Back from the Alaska State Special Education Conference

April 6th, 2015  

From keynote presentation by Jo Mascorro, M. Ed.

When working with students experiencing developmental disabilities we have two jobs; to educate the child and to educate others around us.  We educate others around us by treating our students according to their chronological age.  We send the wrong message when we hold the hands of our students (unless we are still doing that with their same age peers) when they are going down the hall.  We send the wrong message when we talk using a baby voice to our students, even if they appear to have a much lower developmental age.  We must respect their chronological age in order to respect our students and to send that same message to others around us.

bullet-point-image-6Never talk about a student when that student is present.

bullet-point-image-6Don’t allow adults to come into your room and have a casual dialogue in a learning environment.  Your class is always for learning and teaching and that must be clear to everyone.

bullet-point-image-6Respect the personal space of your students.  Always approach them from the front and avoid touching them (to guide their work) unless absolutely necessary.

2014 ASSEC Presentations from KPBSD Staff

February 25th, 2014  

Four of our own KPBSD staff presented at the 2014 Alaska Statewide Special Education Conference (ASSEC) in Anchorage.  Copies of their presentations are posted below.

Please contact the presenters if you would like additional information about any of these programs or topics.

bullet-point-image-7Data Collection and the IEP: Easily Show Progress to Parents, Administrators & Students – Tim Galpin, Soldotna Elementary

bullet-point-image-7Getting Started with Applied Behavior Analysis – Amy Sundheim, Homer Area (with Chris Sturm, UAA Center for Human Development)

bullet-point-image-7Building Academic Vocabulary: A Program that Dramatically Increases Reading Comprehension for Special Education Students – Dr. Tim McIntyre & Holly Zwink, Kenai Central High School

Notes from ASSEC

April 4th, 2013  

“Larry Kortering’s examination of what factors contribute to [students] dropping out was both useful and insightful to me. We all know what we (teachers) think causes students to decide to drop out.  We would never think that we could be the prime motivator. The idea that most students cited a problem that they had with ONE teacher is very scary. I wondered if I might have done that. Wow! Cultivate mellowness. While the viewpoint of the student may just be a rationalization for failure and frustration in other areas, there can be no doubt that they believe the story that they tell themselves and others, and changing this perception could be pivotal.”  ~ Rob Ernst, Nikiski Middle and High

 

Autism in America – Statistics by Year

1960 – 1 in 10,000
2005 – 1 in 260
2010 – 1 in 110
2013 – 1 in 88  (including 1 in 54 boys)

~ Mitch Pioch, Skyview High School

 

“Social stories and video modeling can be combined. For example, a script, like a social story, can be  written and rehearsed. Then the student can be recorded while performing the target skill and the  video embedded in a PowerPoint presentation or movie with subtitles.   Important concepts to remember for video modeling include: (1) choosing a defined target skill, (2) recording the student performing the skill (not another person), (3) making the video available to the student before the skill is needed and until the skill is mastered, and (4) possibly recording the student performing the same skill in multiple       environments to assist with generalization.”    ~ Cindy Detrow, Speech Language Pathologist

 

Notes from ASSEC

February 1st, 2013  

For the remaining issues of the school year, we will be featuring learning from educators that attended ASSEC! Please send your learning to Denise Kelly (who reserves the right to edit to fit in the space allotted).

Ron Glodoski was a keynote speaker at ASSEC. He spoke of the critical importance of developing relationships with students – especially the ones that drive us crazy! His personal experiences included school avoidance, gang membership, drug use and dealing, criminal activity, prison, and ultimately therapy, the road to recovery, and development of self – esteem. He urged the audience to be that one person who is there for the difficult students unconditionally. Be the one who keeps coming back to help even when they don’t want help.

His student activity workbook, “How to be a Successful Criminal: The Real Deal on Crime, Drugs and Easy Money,” (it’s a “reverse psychology” type of title!) is available at the district office. Contact Rebecca Stilchen – Jaime, and she can bizhub you the entire notebook or make you a hard copy at no cost to you.

For more information, check out
http://www.ronglodoski.com/bookstore.html

If you use the activity workbook, let us know what you think!