Transitions that challenge

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Transition Differences- Planning-4- Resources for Parents

March 26th, 2007 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

“The more extensive the parent involvement the higher the student achievement”- National PTA

“opportunity and proximity are not enough”- Circle of Friends philosophy

Parent consultation and training is critical in the development of a  strong and balanced approach to parenting the child who is experiencing a challenge educationally or generally. We are very fortunate to have the internet and hundreds of websites to assist us in that training.

The task of learning everything we can about the legal, educational, social, and physical aspects of our child’s life is overwhelming. Self-directed education can be an excellent first step in beginning this journey for parents and staff. 

The resources offered below can be a first step in that self-directed education for parents as well as for staff who are trying to assist parents. This list of links is just the beginning for anyone interested in following through on attaining a more complete information base.

www.chromosome18.org

www. iser.com

excellent overall site for many other links- ie:

parent pals.com, “Links” page 17, “how to become a parent advocate”, www.taalliance.org

www.wrightslaw.com/           law and legal issues

www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/idea2004.html#tools      models forms on the IEP, safeguard notices, prior written notices, etc.

www.nichcy.org/reauth/index.html         IDEA Reauthorization-Dec. 2004 – some subjects considered in this site are: (short list-cross-section)

                                 -assistive technology devise: “devise used to increase, maintain, or improve the funcitional capabilities of a child with a disability and whether the child’s individual education program (IEP) Team determines that the child needs the device in order to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE)”

                                 -”school nurse services” = school nurse

                                 -”school health services”=aide or assistant

                                 -Staff qualifications

                                 -Parent training and Information Centers (PTI)

                                 -Community Parent Resource Center (CPRC)

                                 -Parent Counseling and Training (300.34 (c) (8) (iii) (602 (26) (A) )

                                 -Least Restrictive Environment  (300.114)

                                 -Related Services

                                 -Placement

                                 -Transportation

www.cleceb.org             IDEA Reauthorization

www.ourchildrenleftbehind.com         IDEA Reauthorization

www.specialedconnection.com/LrpSecStorytool/servlet/Get Story? docid=2185133  IDEA Reauthorization

www.picinfo @ parentinformationcenter.org      New Hampshire parent information-general

www.specialedconnection.com       scroll to page 4       -parent support information-general

www.ideapractices.org/                      general ideas to assist students and parent

www.smartedu.net                              general

www.gatfl.org                                       assistive technology

www.coe.jmu.edu/mathadvisor         math assistance

www.paulabliss.com                            general ideas and activities

It is critical that both staff and parents understand the basic rights of all children. The primary tool for those working with children experiencing challenges is IDEA- know  all you can about the Reauthorization – take the time to know the parent’s rights as well as the child’s rights. 

A few websites for “great ideas” to add to your library of fun and educational activities:

www. surpluscdrom.com

www.greatideasforteaching.com

www.enchantedlearning.com

www.starfall.com

www.playhousedisney.com

www.pbs.org

www.nickjr.com

www.sesamestreet.com

Transition Differences-Planning Development 3- Parents

January 31st, 2007 by · No Comments · Sped. transitions

One of the most rewarding aspects of my professional career is that of meeting and working with parents. Our parent partners are the drivers of our educational experience. They offer us the intuition and understanding of their child that only they can bring to the table. We can offer suggestions and methods to enhance the educational experience. However, they are the drivers. Authentic collaboration between both parties is necessary for this journey to be successful.

The past 33 years in supportive collaboration with families have led me to a few basic principles that I currently offer to each new parent I meet. Every parent, regardless of their child’s challenges, has the need for balance and strength in their life. Balance is the primary principle necessary for successful life navigation throughout the parenting years (which last forever I believe).

Balance is a tough goal to achieve for any parent. Schedules are impossible and demands from every quarter will sabotage the most organized parent. However, balance is the main issue for successful, long term  management of family success. The operative phrases here are long term and family success. It is very easy to lose sight of other family members when the focus is placed on specific challenges of one of the members. Frequent hospital trips and Dr.’s appointments can consume energy and time. Special focus on behavorial methods and parent training can be overwhelming and time consuming. The quiet younger or older sibling can be expected to take on more independent roles when parents are busy with helping another sibling. This happens without warning and without family members realizing it is happening. Husbands and wives take on specific roles early on in the management of challenges. In a true partnership, one may become immersed in the care and education of a child while the other will manage the household responsibilities, other child care and overall scheduling. Time management becomes critical and free time disappears.

In discussions with parents, a primary concern is that of time management. Most new parents are exhausted with typical issues of sleep schedules and feeding times. When developmental challenges are added to this mix, critical mass can be reached. It is very difficult to find time for yourself or for others in the family. This is the most important issue- one not to be overlooked. Stress creeps in when you are not looking. Over-worked schedules will lead to stress.  Stress leads to illness. Illness leads to time away from your schedule and on and on. Parents need to watch out for the creep.

Most couples can muster a few weeks or months of this type of schedule but few are successful in pulling it off long term. A balanced approach needs to be found and applied to the family as a unit. It has been my experience in observing parents long term, that those couples who somehow found a balance in their lives were able to offer  successful outcomes for all family members. I say “somehow found” because each family chose a different approach and yet ended up with the same result- long term success.

Each observed family found the balance for them. The definition of balance was different for each family and yet offered similar areas of interest. Centering the entire family was a key element in the success or failure of the family endeavor. A totally inclusive family unit was the first step in reaching their individual balance status. Focusing on the spirit, mind and bodies of each family member was critical for their long term success. Keeping the intimate relationship of the parents alive and well was key to this long term success. Very hard to do when you are exhausted!  Constant encouragment was critical in surviving long term.

Following this  principle of balance would be the principle of strength in numbers. The strength of the family unit will lead to strength of each family member. Parents must get strong- no fragile people allowed in this club!  Parents will get strong by learning about the challenges facing their child. They will  get strong by learning the laws that define programs offered to their children.  They will get strong by participating in all transitions that occur in their child’s academic life. They will get strong by modeling for teachers and support staff what works best for their child and what does not work for their child. They can demonstrate strength by explaining their expectations to the school and medical staff and standing by the explanations. Parents will get strong by learning all they can about the curriculum of their child’s school.  Parents are the ultimate advocate for their challenged child. We, as educators, need to support our parent partners in their journey to develop a strong constitution.  We need to assist our parent partners in their journey to long term family success.

Each of my meetings with new parents ends with gifts. I give them two small  signs. “BALANCE” and “STRENGTH” are those signs. I ask them to place each sign on the fridge so all family members can see them on a daily basis. I ask them to make additional signs to place on the dashboard of their cars so they can see them everytime they drive to school meetings or Dr.’s appointments. I ask them to discuss these principles with the family. I ask them to develop a method for each family member to identify when they are out of “BALANCE” or feeling fragile. One family encouraged their children to remove the “BALANCE” sign from the outside of the fridge and attach it to the milk carton inside the fridge. This simple move created the need for a family meeting and a discussion on how things were going or not going. Any simple management tool will work.

Encourage balance and strength in our families and watch the success follow. Collaborate with our parent partners in anyway possible. Lend a hand in their goal for long term family success.

Transition Differences- Planning development 2-The Contact Person

January 25th, 2007 by · No Comments · Sped. transitions

When developing a system-wide strategy for the transition of young children coming from center-based early childhood programs, it is important to consider both the parents and the receiving public school in the plans.

Initially, the system should identify a contact person who will participate in all community based program transitions. This designated person should be known by all interested parties in the community. Contact name and phone numbers should be available from the system directory. Private community preschools and pediatrician’s offices should be afforded this information as well to insure no missed students.

This contact person should have intimate knowledge of the programs and policies of the system and the receiving and sending schools.  Formal and informal workshops or meetings by the contact person at the community locations can be held yearly (or more often) for all parents and center-based staff to meet the designated public school staff. Face to face meetings help to reduce anxiety and further help to build trust even before the transition begins. Common questions get answered and sending staff gets to know what the receiving programs expectations will be.

 A critical responsibility of the contact person would be to inform the receiving public school about in-coming students who might have additional needs. Early identification of  incoming students will allow the kindergarten staff time to set up accommodations and/or modifications for the students. This early contact will also allow the on-site special education staff to work with the receiving staff and the parents to develop an appropriate transition and educational plan for the in-coming student.

Another important aspect of the contact person’s responsibilities would be that of paving the way with the receiving school’s administration and supporting staff. Getting the administration involved early is key to the success of the transition. It is very helpful, but typically very difficult, to identify the new student’s kindergaten classroom placement. For some reason administration staff are reluctant to identify the receiving classroom. This step could be helpful to the receiving teacher. He/she could prepare for any special needs that might arise and could prepare an accurate  information base about the student in collaboration with the child’s parents well before the child shows up in the class. This accurate information base could then be shared with all support team members in preparation of the introduction of the new student.

A final responsibility of the system-wide contact person would be the sharing of best practices that have been successful with the in-coming student. All successful management methods, teaching techniques, accommodations, and modifications should be clearly identified and shared with the receiving staff. Simply dropping off  an IEP at the office is not sufficient. All cues and clues, tips and tricks, and other ideas for success for this individual student should be shared at this time.  This is also the time for the receiving staff to obtain any necessary training specific to this new student. The contact person should be instrumental in making this happen. This is also the time to insure that all necessary materials and equipment are in place for the new student. The system-wide contact person should insure that the necessary stuff is in place and ready to go.

The role of the system-wide contact person is limited only by ideas and scope of expectations of the system-wide transition team members. I have observed many models with some being much more comprehensive than others. The primary goal of the team should be to have this position in place. The specific guidelines for the position can change and grow with the provider.

Transitions- Timing

January 24th, 2007 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

 One of the primary considerations of a successful transition is that of timing. Details, such as timing, are often overlooked as having a major impact on the successful transition. We can get so caught up in the “meat” of the transition that we forget that timely notification can have a calming effect on all those involved in the transitions.

Timelines for each transition should be a focus of the transition team and should be developed based upon the specifics of the transition whether it be a major change in program and building or a minor change of grade and teacher. This issue should be a team consideration when developing an individual transition plan. Parents looking at a major change in their child’s program will begin to develop concerns much earlier than those who know their child will be in the same location with essentially the same support staff and administrative staff. Appropriate timelines should reflect these changes and be developed accordingly.

How much time to allow for the notification of a transition is a constant source of discussion. It has been my experience  in each building in which  I have worked, that the team has it’s own idea of when people need to be notified. What I have been able to observe over the years is that, in general, when people are prepared and forewarned about an upcoming transition, that transition goes very smoothly. When transitions are rushed or done at the last minute, those transitions can create mistrust and much stress for the family. We can insure failure of a transition by springing it on a family and a team.

Team members will be very be surprised when things don’t go well. The assumption that parents will “get over” a poorly planned, poorly executed transition is a very wrong assumption. This situation will come back to haunt the poorly prepared team. Timing is everything- in all walks of life-an especially in education.  I’m stating the obvious again but my observations offer that the obvious is not always considered.

Transition Differences-Plan development 1

January 11th, 2007 by · No Comments · Sped. transitions

When discussing educational transitions, either in building teams or working independently, it can be very helpful to identify the differences between settings.  When developing a transition plan for a building or trying to develop a system-wide strategy for transitions, it is good practice to describe the differences parents and students will encounter with each move at each level.

Moving from an early intervention program to a public preschool will be a major stressor for parents simply due to the size and all the unknowns lurking at each step. Parent concerns will include how frequently teachers attend to their students. Questions such as: do teachers provide special rewards or back-up activities with positive reinforcers,  what are the consequences of inappropriate behavior or non-compliance, will my child be safe, how far does my child need to walk to the bathroom, will my child walk with others to the bathroom, and  who will be working with my child. The trust issue prevails during this initial transition- this fact should be recognized by the team and be the focus of the transition plan.

The next step in an educational transition is typically between preschool and kindergarten. Parental concerns at this transition point grow to include more technical issues. Points to include in your transition plan are: the physical arrangement of the class and the differences from the preschool  classroom, teacher expectation regarding behavior and performance, the rules and daily routines of the classroom, the daily schedule  and concerns of fatigue of the new students, what self-help skills are expected to be in place before the child enters the classroom, what curriculum is the school following and what are the academic expectations of the teacher and system, what support systems are available to the individual student if needed, and how many adults and students will be in each classroom. These are but a few of the areas to be included.  The developing team would decide the scope of the offering- how general or how specific the information base should become.

The next transition would be into the elementary school population in Grade 1. Presently, with the new educational standards in place, this transition will seem like moving from Mayberry #RFD to New York City. Curriculum is the primary focus for the school but , not necessarily, of the parents. Much parental contact is needed at this point to explain what expectation are in place for the new first graders. Giving the parents a road map  of the coming year can be very helpful. A road map in the form of a copy of the first grade report card has proven to be very helpful to parents who like to know what’s coming. Proactive parents are what we are looking for and this little move could be a huge step in the right direction. I like to reduce the number of surprises in my educational setting- surprises can be fun but not where your child is concerned. Warning parents well in advance of what is expected will cut way down on surprises and even give the parents something positive to work on during the early days of the school year. Parents will be very surprised to learn what their child is expected to learn by June. They will be overwhelmed by what their child didn’t learn in kindergarten.  The prime transition focus here should be parent education on the core curriculum.

Control-a Transition issue

January 8th, 2007 by · 2 Comments · Uncategorized

Stress management researchers identify control, or more specifically- loss of control, as one of the major causes of stress in people and animals. Gail Sheehy, in her book Passages , discusses the adult transitions we all experience throughout our lives. The underlying issue throughout her book is how we all handle transitions. We have a difficult time with life transitions but we experience much more difficulty with unexpected or unplanned transitions-such as a sudden death of a family member. We experience anger, depression, high anxiety, and many other serious health issues related to the sudden change.—

It is not difficult to make the link from these life passages to all transitions and apply the same thought process about loss of control  in our lives.  The impact of a unplanned or unexpected transition might not be as significant as a death in the family- but the impact is real and will effect how we behave and respond in certain situations. 

When the principal shows up at our door with a new student from Holland with no warning, we might become a tad stressed and wonder why more warning was not offered. When an IEP meeting is held and we are brought in at the last moment without any preparation- we might wonder why more warning was not offered. When a TEAM meeting was held informally and you, the parent, were not invited- you might become a little upset when you learn that decisions were made- loss of control is the thread that runs throughout these stress producing  situations.  How we behave is shaped by how much we participated in these transitions. Something as basic as how much we are valued in our environment can be effected by how much or how little we are allowed to control our environment.

Best practices suggests that perhaps, those of us in charge of making decisions for others try to include those that we impact – try to cut down on the stress of a transition so as to make the situation more user friendly. We need to keep people informed as much as possible before a transition happens. Try to reduce the feeling of loss of control as much as possible. Don’t allow unexpected transition to occur. Take time to think things through. Think how this transition would effect you if suddenly you were confronted with change.  We need to include people to empower people. We want to interact with empowered people. Positive outcomes flow from positive beginnings. We can insure difficulty when we become stress producers.

Awareness of the importance of positive transitions makes us better teachers and better professionals. Loss of control in ones life and environment is a bad thing- let’s all work to be stress reducers rather then stress producers.

Transition -Best Practices

January 5th, 2007 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

For the past 32 years, I have been transitioning families and students from early intervention programs into the public school arena as well as helping families determine the most appropriate placement for their students in special needs classrooms at the elementary and middle school levels. Programs come and go- students come and go- but the importance of timely and user friendly transitions remains paramount in the success of all students and their families.

I will offer what has worked best for me in the next few postings and hope that readers will add to this list with individual practices and critical activities that have helped them in their specific transitions in the school environment.

First and foremost, in the initial stage of any transition, is the family. Families need full disclosure of plans and placements with each transition considered. Families need to be the critical focus of the transition and be able to participate in the planning of the transition from the very beginning. Most programs fail when the parent is not considered a partner in each and every process.  Trust is developed when a true partnership is formed and each party to the patnership feels a true sense of ownership in the process. Early contact between parents and staff is critical to lessen anxiety when a transition is coming. Reducing anxiety is a good thing for all involved in this process. Complete transparentcy is also a good thing which helps to instill a stronger feeling of trust between the players. Transitions are very complicated happenings. To treat a transition as a secondary event is to insure trouble in the future.

Collaborative planning is not new. The intent of  IDEA, the earlier 94-142 and Mass. Chapter 766 was to develop an inclusion process for a team of people concerned about a  child. At the very core of this process is the family in transition from a no-service model to an individually tailored model of services to help both the family and child understand the need for accommodations or modifications. The collaborative idea is lost when parents are told what the model will be without input or concern. An opportunity to develop trust is lost and the sure to follow rocky road is just around the corner when collaboration is not a focus of the team.

Most of these practices may seem to be obvious and simple common sense, however, it has been my experience that the obvious is seldom considered. Successful programs just don’t happen- a lot of common sense is involved- along with a lot of collaboration.

The details of each transition are critically important. To leave any detail to chance is to insure mistrust in one’s ability to carry out the reported plan with any degree of success. Developing critical activities around each issue is a good practice to insure that all details are addressed. Task analysis of the process will determine what the main issues of a specific transition will include. Taking time to develop an activity around each issue is strongly recommended. These activities will be determined by the grade level of the student and how significant the transition will be. Moving from early intervention to public pre-k is a huge transition with many fears attached for the parents. It is very scary to put a 3 year old on a bus to go off to school-especially if that 3 year old is non-verbal or non-ambulatory. So the transition process for this group should include many critical activities to help lessen the parent’s fears. 

Planning a transition from pre-k to kindergarten is also a major area of concern but will bring new fears and issues that needs to be addressed. Considering a break-down of daily activities in and around the classroom, locations of bathroom and cafeteria, road maps of the curriculum should occur in a very organized, collaborative manner. This critical activity could be shared at kindergarten registration or individual meetings with parents before the summer break- yes I do believe we should meet more, not less, with parents around any number of issues- it has been my experience that parents want to help , not hinder, their child’s progress and will rise to occasion if given a chance at an authentic collaboration.

Each school I have worked in has different groups or teams of professional staff to address reading issues, safety issues, math programs etc. This is considered best practice for the success of the areas of concern because each member will develop ownership in their committee  and work to insure it’s success.  I suggest that each building should also have a planning team of professionals to develop a transition policy for each student level- pre-k through 4- or whatever grade level the building services.–The critical activities list for this idea is very long but not impossible to accomplish– I have many suggestions for these lists but that is for another blog– and remember- the inclusion of parents on this planning team is paramount.

Successful transitions don’t just happen. Hard work and critical thinking will lead to attaining the goals of a successful transition not the least being a smooth, seamless adjustment of the family and their child to a new educational environment.

Transition Issues

January 3rd, 2007 by · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

We will be writing about issues concerning all who are involved in the transition of students from grade to grade and program to program within the public school environments-

new blogger

December 14th, 2006 by · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

Presently participating in a blogging workshop- first posting-