Posted on

Beat the Heat 2019 Call for Presentations: Teachers Teaching Teachers

 

Beat the Heat 2019 is coming soon!  This summer conference is dedicated to providing professional development to educators, parents, and others who work with children ages 3-21 with significant intellectual and low incidence disabilities. We are seeking teachers, para-educators, and support staff (SLP, OT, PT, AT, VI, COMS, APE, RN, etc) who are interested in teaching others about the terrific strategies, tools, and plans they use in their classroom!

Submit your proposal to become a Beat the Heat local presenter and, if selected, earn free registration to the conference! This is a terrific opportunity to share your hard-earned professional expertise with your colleagues while developing new professional skills. Presenters of accepted proposals will have the option to complete a self-paced, online course specifically designed to support local Region 13 presenters in developing and delivering professional trainings. Those who complete this course will receive a certificate of endorsement as a presenter from ESC 13. Develop yourself by developing others and build out your résumé with this great opportunity!

We are seeking engaging sessions in the following areas of special education:

  • Behavior
  • Collaboration & Leadership
  • Communication
  • Curriculum & Instruction
  • Early Childhood/PPCD
  • Inclusion
  • Sensorimotor
  • Transition

Your work matters! Please consider providing a breakout presentation for this year’s Beat the Heat conference. Even better, grab a co-worker and both of you submit a proposal!

Deadline for submissions: Monday, March 25, 2019

Questions or just want some help brainstorming ideas?  Contact me!

Nichole Kertis Barton – nichole.kertis@esc13.txed.net

Posted on

Region 13’s Communication / AAC Pathways!

ESC Region 13’s Communication/AAC Pathways:
Take your skills to the next level!

ESC Region 13 is thrilled to present two, tailored pathways to your Communication and AAC learning – PPCD Pathway and Life Skills Pathway! All of the workshops below are open to everyone, but be sure to look closely at the pathway and target audience to make sure you find just what you need.

Region 13 has options that are *just* right for you and your team!

Partner-Augmented Input:

Modeling AAC in the Classroom

Dr. Jill Senner, CCC/SLP & Matthew Baud, CCC/SLP

LEVEL: Intermediate

PATHWAY: PPCD and Life Skills

AUDIENCE: SLPs, Teachers, and any/all other team members who serve students with complex communication needs

DATE: November 30, 2018 (offered one time only)

DESCRIPTION: We’ve been told that we need to model AAC – come to learn how to model AAC! This program will take staff through portions of steps one through five of an evidence-­‐based, 8-­‐step instructional model for teaching partner-­‐augmented input. Staff will complete commitment to the instructional program, strategy description, videotaped strategy demonstration, verbal practice of the strategy steps, and controlled practice. Staff should have a communication board, app, device, or emulation software available for participation in the interactive portions of the program.

REGISTER TODAY! Course #FA1840279

Teaching Students Who Can’t Talk:

Supporting Significant Communication

Impairments in the Classroom

Katie Adams, CCC/SLP

LEVEL: Beginner

PATHWAY: PPCD and Life Skills

AUDIENCE: Teachers and ParaEducators

DATE: January 31, 2019 (offered multiple times per year)

DESCRIPTION: As educators, we strive to connect with our students. But, what do we do if our students are not able to speak? How do we connect with them and provide instruction that can help them understand and express themselves? This beginner level course for educators will cover the foundational elements needed to guide you in assessing the communication skills of your students and implementing class wide strategies to help complex communication needs.

REGISTRATION COMING SOON!

AAC Foundations Team Training

Nichole Kertis, OT & Lisa Rukovena, CCC/SLP

LEVEL: Intermediate

PATHWAY: PPCD and Life Skills

AUDIENCE: SLPs, Teachers, and any/all other team members who serve students with complex communication needs

DATE: Feb 20 & 21, 2019 (offered multiple times per year)

DESCRIPTION: This workshop series is designed for professionals (especially TEAMS!) working with students with complex communication needs (CCN) who need Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems.  We will demystify AAC and empower communication partners with a foundation so that no matter which specific app, device, training or technique presents itself, teams feel prepared. Teams will receive poster- and student-sized core communication boards for the classroom!

REGISTRATION COMING SOON!

TELL ME: AAC in the PreSchool Classroom

Dr. Carole Zangari, CCC/SLP & Lori Wise

LEVEL: Intermediate

PATHWAY: PPCD 

AUDIENCE: SLPs and Teachers

DATE: March 7 & 8, 2019 (offered one time only)

DESCRIPTION: This workshop provides an overview of an early childhood classroom designed to empower teachers, paraprofessionals, therapists, and families to support the use core vocabulary in AAC systems. Participants will learn about the key elements of the TELL ME program (Zangari & Wise, 2017) and see how core language is addressed in shared reading and writing lessons, classroom routines, and typical play/learning activities.

REGISTRATION COMING SOON!

Literacy for Students with

Significant Cognitive Disabilities

Jennifer Russel & Nichole Kertis, OT

LEVEL: Intermediate

PATHWAY: Life Skills 

AUDIENCE: SLPs and Teachers

DATE: TBD 2019 (offered multiple times per year)

DESCRIPTION: Learn how to support interaction and teach communication as students engage in academic instruction across the school day. Teams will receive materials and poster-sized core communication boards.

REGISTRATION COMING SOON!

Bonus!

Participants who have attended “AAC Foundations Team Training” in the past are eligible to attend AAC Pathway workshops at a reduced rate! Reach out to each workshop’s contact listed in E-Campus for more information!

 

 

Posted on

Are you a special education instructional leader?

Join us for the Special Education Instructional Network – SPIN – to connect and learn with other special educators in Region 13.

SPIN meets four times during each school year. Our first 2018-2019 meeting is on Wednesday, September 12, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM.

SPIN meetings are designed for special education instructional leaders to receive updates and resources and to share ideas, district news, and questions with each other.  This year, our meetings will include a book study, UDL Now! A Teacher’s Guide to Applying Universal Design for Learning in Today’s Classrooms, by Dr. Katie Novak.  In addition, Region 13 Specialists will join us to provide behavior guidance and assistive technology information.

You can register for SPIN meetings for FREE in Ecampus by using course number FA1839043.

For more information, contact Kim West, kim.west@esc13.txed.net
Posted on

Active Learning Expert Patricia Obrzut @ Beat the Heat 2018!

On June 21st, the first day of Beat the Heat 2018, Patricia Obrzut, MS, OTR/L will present a full day session: Active Learning: Given the Opportunity, Any Child Can Learn! Active learning, an innovative approach developed by Dr. Lilli Nielsen, emphasizes that all individuals learn best by active participation.  For students with multiple disabilities, active participation is achieved by creating an enriched environment that fosters independent and appropriate developmental learning.

Join Patty as she discusses the principles of the Active Learning approach, and how to increase students’ functional independence and developmental skills while reducing stereotypical, self-injurious or aggressive behaviors.

On Day 2 (June 22nd), she will provide 2 breakout sessions. The first, Promoting Comprehending Hands through Active Learning will focus on detailed Active Learning strategies emphasizing those fine motor skills typically achieved from birth to two years.  The second, Early Learning & Movement: An Active Learning Perspective will focus on how individuals with multiple special needs progress from reflexive and unintentional movements to intentional movements.

Patty is the Assistant Director at the Perickton Center for Blind Children, a private non-profit organization serving blind, special needs children ages 1-12 years.  Mr. Obrzut has a Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy. She has been implementing programming for special need children since 1992.  In 2002 she received the permission of Dr. Lilli Nielsen to provide Active Learning educational trainings.  She is considered an expert in the use of Active Learning strategies, equipment, techniques, assessment tools, and curriculum.  We are excited to have her at this conference!

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to learn from an expert in Active Learning for students with multiple special needs!  Register for Workshop #SU1836780.  Patty’s full day session is not included in the BTH virtual conference. 

""Beat the Heat 2018
June 21-22, 2018
ESC Region 13
5701 Springdale Rd.
Austin, TX 78723

For more information and to see the complete conference schedule, visit our Beat the Heat Conference website.

Posted on

STAAR Alternate 2 Updates

TEA has shared their Fall Update: New Features of the STAAR Alternate 2 for 2017-2018! 

  • Large print student booklets are now available and can be ordered by districts through the enrollment collection process.
  • Student booklets will feature limited color images.
  • An image card set will come with each standard size student booklet.  Cards contain the same images that appear in the student booklet.
  • An Exit Survey must be completed upon the submission of all student responses and can be found in the Assessment Management System.

Revisions

  • Medical Exemption Form:  Under the section, Specific Medical Condition Eligibility Criteria, the form now states that a student meets the criteria for medical exemption if they are unable to respond to test questions due to a “terminal or degenerative illness.”  Previously, students met the criteria if they were unable to answer a test question due to a “chronic illness.”
  • In The Test Administrator Manual, under the Medical Exemption score coding section, what previously read, “The student is receiving non-academic homebound services due to medical issues and does not receive academic instruction,” now reads, “The student is unable to receive sufficient or consistent homebound services due to medical issues.”
  • Some prerequisite skills have been added to the Curriculum Framework and Vertical Alignment documents.
  • The “Confidential Student Report” will now be known as the “STAAR Alternate 2 Student Report Card,” and will include parent resources.

Key Dates

  • NEW Enrollment Collection: October 23rd-November 10th, 2017
  • October 20th- Essence Statements and Test Blueprints will be posted (projected)
  • Last Date for STAAR Alternate 2 Test Administrator Training: March 16, 2018
  • Preview Window: March 19-30, 2018
  • Assessment Window: April 2-20, 2018
  • Verification Window: April 23 & 24, 2018
  • Students who transfer/move to a new district AFTER the first day of the STAAR Alternate 2 testing window (April 2nd, 2018) do not have to be tested.
  • Region 13 will be presenting two free workshops focusing on STAAR Alternate 2 administration

To learn more about these updates, please join the Accommodation Central Community for a Live Chat on October 31st from 3:30 – 4:00.  Visit Accommodation Central to reserve your spot.

For more information, please contact:

Jennifer Russell, Low Incidence Disabilities Education Specialist, 512-919-5206 or email jennifer.russell@esc13.txed.net 

Darcy Schiller, Autism Education Specialist, 512-919-5224 or email darcy.schiller@esc13.txed.net

Posted on

Communication Connections Conference Website Launch

We are pleased to announce the launch of our CCC for SLPs website.  Find it at https://goo.gl/LrDt95.

Created as a companion resource to our conference, this website can be accessed across all platforms (iOS, Mac, PC, Android…).  As a conference guide, you can bookmark this site in your favorite browser and use it to:

  1. Follow the Schedule
  2. Refer to Session Descriptions to choose the ones that are right for you.
  3. Download and print Handouts. Please note! Printed handouts will not be available at the conference. Links to the handouts can be found in the session descriptions.  Handouts are being posted as soon as they are received from the presenters.

This conference brings you a fresh look on an old favorite!  Join us in learning evidence-based practices on topics ranging from evaluation to service delivery and everything in between.

This conference starts in just 8 days!  Have you registered? We still have a few open spots!  Register today, you can attend onsite or online.

Posted on

Dr. Vickie Mitchell: Beat the Heat 2017 Featured Presenter

Dr. Vickie MitchellOn Beat the Heat Day 1, Vickie Mitchell will be presenting the workshop: Building Sustainable Adult Schedules: The Life Plan with a Focus. Students with significant disabilities need supports to be successful in different environments. How can schools effectively plan for each student to be successful in adulthood? What is the impact of diversity, language and Culture and how does that impact Transition Services? Join us for a review of the Life Planning tool, an essential element of transition services that can lead to sustainable adult schedules. This tool can help schools understand what students and their families see for the young adult’s future. Imagine the sudden jarring moment, when they think about the day the bus stops coming and school supports are no longer available! The Life Plan is designed to help families think through the adult life planning and articulate what the school can do to help them build a good life for their child with significant disabilities. Resources will be shared to help schools review their processes and consider ways to ensure each student is connected with a meaningful, sustainable schedule beyond public school.

Dr. Mitchell has been in education over 38 years, ten years as a secondary general education teacher and over 28 years as a special educator in both elementary and secondary schools. She has been a special education administrator, transition specialist, taught at two Texas universities, and served as the Transition Specialist at Region 4 Education Service Center in Houston, Texas. Although Dr. Mitchell has been intricately involved in inclusion and training research-based inclusive practices, her love is transition services. Her partner of many years is her daughter, Beth Mitchell Panter They are the authors of the student and teacher editions of “The Student-Led IEP Meeting” and the companion teacher training guide to help district and campus-level educators learn how to organize and implement student, parent, and teacher training on Student-Led IEP Meetings. Dr. Mitchell is the President of the Texas Division of Career Development and Transition (DCDT) and was appointed by past-governor George W. Bush and Governor Rick Perry to the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities. Vickie and Beth’s last publication, “Student-to-Student”, is a trainer of trainers model for students who have led their IEP Meeting to become trainers of other students, served by special education, on the Student-Led IEP model.

Previous year’s particpant said, “Awesome information on transition. Need to hear this.” We are eagerly looking forward to having Dr. Mitchell back again this year!

To see Dr. Mitchell or any of our other excellent Day 1 presenters, register for Beat the Heat 2017, Workshop SU1734208.

""Beat the Heat 2017
June 21-22, 2017
ESC Region 13
5701 Springdale Rd.
Austin, TX 78723

Posted on

Adapted PE Session – Beat the Heat 2017 – Day 1

group of students with coach placing hands together in center of groupOn Beat the Heat Day 1, Randy Foederer and Vicki Mason-Foederer will be presenting their workshop: PE and Motor Activities for Students with Severe Disabilities.  This workshop will explore age-appropriate and functional motor activities for students with severe intellectual, physical, or emotional disabilities. Activities will be presented from various sources including the Motor Activities Training Program, Project Mobilitee, The Hawaii Early Learning Profile, and others. Evaluation, IEP development, and instructional strategies also will be explored for students with sever and multiple impairments.

Target Audience: Special education teachers, special education aides, therapists, and any physical education instructional personnel working with students with severe disabilities.

Randy is the Adapted Physical Education Consultant at ESC Region 1o.  He is a certified physical educator (C.A.P.E.).  He has been working in this capacity for more than 25 years.  Randy has been the Area 10 competition director, as well as a trainer for Special Olympics.  He has been a partner PE trainer for project PEOPEL: Physical Opportunities Program for Exceptional Learners.

Vicki is a Certified Adapted Physical Educator (C.A.P.E.) who has worked as an APE/lead in several Texas school districts for over 15 years. Vicki is a trainer for Special Olympics and presents for TWU’s APE program.  Additionally, Vicki is a frequent presenter at statewide conferences and Education Service Centers on best-practices in adapted physical education.

Reviews from past participants, after attending the Foederer’s workshops, always say ” loved this fun and interactive workshop!”

To see Randy and Vicki or any of our other exceptional Day 1 presenters, register for Beat the Heat 2017, Workshop SU1734208.

""Beat the Heat 2017
June 21-22, 2017
ESC Region 13
5701 Springdale Rd.
Austin, TX 78723

Attention APE Providers!

If you are interested in this 1 day APE session ONLY and not the remainder of Beat the Heat, you may obtain a promotional code to allow you to attend on June 21st at Beat the Heat for the 1 day fee of $55.00. Lunch is included. Please contact Maria Daniel (maria.daniel@esc13.txed.net) to obtain your code. Register for Workshop SU1734208.

Posted on

Beat the Heat 2017 Full-Day Speakers

""

Take your learning to the next level with these full-day sessions for Beat the Heat Day 1, June 21st!

Setting Up Classrooms for Students with Autism Like a Ninja – Christine Reeve, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Teaching Grade Level Standards Across the Curriculum – Cindy R. Miller, MS

Building Sustainable Adult Schedules: The Life Plan with a Focus on Diversity – Dr. Vickie Mitchell 

Strategy to See: Strategies for Students with Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment – Diane Sheline, TVI

Managing Challenging Behaviors – Joanna Ryan, MEd, BCBA

Incorporating Core Vocabulary to Promote Academic Progress: Getting to the Core of Core Vocabulary – Shannon Paige, MA, CCC-SLP

PE and Motor Activities for Students with Severe Disabilities – Randy Foederer, CAPE & Vicki Mason-Foederer, CAPE

Read about their informative sessions.

Summer is coming! Temperatures are rising!  Registration is filling up!
Join us for cool, summer learning!
Beat the Heat 2017—Register now!

Posted on

Beat the Heat 2017: Registration is Open!

Pictures of students with disabilitiesBeat the Heat 2017
Workshop #SU1734208 – June 21 & 22, 2018
ESC Region 13

Register now for this exceptional learning opportunity designed for educators, parents, and others who work with children ages 3-21 with significant disabilities.

Wednesday ♦ June 21, 2017 ♦ 9 am – 4 pm

Full day, in-depth workshops on topics including: challenging behavior, communication/AAC, individualized instruction, transition and more!

Thursday ♦ June 22, 2017 ♦ 9 am – 4 pm

Here’s why you should attend!

  • Attend one of the largest conferences in the state focusing on students with significant disabilities
  • Learn first-hand from experts in the field
  • Improve outcomes for your students by learning new strategies and tools from other classroom professionals
  • Network with your colleagues
  • Lunch provided each day

Beat the heat! Spend these summer days with cool people and sizzling hot ideas!

Bonus for ESC Region 13 Parents and Paraeducators!

Receive a discount code to attend Beat the Heat for $10 by contacting Maria Daniel (maria.daniel@esc13.txed.net).

Questions?