Spring, 2024: Issue 14

Welcome to the OSS InSight published by the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit's Office of Student Services. So many amazing things happen every day in our work with young people that we have to spread the word!

This is our last publication for the 2023-2024 school year! We wish everyone a wonderful summer break!

The Office of Student Services (OSS) has one main goal, success for students throughout their school career and beyond graduation. This goal is accomplished through collaboration with the students, other offices within the Intermediate Unit, parents, school districts and community agencies. OSS provides best practices through innovative programs and services delivered by outstanding staff and leaders to school-age children across Montgomery County. There are over 200 professional staff and more than 25 paraprofessionals supporting students and teachers for high quality programs. We are proud for the work we do on behalf of young people and strive for excellence each and every day. For more information visit https://www.mciu.org/offices/office-of-student-services/.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brittany Lourea-Waddell, OSS Director & The Administrative Team

Congratulations to the class of 2024! Our fourteen graduating seniors are a thoughtful, caring group of students. They made an impact on our school community, planning events and educating students about restorative practices. Whether they are headed to work, Temple University, Montgomery County Community College, Hiram G. Andrews Center, or Alvernia University, they take with them a set of skills learned here at Anderson. Three of the students spoke at the graduation about restorative practices as well as the care and support they received at Anderson. The Thomas Marrone Resiliency Award went to Elton from Springfield School District. The Montgomery County Community College full scholarship went to Sara from Cheltenham School District. We could not be prouder of our graduates and are grateful to Anderson and Explorations staff, families and school districts for supporting them!

Developing friendships, practicing teamwork and learning about physical fitness and community, all while having a GREAT time in Unified PE and Unified Sports at Springfield Township High School. Danny is enjoying practicing the javelin!

Several times a year, our BCBAs at Montgomery County Intermediate Unit IU 23 come together to share their ongoing work and explore ways to better support our students and each other. Last month, BCBA Matt Hook led a discussion on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

ACT, while rooted in the science of Applied Behavior Analysis, delves into areas of language and emotions that are sometimes under-addressed within our field. One concept from ACT that translates well to this collaborative setting is the idea of values. Identifying and articulating what truly matters to us allows us to use that knowledge to guide our decision-making. This process bears a striking resemblance to the preference assessments that BCBAs routinely conduct.

These gatherings provide a valuable opportunity to gain fresh perspectives on the field and engage in meaningful discussions with colleagues. The MCIU BCBAs look forward to continuing these sessions and fostering a collaborative environment for professional growth.

The MCIU Hearing and Vision Programs each hosted a Transition Night for students and their families. Each program provided information related to post-secondary planning for individuals with hearing and/or vision loss. The information was presented by Kris Koberlein along with staff from the MCIU Hearing and Vision Programs. Guest speakers included RIT/NTID Universities, former students who are currently enrolled in college, a professional with a visual impairment and his parent, and a representative from the Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services.

On periodic Fridays at La Salle College High School MCIU school counselor, John McGranaghan,

invites senior students to participate in a voluntary program called, “No Phone Friday.”

Students drop off their phones in the counseling office before homeroom and pick them up six-

and-a-half hours later at the end of the day.

The program comes on the heels of group advisory classes based on the research of Ann

Lembke (Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence) plus Robert Waldinger

and Marc Schulz (The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study on

Happiness). The advisory classes stress the power and need for face-to-face interactions and

how smartphones can often take away these opportunities.

Student feedback to No Phone Friday has been overwhelmingly positive as noted below.

• I was more attentive to my classes and classmates.
• I thought it was super rewarding and it was a good chance to get away from my phone for a few hours.
• It was relieving to get away from social medias and apps and just focus on my work and surroundings.
• No phone Friday was positive as it allowed me to realize how much I rely on my phone to get me through the day. Not being on my phone allowed me to connect and create conversations with my classmates way easier then when I have my phone.
• It did feel weird at first, but overall, it was great.
• It was positive because I got to talk to all my friends about the daily happenings of life.
• While my friend and I were able to disconnect from our devices, it allowed us to connect with the real world. We found ourselves discovering a new talent in our singing ability…

The feedback confirms research cited in the Journal of Psychological Science as noted in the

book The Last Great Walk.

Being constantly connected electronically can result in a marked decline in our actual

biological capacity to connect with other people in real life. If you don’t regularly

exercise your ability to connect face to face, you’ll eventually find yourself lacking some

of the basic biological capacity to do so.

As a school that is on the cutting edge of technology, La Salle students are still given

opportunities to voluntarily detach from it. With the overarching goal being, the student

controls technology, not technology controls the student.

MCIU Career Connections is a newly created platform that's primary goal is to help build the bridge between our school districts and local businesses. MCIUCC aims to simplify the process of connecting industries to school personnel while becoming the primary hub for all College and Career Readiness information locally. The new platform connects employers with schools to provide young people with work-based learning opportunities and to explore their career passions. Share this resource with your school contacts and employers in your communities! Check out our site today at: www.mciucc.org!

The MCIU's Pre-Apprenticeship Program, Montco Manufacturing, has had an outstanding initial program year in partnership with Stein Seal, in Kulpsville. Our pre-apprentices (local high school seniors accepted into the program) have worked tirelessly this semester to complete the program and upon doing so, will be offered full time employment with Stein Seal! We are grateful for Stein Seal's support of this important program for our seniors in Montgomery County looking to enter the Manufacturing field.

MontcoWorks★NOW participants were invited to participate in the Real World Leaders Program this Spring. Through the program, participants interviewed local CEO's over zoom on a recorded session that aired on the Executive Leaders Radio station. Cameron, Maria, Kinsey, Trey and Alaysia interviewed Kat Ketter from Jefferson Health Plans and Steven Katz from HBI Partners. Each participant wrote their own questions and did an excellent job during their final interview session. We are so proud of them!

Mrs. Marino's MDS class in Souderton Area High School (SAHS) has been learning about collecting data, making graphs and analyzing that data. For this activity, students interviewed each other, staff, and the SAHS MDS class across the hall to learn about their favorite colors. Syncere asked the question, "What's your favorite color?" by using his Talker. Phi recorded the information "data" using tally marks. (The three extra lines next to purple are color choices not included in our list of rainbow colors.) After collecting the data, we created a bar graph to show everyone's favorite colors. Blue was the winner!

Mrs. DiGiovine’s first-grade students at MTC school in King of Prussia have been learning to fluently decode CVC words. They played a game in which they chose a card from the pile and read it aloud, tapping out each sound if necessary. After reading the word to the group, they needed to decide if the word was a real word or a nonsense word and write the word in the correct column. When students read a real word, they would then use that word in a sentence. Their favorite sentence was “Mrs. D’s class is lots of fun.”

Mrs. DiGiovine’s second-grade math students at Mother Teresa Regional Catholic School have been learning how to regroup with subtraction. Using the Concrete Representational Abstract (CRA) method, the students solve equations using concrete objects, such as the base ten blocks. They then represent the equation with drawings and finally solve it with the standard algorithm. They finished the class with a game to build fact fluency. Students add the two numbers from the rolled dice, and cover that sum on the gameboard, trying to cover five blocks in a row.

Project AWARE is grant funded through SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). The focus of the grant is on advancing wellness and resiliency in education by increasing mental health awareness in schools. Montgomery County IU has partnered with Carbon-Lehigh IU, Luzerne IU, PA Department of Education, PA Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, & CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) in this grant.

Project AWARE offers schools/districts opportunities to advance their mental health, specifically suicide prevention, approaches through a three-tiered public health model to expand programming and develop better pathways to mental health supports and services. The supports are focused within schools/districts in building a comprehensive school mental health program around suicide prevention work by increasing screening, offering student focused curriculum in suicide prevention and expanding opportunities for students to learn and engage in supporting one another in prevention work. The work is specifically for students with a lens to increased knowledge, attitude and beliefs across the student population and with the staff who support them. Additionally, a platform has been created to expand partnerships with behavioral health and mental health providers through a streamlined electronic system to ease accessing those providers for student needs.

Highlights from the first year include:

• 6 districts across the three IU’s joined Cohort I to begin the process for screening (depression and anxiety focused self-report screening) across their districts

• Aevidum Club events and talk day training/leadership training events

• 3 Talk day training events hosting across the four counties

• Over 200 students attended

• Launch of SOS Signs of Suicide Curriculum for 6th - 12th graders

• Launch of the Project AWARE PA Findhelp platform (https://projectawarepastaff.findhelp.com/)

• Check out our website for more information and podcasts: https://mciu.org/office-of-student-services/project-aware/

Interested in hearing more about Project AWARE and how the students in your school or district could benefit from the opportunities? Contact Program Administrator for Project AWARE, Pia Houseal at phouseal@mciu.org.

Elementary students have been participating in various activities that promote a wide range of skills. Some activities focus on throwing to a target, throwing and catching with a peer, running, hopping, jumping various distances and heights, skipping, balancing, and much more. A popular activity with the students was a set of stations that involved coordinating their footwork through hoops, cones, and over hurdles. They worked hard, stepped rapidly, and got better and better with repetition and practice!

Middle and high school students have been working on frisbee skills. They learned about the game Ultimate Frisbee and how to play it. They had a great time working with their teammates and competing against their classmates. It is a game that promotes sportsmanship, teamwork, communication, and keeps you on your toes. Students did an amazing job, and some learned some new throwing tricks!

This year at Evans Elementary, members of the related services team joined forces with our Multiple Disabilities Support (MDS) staff to create a freestanding “sensory space” in the classroom. Separated by blackout curtains, and lighted as needed by string lights above, specific task lighting, and/or flashlights, the space provides a low-visual-distraction environment that not only benefits our students with Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI), but increases the visual and task attention of all our learners. Individual instruction and therapy sessions have been very successful within the new space, which supports the inclusion of technology such as iPad game instructional apps (with or without switch adaptation), eye-gaze devices, or speech generating iPad apps. While it is not yet fully complete, the space will ultimately also house a variety of switch adapted activities such as interactive online stories and sensory toys. Additionally, a variety of tactile, auditory, and visual sensory activities will be available for individual exploration. While the initial goal of the project was to create an area where students could explore the ability to participate in activities more independently, it has grown to be quite useful as a daily instructional space as well.

It was a special afternoon celebrating the accomplishments of our students who have completed the Transition program! Parents, teachers and friends joined us for a ceremony and lunch.

The Montgomery County Intermediate Unit Vision Support Program hosted two Low Vision Clinics in collaboration with Salus University during the months of April and May at the MCIU Building located at 2 W. Lafayette Street in Norristown. A Low Vision Optometrist from Salus University’s The William Feinbloom Vision Rehabilitation Center (WFVRC) conducted clinical low vision examinations on students at scheduled appointments. The low vision examinations provided students with clinical findings, eyeglasses, and low vision recommendations for school.

Email: bwaddell@mciu.org
Website: www.mciu.org
Location: 2 West Lafayette Street, Norristown, PA, USA
Phone: 610-755-9433
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mciu23
Twitter: @mciu_oss