Data Team Success at Keota

Chris Detwiler, Angela Snakenberg, Lisa Brenneman, Deidra Baker, and Schuyler Snakenberg (not pictured, Jenny Hobbs)

Lisa Brenneman, Keota Principal

Keota Jr/Sr High School has made some noticeable changes this year.  These changes are having a positive effect on motivation, how kids learn and overall positive culture throughout the building.

We began by developing a data team structure during the 2011-2012 school year.  A team of lead teachers was identified and worked with Lisa Brenneman, 7-12 Principal, Cory Johnson, then Great Prairie AEA School Psychologist and now School Improvement Specialist, and Sharma Parlett, Great Prairie AEA Regional Director to read and discuss Leaders Make It Happen.  As our team read the book, we began to apply the Data Team principles and developed a plan for implementation of Instructional and Building level teams.  In June 2012, we used Teacher Quality funds to hold a two day retreat for our building leadership team. During this time, we used a variety of data sources to identify areas of focus as well as individual student needs; we also used this time to finalize our plan for Instructional Data Teams which included the creation of 9^th Period.

When classes began in August 2012, we implemented our Data Team structure.  Instructional Teams (Language Arts/Social Studies, Science/Math, and Building Culture and Climate) began to meet on a regular basis, approximately twice per month during 9^th period.  Our Building Leadership team also met as part of this cycle.  Using our 9^th Period structure, our teams were able to begin their meetings at 3:00 (during the regular school day) and end at 4:00 while students were assigned to teachers whose teams were not meeting.  During 2012-2013 our entire staff also received the Data Team training provided by Great Prairie AEA’s Cory Johnson and Jennifer Adams.

The focus of 9^th period is not only to provide collaboration time for teachers but also support for students academically on an individual basis.  During this time students have access to all their teachers except on days the teacher’s team is collaborating.

Students are required to stay with teachers that have requested them and if they don’t stay they are truant.  The requests change on a daily basis and mean the student needs reteaching, has missing work, has discipline referrals or needs individual attention from a teacher to improve attitude or level of respect shown to others.

The goal is to feed a positive culture.  The positive is that all students “in good standing” earn privileges.  The junior high students go to the gym for recreation/socialization and high school students may choose to leave or socialize/study with peers.  Each student hangs a calendar inside their locker that tells them each day what is going on and what their options are.

One day a month all students participate in teambuilding activities.  Again, this is designed to improve the culture and relationships between students as well as between students and teachers.  All students participate in building activities no matter what level of standing they are in.

Through the data team structure the teachers identified last period absences for school activities as one of the building issues that needed to be addressed.  The creation of 9^th period also solved this problem because in the past they would miss an entire class period.

Flexibility, planning and organization have been the key to the success of our data teams and 9^th period.  As a staff, we are always looking for new ways to maximize learning and take full advantage of the time we have with students and teachers at school.

Para Educator Partnership Benefits Local Districts

Joy Swanson, Course Instructor

Great Prairie AEA has provided Para Educator certification courses for 11 years, but this spring we partnered with Southeastern Community College (SCC) and IowaWorks to offer credit and financial assistance.

Great Prairie AEA holds the Department of Education certification process to qualify participants for the Para Educator Certificate, SCC grants post-secondary credit (6 credits for three courses) for those classes, and IowaWorks helps fund qualifying candidates with scholarships. This partnership has benefited local school buildings, teachers and students. 

Para Educator Courses I, II and III are required for certification.  Courses are held at the Great Prairie AEA Burlington Office. All courses have an online component. There is an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and a Federal Bureau of Investigation background check for a fee of $65 and a $40 license fee due upon completion of all three courses (when submitting application to the BOEE).

Register through GPAEA’s course catalog at www.gpaea.org. For more information contact: Megan Cramblet, Great Prairie AEA, at 319-753-6561 ext. 1261 or megan.cramblet@gpaea.org.

For information about financial assistance contact:
Debbie Dowell
IowaWORKS Region 16 Director
319-753-1671  ext. 31406
Debbie.Dowell@iwd.iowa.gov

What is a Para Educator?

Para Educators, in partnership with other staff, support and enhance the education of children. They work under the supervision of teachers, who have the ultimate responsibility for the design and implementation of education. 

Para Educators are assigned to students who have barriers to learning. They may work with small groups of children, or one on one and are often assigned job duties to free up teachers’ time for other instructional tasks.

Other terms:  paraprofessional, educational aide, associate, or instructional aide.

Occupational Therapy Month, April 2013

COTA Deb Mueller working with a student

Each year in April, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and students in practice, education, research, and science host a month long celebration showcasing the importance of Occupational Therapy.

Thank you to our Great Prairie AEA Occupational Therapists:

• Karen Aherns
• Lynn Coppage
• Carol Havelka
• Marty Hudson
• Kathy Jaske-Gardner
• Amy Ramsey
• Paula Renard
• Elise Spronk

We also would like to recognize and thank our Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants:

• Vonn Gould
• Ashley Hobbs
• Joe Hudson
• Michele Mihalovich
• Deb Mueller
• Chris Williams

Shedding a Light on Autism: David’s Story

David and Marci

Marci Prose, Parent

My husband, Adam Prose has lived in Ottumwa all his life and I, Marci Prose have lived in Ottumwa since our marriage about 10 years ago. We had our first child, Elaine about 9 years ago and our second child Izabella about 6 years ago. About two and a half years ago my husband and I had a life changing experience. Our third child, our first son entered into this world July 7, 2010 we named him David James. From the moment he was born our lives changed, not only was it the change of having a new child to care for but he went above and beyond in needing care.  I knew from birth that there was something different about David. We exhausted possibilities of what could be wrong in his first year-two years of life. We visited doctor after doctor all in hopes that someone would find out what caused our son the trouble he was having.  He wasn’t a normal happy baby that we had experienced with our two girls, he didn’t smile, he didn’t laugh, he screamed for hours and never seemed to be happy and content and started missing childhood milestones.

When we took our son into the doctor at the age of two we had a little light shed on the subject, the answer was autism.  We had evaluations and heard that our son who was 25 months at the time was really at a 10 month level on some of the developmental marks. It wasn’t a lack of parenting or a lack of trying on our part. My husband works on copiers at Bailey’s in Ottumwa but I stay at home to be with the children to have a parent present in their early education. I knew that we had tried to teach David. Those were challenging times trying to figure out autism and what exactly it was. Neither my husband nor I had ever had experience with autism and frankly it scared us. We didn’t know where to start but there were people who did, the same people who evaluated our son and told us he had autistic tendencies. The therapist did not diagnosis our son autistic but at least had the answers of what road we needed to travel down. We started therapy in the fall and after just a few therapy sessions our son started changing.  The stress of our family started declining. He started getting content and happy. David’s therapist come and spend about an hour with him every week and not only do they work with him on skills, they teach us how to teach him. I can’t even imagine what life would be like for us if they had not entered our son’s life.

I am inching closer to having three years in the battle on autism under my belt. The first two years I didn’t know what I was battling but I would have to say these last couple of months have been the easiest. Because of his therapists I not only have a clue as to what I’m fighting but they have equipped me with the tools I needed to fight this battle. I cannot imagine continuing my battle alone.

I hope that in the future as autism rates increase families will continue to get the support they need from the AEA programs such as Early Access. The last battle these parents need to be facing is how they are supposed to face this battle alone. I understand that budget cuts happen. As a society we are very concerned about government programs and cutting spending. Many people wouldn’t understand why the Early Access programs are important but being in the midst of the program I can tell you that they are. Statistics prove autism is only growing so to shrink programs aimed at helping these children and parents would be horrible. Autism has many faces and one child with autism will be completely different to another so there isn’t a single “instruction manual” to use we can’t just expect these parents that will have children diagnosed to understand a spectrum disorder. That’s the value of these therapist, they have seen one on one the different faces of autism and can understand the intricacies that even us parents can’t see!

AEAs Impacting Lives – March 2013

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Teamwork is the overall theme of this month’s Impacting Lives update at http://aeas4iowa.wordpress.com/. Read how AEA professionals work with schools, families, organizations, and especially the students they serve to create opportunities for improved life and learning.
This issue includes:

• Teamwork Continues to Improve Life of Ogden Boy with Hearing Loss
• Meet the People Who Make a Difference: Speech-Language Pathologists
• Northwest Iowa Boys Transition Smoothly to New Family

Making a Positive Impact – One Student at a Time

Story originally published March 14, 2011 in The Cornerstone. Click here to read more Success Stories.

By Nancy Brown, GPAEA Communication Specialist 
(Contributions from Diane John, GPAEA Speech-Language Pathologist)

Eric Waples, student

Great Prairie AEA and the local school district educators in southeastern Iowa work in partnership to make significantly positive impacts on each and every student in each of the 35 districts in the area. Once in awhile, one student stands out as one who has made tremendous progress for one reason or another. This article focuses on one such student and we are proud to share news of his progress. The student is Eric Waples, a High School Junior attending Danville Community School District. Eric is not new to the AEA; services have been provided for him since he was 2-years-old. Eric is special in many ways. He loves books. He has an excellent memory. He is very interested in technology and computer usage. He has autism, speech and language challenges. And he is a very positive and intelligent young man.

Success for LuCasey: A Family’s Journey

Melanie Patton, Parent, ourspecialkidsiowa@gmail.com

LuCasey, now 15, in High School and very successful

Our family moved to SE Iowa in late 2008.  Our previous school experiences in another state had been little more than “glorified babysitting” for our daughter who suffered with frequent seizures.  Due to the seizure disorder and medical difficulties, she had many learning disabilities and delays.  It was difficult getting to know the area and the services available for our 11 year old special needs daughter, LuCasey.  We didn’t even know what an AEA was.  We looked around at a variety of schools and decided on Mt. Pleasant, where LuCasey finished her school year at Harlan Elementary.  It was then recommended that she move on to the Middle School.

The teacher at the Middle School, Tiffany Menke, was phenomenal and she and the AEA staff were very helpful in assessing LuCasey’s needs and providing appropriate services.  For the first time in LuCasey’s school life, we felt that she was receiving an appropriate education and support services to help her grow into the child she was supposed to be, even with the disabilities that she faced.  Not only did we find support for our daughter’s education, we also found the school and AEA supportive of our family and LuCasey’s behavior challenges.

During this time, I met the PEC Coordinator for our area, Kelly Wallace.  Because of the difficulties we initially had in finding out about services, both in and out of school, I had a desire to help other parents.  Many times, valuable information I received came from other parents.  Kelly encouraged and assisted me and last spring I started a Support Group for Parents with Special Needs Children called Our Special Kids – Southeast Iowa.  This group is open to all parents and families dealing with any type of special needs.  The group’s mission is to share information, and provide support and encouragement to one another.  We meet regularly and also stay in contact via email and our FaceBook Page (Our Special Kids Southeast Iowa).  Kelly and the AEA have been an invaluable support to our family and I wouldn’t have gotten this group going without their help.

Our daughter is now 15, in High School and very successful under another amazing teacher, Kathy Holtkamp.  The teachers, paraprofessionals and the AEA Staff in Southeast Iowa are amazing!  Outside of the regular school day, they have taken her to afterschool functions, including middle school dances and this year, the High School Homecoming Dance and activities.  Recently the staff accompanied LuCasey and her whole class to the movies on a Saturday night so that they could all feel like their “typical” peers.  We have been so blessed that everyone that has been involved in our daughter’s education has been supportive and willing to contribute to her success.  We have also been treated with respect and dignity and as a part of the team, since parents are the “Specialist” for their child.  Having come from another state where the services weren’t meeting our needs, we are grateful to the Mt. Pleasant School District and the Great Prairie AEA for all they have done to ensure that our daughter is successful and grows into her full potential.

Successes in Secondary Transition at Ottumwa High School

It is always important to give credit where credit is due and place a spotlight on any district that has shown great strides in making things happen!  Secondary Transition service is one such area of focus that reflects an excellent model found at Ottumwa High School.  Their Special Education Department Head/Transition Coordinator, Michele Cooper, has led the way over the years, along with a supportive administration, a great faculty, knowledgeable GPAEA core team providers and an active Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, to bring in different levels of future services for students.

Here are some of the other building activities that make transition development so successful:

• The area of transition is a priority for students at the point of entry to OHS through their graduation. Parents and students are routinely asked for their input at every staffing when considering the future for post-secondary work or educational planning.

• The students have a Guided Study class in which they meet with their special education advocates daily. The students remain with their advocate all four years to encourage the relationship building.  By the time students become seniors, their advocate knows the strengths and career interests of each student.  During this Guided Study period, each IEP student meets with his/her Special Education teacher to improve skill areas, check on course progress, complete transition assessments and further planning opportunities for the future.  Each student is involved in their own IEP process, working with their advocate to develop the appropriate IEP to meet their needs.   Many of the students direct their own IEP meetings.

Collaborating to Build Social Skills

Melissa and friends

A lot of important learning happens at Moravia Elementary, but for some students making friends can be the most challenging and exciting part of school.  Melissa Hanson is a 4^th grade student at Moravia Elementary who was diagnosed with Sensory Integration Disorder.  When she was younger, she had difficulty making and keeping friends, along with other difficulties that the diagnosis brought.  Melissa’s mom, Kirsten, has been an incredible advocate for providing educational information to Moravia staff and seeing that Melissa gets the supports she needs to be successful in school.

Mary Echterling, Occupational Therapist, made the connection with School Social Worker Pat Merrick to provide support for Melissa’s social skills.  Beginning in 1^st grade, Pat worked with Melissa on developing social skills she could share with the class, such as a personalized photo book.  By 2^nd grade, the social skills group grew to include other peers and the school psychologist, Jennifer Adams. Activities have included a nail-painting party, a tea party, a football party, and most recently a trip to outer space where the students brought back messages of friendship to share with their other classmates.  The process of skill building included small groups with female peers and has grown to include anyone in the class who returns a parent permission slip.

When asked how she feels about her friends at Moravia, Melissa said, “The fun things I get to do with them make me want to have more friends.”

When asked about Melissa’s growth, Pat Merrick noted that she really wanted to make friends, but had a lot of difficulty doing so.  She had many sensory issues that interrupted her ability to connect with others.  She would follow peers around the lunchroom, but not be able to engage with them.  Now, “She likes having friends AND her friends enjoy her.”  Peers seek Melissa out for her play skills on the playground, as well as the cool things she brings to school.

While many students pick up social skills just by being around others, for some students it truly takes a team working together to build skills.  Melissa’s mom, Kirsten, Mary Echterling, and Pat Merrick have worked with Melissa’s teachers across school grades to promote Melissa’s friendship skills and the payoff is evident.  Melissa said, “I like a lot more friends and a lot more of them like me.”

Author:
Jennifer Adams, School Psychologist
Jennifer.adams@gpaea.k12.ia.us
800-622-0027 ext. 5821

Photo: Melissa Hanson (pictured right) with 4th grade friends including Isabelle, Will, and Aliyah

Assistive Technology Works for Student with Autism

Colton with GPAEA Special Education Consultant Kathy Achenbach

Colton Dommer, a junior high student from Moravia, popped his head into the classroom and immediately asked his teacher if he would be riding the bus home. When his teacher responded that he would, Colton asked if he could use the restroom and off he went. This sounds like a very common exchange between a student and his teacher, except that Colton is a student with autism and he does not verbally communicate at all. Colton attends general education classes as well as receives special education instruction and assistance. He also communicates with his teachers, other school staff, and his peers. Colton accomplishes all of these normal school tasks with the help of assistive technology.

Colton has used a communication device for a number of years. Teresa Halstead, the Great Prairie AEA Speech- Language Pathologist for Moravia and Kathy Achenbach, the Special Education Consultant as well as assistive technology team member, have worked with Colton since he was in preschool.  They had tried a number of communication devices with Colton from PECs (Picture Exchange Communication System) to high-end communication gadgets. The problem with a number of the devices tried was that they were not portable enough to be used to communicate with a number of people. It was also difficult to understand what Colton was trying to say and some were just plain bulky and hard to take from setting to setting. Melissa Thomas, the Special Education Teacher that has worked with Colton since third grade, was frustrated with the lack of versatility of the devices tried. She wanted something that would allow Colton to express wants/needs as well as be portable enough to take to all of the places a student travels in the school setting. It was also crucial that Mrs. Thomas be able to program multiple class tasks and responses that would allow Colton meaningful access to the general education curriculum and be easy and quick to program.  A trial with an iPad with an extensive communication application matched much of the criteria as well as producing effective results.

Some examples of the general education tasks Mrs. Thomas has been able to program for Colton include developing modified text (matched with visuals) with questions for science and social studies tasks. A unit on Martin Luther King was adapted for use on the iPad with text and questions to match the general education curriculum. Several math tasks including money, measurement and computation were placed on the iPad program for Colton to use in his math class.  Colton has begun job shadowing as part of a pre-vocational program. Much of the communication that Colton would need to use while completing his job has also been placed on the iPad program. He can now ask for various supplies or tools that he needs to complete the job using his portable iPad program.  Any of the greetings that he makes to teachers, staff and peers are all included for Colton to access even during unplanned encounters. Colton can even play a game of ‘Go Fish’ with another student with the communication needed pre-programmed.  Other iPad apps have been added to Colton’s program to help reinforce skills as well as for entertainment purposes. One app is used to display Colton’s daily schedule. This way, Colton’s schedule is always available for him to check and it is easy to change the events if needed.

Colton continues to need instruction and practice to properly communicate during varied social situations as well as general education tasks. Mrs. Halstead remains involved with Colton on a consultative basis to help with these needs. Mrs. Thomas is continually on the look-out for ways she can take a general education or IEP task and utilize the iPad to help Colton better show what he knows. Colton’s mother is pleased with Colton’s ability to better express his wants and needs as well as his increased independence. Most importantly, Colton can also tell her if he is not feeling well. She, along with Colton’s whole team, is dedicated to helping him better communicate in all situations and settings.

For more information about the strategies and iPad apps used with Colton, please contact Kathy Achenbach at kathy.achenbach@gpaea.k12.ia.us.

Author:
Kathy Achenbach, Special Education Consultant
kathy.achenbach@gpaea.k12.ia.us
800-382-8970 Ext. 5825

Iowa’s AEAs ‘Impacting Lives’

Go to http://aeas4iowa.wordpress.com/ to read the latest edition of “Impacting Lives.” The blog newsletter is a statewide effort to communicate AEA success stories and services across the state. The newsletter is sent to all school administrators, legislators (in-session) and AEA staff in Iowa. The issue includes:

• Discover the Savings through the Iowa Educators Consortium
• Twin Rivers Makes SMART Use of Technology
• Student Improvement Through Relationship Building
• New Teacher Center: Developing Teacher Leaders and Instructional Coaches

Iowa AEAs “Impacting Lives”

Go to http://aeas4iowa.wordpress.com/to read the latest edition of “Impacting Lives.” The blog newsletter is a statewide effort to communicate AEA success stories and services across the state. The newsletter is sent to all school administrators, legislators (in-session) and AEA staff in Iowa. The issue includes:

• Discover the Savings through the Iowa Educators Consortium
• Twin Rivers Makes SMART Use of Technology
• Student Improvement Through Relationship Building
• New Teacher Center: Developing Teacher Leaders and Instructional Coaches

Student Improvement Through Relationship Building

Julie Garver, Josh Hudson, and Lesa Long

Moving from Tennesee to Iowa is a big change, but Josh Hudson had an even bigger change as a student.  He came from a special school in Tennesee to help him manage his emotions and behavioral challenges, and enrolled in Albia Community School District as a 4th grader.  Lincoln Center did not have a Behavior Disorder room, much less a special building in the district.

“When Josh came to us, he had been sent home from school a lot,” said Jennifer Adams, Great Prairie AEA school psychologist.  “We knew we had a lot of work to do there to help him understand that we wanted him to stay with us and learn.”

Miracles Happen Every Day at Wayne Elementary

Suzie with her mom, Heather, and sisters, Sarah and Sammie

In 2004, Mark and Heather Moorman were young parents living in Corydon, Iowa, with their two little girls, Sammie and Sarah, and expecting their third child.  Two weeks before the baby was to be born, doctors told the Moormans that something was terribly wrong.  They said the baby Heather was carrying had something called holoprosencephaly – a disorder in which the forebrain of the embryo fails to develop into two hemispheres – as well as hydrocephalus – water on the brain.   Doctors said the baby most likely would not survive the birthing process and if the baby lived it would only be for a short period of time and would never see, hear, speak, walk or anything else.  There was basically no hope given by doctors for the child to have any quality of life, if the baby survived at all.

On August 19, 2004, Suzanne Grace Moorman was born.  She definitely had many health issues and didn’t look like other babies.  Her head was much larger, proportionately, than her tiny body.  The Moormans were again told that the baby had no brain activity and that she would likely die within the next few days, weeks or months at the most.  Heather shared that after two weeks at home crying and sobbing every day and just waiting for their baby to die, she decided that she had had enough!  She and her husband decided to be proactive and to research all they could find on holoprosencephaly and hydrocephalus and what they could do for their little daughter.  She found that the Area Education Agency had something called Early ACCESS with professionals and services that could possibly benefit their little girl.  For the first several months, the Moormans had Hospice representatives in their home helping to prepare them for the loss of little Suzie when the time came, as well as AEA Early ACCESS therapists who were working with the family to provide services that could determine what Suzie might actually be able to do.

Share Your Success Stories

American Education Week may be over, but we at Great Prairie AEA want to continue the celebration with honoring the work that you do with students in southeast Iowa every day!

We want to hear your stories! Great Prairie AEA is interested in hearing how our services have made a difference in your professional life or the life of a child. Email comments@gpaea.k12.ia.us or visit our Success Stories page and leave your story in the comment section!