Presenter: Phuong Lien Palafox
As educators and caretakers, the day-to-day grind of productivity is evident. To sustain our collective and exhaustive work, it is imperative to understand the power of connection and stories. Through an evidence-based lens, this keynote will address considerations when 1) engaging and connecting wholeheartedly, 2) digesting stories to nourish our understanding and 3) sharing our narratives to propel action. Participants will leave FEELING and TAKING ACTION to fuel their meaningful days.
Strands: Collaboration & Leadership, Inclusion
Learner Outcomes:
Participants will list the concerns of caretakers and educators within an educational system.
Participants will describe the intersectionality of working within an educational system.
Participants will identify and describe evidence-based strategies when engaging with students, families and educators.
Audience: Early Childhood/ECSE (formerly PPCD) Staff, General Education Teachers, Instructional Specialists/Support Staff, OT/PT and/or APE, Paraeducators, Parents, Special Education Teachers, Speech Language Pathologists, Transition Specialists, Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Handouts: Empowering Humanity's Narratives
Presenter: Monica Kurtz
In this session, participants will learn about how crisis evolves in the the classroom. We will discuss the stages of a crisis and steps that staff can take at each step to support the student and help them return to a calm state. Participants will also learn about the linear clock, a post-crisis processing tool that promotes self-reflection and guides healthy staff/student conversations.
Strands: Behavior & Communication
Learner Outcomes: The learner will understand the role they play in student crisis. The learner will leave equipped with a post-crisis processing tool.
Audience: General Education Teachers, Instructional Specialists/Support Staff, Paraeducators, Special Education Teachers
Handouts: Understanding Crisis Cycle handout.
Presenter: Erica Cairns
Experience stories, or object books, encourage the development of emergent literacy and writing skills for students who are visually impaired and/or have multiple disabilities. In this session, participants will learn how to create personal, meaningful, and multisensory experience stories with their students and facilitate the sharing of stories to build community within the classroom.
Strand: Curriculum & Instruction
Learner Outcomes: Participants will describe the steps and necessary components required to create a meaningful experience story. Participants will identify the different experience story formats.
Audience: Special Education Teachers, Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Handouts: Building Community in the Classroom, Experience Story Jamboard
Presenters: Maryteresa Tracy and Jennifer Russell
Are you looking for effective strategies to teach your students routines across the day? Try task analysis! Task analysis is an evidence based practice and is used to break complex tasks into a sequence of smaller, more manageable steps in order to teach the skill. The learner can be taught to perform individual steps of the chain until the entire skill is mastered. When implemented correctly, task analysis is an effective tool for increasing independence in young learners.
Strand: Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE formerly PPCD) / Early Childhood
Learner Outcomes: Define the evidence based practice of Task Analysis. Learner will analyze a functional routine.
Audience: Early Childhood/ECSE (formerly PPCD) Staff, Instructional Specialists/Support Staff, Paraeducators, Special Education Teachers
Presenter: Heidi Lersch
My Rights My Life curriculum was developed to be accessible to a wide range of students with varying levels of support needs. Each class includes a communication board with SymbolStix pictures for key vocabulary and multiple ways for each student to access material and participate in class activities. The curriculum is centered around a “Healthy Relationship Toolbox”, a set of fundamental healthy relationship tools which students learn to use and apply to the various relationships and settings they are in. Repetition is built in to each class with every lesson beginning with a review and building on previously taught content and skills. The core curriculum concepts repeated throughout the classes include consent, setting and respecting boundaries, online safety, self-advocacy in relationships, and getting help and support from trusted adults.
Strand: Transition
Learner Outcomes: Understand how to access and use the My Rights My Life curriculum
Audience: Instructional Specialists/Support Staff, Paraeducators, Parents, Special Education Teachers, Speech Language Pathologists, Transition Specialists, Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Presenter: Jim Walsh
This legal update will review timely and critical information special educators need to know in order to stay legally compliant.
Strands: Collaboration & Leadership, Inclusion
Learner Outcomes: Identify areas in educator documentation or practice that need to be improved/corrected to become legally compliant.
Audience: Early Childhood/ECSE (formerly PPCD) Staff, General Education Teachers, Instructional Specialists/Support Staff, OT/PT and/or APE, Paraeducators, Parents, Special Education Teachers, Speech Language Pathologists, Transition Specialists, Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Handouts: Handout (Links to an external site.)
Presenter: Allison Billes
This session will dive into the continuum of tech tools/AT that are essential for students with visual impairments to be able to learn, and considerations for infusing technology skills into in-person instruction.
Strands: Curriculum & Instruction
Learner Outcomes: Participants will learn about assistive technology tools, programs, and strategies for working with Blind and Visually Impaired Students.
Audience: General Education Teachers, Special Education Teachers, Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Handouts: High Tech, Low Tech, Mid Tech, No Tech
Presenter: Brenna Ramos
Visuals: what are they, how do they work, how to implement them, and most of all: the importance of patience and consistency! Visuals can bring magic to your classroom, aiding in more than just a schedule, but to assist with communication, letter exposure, routine, lifeskills and every aspect of your day!
Strands: Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE formerly PPCD) /Early Childhood, Transition
Learner Outcomes: Understand how to create and implement visuals.
Audience: Early Childhood/ECSE (formerly PPCD) Staff
Handouts: The Magic of Visuals
Presenter: Dreena Tischler
Participants will learn how to quickly and easily collect data using Google Forms and QR codes. Data can be taken on most devices including android phones, iPhones, iPads or other devices. This system makes data collection as foolproof as possible and provides percentages of success and failure rates with the stroke of a key. Using forms and QR codes makes it quick and easy for all members of the team. The session will include time for you to practice, ask questions and troubleshoot issues with the presenter and other participants. You will get more from the session if you have your preferred device for setting up forms (laptop, tablet, etc.)and a phone or iPad to capture the QR code. Feel free to have handy some actual student goals and objectives if you wish to.
Strands: Collaboration & Leadership, Curriculum & Instruction
Learner Outcomes: Leave the session with a data collection plan and at least one sample student set up.
Audience: Early Childhood/ECSE (formerly PPCD) Staff, Instructional Specialists/Support Staff, OT/PT and/or APE, Paraeducators, Special Education Teachers
Handouts: Stress-Free Data Collection handout.
Presenter: Jim Walsh
Presenter: Lisa Rukovena
To meet the compliance requirement that schools ensure parents understand what is said in ARD meetings, school-based personnel are often asked to serve as interpreters. However, the teachers, paras, related service providers, front office staff among others who find themselves serving as interpreters rarely receive formal training. This session will fill in the gaps. Participants will learn the basics of appropriate interpretation practices including the interpreter code of ethics.
Strands: Collaboration & Leadership, Communication
Learner Outcomes: Participants will list the ethical expectations of interpreters. Participants will describe the best practices in interpretation.
Audience: Early Childhood/ECSE (formerly PPCD) Staff, General Education Teachers, Instructional Specialists/Support Staff, OT/PT and/or APE, Paraeducators, Special Education Teachers, Speech Language Pathologists, Transition Specialists, Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Presenter: Nichole Kertis
This session will review the importance of and steps for an effective instructional routine for independent early writing. Too often students with significant disabilities are over-supported using pictures, word banks, hand over hand, and other ineffective strategies. Our students must be provided proper instruction to become generative writers! Phonetic spelling (and beyond) is achievable and goes a long way to improve quality of life.
Strands: Curriculum & Instruction
Learner Outcomes: Participants will review typical writing development. Participants will describe an independent early writing instructional routine. Participants will replace old habits with new habits during independent writing.
Audience: Life Skills, Gen Ed Inclusion, Instructional Specialists/Support Staff, OT, AT, Paraeducators, Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Handouts: Ind. Early Writing...
Developmental Writing Scale Assessment (Links to an external site.)
Presenter: Daniel Rigney
This session will explore “Functional Work Tasks.” These activities are based on real world work activities that allow students to develop academic and functional skills. From making “first aid kits” to measuring out grains on a scale, these work tasks are highly engaging and can connect directly to the curriculum. Students can work on measuring skills, counting, literacy, expressive and receptive language, and more with functional work task. Additionally these can be integrated into the school setting to address work-place social skills. This session will cover various work tasks that can be developed, how to structure them to work on academic and practical skills, how to adapt them for group, individual or independent work stations, and creating data taking methods to track progress
Strands: Curriculum & Instruction
Learner Outcomes: Participants will describe several different work skills and how to target them using functional work tasks.
Audience: Early Childhood/ECSE (formerly PPCD) Staff, General Education Teachers, Instructional Specialists/Support Staff, OT/PT and/or APE, Paraeducators, Special Education Teachers, Teachers of the Visually Impaired
Handouts: Functional Work Tasks handout. and Slides