MA DESE Career Vocational Technical Education Institute

1. MA DESECareer Vocational Technical Education Institute • November 29, 2012 • Sheraton, Framingham • Robin Ahigian • Silvia DeRuvo

2. Goals of the Institute: Increased career/vocational technical education opportunities for students with disabilities contributing to improved results for all students through: • Effective collaborative practices • Inclusive practices that ensure access to the same opportunities and curriculum as non-disabled students • A culture of high expectations, shared responsibility and accountability for all students

3. Agenda Follow-up Institute # 1 • Collaborative Norm of the Session • Paraphrasing to ensure deep listening • Effective Practices-Sharing What Works • Carousel Activity • Developing Adaptations in the Shop Setting • Student Scenarios • Collaboration Strategies to Support Instruction in the CVTE Environment • Intellectual disabilities • Autism Spectrum Disorder • Action Planning with School Site Team

4. Activity Since We Last Met • Complete the sentence below with the title of a song, movie, or book. • Since we last met, my school has been like….because… • Share with your table group round robin style; select one statement to share out with the full group

5. Seven Norms of Collaboration • Pausing to allow time for thought • Paraphrasing to ensure deep listening • Putting inquiry at the center • Probing to clarify • Place ideas on the table • Paying attention to self and others • Presuming positive intentions

6. Paraphrasing to Ensure Deep Listening • Paraphrasing within a pattern of pause, paraphrase, and question to ensure deep listening • 1. I listen and paraphrase to acknowledge and clarify. • Low ________/________/________/________ High • 2. I listen and paraphrase to summarize and organize. • Low ________/________/________/________ High • 3. I listen and paraphrase to shift levels of abstraction. • Low ________/________/________/________ High

7. Effective PracticesCarousel Activity • Each school identify which person on your team is the spokesperson to share your effective practice or strategy • Spokesperson stays at the home table • All other team members rotate from table to table to listen to another school’s practice • Each team member takes notes at each table • Upon returning to the home table, team members debrief and share strategies learned from other tables with spokesperson

8. Break

9. Defining Terms for the Day: Curricular Adaptations • Curricular Adaptations are changes permissible in educational environments which allow the student equal opportunity to obtain access, results, benefits and levels of achievement. Accommodations and modifications are both curricular adaptations.

10. Defining Terms for the Day:Accommodations • Accommodations do not fundamentally alter or lower expectations or standards in instructional level, content or performance criteria, but are made to provide equal access to learning and equal opportunity to demonstrate what is known.

11. Defining Terms for the Day:Modifications • Modifications do fundamentally alter or lower expectation or standards in instructional level, content performance criteria, to provide student with meaningful and productive learning experiences based on individual needs and abilities

12. The Grid of Nine Curriculum Adaptation Options • Quantity- Adapt the number of items that the student is expected to learn or complete. • Reduce the length of an assignment, but ensure that all standards are addressed • Time - Adapt the time allotted and allowed for completing lessons and assignments. • Allow for extra time on an assignment , but hold to a specific deadline

13. The Grid of Nine Curriculum Adaptation Options • Level of Support- Increase the amount of personal assistance with a specific student through cooperative grouping or peer assisted support. • Allow for peer discussion and check for understanding prior to independent practice • Input- Adapt the way instruction is delivered to the student (audio version of text, computer access, etc.) • Allow the use of picture prompt to remind student of steps in a task

14. The Grid of Nine Curriculum Adaptation Options • Difficulty - Adapt how the student accesses the content through effective use of graphic organizers and other learning supports. • Allow student to use calculator to solve calculation part of mathematical activities • Output- Adapt how the student can respond to instruction with different options for the product. • Allow student to show completion of each step in a project through photos rather than writing about each step

15. The Grid of Nine Curriculum Adaptation Options • Participation- Adapt how a student is involved in the learning process. (Peer assisted, etc.) • Allow the student to support the classroom instruction by providing help to the teacher or to other students in order to learn the process • Alternate Goals – Adapt the goals or outcome expectations while using the same materials • Allow student to measure ingredients while working on fine motor skill of not spilling and measuring accurately

16. The Grid of Nine Curriculum Adaptation Options • Substitute Curriculum- provide different instruction and materials to meet the learner’s individual goals • Allow student to participate in cooking lessons to learn how to read a visual chart

17. Group Activity: Practice- Adaptations • In your table groups, read scenario on the slide, confer and identify the adaptation needed from the Grid of Nine sheet • Write your response on your White Board • Hold up your cards at the signal to share your response.

18. Adaptation Exercise • Aliciais an 8th grade student who is easily distracted. She can stay focused for short periods of time, but when a lengthy assignment is given she will fade out and not complete it. She is not a behavior problem. When Alicia is assigned 20 math problems she will usually stop at ten. However, she shows mastery of the material with those 10 problems. When graded for 20 problems she will fail because she will only have completed 50%. Her grade will not reflect that Alicia has met the standard. What adaptation can an effective teacher use to ensure Alicia’s grades reflect that she has met the standard? Quantity

19. Adaptation Exercise • Jacob is a diligent, hard worker whose grades matter very much to him. He stays focused and on-task, but many times he cannot finish the work in the time allotted. He understands the material well, but when graded on work completed in a specific time period it will appear he has not mastered the standard. What adaptation can an effective teacher use to ensure that Jacob’s grades reflect that he has met the standard? Time

20. Adaptation Exercise • It’s hard for Hector to concentrate when the teacher is giving direct instruction in front of the room. He needs to be doing something active to stay focused. During a lesson on map reading, what adaptation could an effective teacher use to ensure that Hector stays focused and learns the material as independently as possible? Participation

21. Adaptation Exercise • Matthew is a student with a visual impairment who has difficulty reading student text. He is attending a math class and the textbook has many graphs with small numbers and words. What adaptations can his teacher make available to the student to ensure that the student is successful at mastering the standard? Input

22. Adaptation Exercise • James, is a student who is severely developmentally delayed and is fully included in an automotive class. While other students are exploring the “electrical current theory”, James is developing skills according to functional standards by following a sequence of instructions using visual pictures and diagrams checklist attached to a clip board. What adaptation is the teacher using with James so he is successful? Substitute Curriculum

23. Adaptation Exercise • Terri, a student with learning disabilities, has difficulty processing information into long-term memory. She is asked to complete a problem from memory with the rest of the class. What adaptation should be made so Terri masters the standard? Difficulty

24. Adaptation Exercise • Zach has ADHD and has serious problems staying focused and on-task. He will begin a task, but very quickly will lose his focus and become disruptive. When his behavior is pointed out to him, he can redirect his attention and continue with the task. What adaptations can his teacher make so that Zach can be successful in mastering the standard? Level of Support

25. Adaptation Exercise • Sarah has great difficulty with written assignments. When asked to demonstrate by written work, her reading comprehension of the content material, Sarah will not do it. However she is very verbal and when asked to tell about what she has read, she responds articulately and shows comprehension of the material. Sarah is also very artistic and creative. What adaptation could the teacher make so that Sarah can demonstrate mastery of reading comprehension? Output

26. Adaptation Exercise • Beth is a student with an intellectual disability. She is fully included in her culinary class, but is unable to grasp all the math concepts required in this class. What types of adaptations are necessary for Beth to reach her goals? Alternate Goals

27. Applying the Learning - Activity Developing Adaptations in the Shop Class • Student Scenarios: • Zach- 10th grade- Carpentry Program – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder • Terry- 10th grade-Automotive Collision Repair and Refinishing Program- Specific Learning Disability • Alex-11th grade- Office Technology- Autism Spectrum Disorder • Stephanie-10th grade-Culinary Program- Intellectual Disability

28. Activity: Developing Adaptations in the Shop Class • Read the student scenario assigned to your table group • As a team, utilize the Grid of Nine to identify which adaptations might benefit your student • Use the Effective Collaborative Practices: Accommodations and Adaptation Tool to write up a plan to support your target student in their program • Identify a spokesperson for your group to share your accommodations and adaptations

29. Lunch

30. Reflecting on Our Learning • Reflect on the Accommodations and Adaptation identified by each table group for their target student and discuss with your site team: • How many of the accommodations and adaptation were similar? • How were they alike? • How would these accommodations or adaptation support the needs of all students in shop classes?

31. Collaboration Strategies to Support Students in the CVTE Environment • Intellectual Disabilities • Autism Spectrum Disorder

32. Intellectual Disability- An Overview • Characterized by sub-average intellectual functioning that includes an impairment of adaptive abilities including: • Communication • Self-care • Home living • Social/interpersonal skills • Use of community resources • Self-direction • Functional academic skills • Work, leisure, health and safety skills

33. Intellectual Disabilities • Definition: • A significantly sub-average intellectual functioning • impairment resulting from an injury, disease or abnormality that existed before age 18 • An impairment in adaptive abilities • IQ scores • Mild (requiring intermittent support) 50-55 to approx. 70 • Moderate (requiring limited support) 35-40 to 50-55 • Severe (requiring extensive support) 20-25 to 30-35 • Profound (requiring pervasive support) below 20-25

34. Intellectual Disabilities Instructional Planning • Discuss with your team how your school staff can meet the needs of these students in the following areas: • Adapting the academic and vocational curriculum • Demonstrating tasks and providing visual cues • Supporting Activities of Daily Living • Occupational awareness and exploration • Social skill development

35. Intellectual Disabilities Academic Interventions • Simple, short, uncomplicated sentences to ensure maximum understanding • Repeat instructions or directions frequently • Reduce distractions and transitions • Teach specific skills • Encouraging, supportive learning environment • Capitalize on student success and self esteem • Appropriate program interventions to maximize success

36. Intellectual Disabilities Behavioral Interventions • Consistent classroom structures and routines • Direct explicit instruction of behavioral expectations • Frequent and immediate feedback • Social skills directly taught and reinforced • Opportunities to practice social skills in multiple environments

37. Autism Spectrum Disorder • Developmental disability affecting verbal and non-verbal communication and social interactions that can range from mild to severe • Often characterized by: • Engagement in repetitive activities • Stereotypical movements • Resistance to environmental change • Unusual response to sensory experiences

38. Core Deficits of ASD • Difficulty with • Identifying global concepts and elements of tasks • Processing auditory information- understanding, retaining and retrieving • Generalizing skills • Sequencing information or steps in a task • Transitioning between different activities • Time concepts and time management • Atypical and/or uneven academic, social, or emotional development

39. ASD-Behavioral Issues • Students with ASD exhibit immature and developmentally inappropriate behaviors that cannot be attributed to cognitive skills • Behavior results from frustration and anxiety due to difficulties with communication, sensory regulation, and social interactions. • Aggressive acting out behaviors usually result from heightened levels of anxiety due to unexpected changes in routines, schedules or an inability to transition to a non-preferred activity

40. Video: Teaching Students with Autism • As you watch- list the instructional strategies identified by the teacher. • Discuss with your team: • How do you see these classroom interventions being implemented in the CVTE setting?

41. ASD-Academic Interventions • Consistent classroom structures and routines • Clear expectations communicated visually • Use of visual technology • Breaks from sensory stimulus • Use of visual agenda, timer for transitions • Keep communication simple and free of idioms and figures of speech

42. ASD- Behavioral Interventions • Consistent classroom structures and routines • Clear expectations for behavior • Preferred activities when tasks are completed • Recognize when behavior signals show signs of distress and anxiety • Provide opportunities away from overwhelming stimulus • Provide social stories to relieve anxiety related to new situations

43. Activity: Effective Collaborative Practices • In your site teams identify a student on your campus with either an intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder • Based on your knowledge of the student, use the Effective Collaborative Practices: Accommodations and Adaptation Tool to plan instructional adaptations for your target student • Use some of the adaptations identified in the morning activity to plan for your target student

44. Break

45. Facilitated Action Planning ProcessA Quick Review • The Action Planning Process Involves Identifying : • Primary concerns • Contributing factors • Possible barriers • Action steps to work past the barriers

47. Revising your Action Steps • Using feedback provided by co-directors and the DESE, refine your plan to include only 1 or 2 Action Steps • Analyze these action steps and develop a short term action plan • Identify priorities for action steps between now and February • Identify who on the team or at your site will support the action steps • Identify the activities and dates that support the action step completion • Identify the evidence that shows that the action step is complete

48. Next Steps • Homework: Complete Short Term Action Steps Plan by January 10th • Webinar held on January 10th, time TBD • Complete Evaluation

49. Need Help? • All supporting documents, forms and PPT on Wiki at: http://votechinstitute.wikispaces.com • Questions or clarifications • Robin Ahigian – rahigia@wested.org • Silvia DeRuvo- sderuvo@wested.org

50. REMINDERS… • Dates of upcoming Institute face to face sessions • February 7th • April 4th • May 16th • Webinar scheduled for January 10th • Second Webinar TBD in March