You Have to Build the Plane as You Fly It!: Core Components of an Evidence Based Behavior Support Program Part 4

Kaye Otten, PhD, BCBA, Ali Sweitzer, M.Ed., BCBA Author

12/16/2021 Added

45 Plays

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You have to Build the Plane - Part 4

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[00:00:00.150]This is our part four of four as Annette said.
[00:00:07.064]So I'm gonna just have a brief intro
[00:00:11.087]and we want to spend a bulk of our time,
[00:00:13.390]as much time as possible with our wonderful
[00:00:16.590]cooperating teachers on this project
[00:00:19.460]can not appreciate them more, I know when I was,
[00:00:22.650]I started out as a gen ed teacher
[00:00:23.483]and then a special ed teacher
[00:00:25.320]and actually my old teaching partner's
[00:00:27.470]on the screen with me, Jodie.
[00:00:29.080]So we had a behavior support program for about seven years
[00:00:33.510]together that I absolutely loved and experience,
[00:00:36.350]and I wish I would've had
[00:00:37.190]something like this when I started.
[00:00:38.470]So that's kind of the motivation to provide this.
[00:00:43.200]So we're there for you.
[00:00:45.370]I'm gonna put my screen onto my email and my website.
[00:00:50.610]If you have any kind of questions regarding this series,
[00:00:53.103]want to follow up, et cetera, et cetera,
[00:00:55.410]please contact me, we are here to support you.
[00:00:58.470]The other thing I wanted
[00:01:00.120]to mention is that we will, most of us,
[00:01:01.780]if not all of us will be at the Midwest Symposium
[00:01:04.880]For Leadership And Behavior Disorders in Kansas City
[00:01:07.360]in February, I have a link to the registration for that.
[00:01:11.180]So if you want to come and brainstorm
[00:01:14.890]and talk in person, that's where we'll be.
[00:01:18.660]So without any further delay, I'm going to go ahead
[00:01:22.551]and get started with our wonderful teachers here.
[00:01:26.000]They all are on the screen with their email addresses
[00:01:29.530]and we will get started with Jodie.
[00:01:33.220]Oh, actually I'll do a little intro.
[00:01:35.000]Okay, so the topic today is
[00:01:38.520]building strong and effective teams,
[00:01:40.910]and if you're doing this,
[00:01:42.640]you know that a behavior is a team situation.
[00:01:46.140]We can't do it on our own so that, we decided that would be
[00:01:50.450]our last topic and a really super important topic.
[00:01:53.170]It does take effort, but the rewards are great.
[00:01:57.710]I know I'm still in touch with a lot
[00:01:59.330]of the students that I supported and it's just
[00:02:01.160]very reinforcing and rewarding to see the great things
[00:02:04.563]that they're doing in their lives, and it definitely
[00:02:07.340]takes all of us, the paraprofessionals, the administrators,
[00:02:11.110]support people, teachers, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:02:14.640]So now I will pass it on to Jodie.
[00:02:16.790]I will be here to advance the slides
[00:02:18.820]if there's a little bit of a delay, please bear with us.
[00:02:22.970]So Jodie, take it away.
[00:02:24.900]Okay.
[00:02:25.930]So as we have been before,
[00:02:29.710]I am collaborating with Ashley Olson,
[00:02:32.100]I am the behavior facilitator
[00:02:33.730]for our district that is assigned to that program.
[00:02:37.090]And Ashley who will also be speaking on some
[00:02:39.670]of the slides is one of the teachers in the program.
[00:02:44.550]And so we're going to tell you about building strong and
[00:02:47.750]effective teams as we experienced
[00:02:50.027]at West Side, our district.
[00:02:53.670]Okay.
[00:02:57.170]Okay, so one of the things we do, so in our program,
[00:02:59.880]we have two teachers, several paras,
[00:03:03.950]or we call them educational assistants.
[00:03:06.620]We have a minister who also is the district
[00:03:11.060]elementary special education coordinator.
[00:03:15.345]A behavior facilitator is assigned
[00:03:16.850]and obviously the two teachers.
[00:03:19.910]So we meet weekly with our administrator,
[00:03:23.260]behavior facilitator and the two teachers.
[00:03:26.080]Again, we communicate program needs.
[00:03:28.280]One of the things that I think makes any program strong
[00:03:32.550]is that we have a large emphasis on academics.
[00:03:36.250]So we need all of the materials and curriculum
[00:03:39.880]that is supplied to the general education classroom.
[00:03:42.160]So if we are having issues with accessing those,
[00:03:45.960]or we find that we are missing some of those,
[00:03:47.920]that's the time that we can talk
[00:03:49.830]about needs for our classroom,
[00:03:51.590]as well as social emotional,
[00:03:53.180]curriculum needs, and other things.
[00:03:56.340]We discuss concerns sometimes with students
[00:03:58.720]like a student's not progressing through our level system,
[00:04:02.340]or maybe we have a concerned parent or a parent who is,
[00:04:06.850]has not continued to partner with us or a parent
[00:04:10.017]that's showing signs of distress, or, you know,
[00:04:13.790]just having the stress of having a student
[00:04:18.310]with challenging behavioral needs at home.
[00:04:20.800]We problem solve about all of those things.
[00:04:24.190]Our administrators really good about recording action items.
[00:04:26.940]So if there's something that needs to be done,
[00:04:29.990]then those things are assigned to a person
[00:04:32.770]and we can follow up, then there.
[00:04:37.064]Again, I think in our program,
[00:04:39.100]the two teachers in the program do a great job
[00:04:42.320]of planning with the co-teacher, they plan
[00:04:44.830]similar SEL themes that they're working on
[00:04:49.990]and coordinate program levels, special activities.
[00:04:54.470]And I think they also do a good job of just the social part
[00:04:56.980]of it, cause I think that we all are a family.
[00:04:59.330]And so we celebrate staff birthdays and plan other social
[00:05:02.070]activities to kind of promote that team need.
[00:05:06.570]Ashley, is there anything else
[00:05:08.040]that you can think of that we need to add
[00:05:10.160]about program teams, as I realized this was your slide?
[00:05:14.500]That's fine, I was going to tell you,
[00:05:15.976]but then you were doing such a great job.
[00:05:17.840]No, just the only other things that I would probably add
[00:05:20.900]are that along with all of our meeting times,
[00:05:23.700]like we have all of these set up meetings
[00:05:26.465]that we do plan to collaborate,
[00:05:28.220]but then also I feel like here at we do a good job
[00:05:31.370]of collaborating on a daily basis
[00:05:33.070]or like when something pops up.
[00:05:35.000]So not everything is planned, but on a daily basis,
[00:05:37.700]I feel like we do touch base
[00:05:39.340]with all of these people that were just mentioned.
[00:05:43.910]Okay, go ahead.
[00:05:47.090]Yeah.
[00:05:50.120]So because we have a lot of,
[00:05:54.720]as I said, educational assistance, as they are titled
[00:05:57.100]in our district, we have a lot of VAs.
[00:05:59.930]So it's important for us to communicate
[00:06:05.289]on a regular basis with them so that we can be
[00:06:08.480]part of a team and be consistent across people.
[00:06:12.380]We have started monthly meetings with all EAs,
[00:06:15.290]they have control of the agenda
[00:06:18.361]and that they can add agenda items.
[00:06:20.710]So if they have a concern
[00:06:23.290]or request for information or just something that they want
[00:06:25.460]to bring to the team, they can add that agenda.
[00:06:28.120]We of course can also add to the agenda.
[00:06:31.130]The teachers are there, the behavior facilitator's there
[00:06:34.790]and our program administrator.
[00:06:38.460]We are very,
[00:06:42.200]I guess, aware that our students need
[00:06:45.070]consistency across people, because many of our kids
[00:06:48.550]are very good at if we're not consistent,
[00:06:53.140]and we all don't know the plan And
[00:06:54.700]in and out, then there's little holes to maybe get away
[00:06:59.820]with something with one person or manipulate a situation.
[00:07:04.480]And so if we are all consistent,
[00:07:06.670]that helps the student in feeling A, safe and secure,
[00:07:11.270]trusting that all of the adults say what they do and mean
[00:07:15.370]what they say, what they mean and do what and mean,
[00:07:19.150]what they say is that.
[00:07:20.250]No, that does not make sense.
[00:07:22.360]And so then they'll trust us to follow through.
[00:07:24.810]And so we have program level if thens, in that,
[00:07:29.200]like in the program within when something happens
[00:07:32.080]like this then happens, and so we have developed those.
[00:07:36.840]I understood that if I clicked
[00:07:38.570]on that right now, or ask someone to click on it,
[00:07:40.890]it causes it to go out of the program,
[00:07:42.900]so when you have access to this handout,
[00:07:47.650]you'll be able to click on that link and look at that.
[00:07:50.150]So basically it says like if a student displays
[00:07:54.660]the target behavior of the week that we are studying,
[00:07:57.860]then this is what happens, okay, so then we all learn that.
[00:08:01.600]And then we can all act consistently across people.
[00:08:06.980]And then we even have ones for individuals
[00:08:09.100]because our individuals,
[00:08:10.850]and that's the part that out directly out
[00:08:13.020]of their behavior plans, so they,
[00:08:15.960]so say that student has difficulty with accepting feedback.
[00:08:21.400]So we are highlighting
[00:08:23.250]that skill for that student, especially.
[00:08:25.860]And so like if they accept feedback in an appropriate way
[00:08:29.827]and that we've practiced and given feedback
[00:08:32.990]on in the past, then this,
[00:08:35.130]they should get like five wild cards or whatever it is
[00:08:37.900]that they have in their plan that they are motivated by.
[00:08:42.590]So there's both what we should do
[00:08:45.390]when they choose a positive response,
[00:08:47.710]and then also when there's problem behavior,
[00:08:49.530]how are we going to best respond
[00:08:51.840]that's not escalating to that individual and
[00:08:55.830]will help that situation
[00:08:59.950]end up in the way that we want it to
[00:09:02.450]and the way that's going to be best for them?
[00:09:05.600]Again, I think you're going to hear this
[00:09:08.110]from all the teachers in this session
[00:09:09.700]is that we promote all adults as authoritiy figures
[00:09:12.500]in the program, a lot of times,
[00:09:14.630]especially I watched Ashley with a new student,
[00:09:19.030]just about a month ago,
[00:09:21.440]this young lady came into our program and she took
[00:09:25.150]to Ashley right away, and Ashley's word was gold.
[00:09:29.300]And anytime Ashley left the room, guess what?
[00:09:33.660]You know, that person was like, well, I'm,
[00:09:35.380]don't have to listen to you,
[00:09:36.530]you're not Miss Olsen, Miss Olsen's in charge.
[00:09:38.880]And so basically what that happened was then
[00:09:41.670]for the next couple of weeks, Ashley, what did you do?
[00:09:46.380]We, I did not work with her.
[00:09:48.220]And we had to go and pair her with each
[00:09:51.680]and every one of the individuals who works in our program.
[00:09:55.290]And it literally probably took a full day for each person.
[00:09:59.190]Yes.
[00:10:00.063](indistinct)
[00:10:01.690]Absolutely, and so it's,
[00:10:03.770]it was a message sent early and a message sent strongly
[00:10:07.640]that all adults are the authority figures in this program.
[00:10:11.570]And you need to listen to all
[00:10:13.620]of the adults and except the rec from all of the adults.
[00:10:15.720]And so I think we're realizing that,
[00:10:17.987]and it was cute because, you know,
[00:10:20.030]after we went through all the people
[00:10:21.390]who normally work in Ashley's classroom,
[00:10:23.310]then we quickly figured out that we needed to do it with the
[00:10:26.540]primary classroom staff too, because sometimes they cover.
[00:10:29.420]So every single adult got their day with this young lady.
[00:10:34.510]And so, and now it is really,
[00:10:36.710]she has generalized across people that we all,
[00:10:40.210]and I think that's going to be very valuable for her
[00:10:42.610]when she transitions back to her neighborhood school,
[00:10:46.780]we have all of in all of our district,
[00:10:49.680]if a child has an IEP in our database that is
[00:10:55.180]available to all the stakeholders
[00:10:56.920]in that child's educational program,
[00:10:59.070]there is an IEP at a glance.
[00:11:00.790]So if you look up a child in our database,
[00:11:03.730]they will have a symbol.
[00:11:05.730]And if you have access to that student and you'll be able
[00:11:07.860]to click on that symbol indicating yes,
[00:11:10.870]they do have an IEP, what their goals are,
[00:11:13.390]and then a synopsis, a very short synopsis
[00:11:15.660]of their behavior plan in there.
[00:11:19.330]Boy, I cannot see the bottom of that slide.
[00:11:22.720]We offer through the ASD Network,
[00:11:26.050]they do offer a registered behavior tech class
[00:11:29.010]through the ASD Network.
[00:11:31.930]Our district will supply,
[00:11:34.460]we bought a set of the several sets of the books that go
[00:11:37.330]with that class, it's a self-placed independent class.
[00:11:40.160]If they choose to do that and do that on their own time,
[00:11:43.020]there is incentive to raise their pay,
[00:11:46.330]and like I said, we provide all the books.
[00:11:48.340]So it's an absolute free thing for them to do,
[00:11:52.830]and it also helps us because it helps them
[00:11:56.880]to get a strong behavioral base that they can understand
[00:12:00.180]what we are doing and why we're doing it.
[00:12:08.230]In our district,
[00:12:09.220]so we are housed in a regular elementary building
[00:12:14.870]in our district and let's face it sometimes,
[00:12:19.680]buildings aren't really excited
[00:12:21.470]about a behavior program being housed in their building.
[00:12:25.170]And so we need to work with them
[00:12:28.500]to help A, promote some positive relations for our program
[00:12:33.240]and our students and make everybody feel okay that you know
[00:12:36.613]what these kids are here, they're working hard
[00:12:38.820]and they're going to make progress
[00:12:42.730]on their behavior in this program.
[00:12:44.860]And it's not going to be disruptive
[00:12:46.320]to your learning environment.
[00:12:47.610]So one thing that we have really tried to do is like, again,
[00:12:52.340]we share our resources and materials because they are,
[00:12:57.450]we are in their building, we may, Hey, you know what?
[00:13:00.380]You've got a kid that's struggling
[00:13:01.950]in this social, emotional skill.
[00:13:04.550]We have a group that's going on with that kid, you know,
[00:13:07.500]obviously we have to okay that with parents,
[00:13:09.250]but we will provide that kind of support.
[00:13:13.050]Let them join some of our academic intervention groups
[00:13:16.160]and our kids might go up there if they have a group.
[00:13:18.820]And so it's become a very collaborative partnership.
[00:13:25.300]We send our EAs to assist in this building if they have a
[00:13:28.500]staff shortage and we can spare a person
[00:13:31.890]because we are very well staffed
[00:13:34.370]when everybody's there on a given day.
[00:13:36.940]And if we have some students out or something comes up
[00:13:40.580]that we can spare some people, we are glad to do that.
[00:13:44.300]And that shows them that we are willing
[00:13:47.560]to help them as well.
[00:13:49.820]Again, I talked about the SEL or intervention groups.
[00:13:55.110]Sometimes that they are in a bind,
[00:13:57.220]if they have a kid that they really don't want
[00:13:59.800]to suspend for behavior outside of school, if we can,
[00:14:04.690]we can help run some of that stuff to give them that option.
[00:14:09.560]And so that has been a good partnership.
[00:14:12.060]We attend problem solving, so sometimes they'll say, Hey,
[00:14:14.820]I've got a kid, would you mind coming up
[00:14:17.270]to this (indistinct),
[00:14:18.680]our teachers have participated in those.
[00:14:20.960]I have participated in those.
[00:14:22.260]So something that we can do again,
[00:14:25.500]like Ashley talk about some of the social events
[00:14:28.840]that the building has that you've participated in.
[00:14:30.977]And that I think builds a positive relationship
[00:14:34.750]and a partnership between you.
[00:14:36.900]So like some of the things
[00:14:38.060]that you've done, you get put on teams.
[00:14:41.070]I'm like the number one person that they want
[00:14:42.570]on their team, because I'm really competitive.
[00:14:45.450]And it's my favorite,
[00:14:46.530]but I will say that we've done like cornhole.
[00:14:49.770]We do a trivia game and we do,
[00:14:52.150]what was the last one we just did
[00:14:53.340]where we had like points and stuff.
[00:14:54.950]It was like the best week of the year or something.
[00:14:57.750]And we had different teams
[00:14:58.680]and just different little challenges and stuff,
[00:15:00.450]but building the effective partnerships with the building
[00:15:02.943]where housing has been crucial for our program.
[00:15:05.480]And it was not that way when we first got here.
[00:15:07.690]So it's taken a lot of rapport-building
[00:15:10.820]to get there, but it has made up so much
[00:15:15.710]love and more people for our kids.
[00:15:17.760]So it's been wonderful to have them, and now it's like,
[00:15:21.610]we're kind of just part of their building, so.
[00:15:24.680]Talk about the assemblies and programs
[00:15:26.130]in the last two bullets.
[00:15:29.050]The assemblies like today,
[00:15:31.260]we went to their Wild Cat Of The Month assembly.
[00:15:34.200]And so that's where each student,
[00:15:35.960]one student out of each classroom in each grade level
[00:15:38.370]gets an award each month for being,
[00:15:41.270]having the best behavior in their classroom,
[00:15:43.290]and sometimes, actually our students even get nominated
[00:15:46.130]from like the specials teachers,
[00:15:47.550]if they're going to specials and the front office sometimes
[00:15:51.420]will nominate our students because one of the things
[00:15:54.650]that this school, Westbrook loves about our kids is
[00:15:57.990]that they don't go up until they are really ready.
[00:16:01.210]And so a lot of the times they're like your kids are
[00:16:03.840]in behavior programs, they're like your kids are so great.
[00:16:06.970]We wish that all of our kids were this polite and sweet.
[00:16:09.680]And so it's really nice for our kids
[00:16:11.320]to get all of that positive praise too.
[00:16:15.510]And then we also go to
[00:16:20.830]tell me what you mean by the last bullet point.
[00:16:22.950]I think you just talked about it.
[00:16:24.720]Our kids also will participate in like the music programs
[00:16:27.907]and we'll attend those.
[00:16:30.090]And really, I think Ashley hit something on the head there
[00:16:35.112]that by taking our students and getting them out
[00:16:37.990]into the general education population,
[00:16:42.610]we are actually promoting positive relations
[00:16:46.560]for our students because sometimes people
[00:16:48.970]are a little afraid of what may be
[00:16:50.760]down in a behavior program.
[00:16:52.690]And so then they see them out and they see them
[00:16:56.680]following directions, accepting feedback,
[00:16:59.310]walking down the hall in a non-disruptive manner.
[00:17:02.750]And so I think that every time that we can involve them
[00:17:05.570]in those building things, people can see that they are not,
[00:17:09.110]they are kids that are working on behavior just as there's
[00:17:12.060]kids that are working on academics and that they can
[00:17:17.200]and are quite capable of having very appropriate behavior.
[00:17:21.980]Okay, go ahead.
[00:17:28.620]Do you want me to do this slide?
[00:17:30.420]Okay.
[00:17:31.760]For working on building effective partnerships
[00:17:34.220]with our neighborhood schools,
[00:17:35.730]from our setting, this is really important.
[00:17:38.310]And we do intake meetings and updates weekly.
[00:17:44.780]So we connect regularly sometimes on a daily basis.
[00:17:47.590]Sometimes I'll even add the teachers
[00:17:49.030]in with the parents daily point card,
[00:17:51.570]text messages that I send at the end of the day.
[00:17:53.410]And I'll just toss in their resource teacher
[00:17:55.150]from their homeschool, just
[00:17:56.560]so that way we are having that daily communication.
[00:17:59.810]We do WebExs as a team, try like shoot for monthly.
[00:18:04.840]Sometimes it's more often if we need it, in-person visits,
[00:18:08.290]we try and have the school come and visit the student
[00:18:10.680]just so that they can maintain that relationship
[00:18:13.860]from afar, emails, those go back and forth quite often,
[00:18:18.200]I just said that we did regular monthly updates.
[00:18:25.120]Our students also get their,
[00:18:27.630]I get their lesson plans from their homeschool so that they
[00:18:30.120]are up-to-date daily with their academics on grade level
[00:18:34.690]with their classroom, I send back and forth tests.
[00:18:37.550]I communicate grades,
[00:18:39.100]I communicate any other behaviors or concerns.
[00:18:44.350]And then through transition,
[00:18:47.080]I66 helps to staff that as they go back
[00:18:50.147]and then we slowly pull off,
[00:18:52.100]but we always maintain that communication.
[00:18:55.820]I think it's very important that
[00:18:58.470]this is something different, not all programs are like this.
[00:19:01.150]We only, so like when a kid gets to the point
[00:19:04.500]in a level system where they are adding time back
[00:19:08.240]in the general education classroom,
[00:19:10.603]that is not in the building,
[00:19:12.440]that our program is housed, we send them,
[00:19:15.680]transfer them back to their neighborhood school.
[00:19:18.100]So they might just go for one class
[00:19:19.990]in their neighborhood school.
[00:19:21.620]West Side is a small enough district that we can do that and
[00:19:25.100]not sacrifice a lot of their learning time during the day.
[00:19:29.800]So I think that's something
[00:19:31.884]that makes that unique in from other programs.
[00:19:35.270]And we feel like they do attend specials in level two,
[00:19:40.970]at our building where we're housed and then anything
[00:19:44.260]after that is all in their neighborhood schools.
[00:19:48.180]So they don't get used to our building where we're housed.
[00:19:52.500]They are striving to go back to their neighborhood school.
[00:19:57.110]And I think during that transition time,
[00:19:59.230]the support for the school is a lot.
[00:20:02.580]And so it helps them to feel like we're there to support.
[00:20:06.520]And they have a lot of say
[00:20:09.190]in what that transition looks like.
[00:20:10.770]And I think that's important because if they feel good
[00:20:15.100]about how much we're transitioning back to
[00:20:20.630]how many classes, how quickly or slowly that goes,
[00:20:25.170]then the more likely that it's going
[00:20:27.140]to be successful because they know what's going to work,
[00:20:29.580]and really, we have only had neighborhood buildings
[00:20:35.247]that are so inviting and welcoming back of our students,
[00:20:39.740]and very rarely do we see resistance to that.
[00:20:42.810]So that's something that's remained really positive,
[00:20:45.160]and it really communicates to the child
[00:20:46.830]that this school wanted them to go work on some skills,
[00:20:49.870]but they want them back as soon as they're ready.
[00:20:52.150]And so I think that it goes a long way
[00:20:55.250]in helping that transition process.
[00:21:02.050]And I think this is our last slide.
[00:21:03.710]And I think this is so important
[00:21:06.610]that we build effective partnerships with the parents
[00:21:09.570]of the students in our program.
[00:21:11.850]And I think once we get across
[00:21:14.494]that we all want what's best for this kid.
[00:21:18.980]And when you can get a parent to trust that,
[00:21:21.540]you're going to get a lot of buy-in to you as a teacher,
[00:21:25.200]the program is as a whole and helping their child.
[00:21:29.550]Because I think we have to remember that
[00:21:32.410]that road to placement in a behavior program,
[00:21:36.360]sometimes it's very rocky and parents get very soured
[00:21:41.960]on educations professionals and staff.
[00:21:46.250]And so when they come to you, I'm sure many parents think,
[00:21:53.320]you know, what, how are you going to be different?
[00:21:56.260]Right, and so once we can get them
[00:21:59.280]to say, okay, here's the deal.
[00:22:01.730]You don't know me from Adam, but I'm here,
[00:22:03.670]this is my passion, these kids are the kids I want to teach,
[00:22:07.390]and the only kids I want to teach.
[00:22:09.250]And I know that your kid can learn skills and have
[00:22:15.000]a better successful behavioral path at school, and so again,
[00:22:19.340]we both want the same thing and I always invite parents
[00:22:23.610]to say, okay, I am as a teacher,
[00:22:26.227]working with you as a parent,
[00:22:28.370]going to assume you always have the best intentions.
[00:22:31.720]And I'm going to ask you that you do that for me as well.
[00:22:34.310]And any time that something doesn't feel right
[00:22:36.740]or sound right or you don't understand why
[00:22:39.130]we are approaching a behavioral intervention
[00:22:42.170]the way we are, I invite you to reach out to me
[00:22:45.975]because I want you to question me, right.
[00:22:48.810]Because I know I can tell you, and you're going to see
[00:22:50.990]that we're doing this because this is going to help.
[00:22:54.840]And I'm going to resist judgment.
[00:22:56.940]I hope you resist judgment.
[00:22:59.090]And we kind of become an agreement between, you know,
[00:23:03.270]an unofficial handshake agreement
[00:23:06.210]that we're going to do those things for each other.
[00:23:09.270]And the one thing I think that always gets parents
[00:23:11.410]is we recognize their advocacy as a good thing.
[00:23:14.300]Even if they get really like
[00:23:17.610]in that placement meeting, they are
[00:23:20.170]they lose their temper and they might use a few swear words.
[00:23:23.940]And they're really mad because they're scared and they want
[00:23:27.640]their kid to be successful, no parent doesn't want that.
[00:23:30.760]And so when they say that, I'm sorry, I blew up at that.
[00:23:35.320]I always come back with something along the lines of,
[00:23:39.490]if you didn't stick up for your child,
[00:23:41.450]I would be worried right now we can get
[00:23:44.470]to a place where we can,
[00:23:45.970]we can have these conversations
[00:23:47.630]where you're going to advocate for your child.
[00:23:50.470]And it might not have to look like that.
[00:23:52.760]And you don't have to get so upset
[00:23:54.190]because we're going in a collaborative relationship.
[00:23:56.020]So I think that goes a long way is that
[00:23:59.100]that advocacy is what every parent good parent does, right.
[00:24:02.550]We stick up for our kids and we try to
[00:24:06.900]make the best for our kids,
[00:24:08.120]so that is something that gets you a long way.
[00:24:11.250]I know that regular, I mean,
[00:24:12.920]I think that one of the things that Ashley says in every
[00:24:16.270]intake meeting with a parent or the first time we meet them,
[00:24:18.730]if they come on a visit is you're going
[00:24:21.680]to hear from me a lot, in fact,
[00:24:23.410]you're probably going to hear from me to the point where,
[00:24:25.820]oh my gosh, it's Miss Olson again, right,
[00:24:28.350]because we want them to be
[00:24:33.300]aware of the things that are going on,
[00:24:36.071]and not in a, your child did this negative thing,
[00:24:39.250]and we want you to punish him,
[00:24:43.150]not like that, but we want, hey, did this,
[00:24:45.560]can you tell me if you've ever seen this at home
[00:24:47.370]and what do you do, and things like that.
[00:24:49.210]So it's a collaborative, consistent communication.
[00:24:53.160]Again, like I think a lot of these point cards that go home
[00:24:58.390]only have all the litany of list of every bad thing
[00:25:02.710]they did during that day.
[00:25:04.210]And so it's important that we balance that
[00:25:08.185]with let's list every good thing they did in that day,
[00:25:11.260]because I think that it's easy to just take the time
[00:25:14.500]to write the things that go wrong.
[00:25:17.200]Again, I know that we're really good,
[00:25:19.180]Ashley and Taylor are really good about asking what's
[00:25:23.070]your preferred mode, they'll say I never answered my phone,
[00:25:25.450]but I'll get right back to you in a text and that's fine.
[00:25:28.470]And then once they tell you that,
[00:25:30.400]then you use that to communicate them
[00:25:32.040]in their preferred way, again, respond in a timely manner.
[00:25:35.300]And I think this is the most important, guess what,
[00:25:38.910]having a kid with challenging behavior
[00:25:40.730]in your home, 24/7 is hard.
[00:25:43.560]And so if they need to call and vent to you and just
[00:25:49.200]be a shoulder to lean on, I think that builds rapport
[00:25:53.450]and it's so important.
[00:25:55.710]So unfortunately, sometimes that takes up a lot of time,
[00:25:58.280]but I think that if we are that for parents,
[00:26:01.700]that can go a long way.
[00:26:04.830]Anything else, Ashley?
[00:26:07.770]No,
[00:26:08.800]I would say just the only other thing that I would add was
[00:26:10.150]that a lot of the times when I'm talking
[00:26:12.420]to my parents, just reminding them sometimes
[00:26:14.380]when they've come from another building,
[00:26:16.210]they're already used to hearing all
[00:26:17.860]of the things that their kids have already done.
[00:26:19.207]And they're used to teachers
[00:26:21.250]who are so burnt out from being with their kids all day.
[00:26:23.380]So they're just ready to hear all of the awful things,
[00:26:26.810]but sometimes even just calling about the positive things
[00:26:29.140]or calling to ask questions like randomly throughout the day
[00:26:31.890]like, Hey, this is happening, what do you think?
[00:26:34.930]And then also sometimes even reminding the parents like,
[00:26:37.330]gosh, you know what, you're right.
[00:26:38.380]You got a 14% today, however, you know what,
[00:26:42.110]they really turned it around and fixed it,
[00:26:44.180]so like, maybe even as you talk about those things
[00:26:46.740]or plan together, reminding them, gosh, you know what,
[00:26:49.660]this is a stepping stone, this is going to get harder,
[00:26:51.830]this might get worse before it gets better, but regardless,
[00:26:54.850]we're going to figure it out and we're going
[00:26:56.400]to work together, and even if you see things get bad,
[00:26:58.920]don't give up and we will figure it out at some point.
[00:27:05.080]Love it.
[00:27:11.800]All right, Brook Valley, you're up.
[00:27:15.190]All right.
[00:27:18.850]Going to me.
[00:27:21.030]Okay, at Brook Valley South,
[00:27:23.260]we wanted to give a couple of different perspectives here.
[00:27:25.470]So we'll talk a little bit about partnering and
[00:27:29.540]making strong, effective teams in a self-contained setting,
[00:27:32.290]as well as what that might look like in a resource setting.
[00:27:42.650]So overall just building that effective grade level
[00:27:45.200]and program team,
[00:27:46.320]looking at having those weekly PLCs is really important,
[00:27:50.030]making sure that all the people on the team are included.
[00:27:52.940]Now, as schedules get really busy,
[00:27:55.090]it can be difficult for all team members
[00:27:58.740]to meet weekly on a regular basis, and we know that.
[00:28:03.220]So I think ideally it would be great if everybody could,
[00:28:07.580]but just having a running document where you're taking notes
[00:28:10.800]and you're being really detailed
[00:28:12.747]about what you're meeting on
[00:28:14.300]so that everybody that isn't able to come,
[00:28:17.280]as we know those school psychologists
[00:28:19.727]or other people might not be able to be in one building.
[00:28:22.060]So that just makes it a little bit easier
[00:28:23.640]to stay on the same page.
[00:28:26.240]Making sure that we're partnering
[00:28:27.720]with all service providers, through scheduling,
[00:28:31.480]lesson planning, and meeting those student needs.
[00:28:35.820]We have some interactive Google slide lessons that we will
[00:28:39.630]share a couple of different types in the next few slides
[00:28:44.930]with more detail there.
[00:28:47.170]Making sure that you're working together
[00:28:48.680]as a team to meet those IEP needs.
[00:28:51.270]You're working together
[00:28:52.180]to build that functional behavior assessment.
[00:28:54.820]You're working together to build
[00:28:57.140]that behavior intervention plan
[00:28:59.430]and then modifying and discussing it
[00:29:01.439]as the child grows and progresses.
[00:29:04.150]Ensuring all the members of your team have the same goal
[00:29:08.740]and vision, that they understand what your vision is
[00:29:12.540]for your program and that you're working together in that.
[00:29:16.870]Keeping all members in the program in the loop.
[00:29:20.340]This can be challenging if you are not all in the same
[00:29:23.550]building, if you have people that are in multiple buildings,
[00:29:26.580]but making sure that even if you think it might be
[00:29:28.520]a small thing, noted about a child or the family
[00:29:32.320]that you're keeping everybody that works with
[00:29:34.060]that child in the loop so that they can adjust
[00:29:36.360]what they're doing as needed.
[00:29:39.000]Always communicate, listen, and respect each other
[00:29:42.590]and learn from one another.
[00:29:44.820]I think the strongest team you can have
[00:29:47.820]is when you know that you're going
[00:29:50.400]to learn from your peers and that
[00:29:54.210]what you think might not always be the best thing.
[00:29:58.370]On this next slide, you can see,
[00:30:00.490]these are just screenshots of different slides.
[00:30:02.860]So this is something we're going to show you.
[00:30:04.800]This is an example of what it would look like currently
[00:30:08.090]in a self-contained setting.
[00:30:11.610]These are our lesson plans.
[00:30:12.770]So each one of those little underlined areas is a link
[00:30:17.130]and it links to a more detailed document.
[00:30:20.570]This is something that's
[00:30:21.600]really helped our team stay on the same page.
[00:30:25.720]This lesson plan
[00:30:29.300]form is shared with everybody that works with the child.
[00:30:32.230]So the OT, the speech path, our principal has a copy.
[00:30:36.270]And anything you need is basically
[00:30:38.470]on this slide, super easy to just link.
[00:30:42.360]You can see each individualized
[00:30:44.270]teacher's lesson plans are there.
[00:30:46.880]The overall writing lessons,
[00:30:48.470]we project a morning message every day where the kids check
[00:30:52.230]in their zones of regulation and have a fun question
[00:30:55.780]that we use at morning meeting that's on there,
[00:31:00.330]our social skills planning, unit studies technology,
[00:31:03.020]pretty much anything, our roster, caseload sheets,
[00:31:07.860]times that they might go to speech
[00:31:10.788]or OT as those change as your caseload's grow.
[00:31:14.060]It's just a really helpful thing
[00:31:15.760]to just have it in one location.
[00:31:18.140]And we literally try to link to everything
[00:31:20.890]onto this one location so that everybody knows
[00:31:24.920]where it is and can access it at any time.
[00:31:27.850]This has been really helpful to just kind
[00:31:29.430]of stay on the same page.
[00:31:30.890]We use it a lot just in working with our speech pathologist
[00:31:35.080]as well, she can go on and see, oh,
[00:31:37.170]I can see that so-and-so is learning about sequencing and
[00:31:41.190]reading, so that's going to be my focus this week, you know,
[00:31:43.950]just kind of keeps you all on the same page.
[00:31:45.560]It's been really helpful.
[00:31:52.190]Okay, I'm going to touch a little bit more like Jodie
[00:31:55.040]and Ashley did on building partnerships with.
[00:32:05.200]Carrie you're muted.
[00:32:06.380]Sorry I don't think anybody heard me, sorry.
[00:32:09.040]I'm talking a little bit about building
[00:32:11.700]effective partnerships with paraprofessionals
[00:32:13.520]in the self-contained setting.
[00:32:14.650]So like Ashley and Jodie were talking a
[00:32:17.190]nd that's the only setting that I've ever been in.
[00:32:20.240]I'm probably unique because I have a para
[00:32:22.650]who's been with me for going on 16 years
[00:32:25.860]and another one it'll be about 7 years.
[00:32:28.010]So I'd like to think that what is on this slide
[00:32:30.920]really does work because they have managed
[00:32:32.980]to stay with me through all of it.
[00:32:36.590]I think one of the things that we really try to do tap
[00:32:39.440]into each other's strengths and talents.
[00:32:41.340]Not going to lie, I am not a fan of teaching,
[00:32:43.550]some of the things in fifth grade math,
[00:32:45.260]but I've got another support staff
[00:32:47.860]in my room who is all about it, and so when it gets
[00:32:51.160]to be that time, we just know when to trade off.
[00:32:55.500]I put in there, for example, the subjects that we teach,
[00:33:00.670]but also data entry.
[00:33:04.512]We have a gold cards, we collect all that behavioral data.
[00:33:07.300]I don't like entering all that data.
[00:33:10.850]So I have another support staff who that is her thing.
[00:33:15.140]Same with scheduling, when we're trying to put together
[00:33:17.150]a master schedule at the beginning of the year
[00:33:18.930]she can lay it all out.
[00:33:19.950]So we really try to tap into
[00:33:22.405]each other's strengths that way.
[00:33:23.873]We kind of have a little joke.
[00:33:25.690]I have two paraprofessionals in the program with me.
[00:33:30.020]And when we first get kids,
[00:33:31.770]we've even thought about making ourselves t-shirts,
[00:33:34.760]I'm kind of the car salesman, so when the kid is coming in,
[00:33:37.670]I'm just like showing them all the great things that they're
[00:33:41.050]going to get to participate in and all the fun things
[00:33:43.113]they're going to earn.
[00:33:44.860]And then another one of our support staff,
[00:33:47.110]we kind of call her the middleman
[00:33:49.840]and she's that go between before we get to the last pair,
[00:33:52.600]because all the students in our program rotate
[00:33:55.290]every couple of weeks between teachers.
[00:33:58.080]So we're touching on all those kids
[00:34:00.450]and all those subject areas every couple of weeks.
[00:34:03.300]But the last person that we have in our room that kids
[00:34:05.520]generally go to, we call her kind of the fine print.
[00:34:09.020]And she tends to be a little tougher at nailing down
[00:34:12.770]some of those behaviors that we see, so,
[00:34:15.460]and we joke about it, we laugh about it, but it just,
[00:34:17.830]it works for our team.
[00:34:20.510]We also debrief at the end of every day.
[00:34:24.970]Even if it's for five minutes,
[00:34:26.990]I'm lucky because my parents are also RDTs.
[00:34:30.570]They went through the class
[00:34:31.470]that Jodie touched on before,
[00:34:33.200]they went through our educational service unit,
[00:34:34.960]took the courses.
[00:34:36.300]And so they are registered behavior techs.
[00:34:38.370]And with that came some perks like being able to stay at
[00:34:40.900]work a little longer, but we really debrief every day.
[00:34:44.880]And if it doesn't happen at the end of the day,
[00:34:46.730]then we are taking what little time we have in the morning
[00:34:49.940]before kids arrive to just talk about what we could have
[00:34:52.760]done differently, what we're going to do differently.
[00:34:55.530]What we did that was really stupid.
[00:34:58.660]But we just make it a non-negotiable.
[00:35:02.770]We constantly talk about our vision for this program.
[00:35:06.880]We constantly talk about our vision
[00:35:08.900]for kids, and we share that same vision with the kids.
[00:35:13.580]If our goal is to get kids back
[00:35:14.940]to their neighborhood schools, those kids hear it
[00:35:17.190]and we talk about it constantly.
[00:35:20.460]They are also respected as teachers.
[00:35:22.360]When I'm introducing new parents, new kids to the classroom,
[00:35:27.670]they will hear me say there are two other teachers
[00:35:30.220]in our setting, two other teachers in our classroom.
[00:35:34.220]I really push for professional development.
[00:35:37.440]I think the two women that work with me get tired
[00:35:40.060]of hearing me say it,
[00:35:41.050]but I really push them to broaden their knowledge.
[00:35:47.220]And it was fabulous this year because we didn't even know
[00:35:51.400]there was this paraeducators conference here in Nebraska.
[00:35:54.860]And for the first time they attended
[00:35:57.958]that conference, we actually talked with some
[00:36:00.400]of the people who had that conference up and said, Hey,
[00:36:04.960]have you ever thought about getting proposals
[00:36:08.620]from paraprofessionals who could run some of these sessions?
[00:36:11.940]So these guys could easily do that
[00:36:16.560]with the knowledge that they've already gained
[00:36:18.990]over the last 15, 16 years being a para.
[00:36:23.060]They also take on leadership opportunities.
[00:36:25.520]I'd like to see more of
[00:36:27.060]that happen just within our building.
[00:36:29.260]We have PLCs as teachers, you heard Stephan, Kristen said,
[00:36:33.690]Jodie and Ashley say,
[00:36:35.250]we don't really have anything like that
[00:36:37.400]when it comes to the paraeducators in our building.
[00:36:39.980]I've seen that done in the past,
[00:36:42.180]we're just, at our particular building,
[00:36:43.730]we're not quite there yet.
[00:36:47.830]I always involve my support staff in the IEP process.
[00:36:52.140]When we have an intake, when we have a kid coming,
[00:36:54.810]we are all looking through that IEP.
[00:36:56.620]We are all looking through that FBA.
[00:36:58.440]We are all looking at some of those previous behaviors.
[00:37:02.420]When I am writing an IEP,
[00:37:04.610]they help me when I'm writing present levels.
[00:37:07.470]They help me when I'm writing about strengths.
[00:37:09.930]I put together IEP movies for kids.
[00:37:14.040]They help me do the filming, they give the kids ideas,
[00:37:17.140]what they want in those IEP movies.
[00:37:19.510]One of my support staff is this fabulous baker,
[00:37:24.082]so she in the past has made treats for the IEPs.
[00:37:28.460]They are just very much involved in that process with kids.
[00:37:36.350]There are not always great days between you can imagine
[00:37:39.660]after so many years,
[00:37:41.450]and you're just working on top of each other,
[00:37:43.960]but sometimes there are conflicts,
[00:37:46.850]and I mean, they just happen.
[00:37:49.090]They tend to be on the healthier side though,
[00:37:52.390]when we are talking about behaviors and what we want to,
[00:37:55.640]how we want to describe the behavior
[00:37:57.300]or what happened, we are constantly having pretty fun
[00:38:01.810]and challenging conversations
[00:38:03.660]about behavior, how we would describe something,
[00:38:06.080]what we would categorize it as on the card,
[00:38:10.000]constantly challenging each other.
[00:38:13.780]And that's been good for us, that has been good for me.
[00:38:18.010]I think the last thing really is just model.
[00:38:21.100]I don't like a lot of conflict, I don't like to, you know,
[00:38:25.370]talk to adults about what I want them
[00:38:27.450]to do differently or how I want them to teach,
[00:38:31.020]so for me personally, I am model model model.
[00:38:35.530]The way I say things to kids, the way I act with kids,
[00:38:41.290]That's probably the biggest thing on this slide for me.
[00:38:53.630]Okay.
[00:38:56.420]I'm going to talk a little bit
[00:38:57.470]about working with paraprofessionals in a resource setting.
[00:39:00.670]So I'm at Brook Valley now,
[00:39:02.810]which I work in a self-contained setting, but before this,
[00:39:05.720]I worked in a resource setting for 12 years in Millard.
[00:39:10.820]And so this is kind of a unique opportunity
[00:39:13.810]because in a resource setting, our biggest enemy was time.
[00:39:18.870]When I would walk in a room, a para would walk out.
[00:39:21.980]That was our biggest thing, I never saw my para.
[00:39:25.720]So communication was always key and we never had time
[00:39:30.920]to communicate, we never had time to debrief,
[00:39:33.050]even though it's like the top thing,
[00:39:35.210]when we were all putting this presentation together,
[00:39:37.700]we all said communication was the number one thing
[00:39:39.740]that you needed
[00:39:42.423]because we had such limited access to everyone.
[00:39:44.090]But we really tried to make it a priority
[00:39:46.040]when I was in resource,
[00:39:47.680]even if it was just five minutes as they were walking
[00:39:50.680]out the door, we really tried to get down
[00:39:54.120]to the nitty-gritty before we left,
[00:39:55.890]or as they came in and kids were maybe getting breakfast
[00:39:59.670]or something in the room,
[00:40:00.503]we really tried to make it a priority
[00:40:02.670]just because it is so important.
[00:40:05.370]But it didn't always happen,
[00:40:06.760]and so being at a level three now,
[00:40:09.110]I have access to my para every single day.
[00:40:11.980]And that's been such a shift for me.
[00:40:15.260]So the resource setting is extremely different
[00:40:19.200]and you don't always have that luxury.
[00:40:21.270]So if you're in a resource setting or gen ed population,
[00:40:25.370]I know what you're talking about, and you're probably like,
[00:40:26.997]"There is no time to talk to our paras".
[00:40:29.030]And I understand that.
[00:40:31.660]And just you can't meet the IEP minutes
[00:40:33.830]when you're both in the same room together,
[00:40:35.963]so one of you comes and one of you goes,
[00:40:37.450]so I understand that.
[00:40:40.105]The other thing that we found really effective is
[00:40:43.856]setting up, we weren't able to do weekly meetings,
[00:40:45.720]but we were able to talk to our admin and get monthly
[00:40:49.610]meetings, even if we said we just need 20 minutes a month,
[00:40:53.770]where everybody could come together and we could talk
[00:40:57.350]with paraprofessionals and they were
[00:40:59.400]then paid that extra 20 minutes or extra 30 minutes,
[00:41:02.060]just so we could have time to talk with every para together
[00:41:06.780]just about kids and just issues that were coming up.
[00:41:10.370]But we did need admin support on that because
[00:41:13.090]we didn't want them to have to stay and not get paid.
[00:41:16.540]So we did go to admin and advocate for that as well.
[00:41:21.380]But communication is still key
[00:41:23.630]and we tried to get it wherever we could.
[00:41:26.540]On the other thing, just like Carrie said is modeling,
[00:41:29.730]training and practice and modeling,
[00:41:31.270]so many times you come together,
[00:41:33.230]you want a plan and you have a specific kid,
[00:41:35.290]especially with a behavior plan, and you're like, okay,
[00:41:37.790]here you go do it, but you really need to show them
[00:41:41.010]and model it and train it, how you want it done.
[00:41:43.280]You just can't expect them to go in there.
[00:41:44.900]And so we put on there,
[00:41:47.010]don't throw them to the wolves right away,
[00:41:48.930]spend one or two days walking through that,
[00:41:51.530]showing them modeling, training them in it.
[00:41:55.380]You're supposed to run that reading group or that math group
[00:41:58.100]or whatever, but if you put that work in the front end,
[00:42:00.660]it does pay off later on.
[00:42:02.810]So if possible, walk their schedule
[00:42:05.691]with them have, you know, just find the glitches.
[00:42:09.960]It will pay off in the long run.
[00:42:12.910]The other thing, there's so many different personalities
[00:42:17.090]in buildings when you're working in general ed
[00:42:19.600]and with specialists and everything else.
[00:42:23.740]So you kind of have to think about what personalities are
[00:42:25.180]going to work best and with what students.
[00:42:27.510]And so know your paras and their strengths.
[00:42:29.410]Like so many people have said before and put the paras
[00:42:33.250]that, you know, are gonna work best with, you know,
[00:42:36.200]the gen ed teacher that maybe their personalities work
[00:42:39.050]better together, or with those tough students,
[00:42:41.530]you put your strong paras with, so know their strengths and
[00:42:46.650]where are you going to get your biggest bang for your buck.
[00:42:50.200]We found that to be really helpful.
[00:42:52.150]And the other thing is if issues do come up,
[00:42:58.500]our motto was always come to us first.
[00:43:00.550]If it needed to go to admin,
[00:43:01.770]we would go and help advocate as well.
[00:43:04.680]But so that they ended up being the middleman and that's not
[00:43:08.130]fair to them because they're the only way we can get
[00:43:11.250]IEP hours met if we didn't have them.
[00:43:13.370]So we never wanted them to get caught in the middle.
[00:43:18.510]The other thing is just being able to let them debrief.
[00:43:22.780]Sometimes they are the one caught like,
[00:43:24.890]Hey, go finish this worksheet that we couldn't get done.
[00:43:27.877]And then they're late for the next spot
[00:43:29.720]that they're supposed to be in.
[00:43:30.553]And then they're kind of getting the brunt of that.
[00:43:33.540]So sometimes they just need to blow off some steam about,
[00:43:36.780]you know, I keep getting called out
[00:43:39.150]'cause I'm late, to the one o'clock or whatever,
[00:43:41.650]let them vent to you,
[00:43:42.930]doesn't have to go any further than that.
[00:43:45.460]We're asking a lot of paras.
[00:43:47.300]And I realized that when I looked through a para's schedule,
[00:43:51.010]we were managing four different paras and they didn't even
[00:43:53.680]have time to go to the bathroom, I mean, they were,
[00:43:55.113]we were so tightly scheduled just to get IEP minutes met.
[00:43:59.040]And I'm like, this is ridiculous.
[00:44:00.540]We're going from fourth grade math, fifth grade reading,
[00:44:03.280]then hurry, get to kindergarten quick to do a bathroom break
[00:44:06.110]or whatever, it was ridiculous.
[00:44:09.500]So we have to let them have breathers.
[00:44:12.340]We have to build that time in
[00:44:15.602]and let them vent because it is,
[00:44:18.270]we do ask a lot of our paras and advocate
[00:44:22.040]for them when you can, when you see it happening.
[00:44:24.830]That was a big thing when they saw us going
[00:44:28.120]to bat for them, they're such a valued member
[00:44:30.845]of the team, and they have to know that.
[00:44:37.270]Alright, the other thing is empower them,
[00:44:40.870]they are, like I said, they really are the glue.
[00:44:44.970]So learn their strengths, give them jobs.
[00:44:48.170]They are very capable.
[00:44:51.700]They can get the job done
[00:44:53.260]sometimes when other people can't and they build
[00:44:56.063]really strong relationships with those students,
[00:44:59.174]so make sure you're praising them as well, for that.
[00:45:01.890]We send them out the door with some of the toughest kids
[00:45:04.090]in some of the worst settings hallways with kids walking by,
[00:45:08.950]no resources, and they're getting these jobs done.
[00:45:11.940]So empower them, make them feel part of the team,
[00:45:14.940]listen to what they have to say.
[00:45:17.320]We also, you're in this setting
[00:45:20.280]that they need to be thought of as teachers,
[00:45:22.880]because they're doing some of the toughest job.
[00:45:25.480]And like I said, I couldn't get my IEP hours met,
[00:45:28.370]especially in resource without them, so
[00:45:33.130]Kristin and Stef,
[00:45:35.420]Kristen actually said this quote, and we were like, this is,
[00:45:38.130]this is great, coach behind the scenes
[00:45:40.250]and empower in front, never correct,
[00:45:42.290]call out a para in front of kids or other people.
[00:45:47.020]It's not appropriate, they need to be considered
[00:45:48.720]an equal, just like just like another teacher,
[00:45:51.630]but then praise and empower them in front of the students.
[00:45:54.370]So they see them as an equal, so they respect them.
[00:45:58.140]Always allow them to save face.
[00:46:00.930]Trust is another big one.
[00:46:03.040]Trust, put your trust in the,
[00:46:04.750]if you've modeled and shown them what to do, let them do it.
[00:46:07.900]And they'll show you
[00:46:10.540]and they need to put their trust in you
[00:46:12.900]so you can build that strong team.
[00:46:15.781]Always be professional, advocate,
[00:46:18.990]they're going to advocate for your students,
[00:46:20.428]but also advocate for your paras
[00:46:22.520]because they need to have that voice as well.
[00:46:26.310]And I also, my paras,
[00:46:29.720]especially now being at a level three
[00:46:31.830]and I get to work so much more closely with them
[00:46:36.130]partner with them in the decision-making.
[00:46:37.660]They helped me with some of those IEP decisions.
[00:46:41.570]And even when I was in resource,
[00:46:43.100]they're pulling some of those kids out for those small group
[00:46:45.440]maths or those reading, I would have to get their opinions.
[00:46:49.380]They're doing some of that progress monitoring.
[00:46:51.560]So I would go to them, you know,
[00:46:53.250]weeks before the IEP and said,
[00:46:54.610]hey, we need to talk about this.
[00:46:56.860]You might know this kid better than I do.
[00:46:58.390]So really helping in some of that decision-making
[00:47:01.310]and planning and then always being flexible.
[00:47:04.420]It comes back to modeling pretty much everything,
[00:47:06.510]but model flexibility,
[00:47:08.070]schedules change, people call in sick, but just be flexible.
[00:47:13.730]Schedules are tight, and a lot of you out there I know
[00:47:17.030]are super short-handed, but if you don't have the paras,
[00:47:19.940]it's gonna fall on you, so, anyway.
[00:47:34.980]We're going to talk a little bit about IEP snapshots
[00:47:37.397]and FBA and BIP snapshots as well.
[00:47:39.980]And Jodie covered this a little bit.
[00:47:41.670]She talked about IEPs at a glance,
[00:47:43.890]which is the same thing that we have done in the past.
[00:47:46.970]We just don't have a system for it.
[00:47:48.410]Ours were more kind of a one-pager that we have created.
[00:47:51.980]We've done this in two different ways, actually.
[00:47:54.440]We've made an electronic one
[00:47:57.000]to share with teachers so that we can always update it.
[00:47:59.860]And then we made a paper copy to print off
[00:48:02.220]and hand to our paras
[00:48:03.160]so then they can take it with them and they know everything
[00:48:05.860]that's happening on their IEP.
[00:48:07.660]One thing that's super important on those snapshots
[00:48:09.940]is to include accommodations, so all paras know
[00:48:12.960]any accommodations that the students are supposed
[00:48:15.770]to receive in the classroom
[00:48:18.193]so that they can help that classroom teacher
[00:48:20.430]or themselves, when they're working with that student.
[00:48:25.560]The electronic ones have been really nice
[00:48:28.070]because they have been able to, we can share them easily
[00:48:31.530]and update them easily because they're live.
[00:48:34.160]So you can share them
[00:48:35.230]with counselors and school psychologists,
[00:48:37.470]as well as the principal or anybody truly working
[00:48:40.660]with the student, the PE teacher, the music teacher,
[00:48:43.720]people that you might not think that needs to see what's
[00:48:46.540]going on in their IEP, but they are they're teachers too.
[00:48:48.940]So it's important that they know their accommodations,
[00:48:51.580]or if they have a goal in a certain area,
[00:48:54.020]all of those things.
[00:48:56.040]It's also very important to have FBA and BIP snapshots.
[00:48:59.290]They're just quick one page document summarizing
[00:49:01.610]the students FBA or BIP.
[00:49:03.700]You always include what their target behavior is
[00:49:06.890]and the most important part of this
[00:49:08.900]is the verbal responses to student behavior.
[00:49:11.310]That's so important because you want this,
[00:49:13.920]you want everyone to be using the same verbiage
[00:49:16.330]when they are talking to a student about their behavior.
[00:49:21.260]These are easy enough
[00:49:22.093]to share with general education teachers and that
[00:49:25.170]and paras that are working with the student.
[00:49:27.650]This is what we used when we were in the resource setting.
[00:49:30.830]This was our interactive lesson plan format.
[00:49:34.450]We use this for co-teaching,
[00:49:36.340]if you see on here, you can see teacher's names.
[00:49:39.160]So if you see like Bornhoft or Denson,
[00:49:41.030]those were our co-teaching math plans.
[00:49:43.480]So in those, if those are all live link
[00:49:45.800]so that was a live link between myself or the other teachers
[00:49:49.940]and the co-teacher for math or the area of reading,
[00:49:53.750]whatever we were co-teaching in, so when we would plan,
[00:49:56.830]we could plan in that document
[00:49:58.570]and we would both be sharing the same document.
[00:50:02.520]Other things that are on here
[00:50:03.960]are just individual lesson plans,
[00:50:06.050]but then anybody could access my lesson plans as needed.
[00:50:09.600]One thing that we did also put on here where like
[00:50:11.970]in the corner, it says schedule and caseload links.
[00:50:14.300]This was huge for us because it included my schedule
[00:50:18.420]and my teammate's schedule, as well as the para's schedule.
[00:50:21.240]It included all of our resource kids who case managed them,
[00:50:24.920]anything that possibly you would need,
[00:50:26.720]you would find on this page.
[00:50:28.057]And this was shared with the principal,
[00:50:29.540]as well as the secretary.
[00:50:31.560]This helped the secretary
[00:50:33.040]with the, if she needed to find one
[00:50:35.330]of us or one of the paras, it was a very quick link
[00:50:38.380]to be able to find them because, you know,
[00:50:41.210]you update your schedule 900 times,
[00:50:43.300]then you don't always print it off and hand it
[00:50:45.820]to all of the people that need it.
[00:50:48.690]So they always have a live link for that.
[00:50:54.360]We kind of wanted to give a perspective straight
[00:50:57.310]from our paras mouth.
[00:50:58.550]So we met with some that work in our building
[00:51:02.670]and ones that had worked in the past
[00:51:04.120]and just kind of got their input on, you know,
[00:51:07.030]what helps you feel more comfortable in your setting?
[00:51:09.100]What helps you have more success in your job
[00:51:11.840]and feel more a part of our team?
[00:51:14.410]And we heard a lot of the same things,
[00:51:15.910]but I'll just go ahead and read some of them.
[00:51:17.950]The first one just making us feel empowered
[00:51:19.750]to make decisions.
[00:51:20.583]I think sometimes they might feel hesitant
[00:51:22.950]and think that the teacher is only the one
[00:51:25.390]that makes decisions, but making them kind of
[00:51:27.890]feel that they're allowed to do that in certain situations,
[00:51:31.470]recognizing their talents, abilities,
[00:51:33.410]strengths, and knowledge.
[00:51:35.240]Carrie touched on that a little bit, like know your paras,
[00:51:37.300]know your teachers that you work with, know your team,
[00:51:39.560]everybody has different strengths.
[00:51:42.040]Some people are more creative than others, some people,
[00:51:44.490]you know, are more strategic.
[00:51:46.650]So just making sure that you're using each other's strengths
[00:51:50.850]for the students needs.
[00:51:53.307]Include us, day-to-day planning decisions,
[00:51:55.396]keeping them in the loop basically.
[00:51:57.450]Communicating regularly, any changes, decisions,
[00:52:00.760]student needs, et cetera,
[00:52:03.140]informing them about the background of the students.
[00:52:05.210]We had a lot of conversations about this.
[00:52:06.900]You know what I think sometimes people are worried,
[00:52:09.890]what am I allowed to say, what am I not allowed to say?
[00:52:13.870]You have the conversation of confidentiality anyway,
[00:52:16.350]they're trained in that regard as well.
[00:52:18.130]So they need to know certain things
[00:52:20.730]about a background of a child to help work with that child.
[00:52:23.730]So that makes a big difference
[00:52:25.050]when they're teaching those children.
[00:52:29.080]Valuing their input and expertise in other areas,
[00:52:34.630]and making sure that you understand
[00:52:36.418]that they are experts at what they do,
[00:52:38.210]making sure the parts of the program plan is clear
[00:52:42.360]in terms of training, that goes back to that time.
[00:52:46.430]That does take time, that takes a lot
[00:52:48.570]of modeling practice, things like that.
[00:52:50.700]So making sure that you're aware
[00:52:51.950]of that and setting time for those things.
[00:52:54.330]Partnering with experienced paras to maybe help navigate
[00:52:58.300]so you have a new para or someone that has less experience,
[00:53:01.200]just making sure that they, you know,
[00:53:03.460]they can partner with someone
[00:53:04.720]that knows what they're going through and that can help
[00:53:06.950]support them, and then providing the why so that the process
[00:53:11.730]makes sense in future decisions has been really helpful
[00:53:14.950]for some of our fellow teachers.
[00:53:18.095]This last slide before we moved to Anne
[00:53:21.243]is just building those partnerships
[00:53:23.880]with your neighborhood schools.
[00:53:25.360]So because we are in a contracted placement,
[00:53:27.830]we contracts with about 18 Metro school districts here
[00:53:31.210]in the Omaha area.
[00:53:32.700]And so you can imagine, I mean,
[00:53:34.180]I have about six kids in my room, but they come from,
[00:53:37.100]you know, four different districts.
[00:53:39.020]So it is so vital that the schools
[00:53:42.640]that are sending us kids remain connected to the kids.
[00:53:47.540]I am not telling you anything that you don't already know,
[00:53:50.760]but we really try to make sure at the intake that we're not
[00:53:55.250]letting districts or schools kind of wash their hands
[00:53:58.150]of students once they move to our placement.
[00:54:00.030]So I get real fired up
[00:54:03.240]when I talk about how we keep these partnerships open
[00:54:07.010]with our schools.
[00:54:08.560]So like I mentioned,
[00:54:09.900]it is heavily stressed and talked about at the intake.
[00:54:12.950]Like you will be expected to come and visit.
[00:54:16.080]We expect you to attend future IEPs.
[00:54:18.810]And by the way, once you leave,
[00:54:21.090]we're programming for this student to come back to you.
[00:54:24.100]And so you need to remain connected
[00:54:26.100]so there's no "What? It's already time? He's coming back?"
[00:54:30.100]We want them to be in the know at all times.
[00:54:32.400]So at that intake,
[00:54:33.440]we are even scheduling dates for the resource teacher,
[00:54:37.910]the general ed teacher, the principal,
[00:54:40.300]to come and visit the program and have the kid talk
[00:54:43.330]about what the program is like,
[00:54:45.150]what levels are like, show him the classroom store.
[00:54:47.680]Just basically a tour of the program
[00:54:51.240]given by the kid.
[00:54:53.360]We also said any times when somebody might want
[00:54:56.160]to come and bring lunch or have lunch
[00:54:57.970]with the student, another thing we set up at the intake,
[00:55:01.600]I give a Seesaw code to folks in the district
[00:55:07.240]so that anything we post on Seesaw, they can see.
[00:55:11.000]And I will tell you,
[00:55:13.610]I put them in as a family member
[00:55:16.710]because we don't pay for the Seesaw app necessarily.
[00:55:19.590]If you don't pay for the Seesaw app,
[00:55:21.530]that is a good little hack for you.
[00:55:24.500]You can just make your partner schools,
[00:55:28.130]whatever, family members.
[00:55:30.820]So can you can list several of them out.
[00:55:34.960]We invite our neighborhood districts
[00:55:37.400]to special events, right before Thanksgiving,
[00:55:40.360]our elementary and life skills program, we had a play,
[00:55:43.880]we had poetry readings.
[00:55:46.520]It was fantastic, we had pie and we had so many districts
[00:55:50.600]come and support these kids.
[00:55:52.340]It's so motivating and so inspiring for these kids to see
[00:55:56.740]that they are still thought of,
[00:55:59.010]that they are still cared about.
[00:56:02.080]So we do try to put some of those special events in place.
[00:56:06.070]Also the kids in my classroom,
[00:56:08.540]when it's getting close to their IEP
[00:56:10.360]this year, something we are doing differently,
[00:56:12.680]we're actually driving the students out
[00:56:14.630]to their schools to hand-deliver their IEP invitations.
[00:56:20.670]The kids in my classroom are heavily involved
[00:56:23.570]in the IEP process, and this is one of the ways,
[00:56:25.850]especially if they haven't even met some of the people yet,
[00:56:28.910]they can get that first look at this person and hand them
[00:56:33.100]that invitation and invite them to the celebration.
[00:56:36.030]We also share links to live data.
[00:56:37.860]So anything that we are putting in for data entry,
[00:56:40.950]I can share a link with my schools, my teachers, whatever.
[00:56:44.040]And those folks can see exactly how the day went
[00:56:47.560]at the end of the day
[00:56:49.920]that's live for them as well as to our parents.
[00:56:53.760]We need on a regular basis,
[00:56:55.380]when we start talking about transitioning a student,
[00:56:57.340]and once a student has started adding time back
[00:56:59.760]at their neighborhood school, we also set the date
[00:57:02.410]right then, let's meet in four weeks,
[00:57:04.350]let's talk about where we are,
[00:57:05.680]we'll be adding ready to add more time, whatever.
[00:57:10.760]so I just can't stress this enough
[00:57:14.880]if you are somebody who's working with getting kids back
[00:57:20.090]to their neighborhood school or back to their classroom.
[00:57:33.690]I will be sharing with you largely about my current job,
[00:57:39.580]where I'm in a level three placement.
[00:57:41.710]So school contract with us and send their students to us.
[00:57:45.490]When it comes to working with teams,
[00:57:47.080]I also worked self-contained behavior in a school
[00:57:51.230]for 12 years and five years of regular resources.
[00:57:54.063]Some of the information is applicable
[00:57:57.260]in a lot of different settings.
[00:58:07.420]This has been so complicated for me.
[00:58:10.430]I am always surprised that
[00:58:14.760]as someone that works with really difficult behavior
[00:58:17.200]and challenging children, I truly find navigating all
[00:58:21.886]of the interactions and power situations
[00:58:26.060]and relationships with the adults that I work with
[00:58:29.240]a lot more complicated and tricky
[00:58:32.043]than just working with my challenging students.
[00:58:36.800]This program that I'm working at now,
[00:58:38.970]this is only our third year of being open.
[00:58:41.630]When I was in a self-contained setting in the public school,
[00:58:47.340]I always dreamed of having more resources, more experts,
[00:58:52.240]I wish I had mental health therapy for the kids,
[00:58:54.840]more input, and ESU7 provided that.
[00:59:00.367]We are so lucky to have a BCBA
[00:59:02.230]and a mental health professional
[00:59:04.250]on staff in the building with us.
[00:59:07.600]But I also found out it's really tricky
[00:59:10.966]learning how to navigate that and what roles people play
[00:59:13.680]and who does what and how it all works.
[00:59:18.270]So these, this is just me some advice I would have
[00:59:20.800]from figuring that all out from our new program,
[00:59:24.180]making sure that those roles are clearly defined
[00:59:28.020]is going to be really important.
[00:59:30.250]It avoids a lot of complications
[00:59:32.560]with stepping on each other's toes or insulting someone or
[00:59:39.937]doubling up on duty.
[00:59:41.780]So really hammering that out exactly what every person
[00:59:46.820]is going to do when they're going to be with students,
[00:59:49.770]what paperwork they're responsible for
[00:59:51.980]has been really important for us
[00:59:53.920]and it's taken some time to figure all of that out.
[00:59:56.960]I would also say that we have brought restorative practices
[01:00:00.680]into our programming in the last two years,
[01:00:03.080]and that has been a huge help for the adults
[01:00:06.290]as well as the students.
[01:00:08.720]A culture of care is really important
[01:00:11.980]in our relationships with each other.
[01:00:13.990]I love this quote and it's really good to look at often
[01:00:18.947]"The person's not the problem, the problem is a problem,"
[01:00:22.210]and it's just a really great way to look at things.
[01:00:25.420]And a healthier way to approach
[01:00:27.620]disagreements and complications
[01:00:29.680]when we are working through things with students.
[01:00:34.510]Communication has been hit on over and over,
[01:00:37.120]but I would say that you can't over-communicate.
[01:00:42.470]That extra text message,
[01:00:43.710]the extra emails are fairly harmless compared
[01:00:47.710]to someone not having the information that they would need.
[01:00:53.210]I've also learned that we really have to keep the focus
[01:00:56.830]on what's best for kids.
[01:01:00.030]That sometimes when you are working with a lot of different
[01:01:03.260]professionals, different ideas and egos come into play.
[01:01:07.260]And ultimately the question really needs to be
[01:01:11.864]what is going to make the student most successful.
[01:01:15.020]What is going to help them, support them the most.
[01:01:17.790]And that's where our motivation needs to be.
[01:01:21.650]And lastly, I would say, as I've worked in this area,
[01:01:26.270]I've noticed that trauma is fairly prevalent among
[01:01:31.910]my coworkers and people that are drawn to this field,
[01:01:34.390]this field, I have not been able to find any exact numbers,
[01:01:39.770]but I found that it is really important to make sure
[01:01:44.170]that those trauma-informed practices carry over
[01:01:47.300]to our relationships and interactions
[01:01:49.350]with the other adults as well,
[01:01:52.700]that we work in a job where we often experience trauma
[01:01:58.960]at work as well and accommodating
[01:02:01.540]and working through that is a really important.
[01:02:11.630]Paraprofessionals, I feel like everyone has gone over
[01:02:14.130]so many of these things, so I'll try
[01:02:16.230]to keep it brief and just share
[01:02:19.130]maybe some things that might be a little different for me.
[01:02:23.100]I found that making sure that the classroom
[01:02:26.514]is not my classroom, that it's our classroom
[01:02:31.010]whenever possible that they have a desk and a chair.
[01:02:34.330]I know that often paras go into a classroom
[01:02:38.010]and what's available is, you know, to grab a student chair.
[01:02:42.150]And when you're trying to establish that they have the
[01:02:46.140]authority and that they are important to you in the program,
[01:02:50.700]I think providing a space for them is really important.
[01:02:55.300]Everyone's talked about strength-based assignments.
[01:02:58.990]This is just so true finding
[01:03:00.910]that thing that they're really great at.
[01:03:03.600]I was at a school at one point,
[01:03:07.360]and I had been asking and asking for extra support
[01:03:10.570]in my classroom and another paraprofessional.
[01:03:12.980]And what ultimately happened was they had a para
[01:03:16.350]that had a conflict with the teacher she was placed with
[01:03:19.080]and they came and they said, well, we can,
[01:03:20.780]we can give you this paraprofessional
[01:03:23.170]if you'd be willing to do it.
[01:03:25.230]And it was truly the best gift, I was a little uneasy,
[01:03:30.100]but when I just took into account her strengths,
[01:03:35.220]she had a son was pretty significant disabilities.
[01:03:37.700]So she had a really great understanding of IEPs
[01:03:42.206]and paperwork, so she could take something off my plate,
[01:03:46.130]which was taking all the paperwork I had
[01:03:48.847]and putting it into sensible, organized files.
[01:03:52.750]That was a huge thing for me
[01:03:54.690]and just brought some real creativity.
[01:04:00.580]So by figuring out those things that she was good at,
[01:04:03.610]was a huge asset and really relieved a lot of pressure
[01:04:07.460]for me and from the other paraprofessional in my classrooms.
[01:04:09.820]So figuring that out, I really think
[01:04:13.720]you can figure out a way to take almost any paraprofessional
[01:04:17.650]that you work with and bring them in in a way
[01:04:21.110]that truly makes things easier and better for you.
[01:04:25.940]Shared power, if you looked at that,
[01:04:29.590]that's also our culture of care and restorative practices.
[01:04:33.100]We do community circles and restorative conversations
[01:04:36.980]with our staff, as well as our students.
[01:04:39.310]It's really that modeling
[01:04:42.040]and practicing what we're teaching to the kids.
[01:04:44.790]And that's been really powerful for us all to get
[01:04:49.280]to know each other better and understand each other better
[01:04:51.710]and work our way through difficult times together.
[01:04:56.100]It's been surprising when I got into restorative justice,
[01:04:59.630]I really was thinking about bringing it, you know,
[01:05:02.810]into the programming for the students.
[01:05:04.820]And it's been amazingly powerful with the adults as well.
[01:05:09.110]One thing I found that helps parents is inviting feedback.
[01:05:12.700]They may not always be comfortable asking for what they need
[01:05:18.550]or comfortable telling you
[01:05:20.566]if they're unhappy about something,
[01:05:23.270]so I try to really invite those conversations.
[01:05:28.220]How did you think that went?
[01:05:29.480]It seemed like that was a little frustrating for you.
[01:05:31.830]Do you think you might need to work
[01:05:33.800]with a different student tomorrow?
[01:05:36.218]Inviting that really opens that door
[01:05:38.935]to allowing them to communicate what they're needing.
[01:05:44.640]Scheduled meetings and incident debriefing.
[01:05:47.850]That goes back to that communication
[01:05:50.295]and really talking through everything.
[01:05:54.230]This next one is huge for me.
[01:05:55.950]When we talk about paras having authority,
[01:05:58.650]I do call the other paras in my classroom teachers,
[01:06:01.460]so if I'm busy, I'll tell the kids,
[01:06:03.760]you need to go ask one of the other teachers.
[01:06:07.070]But when the paras don't feel confident
[01:06:10.040]to take action on things, the kids pick up really quickly.
[01:06:14.020]And so I think that having really solid procedures and
[01:06:17.470]common responses, you know, when a kid's having a problem,
[01:06:20.300]we use these words or when a kid does this,
[01:06:23.820]he loses these privileges, having that all laid out,
[01:06:27.330]so they don't have to question anyone else.
[01:06:30.150]They can just take the action and follow through on it
[01:06:33.230]has been really huge for empowering them
[01:06:37.510]to be in charge of the classroom.
[01:06:39.800]And the other thing is snacks and socializing.
[01:06:42.830]We're in a program of three classrooms now,
[01:06:45.980]and I want the paras in my classroom always,
[01:06:49.420]and I want them to want to be in here.
[01:06:51.130]So I do try and keep everybody's favorite snacks somewhere.
[01:06:54.180]So even if they're not assigned to my classroom,
[01:06:56.190]that they'll stop in to get their snacks and food.
[01:06:58.830]And I feel like that's really motivating for adults as well.
[01:07:07.740]When we started talking
[01:07:09.490]about this presentation, it prompted me to reach out
[01:07:11.900]to some paras that I've worked with.
[01:07:15.120]And so I've just put it on here.
[01:07:16.950]The question that I asked and some
[01:07:19.770]of their responses, this question really surprised me.
[01:07:23.210]Our administration really went out of their way recently
[01:07:26.140]to increase benefits for paraprofessionals
[01:07:29.470]and to find them hours and other areas of ESU7
[01:07:32.820]to help them get a 40-hour work week.
[01:07:35.630]And that wasn't on there,
[01:07:38.690]it wasn't about pay it wasn't about benefits.
[01:07:41.210]It really was about those good, healthy relationships.
[01:07:46.900]And I just, I really loved that,
[01:07:51.270]but that's what keeps them coming back
[01:07:53.450]and feeling supported.
[01:07:56.050]You can go to the next one, K.
[01:08:02.500]I thought this was interesting.
[01:08:04.640]Also I mentioned that I called the paras teacher
[01:08:08.540]in the classroom,
[01:08:09.790]and I know that can be really important.
[01:08:13.440]When I was in the public schools,
[01:08:14.680]I had paras that had a lot of experience
[01:08:16.290]in a variety of classrooms
[01:08:17.640]and with a lot of different teachers.
[01:08:19.340]And this was a really big deal to them to be in a situation
[01:08:25.840]where they were valued and the students were expected
[01:08:28.850]to respect them in that manner.
[01:08:32.320]One thing we've learned here is that students
[01:08:36.720]are often left with paras, but when we leave the room,
[01:08:39.750]the students don't behave well for the paras.
[01:08:42.010]So I think that one quote really that really covers it.
[01:08:45.770]Being able to score their point cards, you know,
[01:08:48.050]having those good procedures in place
[01:08:49.730]so she has the power to do everything
[01:08:51.750]that I would have done, if a kid is misbehaving,
[01:08:54.610]it's a big deal and it's really helpful.
[01:08:58.240]And I like this last one,
[01:09:00.640]having good schedule and procedures in place
[01:09:04.670]also supports paras and being able to do their job
[01:09:07.430]because no matter who's in or out of the room,
[01:09:10.550]there's set expectations for what should happen
[01:09:14.530]when it should happen, how that should be carried out.
[01:09:16.880]And that makes it easier
[01:09:19.030]for every adult that has to come
[01:09:20.870]into my classroom to be accepted as the authority figure
[01:09:25.170]or the person that has to be listened to by the students.
[01:09:33.020]And I love this, the advice that they would give teachers
[01:09:37.440]about supporting paraprofessionals in their classroom.
[01:09:41.560]I liked a lot of these things,
[01:09:43.180]and I think they're the things that all of us adults
[01:09:46.050]find to be true in our professional situations.
[01:09:50.970]Knowing each other well,
[01:09:54.160]embracing the strengths of each other,
[01:09:56.980]the micromanaging thing, I love that.
[01:10:00.167]And I know that sometimes it's really hard
[01:10:02.290]to hand over things, to hand over a plan or a lesson.
[01:10:07.320]And it's also really important
[01:10:10.080]to make sure that those things happen.
[01:10:14.370]i like the last two,
[01:10:15.830]staying positive and trusting each other.
[01:10:18.090]That is so huge, the kids pick up on it so quickly
[01:10:21.700]whenever there's a friction between the staff members
[01:10:24.160]and they definitely, it can escalate their behaviors
[01:10:28.500]to know that there's conflict and they also can
[01:10:32.890]tend to utilize it to manipulate situations.
[01:10:35.360]So I think that all of their words are so powerful.
[01:10:44.780]This has been a totally new thing for me to be at an ESU.
[01:10:48.650]When I was in regular resource,
[01:10:50.910]and then self-contained in the public school,
[01:10:54.010]I really took for granted just being in a school with all
[01:10:57.760]of those things around us, all of those other professionals.
[01:11:00.980]And so this has been a totally new thing
[01:11:04.600]for me to figure out.
[01:11:07.570]One of the things that we found,
[01:11:10.150]our districts get surveys about
[01:11:13.778]the services that ESU provides.
[01:11:16.810]And some of the feedback we got was
[01:11:18.850]from an administrator that said I don't really know
[01:11:22.380]how my student at the learning academy is doing.
[01:11:25.450]And it was true, we had a great system in place
[01:11:28.650]for communicating progress behaviorally and academically
[01:11:31.900]with the kid's case managers and the SpEd staff.
[01:11:35.850]But when it came to other administration from those
[01:11:39.480]buildings that they were kind of out of the loop.
[01:11:43.470]And so we had to modify things and it's been really great.
[01:11:47.210]So even our districts that hadn't requested it
[01:11:49.750]or didn't know that they were missing it,
[01:11:51.950]we've gotten really great feedback
[01:11:53.640]by including all of the stakeholders from those districts
[01:11:58.037]in our progress updates, positive and negative,
[01:12:02.095]how they're doing academically and behaviorally.
[01:12:06.850]Also found that a lot of schools really appreciate
[01:12:10.720]being brought to the table
[01:12:12.110]and to the conversations when we've had major infractions
[01:12:16.845]that require more intense supports
[01:12:20.540]or responses, things like substances being brought
[01:12:23.860]to school or assault type situations.
[01:12:28.040]And that's been really powerful
[01:12:30.690]to have those people involved in those conversations
[01:12:34.820]and the way that we respond to them.
[01:12:37.660]Because sometimes they can work with us
[01:12:40.370]in a way that they might be able to provide some support
[01:12:42.770]from that home district to offset what we can or can't do
[01:12:48.530]in those situations with the student that is here.
[01:12:53.620]Also having a very clear intake and transition back process
[01:12:58.940]has been really critical because
[01:13:04.132]there are so many different people
[01:13:06.000]that we are working with, 19 districts,
[01:13:08.160]and everybody knows someone different, or someone knows me,
[01:13:13.220]and so they talk to me about a kid or they know the BCBA
[01:13:14.840]and they talked to para about a kid and just having
[01:13:18.110]to be really clear like, well, you need to do these steps.
[01:13:20.390]You have to fill out this paperwork.
[01:13:21.750]You need to have these observations in place
[01:13:25.270]because it can get muddy really quick with where people are
[01:13:29.550]in line and who they talk to and how that worked.
[01:13:33.400]Also with the transition back process,
[01:13:36.050]having that outlined clearly has been really important.
[01:13:38.930]We've had it go both ways.
[01:13:40.600]We've had schools say "What? You are ready
[01:13:44.260]to start working with us to send them back?"
[01:13:47.110]And then the other, why is this, you know,
[01:13:49.370]why is this dragging out so long,
[01:13:51.000]why do we have to take four months
[01:13:53.330]to get this kid back to school full time?
[01:13:55.660]So having that really outlined
[01:13:59.010]has helped support the schools in understanding
[01:14:01.930]how we do things and avoiding conflict when it comes
[01:14:06.440]to some of those that difficult situations
[01:14:08.330]with accepting a student applications
[01:14:11.790]or supporting schools and students
[01:14:14.888]and having the student back in their home school district.
[01:14:20.590]That last bullet, sorry, Casey, that you moved on.
[01:14:25.700]Clarifying who wants what communicated with them.
[01:14:29.850]That's been another thing.
[01:14:31.290]And I know it's not an issue for everyone, but you know,
[01:14:36.620]some of our districts we've found have very particular
[01:14:40.990]preferences about who can see IEP updates
[01:14:44.450]and who gets behavior infractions.
[01:14:47.070]So we've learned that that's an important question
[01:14:49.460]to ask when we start working with districts is
[01:14:53.224]who wants what information
[01:14:54.550]and who we should make sure it gets to.
[01:14:57.250]Thanks.
[01:15:06.030]Hello. There you are.
[01:15:09.010]Hi, hey, my name's Barb Gross
[01:15:11.560]and I am an autism behavior and PDIS specialists
[01:15:16.690]at ESU5, Educational Service Unit 5.
[01:15:21.330]We have 10 different school districts with whom we work,
[01:15:26.000]but generally speaking, I work with eight or nine,
[01:15:30.770]all of which are rural communities.
[01:15:34.960]I also teach Mandt and CPI training.
[01:15:39.280]And so I come in contact with paraprofessionals frequently
[01:15:44.330]and also I go into the classrooms
[01:15:47.850]and model a different behavior interventions,
[01:15:51.640]different interventions for autism support.
[01:15:55.450]We do PDIS observations and then
[01:16:00.410]actually come in and just model those interventions as well.
[01:16:04.780]So lots of different things that I do.
[01:16:13.710]So I, as I look through this whole presentation,
[01:16:17.100]I'm like, oh my gosh,
[01:16:18.100]everything that I would talk about has been covered,
[01:16:21.400]but I was trying to hit on some areas
[01:16:25.070]that maybe weren't covered, so I teach CPI and Mandt
[01:16:29.720]as I said, so often I have the paraprofessionals,
[01:16:34.760]as well as teachers do take,
[01:16:37.460]do get certified in either one
[01:16:39.810]of those at most of my schools.
[01:16:42.850]So there are times where, you know,
[01:16:45.370]we'll be talking about things and the paraprofessionals
[01:16:49.500]might be there without their supporting teacher.
[01:16:53.200]And these are some of the things that have come up.
[01:16:56.880]But we aren't told when a behavior plan changes,
[01:17:00.120]and so we basically try to develop some sort of system
[01:17:07.160]where we can facilitate everybody having access to that.
[01:17:12.760]We don't know anything about the student, oftentimes,
[01:17:16.940]and honestly, when we first started this,
[01:17:18.610]we had a conversation about, you know,
[01:17:20.190]what is allowed what is okay
[01:17:22.856]for people to see and share
[01:17:27.390]regarding the IEP, MDT, psych reports,
[01:17:32.140]behavior plans, all of those things.
[01:17:34.870]And you know, there's a wide range,
[01:17:39.210]Carrie talked earlier about, you know, my paras,
[01:17:42.380]we get all that information and we go through it.
[01:17:45.130]A lot of the paras that I get say,
[01:17:47.190]we don't know anything about any of those documents.
[01:17:51.330]And we're frustrated by that, you know,
[01:17:53.440]we want to know, have some of that background information.
[01:17:57.220]And and honestly,
[01:17:58.480]I can't say what the rationale for that is,
[01:18:01.840]but I do know that in some of our rural communities,
[01:18:05.520]we have a lot of people who are actually related
[01:18:08.180]to each other or whose, who are friends with some
[01:18:12.460]of our students, family members, or related to them.
[01:18:16.310]So I think sometimes there's that fear that something's
[01:18:20.520]going to slip that really shouldn't be shared
[01:18:24.230]with a family member that is, you know,
[01:18:28.910]falls under that either FIRPA or FAPE
[01:18:32.330]not necessarily FAPE, sorry.
[01:18:33.710]I think it's not the wrong thing, just the privacy laws.
[01:18:36.690]So just identifying with that staff, you know.
[01:18:41.720]When we talk about students
[01:18:44.520]and we talk about their goals and their objectives
[01:18:47.860]and plans, letting them know that this is information
[01:18:50.460]that stays at school,
[01:18:51.650]and this is not information that's shared with other people.
[01:18:56.040]But that we can share those documents with them.
[01:19:00.260]And then that's also where earlier people talked
[01:19:03.910]about the IEP snapshots or the IEPs at a glance.
[01:19:09.180]We've been doing those since I started
[01:19:11.500]in Beatrice in 2003, we did IEP snapshots,
[01:19:16.260]shared those with paras, shared those with gen ed teachers.
[01:19:20.030]It's just a quick and dirty way of getting the information
[01:19:23.130]that everybody needs to know out there.
[01:19:26.400]I think it's even more awesome now that we have Google Docs
[01:19:30.620]where we can make changes to those documents,
[01:19:33.620]as far as the things that are reinforcing to our students,
[01:19:37.200]or, you know, identifying on there
[01:19:39.380]where we're seeing some changes.
[01:19:42.310]Of course, you need to make sure that it matches the IEP,
[01:19:45.340]but a lot of the times with the behavior plan,
[01:19:48.360]there's a lot of things that can be modified on there
[01:19:51.727]that represent what's currently working with the student.
[01:19:55.910]So a lot of those bullet points are the same concept,
[01:20:00.090]not seeing the IEP, MDT behavior plan.
[01:20:03.470]We need more training.
[01:20:04.540]And so I address that on the next slide.
[01:20:07.750]We have concerns with physical management
[01:20:09.820]and a lack of clarity around it.
[01:20:11.927]You know, when they come to CPI and Mandt,
[01:20:14.230]I train them in what CPI and Mandt train them in
[01:20:19.440]and explain to them that those two agencies
[01:20:23.480]will provide support in court, you know,
[01:20:25.770]around the fact that they use
[01:20:27.450]the appropriate fiscal management.
[01:20:29.630]But a lot of times the fiscal management,
[01:20:31.440]we talk about Mandt CPI isn't what it looks like
[01:20:34.200]in the classroom or in the school.
[01:20:36.920]So you know,
[01:20:38.660]having those conversations with our support staff,
[01:20:41.360]with our administration about being consistent
[01:20:44.420]with those things that they're learning in that training,
[01:20:47.930]which kind of goes along with mixed messages as well.
[01:20:53.870]Okay, so I was going to do a screenshot of this
[01:20:58.810]and I did it, but I did already have somebody who asked me
[01:21:02.480]for access to this collaboration worksheet, which is fine.
[01:21:06.450]I wanted to make sure that you couldn't see the actual
[01:21:10.820]different versions of it because it did,
[01:21:12.770]it is an actual collaboration worksheet example.
[01:21:16.320]And it's a Google Doc.
[01:21:18.530]This is something that I use when we're in the SAT process,
[01:21:21.580]but not necessarily just with the SAT process,
[01:21:25.220]with which stands for Student Assistance Team in Nebraska,
[01:21:30.740]that is something we, I will go in and observe a student.
[01:21:34.630]And this collaboration worksheet has different areas
[01:21:38.210]of focus, so what are we focusing on?
[01:21:40.390]What are the student's strengths?
[01:21:42.800]What is our goal for this student?
[01:21:44.790]What are the things that I need to see in the classroom
[01:21:48.050]that are related to PBIS or related to autism support?
[01:21:54.500]So that outlines all of that, but it's a working document.
[01:21:59.110]And so what I do is I have,
[01:22:01.290]I identify all the people
[01:22:02.850]who are on the team and we color code them.
[01:22:06.410]So they each pick their own color.
[01:22:08.030]And then they identify within the document
[01:22:13.450]over time, the different things that are related to them.
[01:22:17.700]So the things that they see,
[01:22:19.690]and we include our paras in that,
[01:22:21.570]because a lot of times our paras are the ones working
[01:22:24.060]one-on-one with them or frequently with them.
[01:22:27.400]And so I want their input, like, you know,
[01:22:30.090]this week Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh aren't working
[01:22:33.326]and we're not having an impact with that
[01:22:36.320]but they really are liking getting the dollars
[01:22:38.730]that the teacher passes out
[01:22:41.065]as part of the group classroom reinforcement system,.
[01:22:46.008]So just letting us know that, you know, that's,
[01:22:48.250]those are things that are dynamic and that change,
[01:22:50.920]and we need to know
[01:22:51.753]so that we can provide the best support for the student.
[01:22:56.780]And then IEP snapshots, and IEP at a glance,
[01:22:59.920]we talked about that earlier.
[01:23:02.430]And then I think on the next page, go ahead.
[01:23:05.760]There's some examples,
[01:23:06.770]I just took those off of a Google search
[01:23:11.483]because I don't actually have the IEP snapshot
[01:23:14.980]that I used to use when I taught,
[01:23:17.270]that was like 15 years ago.
[01:23:18.800]And I thought, oh my gosh, I probably still have that,
[01:23:20.880]but I didn't.
[01:23:22.420]But there are so many already made for you online
[01:23:27.586]that you can tweak to fit whatever environment you're in.
[01:23:33.500]I found that I liked the IEP collaboration sheet.
[01:23:36.740]That again, in your presentation,
[01:23:39.010]you can just ask for me to share it with you,
[01:23:42.540]and then you can adapt it to whatever, you know,
[01:23:46.340]your school culture, your interventions look like.
[01:23:51.070]I change it up all the time.
[01:23:53.350]And since I work with different schools,
[01:23:55.480]I have schools that like particular interventions
[01:23:57.760]better than others.
[01:23:59.670]So you know, we might look at different tier one, tier two,
[01:24:02.640]tier three interventions within each of those districts.
[01:24:09.150]And then these are just opportunities for staff or parents.
[01:24:13.070]I had so many more and I thought, okay,
[01:24:15.210]that's probably overwhelming.
[01:24:16.740]Some of these are videos, some of these are webinars.
[01:24:21.350]We're familiar with the RBT training classes as well.
[01:24:24.990]A lot of our paras and teachers have done the RBT class,
[01:24:30.730]Registered Behavior Technician through the ASD Network.
[01:24:36.320]But these are different modules
[01:24:39.160]that you can have your paras do.
[01:24:42.300]Sometimes we have a student who's absent
[01:24:44.410]and we have a para who's a one-on-one I might say, okay,
[01:24:48.520]why don't you go spend a couple hours
[01:24:51.110]looking at this particular webinar
[01:24:54.320]because it's a concept we talked about,
[01:24:56.070]maybe they didn't feel super confident with it.
[01:24:59.750]Yeah, a lot of times that staff's going
[01:25:01.530]to get moved to another area,
[01:25:02.820]but sometimes that's not the case and I can have them do
[01:25:06.050]a little bit of PD while they're in school and not
[01:25:10.520]have to ask them to do it outside of school hours.
[01:25:16.360]All right, I think that's the last one.
[01:25:19.450]Thank you, all.
[01:25:21.430]So again, I put my information up there, I think,
[01:25:26.000]and I can speak for all of the teachers on here.
[01:25:29.740]We're more than willing to help,
[01:25:31.450]I make the joke that I'm trying to work myself out
[01:25:34.010]of a job, which probably will never happen, but I do,
[01:25:37.910]I really would love to see quality evidence-based
[01:25:41.180]behavior programs become the rule rather than the exception.
[01:25:45.387]In my career, I really have seen,
[01:25:48.130]I see amazing progress that these kids with challenging
[01:25:51.960]behaviors can make what a difference all of these teachers
[01:25:55.970]are making in the world, it is very inspiring.
[01:25:58.920]So please, please, please,
[01:26:00.260]if we can help, reach out, you have email, make note of it,
[01:26:04.910]if you didn't get the other people's email,
[01:26:06.400]I know how to get ahold of them.
[01:26:07.890]Again, we will be most of us,
[01:26:10.080]if not all of us will be at the Midwest Symposium
[01:26:12.660]For Leadership And Behavior Disorders.
[01:26:14.960]I can't stress enough how important that organization
[01:26:17.710]has been to my career, and many other people,
[01:26:20.010]as far as just filling up your bucket
[01:26:22.140]and giving you know, that energy and the context,
[01:26:26.700]things that you might need to
[01:26:30.800]be reinforced by your job to love your job.
[01:26:33.780]I always say that providing behavior support
[01:26:36.030]is the best job in the world
[01:26:37.210]if you have the right people supporting you
[01:26:39.637]and the right tools, all of those things,
[01:26:41.177]and it can be the worst job
[01:26:42.260]in the world if you don't have that.
[01:26:44.180]So the work you're doing is important,
[01:26:46.030]you have people here to help you.
[01:26:47.760]Thank you for participating in our four-part series.
[01:26:50.730]We have three minutes left,
[01:26:52.440]if anybody has questions that they want to put in the chat.
[01:26:58.730]Other than that, if I don't see any, and that,
[01:27:01.510]I don't know if you have any thing for the good cause,
[01:27:03.880]but I appreciate that the Nebraska ASD Network having us,
[01:27:08.310]and I really hope
[01:27:10.200]that we see some great positive impact
[01:27:13.550]in the lives of the students that you serve.
[01:27:15.220]So thank you all for everything that you do.
[01:27:21.840]I just want to say a huge thank you to Kaye,
[01:27:24.750]and to Ali Switzer and this entire group of incredible
[01:27:30.290]master teachers and educators that have been part
[01:27:34.230]of this project, it's just been phenomenal.
[01:27:36.630]So this was just a great presentation
[01:27:41.350]to kind of wrap up this series on, and I'm appreciating
[01:27:46.700]the idea of a team, right?
[01:27:49.040]But how many of us it takes to really do our very best
[01:27:52.730]for students with autism, so thank you
[01:27:54.620]to all of you for your work on this project.
[01:27:58.120]Okay, I see somebody in the chat here.
[01:28:01.150]Yep, absolutely, Ali, please reach out.
[01:28:05.200]We're here to help.
[01:28:06.620]All right, everybody have a good evening.
[01:28:08.820]And hopefully we'll see some of you
[01:28:10.570]in Kansas City in a couple of months.

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You Have to Build the Plane as You Fly It!: Core Components of an Evidence Based Behavior Support Program Part 4

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