Presenters: Cynthia Curry, MLTI Statewide Integration Mentor

 

Schools are striving to implement Response to Intervention (RtI) in meaningful ways. As a tiered approach to support student achievement and prevent failure, teaching and learning technologies must be appropriately purposed. In this session, Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) for achieving Universal Design for Learning (UDL) will be demonstrated and purposed as tools for Tier 1 (core instruction for all students).

 

Presenters: Mary Thornton-Vogel, Senior Occupational Therapist, Spurwink

                    Nicole Boivin, Senior Program Director of Education, Spurwink

 

This session will provide a practical overview of the development and levels of self-regulation and its impact on the students’ availability for learning. Specific strategies to address the sensory, motor and language systems will be presented in the context of self regulation.

 

Presenters: Barbara Gunn, Director, Southern Penobscot Regional Program

                    Renee Perron, Program Coordinator, Southern Penobscot Regional Program

 

This workshop will examine the Southern Penobscot Regional Program’s use of the SWIS (School-Wide Information System) program in their date collection. Demonstration of SWIS can provide individual data for use in FBA/BIP development will be provided. In addition, the use of SWIS to collect data related to the use of Time-Out and Restraint.

 

Presenter: David Lennox, Ph.D., President, QBS

 

The use of physical restraint is often considered a necessary intervention for very dangerous behaviors. Even so, the use of restraint should be avoided as often as possible and, unfortunately is sometimes used when unnecessary. To this end, recent federal legislation has been enacted and many educational and professional associations have established position papers to ensure that physical restraint is used only when necessary, used by trained paraprofessionals, and thoroughly analyzed to reduce or prevent its use. This presentation will briefly review key points of the legislation and critical positions on the use of restraint. In addition, a behavior analysis of the use of restraint by educational and treatment professionals will be provided, which will illustrate the many reasons restraint is used, some of which have little to do with the dangerousness of the behavior. The importance of tracking and analyzing trends not only in the target behaviors of students, but also for the trends in restraint use across individual staff and individual students will be discussed.

 

Presenters: Cynthia Curry, MLTI Statewide Integration Mentor

                    Barbara Greenstone, MLTI Statewide Integration Mentor

                    Ann Marie Quirion Hutton, Apple Professional Development Specialist

 

Students who are nonverbal or have difficulty with speech commonly use low tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. Several applications on the state’s MLTI laptops can be used to create customized communication boards in the form of images with text, and the Mac’s built-in speech will read the text aloud. Additional applications can be used to organize images and photos that are relevant to specific or multiple contexts. These same applications and processes can be used to accomplish any multimodal teaching and learning objective.

 

Presenter: Meredith Tassey Verrill, Special Education Teacher, Bonny Eagle Middle School

 

This presentation will look at the hands on approaches we are using to incorporate a variety of skills into the curriculum for students with intensive needs. Through grant writing and community support and the minimal funding of special education budget, we have been able to move the environment of our classroom from a passive to an active hands on learning experience. Through worm composting, a seed business, raised rainbow gardens, and cooking project. These enable our students to transfer the skills learned in the classroom to the real world. The sense of pride and skills we are able to incorporate has decreased students’ behavior and increased time on task, productivity and the inquiry process for students with significant disabilities. Participants will be able to leave with curriculum materials, resources, adaptive equipment list and a framework for projects to be aligned to the Maine Learning Results as well as goals and objectives for math, social studies, science, language arts, occupational therapy and communication.

Presenters:   Audrey O’Clair, Literacy Consultant

                    Carrie Thurston, Special Education Director, Freeport

                    Dr. Timothy Rogers, School Psychologist

 

As we all know, when children enter school behind they tend to stay behind. In order to reduce the number of students entering school below the standard, MSAD #3 took action with an innovative Response to Intervention. Kindergarten Jumpstart is a 100 hour summer program piloted in 2008 for incoming kindergarten students at risk of reading failure as determined by K screening. Each subsequent year the program has tripled in size. Data supports the program with the vast majority of graduates meeting and exceeding district benchmarks in literacy. Students who were screened in the bottom 10% are showing performance in the top 10% after program completion and also when assessed 18 months after the program. The program has also served as a fast track to services for students who continue to need Tier 1 or Tier 2 intervention. KJS uses a multi sensory approach to teaching letter names and letter sounds while exposing children to rich literature. Intensity, rigor, and a love of reading are the cornerstones of the KJS philosophy. The presentation will outline the program’s history and give participants a clear understanding of how to make this an opportunity for the children of their district in order to ensure “No Child Starts Behind.”

 

 

Presenter: Deb Dimmick, Division Manager ALLTech

 

Assistive technology and AIM are required to be considered for all students who have Individual Education Plans. Time restraints and distance sometimes make the consideration and implementation difficult or impossible. This session will outline how ALLTech is able to provide these services via the Internet. Join us for a live demonstration of an ALLTech “virtual” experience.

 

 

 

Presenter: Jonathan Kimball, Ph.D.

 

This workshop presents information for parents, educators, and administrators to foster positive and supportive transitions for children with special needs who are entering Kindergarten. The presentation will include data collected during the last year through a project designed to survey and train stakeholders (public schools, special purpose preschools, parents and Child Development Services). This project is generously funded through IDEA Discretionary Funds and administered by the Maine Department of Education. Content focuses on identify roles and responsibilities of partners during transitions as well as regulatory considerations and recommended practices. Participants will receive a “transition binder” which promotes communication between stakeholders and provides a timeline for transition activities. Additional materials provided are electronic files and online resources within a flash drive (included in the binder).

 

Presenters: Patrick F. Moore, Ph.D., Director of Special Services, MSAD #75

                    Frances Ryan, DHHS, Childrenss Services

                    Dennis Grannis, Phoenix, Sweetser

 

Wraparound Maine was established in 2007 to implement a flexible statewide system of care based on the ten principles of wraparound. These principles align well with current school reform efforts and the restructuring of special education programs. This workshop will address some of the opportunities and some of the barriers to implementing workable school – wraparound partnerships using a simple social systems perspective. A panel discussion of the experience of SAD #75 and the Sagadahoc Wraparound Collaborative will be highlighted as a successful work in progress of a school-wraparound partnership.

 

 

 

Presenter: Debra McIntyre, TEC Staff

                  Lynn Gitlow, Director of the Technical Exploration

 

While assistive technology can be beneficial for students with disabilities, on of the biggest barriers to its use is lack of knowledge of the full range of low to high tech options available to help students with disabilities. This presentation will provide participants with an overview of a continuum of AT options for students with disabilities.

 

 

 

Presenter: Paula Leavitt, Co-Director of Special Education, RSU #10

                  Heidi McGinley, Project Director, RTI Support System Project

 

The presenters are beginning the second year of a K-12 RTI implementation pilot project in RSU #10 and RSU #38 funded with a Maine Department of Education IDEA discretionary grant. Learn how special and regular educators are working together to design and implement RTI in RSU #10, and how we’re approaching using RTI as a pre-referral system.

 

 

 

Presenters: Kathy Adams, OTR/L, ATP, Maine CITE

                    Barbara Keefe, M.Ed., PEPNet Northeast

 

Many federal laws impact students with disabilities who use assistive technology (AT) to achieve full independence, to access learning and to work productively. This workshop will outline how to identify and access AT. Also, we will review the service system continuum that these young people can work with as they leave high school and move on to post secondary education or vocational arenas.

 

 

 

Presenters: Clarissa Errington, Co-Director Special Services, RSU #10

                    Katherine Harvey, Grant Director, RSU #10

                    Paula Leavitt, Co-Director Special Services, RSU #10

                    Gretchen Errington, PBIS Coach, RSU #10

                    Serena Williams, PBIS Coach, RSU #10

 

Learn the process of creating systemic cultural change within your system.

 

 

 

Presenters: Jean Small, Program Director, ESBVIC

                    Nancy Moulton, Southern Maine Supervisor, ESBVIC

 

What does a vision impairment “look” like? What is available for services to the student and your school from Education Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Children? Simulation centers, specialized equipment and services will be available and described.

 

 

 

Presenters: Elizabeth Thompson, Special Education Teacher

                    Lynette Stinneford, Teacher

                    Anna Boynton, Teacher

                    Laurel Danforth, Teacher

 

Least Restrictive Environment requires consideration of inclusion with typically developing students whenever appropriate. However, definitions of appropriate are not straightforward, and additionally need to be individualized just like IEP considerations given the following:

 

Schwartz, Odom & Sandall (1998). “Including Young Children with Special Needs,” http://www.newhorizons.org/spneeds/inclusion/information/schwartz3.htm

This presentation will provide an overview of the PROCESS at Wayne Elementary School to include the students with autism, as well as video demonstrating components of the PROCESS., including the students in inclusive activities.

 

 

 

Presenters: Debra Hannigan, Dana Duncan, Janna Gregory, Lisa Cooper, Jan Breton

GSST members

 

The presentation will offer an overview of the MDOE/CDS Birth to 20General Supervision System for the 2010-2011 school year. Information to be provided will include OSEP determinations for MDOE/CDS, MDOE/CDS determinations for SAU’s, technical assistance opportunities based on state and SAU data review and corrective action plans , and expectations for SAUs based on the determination response portion of the GSST plan.

 

 

 

Presenters: Pam Dawson, Executive Director, hear ME now

                    Preschool staff & CDS staff

 

This program is designed to establish cost effective, community based and inclusive educational systems serving children who are deaf or hard of hearing and who communicate using spoken language. The initial focus is on providing comprehensive, ongoing training resources to early childhood center professionals to optimize the listening and language skills of children with hearing loss.

  

 

 

Presenters: Elizabeth Thompson, Special Education Teacher, RSU #38

                    Darcy Sekerak, Physical Therapist

                    Dianna Erb, Occupational Therapist

 

Providing therapies for students with significant disabilities can be more effective when done in concert with the ongoing program, and with other prescribed therapies. Incorporating the IEP goals and objectives from all disciplines into lesson plans and therapy sessions requires consultation, planning and collaboration. This presentation will provide an overview of the process used at Wayne Regional Autism Program to incorporate special education, occupational, physical and speech therapy goals and objectives into each therapeutic session, as well as how to carryover the specialists goals and objectives through the special education delivered across the school day. In addition, videos demonstrating the incorporation of goals and objectives from the disciplines in therapy sessions, and carryover of goals and objective in Special Education will be shown.

 

 

 

Presenters: Robin Herrick, Special Education Director, LCYDC

                    Diane Stults, Educational Evaluator, LCYDC

                    James Boisvert, Asst. Principal, LCYDC

 

A team from the Arthur R. Gould School at Long Creek Youth Development Center will outline the special education process that occurs once a student has been committed to our facility. This will include Intake, Assessment and Orientation, Educational Assessments, Referral Process, Personal Learning Plans, IEP meetings and the Integration of Clinical Services.

 

 

 

Presenters: Michele Bosse, Speech Therapist, RSU #4

                    Deborah Hobart, Special Education Teacher, RSU #4

 

Traditional articulation therapy has involved one or two 30 minute sessions per week. A new approach is described where the student attends 4 – 5 15 minute sessions per week. Students move rapidly through initial, medial, and final sounds and demonstrate mastery of correct sound production in functional contexts. A case study is used to describe the remarkable progress of a K student with no intelligible speech who learned to speak and read effectively in five months.

 

 

 

Presenters: Eric Herlan, Esq. and Amy Tchao, Esq.