The Special Edge 1/11/2022

From Special Programs Office

January 12^th – tomorrow, Wednesday – will be our second Educator Network Day (END’s). Certified Staff will need to attend. All sessions will be virtual with one exception, the OPTIONAL Inclusion EA session.

ELEM Learning Specialist: Facilitated by Britni Mason, Matty McDermott, Samantha Bushnell

• 1:30- 3:00 PM
• Location: https://bls.webex.com/meet/britni.mason
• Topic: Data Collection and IEP Goals

MS Learning Specialist: Facilitated by Haley Gembarowski

• 3:15 – 4:30 PM
• Location: https://bls.webex.com/meet/haley.gembarowski
• Topic: BRYT/SPED Intersection Lessons Learned, Data Collection Tools

HS Learning Specialist: Facilitated by Erin Berg

• 2:30 – 3:45 PM
• Location: https://bls.webex.com/meet/erin.berg
• Topic: Supported Decision Making, Transition Assessments, What is the 18-21 program?

Speech Pathologist: Facilitated by Carrie Deaver

• 1:15-3:15 PM
• Location: https://bls.webex.com/meet/carrie.deaver
• Topic: OSHA Review

School Psychologist: Facilitated by Jill McKae

• 1:30-3:00 PM
• Location: https://bls.webex.com/meet/jill.mckae
• Topic: Revisit MTSS and IPS systems

New Hires (Elementary ONLY)

• 1:30- 2:30 PM
• Location: https://bls.webex.com/meet/sara.young
• Topic: Synergy and Progress Monitoring

Inclusion EA’s – OPTIONAL – IN-PERSON (Your Learning Specialist can determine if you need to attend).
(Group size will be less than 15 staff and mitigation measures will be followed)

• Elem: 1:30- 3:00 PM, HS 2:30-4:00 PM, MS: 3:00-4:30 PM
• Location: HDMS Media Center
• Topic: Boardmaker Training
• Sign Up in Performance Matters!
• Supplies Needed:
• Computer
• Boardmaker login (you will need to get this from your supervising teacher, they are shared)
• The most recent version Boardmaker 7 downloaded
• Boardmaker downloaded onto their computer (Directions on how to download here)
• A student in mind!

From Shannon Watters

1. Progress Reports:

Just wanted to get this out to everyone as we are nearing Progress Reporting time. 

1. 1. It would be best to start progress reports using Chrome, rather than Firefox.  We are still getting reports of an error stating another user is making changes.  Hopefully, the fix is coming in the patch that will be installed later this week. Progress Report cheat sheet
   2. Some reminders:
      1. All students receive a progress report. 
      2. It is up to each school/Case Manager to get them distributed.  
      3. Progress Reports are available in ParentVue.
2. Personal Goal Library
3. 1. Synergy has the capability for you to save your goals to a library, so they can be access at a later time.  This allows you to tweak previously used goals rather than have to create new goals each time.  Personal Goal Library cheat sheet

Please reach out if you have any questions or difficulties!

From Sean Reinhart

The National Down Syndrome Society and Down Syndrome Education International are thrilled to announce the availability of a new resource for enhancing inclusive education for students with Down syndrome.
Down Syndrome: Guidelines for Inclusive Education aims to improve the development and educational outcomes for individuals with Down syndrome from birth to adult life by providing educators, therapists, early interventionists, parents, and school districts with a guide to evidence-based practices. The publication is available for free on the NDSS website (https://www.ndss.org/inclusive-education-guidelines/). 

Please help spread the word to families, local schools and districts to ensure teachers, administrators, and parents have the most up-to-date research and best practices to support students with Down syndrome.