PAIGE NOBLE: SOCIAL WORKER

JULIA BROMBERG: GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHER

ELSA ROTTENBERG: SPEECH LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST

ERIC STALEY: SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER

Multidisciplinary Team 1Chicago Middle School

Overview of SchoolChicago Middle School (CMS)

Chicago Middle School is a public middle school in the Chicago Public School System

CMS Demographics: Student body: 481 Average class size at CMS is 27 students

99% Low-income Students 92% Hispanic/Latino Students 6% Black/African American 21% ELL 12% students with disabilities

Overview of CMS Continued Assessment

The ISAT is administered to CMS students from 6th-8th grades in both reading and math CMS has below average scores in Math & Reading compared to other

IL middle schools

The ISAT science portion is only administered to CMS students in 6th and 7th grade CMS does not participate in the optional ISAT tests in physical

development, health, or fine arts.

Overview of CMSCommunity Information

CMS is located in Little Village, a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. Little Village is a predominately Hispanic/Latino community

There is a Community Service Center within the community, which provides: Shelter assistance Food and clothing vouchers Domestic violence assistance Job training assistance Services for formally incarcerated individuals

King Baptist Memorial Hospital, is the nearest hospital to CMS (about 8.3 miles) Many students at CMS are uninsured For behavioral concerns, CMS refers uninsured students to SASS for

mental health evaluations, as needed.

SPED Education at CMSLeast Restrictive Environment (LRE)

LRE is a principle in IDEA, which requires that students with disabilities be educated to the maximum extent appropriate with students who do not have a disability and that they be removed from regular education settings ONLY when the nature or severity of the disability cannot be addressed with the use of supplementary aids and services Purpose: to ensure IEP outcomes by ensuring access to general education

curriculum, extracurricular, and other activities

CMS is driven to promote togetherness, which we believe is an essential elemental of full inclusion

CMS requires that a student’s IEP specifies the extent of time that student will spend in general education setting

Free and Appropriate Education (FAPE)

Appropriate Education: part of the six principals of IDEA

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004(IDEA 2004) defines FAPE at 20 U.S.C Section 602(9):“the term ‘free appropriate public education’ means special education and related services that follow under four subcategories

Inclusion

The topic of inclusion has been controversial because of its emphasis on social values and individual worth. These are some questions to help think about student inclusion: 1) Do we value all children equally? 2) What do we mean by “inclusion”? 3) Are there some children for whom inclusion in inappropriate?

Successful inclusion means working with students on things to say to peers in group activities, collaborating with other professionals to work on social skills, creating assignments that can be completed without assistance, and working with students to encourage contributing to the class

4 Phases of Inclusion: Mainstreaming- returning students from special to general education classrooms Regular education initiative- try to meet the needs of students with disabilities by reforming

general education Inclusion through accommodations- add instructional adaptation to general education

curriculum Inclusion through restructuring- merging resources of general and special education

classrooms

General Recommendations

Recommendations to enhance learning for students with disabilities:

According to IDEA, “all students with disabilities must have access to the general curriculum and participate in state and district wide assessment systems intended to measure effective progress”.

Study Strategies/Skills for life course: Learn skills to balance academic instruction and social skills.

Supplementary Aids & Services: maximize inclusion Alternate Assessments- allow for modifications Assistive Technology: Based on IEP, assistive technology is a

great tool to enhance learning for students with disabilities. Involve families!

General Recommendations

Response to Intervention (RTI): Helps determine whether a student needs additional or more intensive instruction. Consists of 4 components.

School Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS): “A systems level and evidence based method for improving valued social and learning outcomes for all students. Universal Support Group Support Individualized Support

General Recommendations

To support inclusion at CMS: Teacher Collaboration: General education classroom teachers

receive training to learn to facilitate and accommodate students with disabilities.

Increase time in general education classrooms. Age and grade appropriate placements. Involvement in school activities: Facilitate more appropriate

social behavior and make students feel more connected to their school and peers.

Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD)General Information

The term “Emotional Disturbance” is a condition that is accompanied by one or more characteristics that are specified in IDEA Characteristics must persist over a long period of time & adversely

affect the student’s educational performance

Examples: anxiety disorder, mood disorder, ODD, conduct disorder, schizophrenia.

More than 50% of students with EBD will drop out of school

EBDAcademic Recommendations

• May be useful to provide a “wrap-around” A wrap-around addresses both educational and mental health

needs There are four major phases of a wrap-around

Phase 1 Engagement and team preparation: Phase 2 Initial Plan Development: Phase 3: Implementation: Phase 4: Transition:

EBDAcademic Recommendations Continued

Class-wide peer tutoring (CWPT) Evidence-based and developed at University of Kansas Supports students with EBD to have positive peer interactions

Seven components of CWPT: multimodal learning, reciprocal and distributed practice, immediate error correction and feedback, games and competing teams, built-in reinforcement, high-mastery level, measured outcomes.

KidTools Encourages self-regulation through self monitoring, goal

setting, and problem solving. Computer based program that introduced UDL support

EBD Social Recommendations

Check and Connect Program Evidence based intervention, sometimes implemented through PBIS Regular mentoring and partnering with families in order to maintain

relationships within the school Check and Connect can reduce dropout rates for students with EBD

Middle School Service Learning Project “CMS SLP” CMS implements the SLP with all middle school students Used to increase EBD students’ involvement with community service Teaches civic responsibility, reinforces lessons from classroom, and

helps to improve awareness of community

Autism (ASD)General Overview

Autism is a developmental disability that affects:• communication,• social interactions• academic performance

• Six characteristics of ASD • Educators often use the term “autism spectrum disorder”• Another autism spectrum disorder is Asperger syndrome

Autism Academic Recommendations

• At CMS, we recommend the following:• Highly structured environment with emphasis on systematic

presentation of materials• Small class size, 1:1 is ideal. • A wide variety of educational settings will be necessary for

ASD. • All supplementary aids and services should address access,

classroom ecology, and task • Modifications in place- even lunchroom modifications, if

necessary

Autism Academic Recommendations Continued

Other strategies: Mnemonic strategies – some students are skilled in memory

tasks that can form the basis for curriculum adaptations and augmentations. Memory strengths should be considered when planning for universally designed instruction

Keyword strategies: teach students to link a keyword to a new word or concept

Pegword strategy: help students remember numbered or ordered information by linking words and numbers that rhyme

Letter strategies: employ acronyms or a string of letters to help students remember a list of words or concepts.

Autism Social Recommendations

A student’s IEP team should address social skills by: Peer tutoring Social skills group Student-directed learning strategies Person-centered planning Social stories

School wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) A systems-level and evidence-based method for improving valued

social and learning outcomes for all students Proactive approach, which elicits appropriate behavior Can be implemented through universal support, group support, and

individualized support

Autism Social Recommendations Continued

Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) CMS uses FBA’s for many students with disabilities, but they

are useful for students with autism. FBA’s identifies specific relationship between a student’s

behavior and the circumstances that trigger those behaviors, especially those are impede on the ability to learn

FBA identifies the problem behavior, antecedents, and consequences in order to develop a behavior intervention plan (BIP), for strategies for all school members to use when the behaviors occur

Autism Social Recommendations Continued

It is also important to encourage socialization for students with autism

For example: On the playground, Hannah, a student with autism is almost

always left out of group interactions. We may be tempted to assume that Hannah prefers being alone Instead, we should be teaching Hannah how to ask if she can be

included and to help her develop the skills needed to participate with others CMS staff can facilitate this by pairing Hannah with students

who understand her preferred method of communication

Physical Disabilities General Information

IDEA typically refers to this as “Orthopedic Impairment” Meaning- a severe impairment that adversely affects a student’s educational

performance Impairment may be caused by congenital anomaly, by disease, or from other

causes

• Educators typically use the term “physical impairment”

• Usually occur in combination with other disabilities and are often hard to recognize.

• Major Physical Disabilities include: • Cerebral Palsy• Spina Bifida• Epilepsy• Asthma

Physical DisabilitiesAcademic Recommendations

• Close partnerships between general education teacher, special education teacher, school nurses, physicians, family members and the student

• Recommended Accommodations:• Access as needed to word processors that promote students’ written

performance, PDAs that help students with sequencing tasks, digital talking books and e-text formats, and other adapted and augmentative communication devices that all comply with NIMAS standards for e-texts

• AAC devices, especially for those with cerebral palsy, to help the overcome communication limitations.

Kurzweil is a text-to-speech software for students with reading disorders, Dragon Dictate is a speech recognition software package that facilitates the writing process.

Note taking Mobility accommodations Schedule classes on the first floor as much as possible. Elevators

Physical Disabilities Social Recommendations

Important to remember that ALL students deal with self-esteem issues

Students with physical disabilities may struggle to develop self-awareness CMS recommends that teachers include lessons on self-awareness

Implement token economy systems Reinforce positive behavior outcomes

Transitioning and emotional support Also helps to teach self-awareness and acceptance

Teachers may also implement assistive technology for the entire classroom for certain assignments

Conclusion

IDEA’s Four Major Results Equality of Opportunity Full Participation Independent Living Economic Self-Sufficiency Economic Self-Sufficiency

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