St. Maries Special Education Board Report

St. Maries Special Education Board Report

April Report

• Our Special Education teachers are completing training modules to attain certification to administer the national alternate test to students in our district who qualify. These assessments were developed by the National Center and State Collaborative based on alternate achievement standards. I was able to work on national committees last summer in Atlanta and Tampa where we cleared test items of bias and sensitivity problems. We will begin this pilot test with our students next week.
• Preschool is having transition and ESY determinationmeetings over the next two months for IEP students who will be going to Kindergarten next year. We are also starting the exit anchor testing to determineEarly ChildhoodOutcome rankingsfor each of those students as well.
• I was able to purchase and donate two adult-size Schwinn tricycles for students at the high school to use in their fitness classes. John Hughes donated two helmets, a security lock and a free maintenance check on the bikes. These will be used by students with disabilities who are limited in their ability to participate in typical P.E. games and sports.
• April is National Autism Awareness month and you are probably reading news and hearing reports about how prevalent this disability has become. National studies reflect that 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with autism. The following website has posted a training video to promote global awareness for autism. It is available for everyone who wants to learn more about autism and the things they can do to screen young children.
• New insights into the developing brain are emerging— with staggering implications for early intervention efforts. Researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have created a high-resolution map of the human brain in utero

Through a series of genetic tests conducted on fetal brain tissue, investigators were able to note which genes were turned on and off— assisting them in determining which types of cells were present at specific points in the brain and what those cells were doing. The map derived from this information has made way for some landmark discoveries. Ed Lein, a key investigator notes that "many genes associated with brain disorders are turned on early in development, which suggests that these disorders may have their origins from these very early time points." Of particular note, the map has shown that genes associated with autism appear to be acting on a specific type of brain cell in a part of the brain called the neocortex. That suggests "we should be looking at this particular type of cell in the neocortex, and that we should probably be looking very early in the prenatal stages for the origin of autism."