Handouts

This session will focus on hands-on activities in which participants will learn about the following stages of the What’s the Complexity Framework through video student case study: preparation stage, the observation stage, and sharing stage.

Presenter: Matthew Tietjen, M.Ed.

Presenters will review all things related to the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) including WHY an alternate system of assessment is available for eligible students, WHO is eligible to participate, WHEN important assessment-related tasks should be completed, WHAT the assessment encompasses, WHERE important assessment-related resources and guidance can be found, and HOW to help students prepare for and complete the assessment. 

Presenter: Kaylee Wynkopp, Lisa Hampe, Lynda Lupp

Learn how two parents partnered with their local educational professionals to provide an organizational tool to help families navigate the special education process. Through the Partnership Advocacy series, these parents, along with Colonial Intermediate Unit 20, engaged families and professionals who support students receiving special education services. Creating and distributing IEP Binders to the families of incoming kindergarten students was just the beginning. This interactive session will allow participants to leave with a constructed binder that will allow them to replicate the process in their own LEA or parent support group.

Presenter: Caterina Campbell and Nikki Huggan

There is a huge research-to-practice gap related to the inclusion of students with significant cognitive disabilities. Despite strong evidence of positive outcomes from inclusive education, students with significant cognitive disabilities continue to be educated primarily in segregated settings. Removing the barriers to implement inclusive education means weaving together the resources and supports to address the "why, what and how" of inclusive education. The TIES Center, the national technical assistance center on inclusive education with a particular focus on students with significant cognitive disabilities, will share resources related to the why, what and how of inclusive education and how they can be used to support system change that builds inclusive education systems.

Presenter: Terri Vandercook, Ph.D., Gail Ghere, Ph.D.; Jessica Bowman, Ph.D.; Jennifer Sommerness, Ed.S.

This session's focus will be on the analysis and applications of the configuration(s) needed of the actual access equipment, its relationship to the user and other equipment, and control of the equipment to be accessed.

Learning Objectives:

• List three features of a specific AAC device.
• Identify how to “set up” two different access techniques on an AAC device.
• State at least two characteristics of navigation required within the software of a particular AAC device.

Presenter: Karen Kangas

The true activity that the student is expected to subsequently “learn” to demonstrate and gain competence and independence will be discussed. Activities vary greatly with a student’s age and experience and are also impacted directly by the student’s visual perception, receptive language, language processing, mobility, and current postural development and control. The student’s ability to participate and “engage” in the real activity depend not only on the AT equipment and the access to it, but also the equipment that is supporting the student’s body.

This session (part 2) will examine the student’s classroom and school environment and its impact on the use of AT. Participants will learn how to analyze the classroom environment for ensuring task engagement and differentiate between tasks that focus on motor practice or cognitive practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the student’s classroom environment, identifying at least two different and exact locations for specific real activity within which the student needs to be engaged.
• Define the term “mobility” within the context of task engagement.
• Identify at least two classroom tasks utilizing access to AT as to whether the task focused on “motor” practice or “cognitive” practice.

Presenter: Karen Kangas

The true activity that the student is expected to subsequently “learn” to demonstrate and gain competence and independence will be discussed. Activities vary greatly with a student’s age and experience and are also impacted directly by the student’s visual perception, receptive language, language processing, mobility, and current postural development and control. The student’s ability to participate and “engage” in the real activity depend not only on the AT equipment and the access to it, but also the equipment that is supporting the student’s body.

This session (Part 1) in this two-part series, will examine the student’s seating and mobility (specifically and individually). Participants will learn how to recognize when a student has active postural control while engaging in activities versus a resting posture and how to design activities that optimize activities for students to demonstrate task engagement.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify three physical characteristics of an “active postural control” position of their students with complex bodies when engaged in using an AAC device.
• Identify three physical characteristics of a “resting posture,” which may be precluding accurate access with a student’s use of AT.
• Identify two real activities and subsequently describe how to create specific access opportunity for an individual student to demonstrate task engagement.

Presenter: Karen Kangas

This session in the A Closer Look At Access series is meant to build the foundation before jumping into our Closer Look at Access series. This session's focus will include definitions, explanations, and specific discussion of the types of access currently available for use with augmentative communication devices and for other Assistive Technology devices (e.g., computers, iPad, Smartboard).

It will include the “standard and traditional” history of access techniques as well as assessment issues which need to be considered with each individual student when supporting her/his use of assistive technology.

Learning Objectives:

• Define the term “access” as it relates to a student using assistive technology.
• Identify and describe three types of scanning.
• Describe two differences between electronic sensors and mechanical switches.

Presenter: Karen Kangas

This two-part training focuses on serving infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with CVI. It will draw from the CVI Companion Guide and provide a list of selected online resources related to the development of young children including those with visual impairments and deaf-blindness.

Developmental Issues That May Affect Young Children Who Have CVI Including Those Who are Deaf-Blind: Recommended Practices to Intervention Approaches

This session focuses on serving young children with CVI including those who are deafblind. Recommended practices of the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children that guide intervention approaches will be identified. It will discuss how CVI may affect social-emotional, communication, cognitive, and fine and gross motor development and related interventions.

Developmental Issues That May Affect Young Children Who Have CVI Including Those Who are Deaf-Blind: Routines-Based Intervention and the Team Model

This session focuses on the early intervention and early childhood special education team models and the roles of different disciplines. application of key intervention practices in home-based early intervention and in preschool classrooms. It will discuss the use of routines-based approaches and identify how to embed interventions and learning opportunities across daily routines.

Session Dates

Wednesday October 14, 2020 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Wednesday October 28, 2020 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Presenter: Deborah Chen Ph.D, Elizabeth Hartmann, Amanda Lueck Ph.D.

This two-part training provides a deep dive into interventions for children with CVI, including those with deaf-blindness, looking at connection to assessment, daily routines, and the ECC with an emphasis on multidimensional intervention approaches.

Multidimensional Intervention Approaches: Connecting Interventions to ECC

This session will focus on examining ways to tie interventions to ECC learning areas using assessment outcomes. We’ll also discuss ways to develop interventions that complement and support student’s strengths while addressing areas of challenge through home-school partnerships and professional collaboration.

Objectives Connecting Intervention to ECC:

Participants will:

1. List approaches for intervention within home and classroom activities or routines
2. Explain how to address intervention needs based upon goals, supports and barriers to learning
3. Identify approaches to strengthen the home-school partnership and collaboration among professionals
   
    

Multidimensional Intervention Approaches:  Building Skills and Motivation

This session will emphasize approaches to intervention that build visual skills, motivate student participation and enjoyment, and improve overall task performance for different ECC learning areas.

Objectives Building Skills and Motivation:

Participants will:

1. Identify approaches for intervention within ECC learning areas
2. Explain ways in which intervention approaches for children with CVI can improve overall task performance ECC learning areas
3. Identify collaboration approaches that address learning skills in ECC areas for children who have CVI

Presenter: Elizabeth Hartmann, Amanda Lueck Ph.D.