Videos

The Classwide Reading Intervention (Grades K-1): Implementation series covered how to implement phonlogical awareness, letter sound, and word-building classwide interventions that are based on research. In this video K-1 Grade Level Teams of Reading Teachers who participated in the series will present on the impact of their classwide reading intervention on student reading outcomes and classroom experiences. LINK TO HANDOUTS: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1owh382JfJcSN_zxAKBk9quXJIp1Q0HBU

The understanding and practice of inclusive classrooms and schools has been a foundation within Pennsylvania. Simply stated, inclusive education means that all students are accepted and have a true sense of belonging within the school community. The conversation will focus on inclusive practices and what they may look like in a school setting with Mike Bovino, Senior Advisor for Special Olympics, Pennsylvania. Mike Bovino has been a Senior Advisor for Special Olympics PA since July of 2014, focusing on strategic initiatives, organizational development, school partnerships, and fundraising. He collaborates with a dedicated staff who currently support more than 270 schools throughout the state with fully inclusive Unified Champion Schools programming. This program utilizes Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership, and whole school engagement activities to empower students, promote inclusion, and improve overall school climate. Mike has worked in the Special Olympics movement for more than 30 years, starting in the international headquarters as the first Director of Sports Marketing. Over the years, he has helped to develop new sports and inclusion programming, built enriching Unified Champion Schools partnerships with over 425 schools in two states + the District of Columbia, and focused on organizational development, strategic planning, and numerous fundraising initiatives. He has been a global and national leader in Special Olympics Unified Sports since its inception in 1989, and is one of only five people ever to be honored as a Global Unified Sports Leadership Award recipient. Unified Sports brings together individuals with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team for training and competition as equal peers and is highly successful in fostering social inclusion. In addition to Special Olympics, Mike has worked with other nonprofits over the years as a consultant, and also served as Vice President for the United States Basketball League. He earned his B.A. from the University of Michigan.

PaTTAN consultant, Dr. Nikole Hollins-Sims, shares how schools can effectively engage families and break down barriers for student success.

Customized Employment can be a confusing yet exciting adventure for all stakeholders. People who receive supports, families and staff may have heard the term but not know how it fits into their lives. This one hour webinar will give you practical ideas for how, when and where to introduce the topic of customized employment to stakeholders. Join Karen Lee, Executive Director of SEEC in Silver Spring Maryland as she shares the tools they used in becoming a customized employment agency.

For those of us in classrooms, we may find struggles with ensuring assistive technology is being used effectively to access the learning. Guest, Dr. Caroline Musselwhite, an assistive technology specialists, joins PaTTANpod to help practitioners understand how to help students utilize AT effectively.

While millions of students make the transition from high school to college each year, the information required to help a student get to college continues to get more complicated. Materials to help career and technical instructors assist students to earn Students Occupationally and Academically Ready/Program of Study (SOAR/POS) free college credits and information to help school counselors aid parents and students in selecting a college, completing the preparation steps, and actually transitioning to college are collected on a single Pennsylvania-focused website. This website, www.GettingThemThere.com, is a single entry point in finding everything the instructor, counselor, parent or student needs to support a student from a Pennsylvania high school/Career and Technical Center to college. This session will provide an overview of this web-based resource for Pennsylvania educators.

In this session, young adults with varying disabilities will discuss how they have obtained and maintained employment. This presentation will provide strategies and resources that youth, families, and professionals can utilize to actively engage in the transition process from school to real work for real pay.

How is Section 504 for post-secondary education different from IDEA in high schools? What accommodations will youth and young adults have at community colleges, colleges, or universities in Pennsylvania? What can I do to better prepare youth and young adults for success in college? This session will provide valuable information to youth and young adults, family members, higher education professionals, secondary educators, vocational rehabilitation professionals, and agency stakeholders.

This panel presentation including a young adult, will help young adults with disabilities and their families understand the differences between the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that is used in school and the Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE) that young adults with a disability develops with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) as they transition from high school to employment. Learn the INs and OUTs of working with OVR, including the supports provided by the Client Assistance Program (CAP) on how to self advocate in IPE development and throughout the OVR process. As part of the presentation, the presenters will follow a young girl named "Penny" as she transitions from high school graduation to adult life.