Our Class Blog

Final Reflection

What I learned in this course is how important collaborating is. I know that I do not want to loose this community of educators. We have to continue working together sharing ideas and resources. We have learned so much this year, but we all have so much more to learn. I heard last week that the TRIPSCY site (easiest way to get to it is to google it) is going to provide a way for educators to communicate in the state. I am hoping that we can keep in contact through this site or another similar to it. We don’t need to be apart of a class to share information and we can get other educators involved. Just think of what can happen when a whole state of educators work together to improve programs for special needs youth.
I have enjoyed reading all of your responses. I have learned something from each of you.
Thank you Tim for providing a way for us to learn, even in our pajamas!
Nancy

Week 13 Reflection

I don't remember being provided any training back in grad school about the use of paraprofessionals. I guess my training was being a para myself and working with an excellent special educator who respected me and treated me as a colleague. This unit has helped me to examine my schools and my own use of paraprofessionals. I will look at this material regularly to access my practices and to hopefully improve my colleagues practices also.
It is important that we keep the student's needs in mind, not ours, when deciding the need for a para. We want all student to be able to navigate their world as independently as possible and not to be afraid of being a member of their community. This can't be accomplished if we have a para chained to the ankle of each special needs student!
This unit has made it even more apparent of the need for a Peer Buddy Program. I want every student to have opportunities to interact with their peers throughout the school and into their community.

Week 13

I was on vacation this week! It was absolutely amazing to see my 1 year old daughter discover outside and and watch her chase her 4 year old brother. I also found it amazing how much my son has grown and developed into this little man. I also have to brag a little; my son was playing golf in the back yard and he hit the ball about 50 yards! I think I may have a new Tiger Woods on my hands. Like I said it was an absolutley amazing week!!!

I did think about how how I use my paras. I am struggling on how to make them more active and positive in supporting some of my students. I feel that some of them would rather sit by and watch instead of being active and ask if any one needs help. I also struggle with helping my paras see that some of my students are becoming too reliant on them. I almost feel that some of my 1:1s are almost too enmeshed in their students lives. These are some really touchy subjects that I am hoping Michael Giangreco and his group will help me and my colleagues with.

Paraeducators

I think I missed a week. Sorry about that. But, I am happy to say I've submitted my paper and this is my the last thing I need to do for this course. I made it through my first semester as a new mom! Well..almost. I still need to finish my practicum assignments.

So anyway, I said earlier this spring that fostering student friendships is probably the hardest and most important part of my job. I was wrong. I forgot about supervising paraeducators. That's probably because if there's one thing that doesn't get enough of my attention, its supervising paras. And that's a really bad thing, because they are carrying a lot of responsibility.

I have a plan to do something about that, but it still has some holes. Michael told us something about the number of paraeducators that one special educator should supervise. It was something like 2 or 3 at the most. Which is a problem for me, because I case manage 7 of the kids in the school who really "need" a para. So I sort of feel like some of the literature out there makes suggestions that work really well for special educators who only supervise one or two paras.

BUT, I still can do a better job anyway. I feel really good about the plan I wrote in my paper, and I plan to share it with our administrator. If I can make sure that I do the things I say I will, and get the time I need to meet with paras, then I'll be confident that my paras are getting the support they need. Luckily, I have a very supportive administrator who listens to what I have to say.

Finally, its been a great semester blogging with all of you. Its always great to hear successes and stories from other schools.

(Anyone interested in the AAC 2-day class I mentioned? It's I UVM class, and so far, I think I'm the only person enrolled. Its June 18th and 19th in Saint Johnsbury)

Paraeducators

The reading about paraeducators was so thought provoking. It is nice to have "experts" write about stuff I believe and thought. Why do our peers believe stuff if someone else (who has to live at least 50 miles away and charge at least 100 dollars an hour to be respectable) says it and not us? A good para is a great assest to the student and school, and not so great one is another student on my caseload. I will definately change my para training and approach next year, although I don't feel quite so quilty about what I have (and haven't) done after having time to mull over the reading (and finishing most of this years para eval forms). Sara

Para Support

Sorry this is late, the flu or whatever the sickness going around is, has struck my house with a fury!!!

I am very excited because our school is going to be part of a consultation piece with Michael Giangreco and his Project Evolve. We are basically going to look at how to better utuilize our paras. I think that the special educators, the regular education teachers, as well as the administration see this as helpful. However the paras see this as the death of them. They see this a a threat to thier jobs.. Administration has told them that this doeesn't mean that they are going to be cut and have asssured them this is just a way to use their strengths.
I am very frustrated with how to help them see this.

I am also getting frustrated because many of my 1:1 paras are mad at me because I am giving their students some independence. They feel that they should be with them all the time. I argue that they need to eat lunch with their peers or go to chorus and just sing (before I did this I took in account everyone's needs). These students have the right to be teenagers too; they don't always want an adult around! I guess it goes to the piece of over relaince. How do we stress that our students also need to experience things themselves?

Week 13

Short of posting my paraprofessional paper on here, I have so much to talk about in regards to paras! I have been using these last two weeks to really formulate how I want to supervise next school year and what areas I need to grow in. I get along and work well with the paraprofessionals I work with currently but there are pieces missing. Some of it is time in the building (they have been here so much longer than me) and some is my inexperience and not understanding my role in terms of supervising. I feel like I am forming a good understanding of my role as a supervisor and collecting the tools that I need to work on. The paper was a nice way to list out what I need to work on in a document I can refer to when I am building my schedule next year, "oh yeah Cortney, you said you would meet with every para weekly individually."

Week 12 Reflection

While reading the articles, I kept thinking, are we really preparing our students for the future? Having a para for each student at our school is not preparing them to be independent and to get along in a social world. How we interact with the people we work with has lots to do with how happy we are with our jobs. By having a para with each student we are robbing them of a safe place to practice, to prepare for their futures. School is a great place to practice. It’s what all the students are learning, how to interact with others.

When I read about training paras on facilitating social interactions, I realized we have not really provided them with this very important training. We have just assumed they knew what to do. We want to make sure the students learn how to ask for help, they will need this skill when they are on the job and don’t know what to do. The student will need to learn how to follow directions, and maybe they need to take the wrong turn sometimes without being rescued. They need opportunities to make their own friends, to not always have the para within arm distance.

It is important that my high school implements a Peer Buddy program. So many of the issues brought up in the articles would be eased by having peers interacting with and supporting students with special needs both in and out of the classroom. We can better prepare ALL students for the future.

Week 12

This has been an interested week for me. I have always been perplexed by the concept of paraeducators (mainly the number of them). I would always think to myself, including when I was a para, "why are the non-teachers providing all of the instruction for the students?" It was different because I had my masters as a para, but there are lots of paras with a high school diploma providing instruction to the students who learn in such different and intricate ways.

A big goal for myself is to work very strongly with paraeducators next year. Finishing up year two now, I am getting a firm hold on the 'ropes'. They say after year 3 it gets easier, is that true everybody? I feel very confident already in planning for my 3rd year. I know exactly the areas I want to work on and where I want to grow; paraprofessionals is one of those areas. The best practices and questions to keep in mind are great as a form a philosophy around working with paraeducators.

Week 11 Reflection

I believe the reason for the terrible twos is the child’s inability to communicate in a way that can be understood. For some students with special needs this difficulty with communication and the frustration of not being understood continues for years. Technology can help. Everyone is into technology today making it more acceptable and cool. There is just so much to know about.
I found at our school the SLP had the most knowledge about AT in the school as it relates to students with special needs. But even she expressed that it is difficult to keep up with the many changes in AT. It would be helpful to have a workshop each year where we could explore the different AT used in the district and discuss if there are any gaps that need to be addressed.
There is no way that I could be the tech person. I have done all right and I can discuss what might be needed, but it takes someone who eats and sleeps technology to keep up. It’s not me!

Week 11

I am excited about creating the AT document. I have enlisted the help of the school to provide me with any devices and software that they know of in the school building. I plan on this being a living document for the whole staff to use in hopes that it will help to empower the general education staff in coming up with ideas for inclusion. I plan on making this an annotated list, possibly on a school website that staff can access if they feel a student needs extra supports in the classroom. I feel strongly that if the teachers are apart of the problem solving then they will be more vested in making it successful for the child. I always feel guilty when I provide a device or software as a suggestion and the teachers immediately feel overwhelmed. I think if this is a resource that the staff can use and brainstorm around then it may be easier to get it in the classrooms.

Week 10-Assistive Technology

I was able to sit down and spend a couple hours looking through all of the websites, manuals, the textbooks, and wonderful videos! I am feeling overwhlemed with the possibilities. I mentioned in the discussion threads that I thought I had a solid foundation in assistive technology and it turns out there is so much more out there than I knew about and have been exposed to. One thing I have taken advantage of this year is the Vermont Assistive technology project. They have lent me some tools to try out for a little over a month along with providing me with a ton of resources and software samples. I have found them resourceful and easy to work with.

I hope to explore more assistive technology to foster inclusion next school year mainly around software vs. hardware. Premier programming has been a wonderful way to open the doors in our district and now that we will have almost 8 smartboards in our building next year! We are on a roll!

Week 11 AT and AAC

I’m really excited about assistive technology. We do not really have anyone in our school with expertise around AT or AAC. I don’t think our tech support person has much experience with AT and neither of our SLPs have any major experience with AAC. I asked the other special educators, and they have limited experience with both AT and AAC. So that pretty much leaves me as the resident AT expert, and that’s not saying much.

But that’s okay with me. I’m happy to explore the world of AT and AAC. I do with I had more support for teaching my kids with severe disabilities to use the technology. I’ve also never had to get funding for any expensive high-tech devices, so that’s something I need to find out more about.

Right now, I know we are under-utilizing technology possibilities. It would be fun for our staff to have a day of technology exploration. We could go through websites such as the ones Tim provided and find possibilities for our students. To me, that would be a constructive use of inservice time. Technology can open up doors for our kids, but they need someone to provide them with the technology.

Is there a blog site or mailing list or something that can keep us updated on current AT?

Technology

I am thankful for high technology-furnaces that go on with a push of a button, answering machines, cell phones, microwaves (one of my favorites), email, running water, but I am also quite intimidated by it. It just goes with the territory of being older. Change is hard for some of us. I am very glad that my children and students are not intimidated or fearful that something might break. I have learned the first rule of repair-CHECK THE PLUG.
Technology is great for my students-we use "talkers', walkers, motorized wheelchairs, spellers, special software, touch screens on the computers, universal reader, etc. I wish I were more in the forefront for pushing the parent or district to get technology going for some of my students. The process scares me-who pays for it, who pays for the warrenties or updates, what if the district says no and the parents say yes, who pays for the training for staff after the paid day?. The textbook and video clips encouraged me to go full steam ahead in getting what my kids need. I really need to work with the websites more. I wish the text had checklists and was annoitated. Extra Credit anyone?:) SARA

Reflection 10 AT/AAC

We live in a great time for assistive technology. There is technology available to help with virtually any task. From the smallest thing of holding a spoon to high-tech augmentative communication. While many barriers still exist in our society and communities for people with disabilities, the technology exists to eliminate barriers. Whether or not we utilize the technology is up to us.

Funding is a huge issue in education and an even bigger question when it comes to assistive technology. It seems that insurance will pay when deemed necessary, insurance companies don't seem to be in the business of making things easy. There's also a problem that I know of with medical equipment suppliers. I have a student who needs a new wheelchair. How long will he and his family be forced to wait? Its the same story every time he needs new braces, splints, etc. I know these things need to be customized, but does it really need to take months?

If we can utilize the resources and navigate the funding and access process, the list of things our students can do with AT is endless.