Resources for Mandated School Closures

We know that this is a crazy time for everyone with the mandated school closures, but we wanted to reach out to your team to continue offering our services. MCESC is still open for business and the Autism & Low-Incidence Coaching Team continues to be available for on-going coaching. Of course, this can change based on government mandates, as this is a rapidly changing event, but we wanted to provide some resources to help you during this time. 

Ongoing Referral Coaching: If you currently have an active individual or classroom referral, we would be happy to meet in-district, through phone conference, or virtual (web-based) conferencing to discuss current progress and to provide additional coaching to support remote learning.  

ACT Lending Library: We have a large array of professional books and curriculums that we would be happy to loan you if you are interested in reading up during the next few weeks. 

OCALI Lending Library: OCALI has an array of books and equipment available for loan. Most are at no cost to the patron and are shipped directly to you. For more information visit their site: https://www.ocali.org/project/lending_library

Commercial Online Professional Development: There are a variety of online resources for continuing professional development. Many of these opportunities are free and may only require individuals to create a log-in! Our favorite resources include:

• Autism Internet Modules (AIM): https://autisminternetmodules.org/

• Autism Focused Internet Resource Modules (AFIRM): https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/  

• AbleNet University: https://www.ablenetinc.com/resources/live_webinars

• OCALI ASD Training and Professional Development: https://www.ocali.org/project/asd_training_pd

• OCALI Autism Certification Center: https://autismcertificationcenter.org/ 

• Remote Learning Assistance from N2Y (must have subscription): https://www.n2y.com/

ACT Online Professional Development: If you are unable to find what you are looking for online, contact us! We would be happy to provide an online webinar for your district based on your needs. Please contact us for our list of topics. 

Resources Shared on Facebook: We are continually updating and sharing resources on our Facebook page to provide free materials, social stories, information about remote learning, and any additional guidance we can find!

As always, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the ACT team if you have any questions or concerns and we would be happy to help you problem-solve! 

2018 ALIST Inductees

It is with great pleasure that we have recognized and inducted 7 new members into the Miami Valley Autistm/Low-Incidence Coaching Team’s “A-LIST”. Our A-LIST stands for Autism-Low Incidence Support Team and is comprised of a regional network of select professionals who exhibit “best practices” in serving the needs of students who have autism or other complex, low incidence disabilities.

Our A-LIST began in 2012 in an effort to recognize outstanding individuals who had exceeded the high expectations of our coaching process, and who represented the best that our region had to offer to students with disabilities. Only a fraction of of the educators we coach each year are nominated. The A-LIST truly represents the BEST professionals in our region.

The goal of the Miami Valley Autism Coaching Team is to build the capacity of our region’s administrators, teachers, intervention specialists, related service providers, and paraprofessionals to serve children with autism and other complex disabilities. The A-LIST serves a critical role in that mission by maintaining a multi-disciplinary network of outstanding practitioners across all 6 counties we serve. We often refer our coaching teams to our A-LIST members for practical, “in the trenches” perspectives, advice, and occasional modeling of best practices.

The 2018 ALIST Inductees include:

Karyn Smith
Intervention Specialist
Tri-Village High School
Tri-Village School District

Heather Costa
Speech and Language Pathologist
Bradford Elementary and Tri-Village High School
Darke County ESC

Keelin DiMuccio
Intervention Specialist
Fairbrook Elementary
Beavercreek City School District

Megan Gilley
Occupational Therapist
Fairbrook Elementary
Beavercreek City School District

Brittany Sword
Intervention Specialist
Valley Elementary
Beavercreek City School District

Jackie Vollmer
Intervention Specialist
Driscoll Elementary
Centerville City Schools

Kelly Sewell
1st Grade Teacher
Kleptz Early Learning Center
Northmont City Schools

Organization Station-- Collecting Data

When we are out in our districts, many teams are curious about how to collect data. We have seen a variety of different systems and find that different approaches work for different teams. In today's Organization Station, we will be focusing on different methods for collecting data to hopefully give our readers some ideas!

To hold data, many teams have clipboards for each student. They may have multiple pages of data for different areas or all of the student's goals may be listed on one page. This is a great system especially if the data needs to travel with the student to be tracked in various locations.

Example of Multiple Goals on One Sheet
Laura Brown
Perrin Woods Elementary, Springfield

Example of One Goal Per Sheet
Laurie Maravetz
Schaefer Middle School, Springfield 

Example of Scatter Plot Behavior Data
Lisa Bauer
Northmont Middle School, Northmont

Other teams use binders to hold all of the student's important information and data.

Rachel Hatton
Normandy Elementary, Centerville

Many binder systems also incorporate color-coding to make the system easily accessible to grab what is needed at first glance.

Jennifer Jette
Vandalia-Butler High School, Vandalia-Butler

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

The Intervention Specialist on our team, Allison Officer, also used binders for each student. A quick overview of her binder system is below:

Cover

Communication Log for staff members to share notes and request additional data sheets

The front of each binder included any important documents for staff to reference as needed. The IEP at a Glance was a great tool for reminding staff what the goals and objectives for each student were to keep in mind when working on skills and taking data.

IEP at a Glance

If the student had additional important documents such as a medical or behavior plan those were included next:

Medical Plan and Behavior Plan Flowchart

Then, there was a section for each academic area covered on the IEP. Each section had a binder tab pocket for work samples. These work samples were sent home at the end of each quarter with the student's progress report. Behind each tab, were the progress monitoring sheets specific to each skill being monitored. 

On the back cover of each binder, Allison included a cheatsheet providing more information about the student in an informal way. This was a great resource for new staff members or substitutes. 

At the end of each quarter, work samples would be collected to go home and data sheets were collected for the data to be tallied. Allison stapled the completed data sheets to a cover page each quarter. These packets were saved as the students educational records. The cover sheet helped organize the progress report process and provided a place to record any information to share with classroom and related service staff members. 

Also keep in mind that data collection doesn't need to be complicated! Below we have featured some of our favorite simple sheets:

This teams data sheet is a copy of the student's sensory folder. Staff circles each icon if the student chooses that sensory support. The data is used to determine the student's sensory preferences.

Lisa Bauer
Northmont Middle School, Northmont

This team also collects data on how often a student attempts or refuses to engage in adult-directed tasks. This simple list system makes calculating percentages for each day easy!

Lisa Bauer
Northmont Middle School, Northmont

Here is another great example of an IEP at a Glance. We love this single page format and simple breakdown of objectives.

Brian Frimel

ALIST Spotlight--Gail Wright, Eastmont Elementary

Today we would like to shine our ALIST spotlight on the lovely Gail Wright at Eastmont Elementary in Dayton Public Schools!

We love Gail because she is kind and nurturing with her students, works well with her paraprofessionals, and excels with limited resources. She is an advocate for students and leader for colleagues and we are happy to have her as one of our Autism and Low Incidence Support Team (ALIST) members!

In her classroom, Gail has many evidence-based practices in place. She works on Self-Management Skills through incorporating Zones of Regulation and creating a calming environment using colored curtains.

She also uses the evidence-based practice of Visual Supports to communicate expectations to students including class-wide and individualized visual schedules,

classroom jobs,

desk reminders,

and hallway reminders.

We want to thank Gail for being such a great example for fellow DPS teachers and teachers around the Miami Valley! Also a big thank you for welcoming us into her classroom. It is a pleasure to work with you!

Taskbox Time-- Incorporating Interests

Structured Work Systems are a great way to work on students completing tasks more independently. One way to make Structured Work Systems more motivating is through incorporating interests into the taskbox activities. This week's Taskbox Time is dedicated to taskboxes that incorporate student interests. 

Many students love animals. There are a variety of tasks that can be made incorporating animals.

Count out designated number of lion erasers

Package animal figurines in tupperware

Angry Birds Counting Cards
Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

Match animal erasers

Match Blues Clues Memory Cards

Match small and large teddy bear calendar pictures

Some students have an intense interest in coins.

Match coin to purchasing card and place in baggy

Coin sorting

These taskboxes were created for a female student who loved to play dress up.

Packaging necklaces in boxes

Sort hair accessories

Many students love to play with Legos.

Sort Legos by shape

Build Lego person given visual model.

Some students love celebrating holidays. We love these seasonal taskboxes.

candy cane beading
Robbie Whorton
Trotwood-Madison High School, Trotwood

package Easter fidgets in Easter eggs

Here are several additional special interests tasks:

package dinosaur figurines in Tupperware

Preferred environmental print matching

Match small and large weather pattern calendar pictures

We love some of these ideas from around the internet!

Matchbox car name sequencing
FrugalFun4Boys

McDonald's french fry counting out designated set
Breezy Special Ed

Interests can also be incorporated to the Structured Work System through labeling bins with preferred icons such as Disney Princesses, animals, or in the example below Bengals Football.

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg