Leeds Grenville Lanark Special Needs Reference Group

Minutes

Wednesday May 22, 2013, 11:00 – 1:00

UCDSB Office

231 Highway 29, Frankville

Present: Marg Fancy, Nancy Holman, Gillian Jackson, Heather Bovey, Sara Lamoureux, Cam Mather, Shannon Brown, Margaret van Beers

Regrets: Teri Mullins, Paula Perrault, Karen moore, Leah Fournier

Agenda Item / Discussion Notes / Action Items
Review of October 31, 2012, minutes
Geography: / Margaret Fancy has had conversations with Monique Gunn, the CMSM (Municipal Children’s Services Manager) for Cornwall, who chairs a special needs group for Stormont-Dundas Glengarry. We wanted to reach out to her as these counties are also in the UCDSB and CDSBEO area.
/ ACTION: Margaret van Beers will follow up with Monique to see whether she is interested in attending or connecting to our group
Nancy update – There are, and have been many professional learning opportunities for teachers, administrators, DECEs and system staff as we prepare for FDK in all UCDSB schools. FDK hub work continues to promote strong conversations. Our focus for next year is supporting strategies for self-regulation. / INFORMATION
Web Folders / One of this group’s first efforts was to work with the 2 boards to have a web folder for staff with resources. Should this resource be pursued? It was agreed that it would not need to be pursued since there are now many resources readily available each board:
Gillian – Red Flags, Checkered Flags are in all schools. Each board is working on resource supports.
CCAC also has many supports on-line. / ACTION: Group agreed to drop this as an activity
Business Arising / Open Doors – Children’s Mental Health agency for Lanark. They have a new ECE position. Margaret has connected with Karen Moore through e-mail. The focus is on a mental health perspective. / ACTION:
We will allow for discussion on this when Karen Moore is able to attend a meeting
Info sharing/agency updates / CCAC – Mental health and addiction nurses are now working in consultation with schools. This is a part of the early identification of children and youth with mental addictions. UCDSB hired through South Each CCAC. Catholic board hired through Champlain. RN/RPN model in CDSB. Currently majority of referrals are coming from CHEO psychiatry. Focus is on transition component to get students into home school. They are moving towards a school/community referral process. The program is still in its infancy and is a work in process.
-CCAC now has a rapid response nurse program. There is a pediatric nurse that will be tagged for a paediatric program in the Champlain CCAC area (Cam) to support transition from hospital care to school/community care. / INFORMATION
Term of the Chair / Margaret has been chairing since the group was formed (2 years). Discussion about term of a chair position –1 or 2 years. It was agreed that it would be a 2 year term and then a review.
Is there anyone interested in taking on the role? It was agreed to extend the opportunity to people beyond those in attendance today.
Margaret will carry on for the time being but we will revisit in September. It is important to rotate the chair position. / ACTION:
Margaret will put together information regarding what the position entails and send out to the group.
Leah, Tom – Tracking re: modified day requests/children asked not to attend (deferred from May meeting) / The goal was to track the number of children who are asked not to attend or who are on a modified day. Are there things we can do to support these students and families? Both school boards would be able to gather this information. Specific information is for students who are asked not to attend a full day (not students who do not attend full day at parental request). How many students are not coping at school and are on a modified day? Is there a plan in place to bring the student back to a full day? Is there a protocol/awareness of community partners that could provide additional supports for the family? There is the Red Flags document, however, this can be an overwhelming document.
The group would like numbers to reflect the past school year and a few case studies. This will fit in with transition planning for all students with IEPs with the new PPM for September 2014. What supports does the community need to put in place to support the schools? / ACTION:
Heather and Nancy will connect to determine questions. Include geographic locations.
ACTION:
Heather Nancy will follow up on how to gather this information (without names.)
Update: transition into kindergarten efforts / There is a lot going on to support transition to kindergarten in our three counties. Welcome to Kindergarten programs are wrapping up in both boards. This year was the first year when both school boards offered W2K in all schools, and the Best Start Networks palnned with the boards to offer one Best Start rep at each W2K, who represented the full range of community services for families with young children.
History/Background (Marg):
- Gan pilot (now called “West Leeds Transition to Kindergarten Project) an early spin-off of the work of this group
-Our group started with the goal of supporting children with special needs successfully transitioning into kindergarten and successful transitions for families.
- Engaged in a pilot with schools. Able to secure funding through student support leadership initiative. 3 schools (St. Joesphs, Linklater, TIES) agreed to be a part of the pilot). Principals worked together with community partners. Strategies for meaningful parental engagement were discussed. A key piece was the involvement of community partners in transitioning. Four pieces: enhanced kindergarten registration (community partners involved and common messaging with parents), week long Step into Kindergarten program (ECEs contracted for the week), looked at curriculum, surveys of parents, teachers, service providers was put together. This pilot has been going on for 2 years.
- Partners have used pilot to experiment, learn and build relationships, with a view to moving to board wide initiatives (current W2K work across boards)
- There is a capacity issue for community agencies to be able to respond to the number of schools in particular areas (Mike Kennedy has provided data to group that has been very valuable for planning). Each community group cannot attend all Welcome to Kindergarten sessions – divide up the sessions between the community groups. Groups speak about “children’s services” in general at the sessions rather than only for the one organization represented.
Key message from Principals for this year was that registration was to be separate from Welcome to Kindergarten events. A parent resource was created by community partners.
www.learningpartnerships.ca – describes components of Welcome to Kindergarten.
/ INFORMATION
Where do we want to go next? / Discussion around continued relevance of our mandate – when/how/whether we should connect with other groups/initiatives.
South East CCAC is looking at transition planning for students transitioning out of school.
Jen McMaster is hosting a day with community partners on June 12 at SGDHS from 9-12.
Nancy and Gillian shared Thresholds community partner sharing session that took place in Leeds and Grenville earlier this year. LRTs and LRCs from schools attended session to hear about supports of community partners.
FDK Group: Best Start Chairs, Children’s Services Managers for LGL and SDG, School Board reps meet to discuss issues around FDK.
Tri-County Autism Services group - Gillian and Margaret are part of this group.
Discussion: Should we continue with the current structure? Are we comfortable with keeping the mandate of transitioning into Kindergarten for children with special needs? There was a lot of discussion. Consensus was that the Kindergarten focus is still very valuable and should continue.
The UCDSB focus for next year will include an added focus on transitions and IEPs.
System staff need to be aware of the community partners and connect in a proactive manner.
Shannon – The focus has been on the child, however, the parents are also an important focus. How can the Early Years Centre help with this? The Early Years Centre is open to opportunities to support families of students with special needs.
Discussion on use of common language: for example,
“Family Centred Care” is the language used by community partners. “Parent Engagement” is the language used by School Boards.
Possibility, invite community partners to an LRC/LRT session (carousel approach) September 20 LRC/LRT day. The group was receptive. . .
Next Steps:
We will continue with meeting 2 times per year.
Review modified day data in the Fall.
Invite people to bring their brochures and go around next meeting each person discuss the mandates of their group. / ACTION:
Continue with our current mandate and TOR, and continue to be open to meaningful linkages/alignment with other work
ACTION:
Nancy will need to look into this further and get back to the group
Date for next meeting: / TBD