Paraprofessionals Working with Students with Sensory Impairments in the Classroom

1. Paraprofessionals Working with Students with Sensory Impairments in the Classroom Presented by Susie Tiggs ESC Region XI

2. Workshop Etiquette • Remember to sign-in again when you return from lunch Turn off or mute cell phones • Participate actively • Take care of yourself • Take care of your neighbor

3. Certificates Check your transcript at www.esc11.net

4. Training Goals • Review requirements for curriculum, instruction, and assessment • Discuss roles and responsibilities of paraprofessionals as instructional support personnel • Discuss visual and auditory impairments • Discuss concept development and communication

5. Just an Aide First things first…

6. Paraprofessionals on Title I campuses hired after January 8, 2002, must meet ONE of these three criteria when hired. Two yearsof study at an institutionof higher education. An associate’s(or higher) degree. A rigorous standard of quality and can demonstrate,through a formal academic assessment, knowledge of and the ability to assist ininstructingreading, writing, and mathematics, as appropriate.* * District decides how paraprofessionals will meet requirement

7. Elementary and Secondary Education Act • No Child Left Behind • Raises expectations and accountability for ALL students • Paraprofessional highly qualified requirements under Title I, Part A • Knowledge of and the ability to assist in instructing reading, writing, and mathematics

8. Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act • Education act reauthorized in 2004 • Provides federal financial assistance • Special education and related services to eligible children with disabilities ages 0/3 – 21 IDEA 2004

9. Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act • FAPE – Free appropriate public education • LRE – Least restrictive environment • IEP – Individual education program • AGC – Access to general curriculum and assessment IDEA 2004

10. Disability definition – ADA and 504 • Any individual with a disability who • Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities • Has a record of such an impairment, or • Is regarded as having such an impairment

11. Disability definition – Education • Eligibility for special education services requires that the student • Meets criteria for one or more of 13 disability categories, and • Has an educational need for special education and related services based on the unique needs of the child that result from his/her disability

12. Disability in Texas • Visual impairment • Traumatic brain injury • Mental retardation • Autism • Deaf-blindness • Auditory impairment • Non-categorical early childhood (ages 3-5) • Learning disability • Emotional disturbance • Multiple disabilities • Orthopedic impairment • Speech impairment • Other health impairment

13. What is Special Education? • “Specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.”

14. IEP vs. ARD • Admission, Review, and Dismissal • State process • Committee • Meeting • Individual Education Program • Federal definition • Formal, written, legally binding plan

15. The ARD/IEP Process • Initial ARD/IEP meeting • Annual ARD/IEP meeting • Three-year reevaluation • Dismissal/Graduation • Pre-referral interventions (RTI – Response to Intervention) • Initial referral to Special Education • Full Individual Evaluation (FIE)

16. The ARD/IEP Committee • Public agency representative (administrator) • Others, as appropriate • Parent • Student • Teachers • General education • Special education • Evaluation representative (diagnostician)

17. Individual Education Program (IEP) • Present levels of academic achievement and functional performance • Annual goals (and objectives) • How progress will be measured and reported

18. Individual Education Program (IEP) • Types of Services • Specially designed instruction • Related services • Supplementary aids and services • Program modifications and supports • Services needed for • Attaining annual goals • Involvement and progress in the general curriculum • Education and participation with peers

19. Individual Education Program (IEP) • Participation with nondisabled children • Accommodations on state and districtwide assessments • Service delivery (LRE) • Timelines • Frequency • Location • Duration

20. Classroom Instruction • Academic skills • Functional skills Performance in core content standards for reading, writing, math, science, and social studies Based on enrolled grade level Integrated series of behaviors Things that are meaningful in the context of everyday living Based on individual student needs

21. Evaluation Synthesis "Thinking" Levels Depth of Understanding Analysis Application Comprehension Knowledge Revisiting Bloom’s Taxonomy

22. Understanding Grade Levels • Enrolled grade level • Diagnostic (tested) grade level • Instructional grade level

23. What are the TEKS? http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=6148 • State-mandated curriculum framework for all students in Texas • Texas Education Code Chapter 28 • Texas Administrative Code Chapter 74 • Kindergarten through high school • Foundation Curriculum • Enrichment Curriculum

24. Accessing the General Curriculum

25. Texas Assessment Program • Statewide assessment and accountability • All students must participate • All students tested based on enrolled grade-level standards • ARD committees decide which assessment a student receiving special education services will take

26. Assessment of Students with Disabilities

27. What’s My Job? Working with Teachers and Other Professionals

28. What’s My Job? How is the role of a paraprofessional different from the role of a teacher? • Paraprofessionals work at the direction of a certified teacher • Paraprofessionals may not substitute for a certified teacher (unless district criteria for substitutes are met) • Paraprofessionals may not substitute for any other certified or licensed position

29. What’s My Job? NCLB: The Teacher’s Role • Develops lesson plans • Introduction of new skills, concepts, and academic content • Instructional support activities • Provides direct instruction • Determines individual student goals • Evaluates and reports student progress • Supervises paraprofessionals

30. What’s My Job? NCLB – Title I Paraprofessional Role • Support student learning • One-on-one tutoring, small group • Assistance with classroom management • Instructional assistance in computer lab • Instructional support services under the direct supervision of a teacher

31. What’s My Job? • Professional relationships • List all of the people you interact with as a part of your job • What do they expect from you? • What do you expect from them?

32. What’s My Job? Brainstorm a list of tasks in a typical day/week. • Identify who is responsible for each task on your list T – Teacher P – Paraprofessional S – Shared • Categorize the items on your list as • Instructional • Student support • Clerical

33. Function as a valuable resource • Implement instruction, modifications, or services for target students according to plan • Implement assigned activities in a thorough and enthusiastic manner • Use good judgment when communicating with anyone • Turn problems into opportunities

34. Common teacher complaints • Frequent absences or tardies; leaving work early • Not following directions • Not seeking help or clarification when needed • Providing incorrect instruction or information to students

35. Common teacher complaints • Displaying lack of initiative or self-starting behaviors • Displaying too much initiative or presuming too much responsibility • Not allowing student independence • Not paying attention or responding to student needs

36. Common teacher complaints • Trying to be too much of a “friend” to the students • Not enforcing classroom or school rules • Breaking confidentiality

37. What’s My Job? What DoParaprofessionals Say? • Treat me with respect • Listen to my ideas • Create a to-do list for me • Tell me the instructional goals of the activities we are doing • Make me feel welcome in your classroom; introduce me to the students • Tell me your schedule and plan for instruction

38. What’s My Job? What DoParaprofessionals Say? • Let me know about changes in location, routine, or classroom schedule • Tell me how you like specific tasks done in your classroom • Give me a place to put my personal things • Please remember that there are limitations on what I can or should do in your classroom

39. Confidentially Speaking • Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of • 1974 (FERPA) • Personally identifiable • information • Professional trust • “Lounge talk” • Talking to parents Do or Don’t?

40. What’s My Job? What’s My Job?Working with Students

41. Working with students • How would you describe the students with whom you work? • What do you believe about their abilities and disabilities? • How do you perceive your role in supporting students?

42. Core Beliefs • Everyone can learn. • Everyone can participate. • Everyone can communicate.

43. Special Issues in the Self-Contained Classroom • Medically fragile students • Students with autism • Students with mental retardation • Physical growth and development

44. Managing Student Behavior • Ask the right questions • Conflict resolution • Communication

45. Recordkeeping and Data Collection What kind of data? • Anecdotal or narrative • Frequency • Accuracy • Latency • Duration • Endurance • Intensity

46. What’s My Job? The paraprofessional and the teacher are a team!!

47. So what makes a student with a sensory impairment different?

48. Visual Impairments • Students with Visual Impairments may have • a lot of vision • some vision • no vision • central vision only • peripheral vision only • vision that seems to come and go • glasses • no glasses

49. Visual Impairments Vision Loss 101: Vocabulary • Visual Acuity • Sharpness of vision; the visual ability to resolve fine detail (usually measured by a Snellen chart) • Legally Blind • Having 20/200 vision with best correction or a visual field of 20 degrees or less. • Visual Field • The ability to see objects in the periphery of ones vision when looking straight ahead. • LP - Light Perception • HM - Hand Motion • CF - Count Fingers

50. Vision Loss 101: Degrees • Partially sighted indicates some type of visual problem, with a need of person to receive special education in some cases • Low vision generally refers to a severe visual impairment, not necessarily limited to distance vision. Low vision applies to all individuals with sight who are unable to read the newspaper at a normal viewing distance, even with the aid of eyeglasses or contact lenses. They use a combination of vision and other senses to learn, although they may require adaptations in lighting or the size of print, and, sometimes, Braille • Legally blind indicates that a person has less than 20/200 vision in the better eye after best correction (contact lenses or glasses), or a field of vision of less than 20 degrees in the better eye • Totally blind students learn via Braille or other non-visual media.