to create fun, memorable experiences for students, their families, and staff. Our most exciting event is our Talent Show. For the past 7 years, EHA staff and students have teamed up for the best variety show in Sweetwater. Acts often include singing, dancing, jokes, and our very own “Compass Band.” Mr. Sumner La-Russa and our speech therapist, Mrs. Maleki, work with the students to prepare them for their act. For those that may be too timid for the stage, we also showcase artwork from both students and staff. Ms. Amanda Navarrete, IHCA, hand creates many of the decorations featured on stage. It truly is a team effort. If you are interested in this amazing, inclusive event, we look forward to seeing you next March!
Christine Wurtz CIS,BLS,CS,
East Hills Academy
ASB Coordinator
SUHSD - Special Services
Email: SpecialEducation@Sweetwaterschools.org
Website: specialservices.sweetwaterschools.org
Location: 670 L Street, Suite A. Chula Vista, CA, USA
Phone: (619) 796-7500
Twitter: @SUHSD_SPED