INSIDE THE CIRCLE
PARENTS, SCHOOLS, AND COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS = PARTNERSHIP
JUNE 2021
Dear Parents, Students, CPSB Faculty & Staff, and Community Stakeholders,
As we move forward in striving for excellence in service to and success for all our students with support and encouragement of the partnership between our fair city and our dedicated school system, we want to thank all our parents, students, community stakeholders and faculty and staff for all the hard work in the success of our students throughout this school year. During these trying times our state and city is enduring, we are constantly changing the way we service our students and keep up with the new challenges and needs we face each day. Just know that we are here for you and ready to help in every way we can.
Looking forward to coming through this challenge together, stronger and better!
Sincerely,
Dr. Betty Washington, Administrative Director of Special Services
Pat Schooler, Coordinator of Early Intervention Services
Maxcine Ned, Family Resource Specialist
Sheree Thierry, Resource Specialist
SUMMERTIME!!!
FUN IN THE SUN! OR NOT!
If you are wanted to venture out just a little further from our fair city, Families Helping Families summer guide is a great source of information and fun activities for kids and family around our great state. Click the link, 2021 Guide to Summer Fun and have fun!
Just want to stay home and indoors, check out this YouTube link, “Create, Cook, Talk”. It’s a mother-daughter team, and the daughter is an adult with an intellectual disability. They prepare recipes that are fun and interesting, and will be enjoyed by kids of all ages!
There are so many more YouTube videos of fun activities you can do this summer with your kiddos so go and explore!
HELPFUL TIPS
LEARNING TO "ADULT" ISN'T JUST FOR GROWN-UPS!
From Sharon Blackmon,
Why is it that every time I see an article on Life Skills Training for people with developmental disabilities, it’s aimed at youth and adults? I don’t know about you, but my experience with my son has been that any new skill takes a LOT of time and many, many repetitions before it “takes,” if you know what I mean. So why are we waiting until a child becomes a teen or young adult before we start thinking about life skills?
My daughter’s 2nd grade class has a job board that lists various classroom tasks that need to be done, from “line leader” to “pencil sharpener” to “office runner.” Every week the teacher rotates their names to a different job on the board, and they know that they are responsible for that task each time it is needed for the entire week. It’s class chores. (And for some reason they fuss much less about having chores at school than they do at home!)
The class job board is basically teaching Life Skills. I think sometimes we – parents as well as educators – forget to give our kids with disabilities any responsibility. Having a job to do, and doing it, gives a person satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes that “job” may be taking out the trash or doing office errands; other times a job may look more like brushing your own teeth or putting your clothes in the hamper. They are all tasks that need to be done, and that offer a wide range of skill-building. And of course, depending upon the level of understanding a student has, more advanced Life Skills training may include things like balancing a bank account, creating a meal plan and making a grocery list, or applying for a job.
How do you teach Life Skills with your students with disabilities? Is it a particular part of your day, like a work-readiness class, or do you use opportunities during each school day to delegate tasks to be done as needed? I would love to hear how you handle Life Skills training in your classroom!
In my article for our January edition of Exceptional Times digital magazine, I’m encouraging parents to use this time at home with their children to teach Life Skills. Sometimes we parents simply don’t think about teaching self-help tasks; we just do them ourselves and move on. Case in point: my son, who has a significant disability, was a teenager before I thought to teach him how to put on his own shoes. He was certainly able to do it himself, but I always just did it for him without realizing it was something he could do, and he let me. My seven-year-old daughter, however, is constantly telling me, “Mom, I can do that myself, you know.” Kids…. Look for the full article next month and maybe get some tips to share with your students’ families!
If you are not on our list to receive emails from Families Helping Families of GNO and would like to be, email Sharon Blackmon, (sblackmon@fhfofgno.org) and I will be glad to add you. Then you will automatically receive things like our Exceptional Times digital magazine, monthly webinar flyers, and information on upcoming events.
BREAKING NEWS
SB 128 - Uninterrupted 45-minute daily planning time bill for teachers
BREAKING NEWS
The House Education Committee just completed its debate on Senate Bill 128 (SB 128), the guaranteed, uninterrupted 45-minute daily planning time bill. The House Education Committee voted unanimously in favor of SB 128, which now heads over to the House floor. Unless the House amends the bill, the House floor vote is SB 128's last step before being sent to the governor for his signature.
Thank you for contacting House Education Committee members. Your calls and emails continue to make a big difference!
Stay tuned for updates on when SB 128 will be heard on the House floor. It's not too early to start contacting House members to ask them to VOTE YES on SB 128.
Use this link to find your legislators -
BACK TO SCHOOL!!!
PREPARING FOR WHAT'S TO COME!
Start Now to Plan for Students Transitioning Back to School
Author(s) Gail Ghere, Ph.D.
As the saying goes, the country is truly building the distance learning plane as we fly it. The change to distance learning has been very challenging for many students, families, and instructional teams. While schools and families did not have much notice, if any, to plan for distance learning, instructional teams have the opportunity and the responsibility to plan for successfully transitioning students with significant cognitive disabilities back into school. States are discussing what returning to school might look like and the possible timeframes. We don’t know exactly when that will be or what form it will take, but there are steps that we can take now to plan for that time so it goes as smoothly as possible for as many students as possible.
Relationships, relationships, relationships
The relationships with students from before and during distance learning are the foundation for transitioning students back into school. Relationships between students and teachers, students and peers, and teachers and parents/families are foundational for effectively implementing distance
learning and for having discussions about transitioning back into school. During distance learning, a team’s communication with their students and families should let them know that they matter and that their voices are heard. It shows that teachers care about them, how they are doing, and how they are weathering this dramatic change in their lives.
All of the efforts during distance learning to build and sustain relationships with students and families by sending emails, dropping off materials, creating short videos, and using online platforms create the on-ramp for having important discussions about transitioning back to school. Staying connected is the basis for the mutual trust that will support communication and problem solving about how to re-engage the student with classes, friends, teachers, schedules, and rituals and routines.
Communication, communication, communication
The stronger the communication web during distance learning, the stronger the available connections for planning a student’s transition back to school. The communication web includes communicating with:
- students to help them understand the changes that are forthcoming;
- families about their concerns, desires, and updates on student needs, as well as to understand what the students are communicating to their families about the change; and
- instructional team members to assure that everyone is connected and collaborating as planning moves forward.
Presuming competence is foundational for all planning. Move forward by presuming that students understand that something is changing...again...and that it will mean changes in how school looks for all students. This is particularly important for students who have receptive and expressive communication challenges. Provide students with information about the forthcoming changes through multiple means of representation. For example, teachers can write social stories (https://www.autism.org.uk/about/strategies/social-stories-comic-strips.aspx), that can be read to students. Educators and families can also add new vocabulary for emotions (e.g., excited, worried, happy, nervous) and for actions (e.g, social distancing, washing hands, wearing a mask) to low-tech or high-tech AAC devices to facilitate a means for them to express themselves. Provide them with the opportunity and appropriate support to express their questions and concerns. Assist them to work through any excitement or anxiety that emerges. Be particularly cognizant of students expressing their emotions about the change through
new or expanded behaviors and collaborate with the families to support the children to use other ways to express themselves.
When the time is near for the change to being back in buildings to occur, re-engage with previously used visuals to talk about taking a bus again, school schedules, new teachers, a different locker, their peers, and activities. Add new visuals and teach about following safe procedures at school, such as washing hands, social distancing, changes to schedules, etc.
Similar to the importance of parent/family voice in navigating and individualizing distance learning, including the student's voice will be critical for smoothly transitioning back to school. Incorporate students in making meaningful choices about what their day will look like. Depending on the individual student’s needs, there will also be specific questions and concerns to problem-solve:
- To what extent does the overall initial transition plan for all students work for individual students?
- Where does the plan need to be further individualized?
- What was learned during distance learning that helps to facilitate the transition back to school?
- What can be learned from transitioning back to school after previous summer and winter breaks that can help guide this transition?
Also, consider that everything learned from this transition provides insights should a temporary change in how education is provided happen again in the future.
Data, data, data
A series of reflective questions “What? So What? Now What?” provides a way for framing the available data and using them to guide transition planning and decision making.
What? What are the facts? What do we know about student learning?
- Data from before distance learning commenced: What are the data that you have regarding academics, behavior/social-emotional, communication skills, functional skills for each student before distance learning started? Review each student’s progress notes, progress monitoring data and work samples from the beginning of the school year until in-person school ended to create a picture of what were the gains and the rate of change that each student made during that period. This becomes the baseline for forward planning.
- Data during distance learning: We know that data collection is challenging for many teachers and families, that the data will have gaps, and that it will be less systemized than previously. However, use what you have to make your best-informed determination of what each student is learning during distance learning. Be sure to capture information from the families about the skills that each student is learning and/or generalizing across environments during this period. Possible sources of data during distance learning include:
- student work samples
- online apps and platforms (such as IXL math completed, audiobooks or reading platforms, educational games, Brain Pop or Bits Board Pro activities)
- family data logs and updates, and
- data teachers collect during all contacts with a student
- What do all of the data convey about what, where, and how student learning occurred during the school year?
- Are there data that convey that skills were gained during the period of distance learning? (In addition to academics, consider the generalization of skills, level of independence, and the use of technology)
- Are there any data that convey a loss of skills during this period?
- What do the data convey about gaps in learning that persist or maybe are now evident?
- How did different ways of teaching impact student learning? What worked? What did not work?
- What questions cannot be answered and need more data once school starts?
- From the array of data, what areas do you feel need to be prioritized before the transition period to prepare the student for returning to school, during the transition period as new/old routines are re-established and moving on after the routines are re-established?
- How will you continue to blend what was learned during distance learning about integrating technology to enhance student learning, connections with parents/families, and generalization of skills between school and home to accelerate student learning?
The plans for reopening school, whether fully, gradually, or with modified schedules, will look different across the states. Teachers will need to take their state and district plans and translate them into supporting individual students. Regardless of the specifics, the key components of the relationships, communication, and data will be foundational for all planning.
Looking for more resources on how to plan and collaborate during COVID? Check out our DL post on Dealing with Uncertainty (https://publications.ici.umn.edu/ties/building-engagement-with-distance-learning/dealing-with-uncertainty-a-plea-for-thoughtful-plans-and-patient-collaboration).
For an example of how you can collaborate across home and school, see the 5C Process.
The 5C Process, (https://publications.ici.umn.edu/ties/building-engagement-with-distance-learning/5c-process), supports instructional teams and families to deliberately plan by establishing priorities within overarching learning components, focusing on collaboration, building continuity between home and school, collecting data in a straightforward way, and building the capacity of the team including the student and families.
Distance Learning Series: DL #9, May, 2020
All rights reserved. Any or all portions of this document may be reproduced without prior permission, provided the source is cited as:
- Ghere, G. (2020). Start now to plan for students transitioning back to school (DL #9). TIES Center.
The information in this Brief is not an endorsement of any identified products. Products identified in this Brief are shared solely as examples to help communicate information about ways to reach the desired goals for students.
TIES Center is supported through a cooperative agreement between the University of Minnesota and the Research to Practice Division, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education (# H326Y170004). The Center is affiliated with the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) which is affiliated with the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) at the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. The contents of this report were developed under the Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Education, but do not necessarily represent the policy or opinions of the U.S.
Department of Education or Offices within it. Readers should not assume endorsement by the federal government. Project Officer: Susan Weigert
The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) leads the TIES Center partnership. Collaborating partners are: Arizona Department of Education, CAST, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, University of North-Carolina–Charlotte, and the University of North Carolina–Greensboro.
TIES Center
University of Minnesota
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Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-626-1530 www.tiescenter.org
This document is available in alternate formats upon request.
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator.
CPSB CIRCLE CENTER Upcoming Workshops
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Betty Washington, Administrative Director
Karl Bruchhaus, Superintendent CALCASIEU PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Pat Schooler, Coordinator
ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS
CPSB SPECIAL SERVICES CIRCLE CENTER
Sheree Thierry, Resource Specialist
"Promoting a partnership between parents, schools and the community."
Email: maxcine.ned@cpsb.org
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