Liebster Award Nomination: A Little About Me

So my blog has been nominated for a Liebster Award!  Woohooo!

Thanks to Caitlyn Orsbourne from Learning Ahoy for the nomination!!  Check out her AMAZING blog here. 

So, what exactly is the Liebster Award all about?  "Liebster" is a German word that means dearest, lovely, beloved and welcome.  To accept the nomination, I must:

1.             Link back to the blog that nominated me.

2.            Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers. 

3.            Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator.

4.            Share 11 random facts about yourself.

5.            Create 11 questions for your nominees.

6.         Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them.

 Now for the 11 questions:

1.   What do you teach?

I teach children with special needs in a Functional Self-Contained Classroom.  The majority of my students are Autism and Intellectually Disabled.

2.   Where did you go to college?

I went to Christopher Newport University

3.  What is your favorite book? 

You mean besides 50 Shades of Grey???  LOL!  My favorite book of all time is The Giving Tree by Shell Silverstien.

4.  What is you favorite place to get clip art from?

I’m so new at this, that I have not really used any clip art, but would LOVE to find some great graphics and learn how to incorporate them into my baby blog.

5.  What do you like to do outside of school stuff?

I really love to read and relax with my friends and family.

6.  Where would your dream vacation spot be?

While I would love to be on some exotic Island with little umbrella drinks brought to me by gorgeous cabana boys any time I raised my hand, I would have to say my dream spot would be the Mediterranean.

7.  If you won a million dollars what would you do with it?

I would pay off all of my debt, set aside enough in various investments to set my family for life, and donate a good portion to a few of my favorite charities.

8.  If you were not a teacher what would you do?

Prior to deciding on Education, I always wanted to go to law school.  I am passionate and have been told I can argue my way out of any thing.

9.  What is your favorite blog to read (besides your own of course!)?

 I adore The Autism Helper.  Sasha is super talented and creative.

10.  What is your favorite food? 

I’m a Low Carber, so my favorite food would have to be steak right now.  When I have a cheat day, I love to stuff my face with great Italian food and plenty of chocolate.

11.  What is your least favorite drink?

A Bloody Mary!  I think they are just gross…

My 11 VERY Random Facts

1.     Throughout High School and most of my college career, I would have NEVER considered going into teaching. I decided to substitute because it was flexible and provided my family with a little extra money. I guess God knew where I needed to be before I did, because I was offered a job teaching Special Education 1 month before I even graduated.  The school secured a sub for the first month of school, while I completed my classes.  I then pursued all of my education courses during the evenings and on-line.

2.    My husband and I are high school sweet hearts.  We have been together for a total of 20 years and have been married for 13 years.

3.    My husband and I have three sons.  16, 12 and 7.  My middle son has Aspergers.  More on this at a later time.

4.    Growing up I studied Ballet and loved to be in the spotlight and the center of attention.  Yeah…I was one of those girlsJ

5.    Evidently, I’m one of those people who wears my emotions on my sleeve.  I’m not really good at “faking it”, and I am really trying to work on this. I have been told this is a BAD trait to have.

6.    I probably have ADD.

7.    I am most definitely a procrastinator.

8.    I love to experiment with new recipes.  On the other hand, my family does NOT love this.  When they ask what’s for dinner and I tell them I’m trying something new, the collective moans and groans are pretty discouraging.  But not as discouraging as my husband picking up the phone and calling Papa Johns.

9.    I lOVE the OBX, but don’t get to go nearly enough.

10.   I am a fighter!   Not a punch you in your face kind of person, but someone who fights their way through adversity and fights for what they believe is right.  I enjoy a challenge and seem to thrive under pressure.  I guess you can say, I’m kind of an odd ballJ

Now for My Eleven Questions to my Nominees

1.    What and where do you teach?

2.   Why did you choose to become a teacher?

3.   What made you become a “Blogger”?

4.   Where do you find your awesome graphics and clip art?

5.   What advice do you have for someone new to blogging?

6.   How have you spread the word and increased the number of your readers?

7.   Where do you see yourself in 5 years?  10 Years?

8.   How do you balance family, a full time job and running your blog?

9.   If you could change one thing about Inclusion, what would that be?

10. What is your favorite teaching blog?

My Nominees

1.   The Autism Teacher

2.  The Autism Tank

3.  The Autism Helper

4.  Teaching:  The Art of Possibility

5.  Teaching through Turbulence

Division Coaching and the Autism Program Rating Scale

I was recently invited to attend the Regional CoLA Summer Institute in Richmond, Va. This fantastic Community of Learning is put on by the experts at VCU's Autism Center for Excellence and the VDOE's TTAC. I learned so much in my two days and I am excited to share these ideas with my readers. It is my goal to share what I learn along the way with other teachers, parents and community leaders so we can work together to improve services for our students with Autism in public schools.

The first session, I attended was on Division Coaching. Division Coaching is important in the public school system because more often than not, our special education teachers never took a course on Autism and have little experience with children who have Autism. And let's face it, with the number of children affected by Autism on the rise, we NEED qualified and knowledgeable professionals working on the front lines. Having a Division ASD Coach is vital in order to breed the kind of success we are looking for in our Autism Programs. They can provide support to classroom teachers and monitor progress. The session I took part of explained how the Division Coaches could accurately assess the progress of their school divisions Autism programs. One of the ways they suggested doing this is by using a tool called the APERS (Autism Program Environment Rating Scale). Using the APERS, coaches can accurately measure the quality of each classroom that supports students with Autism. They are able to determine the strengths of the program as well as the areas that need improvement. There is a pre-assessment and post assessment, used to measure this. It can be intimidating to the classroom teacher who has to experience this. However, division coaches work to build trusting professional relationships with teachers in order to achieve the best outcomes from coaching. When I went through this process a few years ago, I was very intimidated, but early on, I developed a relationship built on the mutual understanding that we all wanted to what was best for these Kiddos.   Only then was I able to relax and really buy in to the whole coaching experience.  So, let’s take an in depth look at Division Coaching and using the APERS as a means of implementing Evidenced Based Practices in Autism classrooms.

Who are our Division Coaches?  Some of our local school divisions (I’m in VA) have selected Special Education Coordinators as division coaches, Teachers who hold ASD certificates or have extensive experience with ASD.  While other divisions have identified their related service personnel as a coaches.

What are some of the obstacles that a division coach may face?  Well, inevitably, when we try to implement anything “new” it is usually met with some resistance.  Let’s face it, teachers are pretty routine and territorial creatures, and some may see Coaching as an evaluative measure.  So in order to successfully implement coaching, it is important to select coaches who are empathetic with great interpersonal skills.

Next, the coaches will want to determine the developmental needs of the autism program.  Observations, Interviews Surveys and the MERC have all been used to assess ASD programs in the past.  As part of the NPDC (National Professional Development Center of Autism) grants, many of our local school divisions in VA have been trained on the APERS.  The APERS is a structured assessment that comes in two formats:  one for Preschool and Elementary programs and the other for Middle and High Schools.  The APERS is organized by Domains and sub domains and can be used to assess self-contained and inclusive programs.  It is scored on a five- point scale and summarized scores are provided in a visual format.

This is an example of the results of the APERS given in a graph format.
Notice the different domains being assessed.

In the Pre-Assessment Phase, Coaches and teachers are able to use the results from the APERS to set program goals and objectives.  Now remember:  the basis of using this tool is to implement EBP’s into your Autism Programs.  Using the APERS as a guide, coaches are able to determine what’s working and what’s not working with the current program, which EBP would work best to achieve the desired outcome (goals and objectives), and the steps needed to successfully implement the EBP to fidelity.  The On-Going Phase will involve observations, hands on coaching and team meetings.  When I went through this process, our Team met once a month.  I would be given an “assignment” to work on, such as prompting.  The coaches would demonstrate how to implement, then come back in a month, observe it in practice as delivered by my staff and myself, and provide immediate feedback (this was SUPER helpful).  We would then have our team meetings to discuss how the observation went.  Everything was recorded in a Collaborative Log.  The Collaborative Log records the progress towards the EBP Progress Plan and provides evidence toward mastery that is used in the Post-Assessment Phase.  

During the Post-Assessment Phase, the team will once again go through the formal APERS assessment.  This includes the teacher interviews and parent interviews, and observations.  The results of the assessment are then discussed and the whole team can congratulate themselves on their program’s growth. 

It is the responsibility of the Division Coach to guide this process, provide the support, and staff training needed to facilitate this entire relationship.  Divisions across VA that are using the APERS and Coaching have reported great success and improvement in the quality of their Autism Programs.  

DonorsChoose

This week I attended a Regional Community of Learning on Autism (CoLa) Conference in Richmond, and I was asked to do a poster presentation on my success with DonorsChoose.  I was thrilled to be able to spread the word amongst my colleagues!  So I set to work, putting together my tri-fold poster presentation.  On the night of my presentation, I looked around at the handful of other presenters, whom were all presenting on evidenced based practices and current research, and felt a little bit out of my league.  As the conference participants began to enter and make their way around the room, they inevitably stopped and hovered at my table.  In fact, I’m pretty sure my table was the most popular!  Half of the Specialists either said they had never heard of DonorsChoose, or had signed up but never followed through with a proposal. Well, I want to change all of that!!! 

My DonorsChoose poster presentation at the 2013 Regional
Communities of Learning on Autism (COLA) in Richmond, Va.

In March, I wrote my very first DonorsChoose proposal for a color printer so I could create colorful visual supports in my classroom.  Within 2 hours of my project going live, it had been fully funded.  Within 3 weeks, I received my printer.  Well that started a whirlwind of projects.  I immediately started writing new proposals and since March I have written 6 more.  Of the 7 proposals I have written these past few months, 5 have been fully funded and the other two have been partially funded! Some of the other items I have gotten from DonorsChoose include over $300 in therapeutic art supplies, math and language arts centers, an X-Box with Kinect, and supplies to support a student led recycling center.   So, I have experienced success with DonorsChoose and would love to see more teachers utilize this spectacular resource.  Here’s how to start and if you need a little more in depth help go here. 

1.     Go to DonorsChoose.org and create a teacher’s account and upload a classroom profile picture.

2.    Use your start up points to submit a project that is under $400.  These have the best chances of being fully funded.

3.    Think of a creative and catchy title that will grab the reader’s attention.

4.    Go shopping!! DonorsChoose has partnered with School Specialty, Lakeshore, Nasco and several others of our favorite teacher catalogues.  Keep the items student centered!!!

5.    Summarize your request.  Explain why your students need the items your requesting.

6.    Tell your story.  This is the part where you describe your students and how these items will help your class.  Remember to write well and from the heart! 

7.    Lastly, you are going to provide some simple project details and then quantify the impact. 

From start to finish, creating a project usually takes me 20-30 minutes.  I LOVE DonorsChoose and I know that you will too!!!  Good Luck and let me know how you do!  If you have any questions, please let me know!!

ESY...OH MY!!!

Well my friends, I have been absent for quite some time.  Between state VAAP assessments, a cluster of IEP meetings, a new student, and applying to Grad School, I haven’t had time to pee, much less, time to post.  However, I’M BACK, and I want to know what you do for your student’s over the summer months?  How do you judge if your student should receive Extended School Year Services?  The criteria I generally use to determine if a student requires ESY services, is as follows: Does the student usually present with a pattern of regression after past breaks? This can be in areas of communication, functional life skills, pre academic and academic skills, social/emotional development or behavior.  In my school division, the decision to add ESY is data driven, and therefore it is a lot of work to collect the data, then prepare lesson plans for the summer, and then gather all of the materials for the ESY teacher.  I must confess, it can be a deterrent, and I have only included ESY services for a handful of my students.  Not because I don’t believe in it!  In fact, each year, I find myself wishing I could add ESY to each of my students’ IEP’s.  But ESY often looks like one on one instruction.  Where are their peers?  Where is the socialization?  Our children need a small group setting like their regular classroom environment with their peers.  General Ed kids, who do not demonstrate significant growth throughout the year, attend Summer School.  They don’t get one to one tutoring services!  In my head, my student’s ESY services should resemble instruction in their regular classroom environment with their peers.  It should look like summer school! 

I guess what I’m promoting sounds a lot like year round programming for my students.  But I feel that student’s with Autism and Intellectual Disabilities need intensive programming that is consistent and structured YEAR ROUND.  We as their teachers, work all year long implementing behavior plans, breaking ground on new functional and academic skills only to have our students start from scratch in September.  Now, more often than not, we are able to get our kiddos back on track within a month or so.  However, that then puts us “a month or so” behind schedule, because we have to reteach skills that have lay dormant for 2 months. 

So, because I have not opened my own school, and because I am not in the position to make significant change, (YET), I send home summer packets for my students.  These packets are tailored to the student’s individual needs.  I often include activities that parents can do with their child, and ways they can support behavior plans over the summer break.  The incredible related service providers I work with, usually do the same.   

So my next question is specifically for any parents out there who may be reading.  What could your child’s teacher or school division do to better support summer learning? Do or would you prefer your child to have one to one ESY services or small group services?