SPecial EDition
February 2017
Message from the Director – February 2017
You may have read the quote, “It takes a special kind of person to care for a child with special needs.” Some say it should actually read, “A child with special needs will inspire you to be a special kind of person.” Although it is part of human nature to be humble, each of you can reflect on actions you’ve taken in support of your students and can honestly say, “Yeah, I am special!”
I am finishing up my annual school site visits and, on every visit, I see teachers, instructional assistants, speech therapists and school psychologists who personify “a special kind of person.” Whether you were born special or were inspired to be special, your commitment to our students with disabilities is inspiring. My heart is filled with gratitude when I visit schools and see the wonderful work you are doing with our students.
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Last Spring, our students with Moderate and Moderate/Severe disabilities took a new exam, the California Alternate Assessment (CAA). This test takes the place of the CAPA. Our students performed very well, achieving higher than the state average in both ELA and Math!
The percentages represent the number of students that displayed “fundamental understanding” or “understanding” of the tasks presented. Our Moderate and Moderate/Severe teachers deserve recognition for the time they spent mastering test administration and supporting individual students as they took this new assessment.
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In December, Mabelle Hernandez Glithero, Michelle Sturm-Gonzalez and I conducted a presentation at the national Urban Collaborative conference in Nashville. We proudly shared our experience creating inclusive programs for our students, both for the 7 to 12 program as well as transition (what we’re now calling “community readiness”). The presentation was well-received, with several districts reaching out to us for technical support. It brings me great joy telling others of our story.
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Before you know it, Spring Break will be here! Please do your best to unplug from work and take time for yourself and your family. The advantage to our school schedule is having these regular breaks to recharge. Don’t make me ask twice—engage in selfish acts of indulgence!
Ron A. Lopez
Director of Special Services
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#BEMINDFUL
“Mindfulness” is a hot topic right now- I’m sure most of you have heard of it. Check out this Month issue of Time Magazine- It’s on the front cover, I encourage you to go ahead and take a look at the article. If you’re interested in further reading on the subject I recommend you look into the writings of Jon Kabat-Zinn, Pioneer in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.
So what is Mindfulness, who should try it and why?
Mindfulness is a way of centering oneself. It’s a way of taking a step away from the “busyness” of Life and focusing on the present moment. It can be done anywhere and anytime of day. Typically when one is learning how to be mindful the first step is to become aware of one’s breath. Focusing on the “in” breath and the “outbreath”. Feeling the rhythm of it. And when the mind wanders (and it will- because that’s the nature of the mind) gently bringing it back to the breath. Mindfulness combines an awareness with a non-judging attitude. It creates a stillness. It can be harder that it sounds- because taming an unruly mind takes practice. But the benefits are well worth the effort.
Mindfulness has been shown to be effective in reducing stress and anxiety. It has emotional and physiological benefits (as the two are highly interrelated) It’s being encouraged for children and adults. Anyone can benefit. Big corporations like Google encourage their employees to be trained in it and engage in it as regular practice. And “regular practice” is key- the benefits increase the longer and more regular one practices. Mindfulness can be applied to most activities such as eating and walking. It helps one become fully present and to really live each moment.
So what do you say? Ready to be Mindful?
With Love,
Elizabeth Williams, PhD
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SEAST CORNER (Special Education Academic Support Team)
Crossing the Middle to High School Bridge
Some teachers find they fit perfectly in middle school, preferring the time of life of emerging adolescence, while others hit their stride with high school teens as they prepare for those fast approaching days of real life. No matter the preference, all can agree that for our students making that move from middle to high school can be a scary, confusing, exciting, nerve-wracking, anxiety-ridden adventure with unknown outcomes. Our role, especially for our students with special needs, is to provide multiple opportunities to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.
These efforts have been given special focus these last two years during collaborative pullouts happening at many of our sites between feeder middle and high school partners. Because of last year’s efforts, we saw:
■ a summer bridge program for incoming 9th graders with RSP services (approximately 60 students across the district attended).
■ beginning of school parent nights held specifically for students with mild/moderate disabilities.
■ a HS visit by 8th graders with IEP’s, including class visits, sharing from a student panel of 12th graders, and meeting of their potential case carriers & 9th grade SPED teachers.
■ outreach efforts from link crew and ASB students to build peer to peer connections.
■ addition of an extra day to the typical day long 9th grade orientation to address specific needs for students with IEP’s.
■ teacher connections and collaboration about IEP’s and the vertical threads between the curriculum in 8th and 9th grades.
This year’s challenge is to build on the momentum and efforts of last year, to do even more to support our students as they take that big step up that figurative hill that high school represents, which sets the pathways for the rest of their lives. Not a small task: but together we are stronger!
Carla Jacobs
Special Services Resource Teacher
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Sweetwater Students Dominate Braille Challenge!!
On January 28, the Braille Institute of Orange County hosted the Southern California Regional Braille Challenge. The Braille Challenge is a nationwide program of the Braille Institute that promotes braille literacy through a fun and challenging academic competition for visually impaired youth. Contestants must compete with other students in their grade level ranging from the Apprentice level (1st and 2nd grade) through Varsity (9th- 12th grade). They compete in the areas of reading comprehension, braille speed and accuracy, proofreading, spelling, and reading tactile graphics and charts.
At the regional event, students throughout Southern California compete to determine who will move on to the national competition held in Los Angeles in June. This year, several Sweetwater students participated in the competition with three of them going home with medals. Joy Delgadillo is an 8th grader at Hilltop Middle School who placed 2nd at the Jr. Varsity level. Sean Caballero is a sophomore at Otay Ranch High School who took 3rd place at the Varsity level. Ricardo Herrera is a junior at Otay Ranch High School who took 1st place at the Varsity level and will be competing in June in the Nationals against students from all over the United States and Canada.
We are all very proud of our students and their continued success!
Erika Priser
Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments
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Special Services Employee of the Month - January 2017
For the month of January we’re recognizing the work of a general educator, Amy Cruz. Amy is the Visual and Performing Arts teacher at BVM. She trialed a General Music section for students in the Moderate program last Spring. This year it’s a permanent part of the BVM master schedule! It’s an inclusive class--general education students serve as mentors (and the IAs participate as well). The students performed at the BVM Spring Concert last year and the Winter Concert this year. In September, they had a special performance for Grandparents Day. In a recent email, Amy said, “The group is reading rhythm notation and is in the early stages of notes reading. I repeat: READING!!!” Clearly, she loves teaching this course! Recently, Amy began working with students from the Moderate/Severe program on art projects…during her prep!
The BVM school community has been enhanced by Amy and her desire to connect students with disabilities to the core program. She deserves this recognition like no other.
By the way, Amy’s General Music class has been featured in the Star News! See link below:
http://www.thestarnews.com/latest-news/students-in-music-class-create-special-sound
Amy Baker - SUHSD Special Services Employee of the Month - January 2017
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The question of vaccines connection to autism continues to come up despite the fact that research has shown that there is no connection. However, as the rates of autism continue to climb, this false claim continues to come up. So here is some information regarding the origin of this myth and facts regarding autism.
VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM
The Bottom Line
Autism is a life-long condition that begins in childhood, typically by age 2. Many people believe that there is a link between autism and childhood vaccination. There is no scientific controversy over whether vaccines cause autism: the answer is "NO".
The Full Story
Vaccines do not cause autism. How was the erroneous link between vaccines and autism created?
Summary: Do vaccines cause autism? Does mercury in vaccines cause autism? There is broad scientific agreement that the answer is "no".
In 1998, the respected medical journal The Lancet published a paper by Andrew Wakefield and twelve other authors. They claimed that a new syndrome of gastrointestinal illness and autism was temporally associated with administration of the vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). [1]
It was later learned that Dr. Wakefield had fabricated and falsified data. In addition, he was found to have had significant financial conflicts of interest and to have violated standard ethical practices when conducting his study. [2] Ten of his co-authors repudiated their association with the findings of the paper. [3]). The Lancet published a retraction of the paper in February 2010. [4] Dr. Wakefield's license to practice medicine was revoked in May 2010 [5], as was that of one of his collaborators. [6] In January 2011, the British Medical Journal published an article and an editorial stating that Wakefield's paper was "an elaborate fraud". [7, 8]
Between the publication and retraction of the paper, no credible scientific evidence emerged linking vaccines or vaccine preservatives to autism. Other researchers were consistently unable to replicate Dr. Wakefield's findings. Yet, some parents were so alarmed that they would not allow their children to be vaccinated against any number of preventable childhood illnesses. Some parents never knew, or forgot, the virulence of such once-common diseases as measles, mumps, and polio. They did not understand, or perhaps did not believe, that paralysis, blindness, permanent hearing loss, brain damage, and death could be the consequences of these and other preventable illnesses. Many children became ill and some even died.
Even as Dr. Wakefield's reported findings were being evaluated and repudiated, another stream of concern entered the public consciousness. The vaccine given to children whom Wakefield studied did not contain mercury, but some vaccines in the United States were preserved with a mercury-containing compound called thimerosal. An emerging public health concern about effects of mercury exposure coincided with Dr. Wakefield's publication. Because certain forms of mercury are toxic to humans in sufficient quantity, some parents and clinicians feared that thimerosal might be a cause of autism. Although this association has been refuted by scientific evidence, many people continue to believe that the two are related.
Unfortunately, the causes of autism are not yet known. But it is known that autism is not caused by vaccines.
To read the full story or other articles on this issue, please go to
http://www.poison.org/articles/2010-oct/vaccines-do-not-cause-autism
http://www.publichealth.org/public-awareness/understanding-vaccines/vaccine-myths-debunked/
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html
Lorna McMurray
Autism Resource Specialist
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Transition Partnership Program (TPP)
Post Secondary Options after High School:
CTS- Comprehensive Training Systems
City Heights
5348 University Avenue, Ste 210, San Diego, CA 92105
(619)582-9133
· Healthcare Information Technology
· Medical Assistant
Imperial Beach
497 11th Street, Ste 4, Imperial Beach, CA 91932
(619) 424-6650
· Administrative Assistant I and II
· Computer Repair Technician
· Building Maintenance
· Basic Manufacturing
CCC- California Conservation Corps
Recruiter- Kris Lecourt
401 W 35th St, National City, CA 91950
(619) 409-4382
Free Classes OFFERED:
1. San Diego Continuing Education
2. Southwestern College
3. SUHSD Adult Education
Department of Rehabilitation
(619) 426-8720
855 3rd Avenue, Suite 3350
Chula Vista, CA 91911
Employment Opportunities
PRIDE Industries
Contact- Renee Shoaf
(619)477-0857
2104 Wilson Avenue, National City, CA 91950
Job Options Inc.
(619)688-1784
Employment support
Breaking Barriers
Contact- Joana Meza
Supported Employment Specialist Lead
(619)628-0369
(619)370-9024
1111 Bay Blvd. Suite E
Chula Vista CA 91911
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Lenovo Yoga 11e Laptop vs. Apple iPad Air 2
There seems to be much confusion on the capabilities on the two platforms (Lenovo and iPad) in our district with regard to assistive technology. The following table dispels a few of the myths IEP teams are questioning.
Myth #1: The Lenovo Yoga Laptop has apps.
The Lenovo Yoga Laptop does not have apps. It has Windows 10, which only has basic accessibility functions. The Lenovo Yoga Laptop is not able to currently help student who need a device for reading and communication.
Myth #2: The iPad doesn’t have OneNote.
It does. It just needs to be downloaded.
Myth #3: The iPad is not able to access the student’s textbooks.
It can. You can access the textbooks via the Safari app.
Myth #4: The Lenovo Yoga Laptop is better than the iPad.
No, they are both great platforms. However, the iPad has more embedded suppots than the Lenovo Yoga 11e.
Jason L. Schmidt, M.Ed.
Assistive Technology Specialist
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Speech Corner - Training SLP's
The entry level degree for Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) in the United States is a master’s. Most SLPs start with a bachelor’s in Communicative Disorders from one of the over 300 colleges and universities that offer this degree. These programs offer coursework in a variety of areas related to the field, such as childhood language acquisition, adult neurogenics, communication disorders, phonetics, and speech science. These programs have become extremely popular over the last decade, and they tend to attract highly motivated predominantly female students. Individuals with degrees in fields other than Communicative Disorders need to take a series of prerequisites before applying to graduate school. Entry into graduate school presents a significant challenge because the programs accept only a relatively small proportion of candidates. While undergraduate programs continue to grow, graduate programs have not kept pace because of low mandated faculty/student supervision ratios. While an undergraduate class might have one instructor for over one hundred students, during clinical observation, a supervisor can only oversee a maximum of four students simultaneously. Graduate programs usually last two years, and students take advanced courses designed to prepare them for work with clients facing a variety of communicative challenges. Supervised work with clients in a clinical setting also begins at this point, and as they approach the completion of their coursework, students take part in off-campus internships, which are typically in hospitals and schools. To graduate, students need 400 hours of supervised clinical experience. Most of the approximately 20 graduate programs in California are in the CSU system, but there are 6 private schools as well. San Diego county has two programs – SDSU and CSUSM, and these are the programs where most Sweetwater SLPs were trained. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association offers a Certificate in Clinical Competence, represented by the CCC many SLPs put after their degree, for those who finish a graduate program, pass a national examination, and complete a Clinical Fellowship Year (CFY) during which they receive supervision and support. Cheryl Armstrong and Katherine Bristow are two Sweetwater SLPs who will complete their CFYs this spring.
Bob McKinney
Speech Language Pathologist
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UPCOMING EVENTS THAT MAY INTEREST YOU
Volunteer Opportunity for SUHSD Students
The SUHSD Unified Track and Field Event will be on
February 25, 2017 from 6am - 12pm
at Montgomery High School.
Volunteer Times
Option 1 - 6am to 9am - Unified 4k
Option 2 – 8:30 am to 12pm - Unified Track & Field Event Option 3 – 6am to 12pm - work both events
Volunteers will be asked to help with a variety of task. They include, but are not limited to: registration, 4k course helpers, stage for the track and field events, direct traffic, pass out water, pick up trash, etc.
Questions can be directed to Valerie Ruiz at:
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TO RSVP
Non-SDRC Staff
Email: trainings@sdrc.org
or
contact the SDRC 24-hour training line:
(858) 576-2805
SDRC Staff: Register on LEAP
Questions? Contact – John Filley, M.S. 858-576-2949 or john.filley@sdrc.org
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For more information, contact:
San Diego Regional Center
Reyna Zuniga, M.S. (619) 336-6636
Alexis Leyva, M.S. (619) 336-6659
Sweetwater Union High School District
Dan Smirniotis (619) 796-7519
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DONATIONS NEEDED
Special Services is in the process of training many of our staff on the Southern California Ordinal Scales of Development. This assessment has been found to be especially useful for multi- and severely handicapped, developmentally delayed, and learning disordered children. However, putting the kits together for this assessment can be very challenging. Many of the items are common toys of small children.
Items Needed
Film containers
Pacifiers
Toy noise makers (rattles, maraca, etc.)
Ice cream sticks
Toy with bells
Unbreakable mirror
Toy dishes (Plates, cups, utensils)
Play food
Small balls (rubber, tennis, Ping-Pong)
Pull toys
Teething ring
Hand puppets
Blocks (building, attribute)
Stacking ring toy
Nesting cup toys
Geometric shape puzzle
Cause and effect toys (jack-in-the-box, pop up toys, tops, pull string toys, wind up toys, musical television
Toy vehicles (cars, boat, airplane, or train)
Toy rake, broom
Toy phone
Small stuffed animals
Dolls (baby, Barbie, etc.)
Doll furniture
Baby blankets
Checkers
Marbles
Clear plastic bottles
Small container with lid
Turkey baster
Wood beads
Clay
Golf tees
Plastic animals
Small plastic containers
Small cube boxes
We would be very grateful for any donations of the following items. You can leave your donations in a box outside the autism office at Special Service office.
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SUHSD - Special Services
Email: special.services@sweetwaterschools.org
Website: specialservices.sweetwaterschools.org
Location: 670 L Street Cuite A Chula Vista Ca 91911
Phone: (619) 796-7500
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Sweetwater-Union-HS-Special-Services
Twitter: @SUHSD_SPED