Special Education Directors,

Project EASEL, in partnership with ADE/ESS, would like to invite you and your staff to tune into the Exploring Strategies for Social Emotional Learning Fall and Spring series (see attachment). We plan to share a variety of information and strategies that will support your understanding and implementation of Assertiveness, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Regulation.

New targeted webinars announcement! Project EASEL will be offering 3 new targeted webinars. 

• Career and Technical Education (CTE)
• Secure Care
• Secondary Transition

Registration is required for each session. Please view this flyer for upcoming sessions with updated details and registration links.

Topics include:

Raise Student Confidence through Self-Efficacy Activities and Guided Practice

• Tuesday, October 26, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.

Teach Students Respectful Communication through Assertiveness

• Tuesday, November 9, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.

Teach Students to Self-Regulate in Career and Technical Education (CTE) (Targeted)

• Tuesday, November 30, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.

Teach Adjudicated Students to Believe in their Abilities (Targeted)

• Tuesday, December 14, 2021 @ 3:00 p.m.

Teach Respectful Communication and Self-Advocacy to Students Receiving Transition (Targeted)

• Tuesday, January 11, 2022 @ 3:00 p.m.

On behalf of the Project EASEL, we want to say welcome back to a new and exciting school year, and we look forward to seeing you virtually this fall.

If you have any questions, please email the Pattie Noonan at [email protected].

Special Education Directors,

Please share the following message about upcoming math professional learning with general and special education teachers who teach mathematics.

November Math Office Hours

The ADE Math Team has scheduled office hours to allow educators to meet together to network, problem-solve, and develop solutions to allow all Arizona teachers and students to continue to feel supported and to be successful.

Grade-band meetings are provided for all math teachers, including special education teachers! These grade-band meetings will include opportunities for networking, problem solving, and sharing different implementation models. Office hours are one hour long with an additional 30 minutes at the end for a Q & A session. Participants can earn one hour of professional development credit for each session attended.

Elementary Math Office Hours (Grades K–5)

Monday, November 1, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. with Q & A from 4:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the Grades K–5 meeting.

Middle School Math Office Hours (Grades 5–8)

Tuesday, November 2, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. with Q & A from 4:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the Grades 5–8 meeting.

High School Math Office Hours (Grades 8–12)

Thursday, November 4, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. with Q & A from 4:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the Grades 8–12 meeting.

Note: accommodations must be requested at least one week in advance of each webinar.

Please email Rob Hilliker with any questions.

Count Me In! Developing Fluency with Whole Numbers 

Choose one of the following dates: 

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 from 3:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the session on September 29.

Tuesday, October 5, 2021 from 3:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the session on October 5.

What does it mean to be fluent in mathematics? In this webinar, we will examine the key components of fluency and make connections across mathematics standards that specify fluency as the intended end-of-year outcome in each grade level from K–6. Additionally, we will explore instructional routines, strategies, and games that will help all students develop flexibility to solve contextual and mathematical problems involving whole numbers.

Note: Accommodations must be requested at least one week in advance of each webinar. 

Please email Rob Hilliker with any questions.

Special Education Directors,

At their annual state conference, the Arizona Association of School Psychologists (AASP) recognizes an outstanding school psychologist and administrator (principal or director) of the year, and they encourage your district or charter to nominate someone who provides excellent support and advocacy for students with disabilities in our state. Nomination forms can be located on the AASP website and should be submitted to Jamie Timmerman and Cathy Herring at AASP. Additional information is included in this flyer. It is recommended to submit at least three letters of support with each nomination. Nominations open on September 1, 2021 and close on September 30, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. The awards ceremony will be held Friday, November 5, 2021 in the morning at Desert Willow Conference Center. 

Please email Jamie Timmerman, AASP Past-President, with any additional questions.

Special Education Directors,

Please share the following message about upcoming math professional learning with general and special education teachers who teach mathematics.

September Math Office Hours

The ADE Math Team has scheduled office hours to allow educators to meet together to network, problem-solve, and develop solutions to allow all Arizona teachers and students to continue to feel supported and to be successful.

Grade-band meetings are provided for all math teachers, including special education teachers! These grade-band meetings will include opportunities for networking, problem solving, and sharing different implementation models. Office hours are one hour long with an additional 30 minutes at the end for a Q & A session.  Participants can earn one hour of professional development credit for each session attended.

Elementary Math Office Hours (Grades K–5)

Monday, September 20, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. with Q & A from 4:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the Grades K–5 meeting.

 Middle School Math Office Hours (Grades 5–8)

Tuesday, September 21, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. with Q & A from 4:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the Grades 5–8 meeting.

High School Math Office Hours (Grades 8–12)

Wednesday, September 22, 2021 from 3:30–4:30 p.m. with Q & A from 4:30–5:00 p.m.

Register in advance for the Grades 8–12 meeting.

Note: accommodations must be requested at least one week in advance of each webinar.

Please email Jenifer Fernandez or email Rob Hilliker with any questions.

September 13 and 14, 8:00 a.m.– 4:00 p.m.

September 15, 8:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.

ADE/ESS is excited to share updated information for our  3-day virtual event which will feature over 75 professional learning opportunities addressing legal issues, special education compliance, preschool and secondary transition, social/emotional learning, and new this year, a content strand for school-based OTs, PTs, and SLPs featuring Michelle Bradshaw, Chris Bugaj, Michelle Curcio, Lisa DeWitt, Irma Gomez, Jessica Hartrich, Amy Hill, Rebecca Lopez, Mike Marotta, Jeff Meeks, Fe Murray, Beth Poss, Linda Rudd, Judith Schoonover, Sarah Ward and Elisa Wern.

Topics presented by national and local experts in the related service providers’ strand will include working at the top of the license, OT/PT/SLP co-treatment, service delivery, executive function, ergonomics, using visual supports in therapy, working with translators, Medicaid school-based claiming, and effective collaboration with teachers. School-based therapists may attend sessions in the special education administration, secondary transition, or RSP strands all 3 days of the conference for one low registration fee. 

Register for the IDEA Conference.

Information about conference keynotes can be found on the conference webpage, which will continue to be updated throughout the summer.

Questions about the conference or registration can be sent to [email protected].

Special Education Directors,

ADE/ESS is updating our contact lists of designated Lead Speech-Language Pathologists, Lead Occupational Therapists, Lead Physical Therapists, Lead Assistive Technology Specialists, and Lead School Psychologists. We intend to use the contact lists to:

• Keep related service providers informed of relevant PD
• Facilitate opportunities for developing discipline-specific professional learning networks or communities of practice
• Develop a pool of expert, experienced, school-based practitioners we may call upon for such things as surveying the need for particular topics in PD and providing content expertise to inform or review guidelines and policies developed by ADE/ESS
   

Thank you for filling out this brief survey, even if your district or charter does not currently have any designated Lead Related Services positions.

If you have questions, please email the ESS Recruitment and Retention Inbox.

Special Education Directors,

Are you looking for Occupational Therapists and/or Occupational Therapy Assistants?

In October 2021, ADE/ESS will be recruiting for OT personnel on behalf of all public education agencies (PEAs) at the Arizona Occupational Therapy Association’s annual fall conference. ESS will operate a booth in the exhibit hall to promote the advantages of working in a school setting and distribute flyers listing all current and anticipated OT vacancies in Arizona public schools. We will also run a banner ad on the conference website directing OTs to the Arizona Education Employment Board.

If your PEA would like ESS to promote OT opening(s) at ArizOTa, please post them on the ADE job board as soon as possible. The banner ad will be visible on the ArizOTA website well before the convention dates, so please post quickly!

Post your OT/COTA vacancies at the Arizona Education Employment Board.

If you have questions, please email the Recruitment and Retention Inbox.

Special Education Directors,

ADE/ESS and The Interpreter Mentorship, Education & Training (IMET) Program are excited to offer two different training opportunities for educational interpreters. Please review both of the linked flyers for information on each opportunity. Information on how to apply can be found in the flyers and in the body of this post.

EIPA MENTOR TRACK

Participants will attend weekly meetings, alternating between language coaching and interpreter mentoring. Meetings typically take place in the evenings using virtual platforms. Accepted participants must be available to meet during late afternoon or evening meeting session times offered. Every effort is made to set meeting times based on submitted availability. Participants can expect to commit approximately 8-10 hours per week on mentor sessions, assessments, assignments, and reflection reports. The EIPA Track has been specially designed for the work and exam for educational interpreters. This mentorship track costs are covered by the ADE and offered at no cost to the participant, with an opportunity to earn the EIPA exam fee with demonstrated commitment and participation.

LANGUAGE LAB

Participants will attend biweekly meetings in small groups with a language coach who is Deaf. Meetings typically take place in the evenings using virtual platforms. Accepted participants must be available to meet during late afternoon or evening meeting session times offered. Every effort is made to set meeting times based on submitted availability. Participants will meet for 12 sessions and can expect to commit approximately 5-6 hours per week on sessions and assignments. During the sessions participants will gain valuable exposure to language coaches who are Deaf, ASL, and Deaf culture. They will work on various language development activities and have an opportunity to explore their questions. The goal of the language labs is to improve expressive and receptive ASL proficiency. Costs are covered by the ADE and offered at no cost to the participant. Space is limited.

The deadline for both parts of the application process is Tuesday, August 3, 2021 11:59 pm. Space is limited so apply early!

ADE/ESS is excited to offer these opportunities to work with your teams to support Arizona students!  Please contact Jennifer Harvey [email protected] or Christy Hegebush [email protected] for questions or assistance.

Special Education Directors,

ADE/ESS and STAR Autism Support are collaborating to offer resources and professional learning opportunities to support PEA staff with free Virtual Learning Opportunities this Fall. 

STAR Online Learning System (SOLS) Workshop

STAR Online Learning System (SOLS) is designed to allow your PEA to provide access to all students through remote learning opportunities. Through teacher facing, evidence-based lesson plans and a scope and sequence that provides scaffolded learning opportunities, teachers can provide their students individualized learning opportunities. The focus of the instruction uses the evidence-based practices appropriate for students with autism to teach skills in critical areas. This comprehensive workshop provides participants with detailed examples and practice activities on how to implement the evidence-based practices identified in the National Standards Report (2009) remotely using SOLS.

2-Day STAR Comprehensive Workshop

This comprehensive two-day workshop provides participants with detailed examples and practice activities on how to implement the evidence-based practices identified in the National Standards Report (2009). The STAR Program (Arick, Loos, Falco and Krug, 2015), a research-based curriculum is used to provide examples. Appropriate content connected to the common core curriculum is presented and detailed information on the three evidenced-based instructional methods of discrete trial training, pivotal response training and teaching through functional routines are shared.  If registered as a team, you will also be eligible to apply for free coaching hours.

2-Day Links Comprehensive Workshop

This two-day workshop provides participants with information on how to implement evidence-based practices for secondary students using the Links Curriculum (Arick, Hoffman and Magee-Arick, 2012). Participants will learn to use a process for assessing and teaching functional routines that has been documented in the research. Extensive information will be given on selecting and individualizing routines and teaching specific skills to support success during routines. If registered as a team, you will also be eligible to apply for free coaching hours.

Early Childhood Learning Workshop

This workshop will provide preschool staff, child­care staff and quality first coaches with a greater under­standing of working with children with autism spectrum disorders. Topics discussed will include learning characteris­tics, behavioral strategies and simple activities to encourage social and language skill development. This workshop will provide specific examples of evidence-based practices that can be implemented immediately in the childcare and pre­school setting.

Supporting Students in General Education Workshop

This workshop will provide general education teachers and staff an introduction to how students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn. Examples of simple classroom strategies and tools to help students with ASD be successful in general education classrooms will be provided. Learning outcomes include identifying the characteristics of students with ASD and how these characteristics impact learning, identifying evidence-based strategies to address the learning needs of students with ASD, and identifying a few simple tools to help your students with ASD learn.

Coaching and Training Site Workshop

This workshop is designed to train certified PEA staff to coach others in the evidence-based strategies and instructional content as used in the STAR Program. SAS provides a series of coach workshops for staff to learn to coach others along with on-site follow-up training at their school district sites. SAS has a fidelity of implementation checklist that is used to identify specific training needs for each coach. Once a trainee has completed all aspects of the training and is able to demonstrate the needed skills, they are eligible to receive a certificate as a STAR Coach that is provided by SAS.

Parent Training Session

The parent training class series provides information and training on topics of interest to parents. These classes discuss evidence-based instructional strategies and effective strategies for parents to use at home with their children. Skills addressed include communication, play and social, behavioral, and self-management. All classes in the series use lecture, demonstration, video, and discussion to present the information. The sessions are designed as a series, but it is not necessary to attend all sessions to benefit from these classes.

Paraprofessional Training Series

This workshop series provides paraprofessionals with key strategies and a demonstration of implementing lessons found in the Links Curriculum and STAR Pogrom for students. Participants will also learn how to use basic behavior principles to assess student’s challenging behaviors, identify appropriate interventions that match assessment results, and determine whether an intervention is working.

PEAs are also encouraged to contact STAR Autism Support if they would like additional individualized support during this time for their teachers, related service staff members, and paraprofessionals! Click here to learn more about these additional support opportunities.

We are excited to offer these opportunities to work with your teams to support our students!  Please contact Bekah Anderson [email protected] or Christy Hegebush [email protected] for questions or assistance.