Special Education Newsletter

May 2017

Teacher/Staff Appreciation
Just a quick note to thank each of you for all that you do for our students. I recognize the many challenges that you face daily, yet you return each morning with a smile and resolve which keeps us going. Thank you for your dedication.
Parent Meeting – Summary
In April we had our parent meeting with Dr. Kotrba. She is an excellent presenter – full of great suggestions. She had offered resources below:

Childhood Anxiety: Dr. Aimee Kotrba, Thriving Minds Behavioral Health

  • Bellybio – app that teaches deep breathing
  • - resources for anxiety
  • Mindshift – app that supports teens and young adults with anxiety
  • Positive Penguin - an app to teach you how to catch your thinking and challenge it to be more optimistic, resilient and mindful
  • What to Do When You Worry Too Much by Huebner
  • Freeing your Child From Anxiety by Chansky
  • Anxious Kids, Anxious Parent by Wilson

Spring Staff Meetings: Mis-Match/Articulation
  • May 15 Middle School RR
  • AM = Mis-Match
  • PM = Meet with High School to Articulate (11:30-2:30) GOC
  • May 15 High School RR
  • AM = Mis-Match
  • PM = Meet with Middle School to Articulate (11:30-2:30) GOC
  • May 22 Elementary RR
  • AM = Mis-Match
  • PM = Meet with Middle School to Articulate (11:30-2:30) GOC
  • May 22 Middle School RR
  • AM = Mis-Match
  • PM = Meet with Elementary to Articulate (11:30-2:30) GOC
  • May 30 Ancillary
  • AM (9-12) = Articulation - MMS Team Room
  • ECC to Elementary
  • Elementary to Middle
  • Middle School to High School

Staff Updates
  • Congratulations Sue Hillman – enjoy retirement!
  • Well wishes to Kelly Fabian and Julie Burdick on your next endeavors!

Medicaid – Billing Reminder
  • Continue to submit all open and missing reports to ensure that our district receives the needed reimbursement dollars.
  • All Missing/Open reports must be resolved before you exit in June.

IEPs
  • Goals must be measurable – resources can be found on intranet.
  • Plan ahead for 2017-2018 by taking into account the grade, program and services needed for students transitioning.
  • Review IEP program/services, especially at the secondary level, to ensure that our program times are fully implemented when semester two begins.
  • ALL IEPs are expected to be forwarded to the special ed office immediately after completion.

Staffing Updates – Postings
Our district job fair is March 11, 2017 – share with those you know looking to join SLCS.
  • Teacher for Emotionally Impaired CMS – Interviews Completed
  • Teacher for Cognitively Impaired CMS – Interviews to be Scheduled
  • School Social Workers – Interviews being conducted
  • .5 Section 504 Elementary - posted
  • .5 Section 504 Secondary - posted

Opportunities
  • Each summer our district provides a summer experience for students with IEPs grades K-8. If you are interested in working these extra hours, please call the special education office.
  • If you are interested in providing daily care services to secondary students during the summer, please let me know. I will be creating a list of interested persons to share with parents.

Web Resources
Only briefly reviewed and looks interesting…..

Building Resilience:

Social-Emotional Intelligence:

Differentiation:

Online Tools to Scaffold Work for Struggling Readers and Writers

  • Rewordify - A text compactor that simplifies and shortens readings;
  • Newsela - Articles on current topics can be adjusted to five different Lexile levels by sliding a bar on the right, includes comprehension questions;
  • Tween Tribune from the Smithsonian - Similar to Newsela, adjustable to four Lexile levels, with audio versions for additional support;
  • Comprehension Bookmarks readers who are struggling with a complex text;

For academic writing, here’s a word bank of transitions: an essay structure graphic: and sentence frames