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Description: New Video: Introducing the Office of Special Education Program's Assistive Technology Guidance and the 2024 National Educational Technology Plan (2:46 mins.) IDEA: Assistive Technology Devices and Services for Children With Disabilities Under the IDEA (Jan. 22, 2024) - The Office of Educational Technology and the Office of Special Education Programs are pleased to share the guidance in support of children with disabilities who need assistive technology (AT) devices and services for meaningful...
Description: Co-teaching teams and administrators are invited to observe model co-taught lessons and exemplary practices in action at demonstration sites across the Commonwealth. Regional TTAC representative contact information is provided to schedule an in-person or virtual visit to one of these exemplary demonstration sites. If you are interested in becoming a demonstration site, please contact: Dwana Cooper, Coordinator, Specially Designed Instruction, Virginia Department of Education,...
Description: Each self-paced professional learning session is offered at no cost to Virginia public school educators and provides 3-5 hours of professional learning. These sessions guide educators in learning about specific HLPs through videos that model exemplar teacher behaviors. Educators may enroll in any of the following professional learning sessions described below: Enroll in School Leaders, Administrators, and Instructional Coaches: Strategies for Teacher Retention & Support...
Description: VDOE's Assistive Technology Network has a newly updated Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) section of their website. What is AAC? When to consider? Assessment Information Gathering Current Communication Skills Access Direct Selection Indirect Selection Decision Making Trials Develop a Plan Prompting Data Collection Tool Selection and Funding Implementation Planning and Support Training Device Set-up Customization Vocabulary Selection And more!
Description: Based on the work of the CEEDAR Center and Council for Exceptional Children, the GMU TTAC Team has created High Leverage Practice Crosswalks in the areas of Math, Literacy and Transition to support stakeholders in developing personalized professional learning and targeted support, with the goal of bridging research into “practical” classroom practice to improve performance outcomes. The HLP Crosswalks are dynamic documents that will be periodically updated with the most current...
Description: VDOE's Virginia Literacy Act (VLA) webpage - With the passage of the Virginia Literacy Act (VLA) in the 2022 General Assembly, Virginia is taking the lead nationwide to improve early literacy outcomes for Virginia’s young learners. Through the VLA, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) will support school divisions through a multi-year effort with tools, resources, technical assistance and funding.
Description: Collaboration HLP Pillars: Rubric - HLP 1 Collaborate with Professionals to Increase Student Success, Rubric - HLP 3 Collaborate with Families to Support Student Learning and Secure Needed Services Embedded HLPs Rubric - HLP 2 Lead Effective Meetings with Professionals & Families DATA-Driven Planning HLP Pillar: Rubric - HLP 6 Use Assessment Data, Analyze Instructional Practices and Make Necessary, Adjustments that Improve Student Outcomes Embedded HLPs: Rubric - HLP 4: Use Multiple Sources...
Description: Collaboration HLP Pillars: HLP Highlight Tool - HLP 1: Collaborate with Professionals to Increase Student Success, HLP Highlight Tool - HLP 3: Collaborate with Families to Support Student Learning and Secure Needed Services Embedded HLPs HLP Highlight Tool - HLP 2: Organize and Facilitate Effective Meetings with Professionals and Families Data-Driven Planning HLP Pillar: HLP Highlight Tool - HLP 6: Use Student Assessment Data, Analyze Instructional Practices, and Make Necessary Adjustments that...
Description: The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has released the following Guidance Documents: The Federal Inclusive Practices Guide discusses how the requirements of the IDEA and ESEA align with inclusive educational practices. The 2024 Guide for Inclusion and Belonging outlines guidance on belonging with Belonging Checklists and Planning. The 2024 Guide for Inclusion and Belonging Communities outlines tips for creating a welcoming place and guides for communities....
Description: The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) sponsored a 3-Part Turn-Around Training Series on Specially Designed Instruction by Anne M. Beninghof, Education Consultant & Trainer. In this series, Virginia educators learn to adapt the content, methodology, and/or delivery of the instruction to address the individual student’s disability-related needs. This series was designed to provide information, strategies and materials to enable professionals to provide their own training...
Description: This is an opportunity for families to visit PEATC staff in-person! PEATC is working on bringing office hours to each and every region. For current hours and locations visit the Regional Community Office Hours page. Current Regional Community Office Hours include: Abingdon (Washington County) Damascus (Washington County) Dinwiddie Hopewell Norfolk Prince George Roanoke Tappahannock (Essex County) If your city is not listed, subscribe to our newsletter here to be...
Description: Every child grows and learns at their own pace, but developmental milestones provide a helpful guide to what most children (75%) can do by a certain age. As a parent or caregiver, you know your child best! If you have concerns about their development, talking to your child’s doctor about a developmental screening is a great first step.PEATC has created two valuable resource documents to help families understand and track early childhood development: Your Child's Development Milestones:...
Description: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (DEA) provides for a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for eligible students with disabilities. Special education and related services are provided under an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that is based on each student’s unique needs. Some students with disabilities may require services beyond the normal school year, during the summer or other school breaks in order to receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). These...
Description: What is Consent? Consent means that you agree to something.You say YES.We consent to all kinds of things every day like scheduling appointments or whether to buy the new car that the salesman is showing us. But consent isn’t just saying YES.We need our consent to be “informed.” Informed consent means that when you say YES, you understand exactly what you are agreeing to and what the results may be. Informed consent is especially important in sexual matters.Your child needs...
Description: PEATC is Virginia’s federally mandated Parent Training and Information Center (PTI). PEATC has staff in your region of the state, ready to provide free and confidential assistance to Virginia’s families of students receiving special education services. Read the Special Education Family Support Centers one-pager to learn more. Additional languages: Amharic Arabic Spanish Urdu Vietnamese
Description: Apps Developed by ATware Solutions, LLC - This app development team is in the process of launching several new apps for people with disabilities, service providers and professionals working in the field of special education.
Description: During the ORTIi 2024 Virtual Literacy Symposium, Yvette Mann explored how to facilitate differentiated small-group instruction in a Tier I setting. She covers how to form skill-based groups using data from universal screeners and diagnostic assessments to group students with similar areas of growth and/or reinforcement to meet their learning needs. She also discusses strategies for engaging students in targeted instruction and tips for managing student activities while working collaboratively...
Description: During the ORTIi 2024 Virtual Literacy Symposium, Dale Webster introduces and provides the rationale for each step of CORE’s explicit phonics lesson sequence. The importance of this explicit phonics lesson sequence to multilingual learners’ successful reading acquisition will be the focus of this presentation. Multilingual learners learning to read in English may need additional language support during phonics instruction to understand the words that they are learning to decode....
Description: Many students learn to read one-syllable words with relatively little difficulty, but they find it much harder to read polysyllabic words (with more than one syllable). During the ORTIi 2024 Virtual Literacy Symposium, David Kearns discusses how to support students with reading “long words”. This presentation includes (a) an explanation why polysyllabic word reading is difficult based on reading science and (b) easy-to-implement research-based strategies to help students read those...
Description: During the ORTIi 2024 Virtual Literacy Symposium, Pam Kastner highlights the importance of spelling to literacy development and how student spelling can be analyzed to inform core instruction and differentiated small group skills intervention. The language lenses of phonology, orthography, and morphology will be used to analyze student spelling inventory results.
Description: The I'm Determined Project provides 12 Self-Determination Checklists on various topics for educators and families. The checklists include: Self-Determination Educator Checklist Self-Determination Elementary Educator Checklist Self-Determination Elementary Parent Checklist Self-Determination Elementary Student Checklist Self-Determination Parent Checklist Self-Determination Student Checklist Self-Determination Elementary Parent Checklist - Spanish Exit Survey Parent Exit Survey Student Exit...
Description: Family engagement is crucial during the transition process. Research shows that when families are meaningfully and continuously engaged in their children’s learning and development, they can positively impact their child’s health, development, academic, and well-being outcomes into adulthood. Use these family engagement resources and training opportunities to begin engaging meaningfully with the families of students and youth with disabilities.
Description: Video: Ensuring Specially Designed Instruction in Secondary Settings - This concurrent session from Prepping for PROGRESS 2023 highlighted common challenges with service delivery in middle and high schools, shares practical solutions for addressing these challenges, and highlights resources and strategies that schools can use to support implementation in secondary settings.
Description: Iowa Department of Education SDI Framework for Secondary Transition provides a structure for IEP teams to identify skills that students need to achieve post-secondary transition goals. IEP teams use this information to develop IEP goals for Specially Designed Instruction (SDI).
Description: Mississippi Department of Education Specially Designed Instruction Guidance Document - SDI for Transition is discussed on pages 43-50. Transition Services Taxonomy for Transition Programming Virtual Work-Based Learning Experiences
Description: Secondary Transition: Helping Students with Disabilities Plan for Postsecondary Settings focuses on helping students with disabilities successfully transition from high school to postsecondary settings. Among other topics, it discusses the various components of transition planning and the importance of engaging students in this process (est. completion time: 1.5 hours).
Description: Transiton POINTS: Across the entire lifespan - Families need realistic, actionable information with which they can make a wide range of decisions as their child grows up. The Arc of Northern Virginia’s Transition POINTS program (Providing Opportunities, Information, Networking and Transition Support) provides critical information on six key decision points in the lifetime of an individual with an intellectual disability. Six Transition Guides are provided: Early Intervention Special...
Description: Predictors of Post School Success shares the latest research on evidence-based practices for SDI in transition skills, activities, and experiences to achieve post-secondary success.
Description: "Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success," is a curriculum developed by ODEP focused on teaching "soft" or workforce readiness skills to youth, including youth with disabilities. Created for youth development professionals as an introduction to workplace interpersonal and professional skills, the curriculum is targeted for youth ages 14 to 21 in both in-school and out-of-school environments. The basic structure of the program is comprised of modular, hands-on,...
Description: This ADA, Disability Disclosure, and Self-Advocacy webcast will provide an understanding to participants of how to ensure that their students are treated in an ethical, valued, and courteous way when disclosing their disability and the need for accommodation. Presented by Barry Whaley, the Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director of the Southeast ADA Center and Pam Williamson, the Assistant Director of the Southeast ADA Center.
Description: Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) Transition Resources - Transition from youth to adulthood is a crucial time for individuals with disabilities to gain important skills for adult life. Individuals with disabilities and/or their families need to learn to successfully navigate the adult disability-services system. When most students with disabilities graduate from high school, they encounter the 'services cliff,' i.e., differing eligibility rules across states and sudden...
Description: Instruction in Behavior & Academic Domain Checklist - Elementary (Pillar HLPs 7 & 16) and Instruction in Behavior & Academic Domain Checklist - Secondary (Pillar HLPs 7 & 16) were designed to help teachers grow in their classroom management and instruction skills. GMU TTAC task analyzed skills in HLPs 7 (classroom management & PBIS) and 16 (explicit instruction) to identify key HLP components and skills. The elementary and secondary checklists can be used to...
Description: A series of WEGO (Writing Efficiently with Graphic Organizers) projects have involved the development and effective integration of a technology-based writing intervention package including technology tools for students as well as instructional resources and professional development for teachers. WEGO tools for students feature technology-based graphic organizers with embedded evidence-based self-regulated learning strategies, mnemonics, video models, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL)...
Description: AT Team Development Resources: AT Tools in Schools, 2nd Edition - This guide is designed to support professionals and families in understanding assistive technology (AT) and identifying possible AT tools for students from preschool through high school. Education Tech Points, Profile of AT Services in Schools - A free, downloadable self assessment for IEP teams to use to evaluate their AT services. Ocali Assistive Technology Internet Modules - Assistive Technology Internet Modules...
Description: The Assistive Technology & Accessible Educational Materials (AT&AEM) Center is committed to ensuring access for all people with disabilities. The center promotes accessibility and personalization, creates and disseminates accessible materials and offers specialized training and technical assistance.
Description: Self Directed IEPs - A Parent Factsheet and Self-Directed IEPs - Your child's IEP (Individualized Education Program) is more than a plan for their education—it’s a roadmap to their future. Encouraging them to take a self-directed approach to their IEP can help them develop critical self-advocacy skills, build confidence, and ensure their voice is heard in planning for their goals after high school. PEATC offers a variety of resources to help families and youth navigate...
Description: Essential Components for Math Instruction: Considerations for Students With Extensive Support Needs focuses on pairing instructional approaches with a strong evidence base in math with evidence-based practices for students with extensive support needs. To do so we draw on two sources. We use the 2021 Practice Guide from the Institution for Education Sciences (Fuchs et al., 2021). In addition, we use identified evidence-based practices specific for teaching mathematics to students with...
Description: TTAC ODU Mathematics VESOL Resources includes: Vertical Articulation Document (3rd-HS) VESOL Curriculum Framework Documents Grade 3 Lessons Grade 4 Lessons Grade 5 Lessons Grade 6 Lessons Grade 7 Lessons Grade 8 Lessons High School Lessons
Description: TTAC Virginia Tech Math VESOL Resources inlcudes: Sample Instruction Videos for Math VESOL Resources to support instruction Additional Resources
Description: This resource includes Free VESOL Literacy Instruction Materials: Reading Comprehension Files Core, Fringe and Robust AAC Vocabulary Alternatives Pencils/Manual Boards with Alphabet Math Social Emotional Learning, Social Stories & Visual Supports Cooking Files Art and Music Files Talker Power Files
Description: Conditions for Learning Videos present the eight conditions or principles associated with literacy learning success for students with significant support needs. The conditions include: Knowledgable Others Means of Communication & Interaction Repetition with Variety Cognitive Engagement Cognitive Clarity Personal Connection Comprehensive Instruction Significant Time Allocation
Description: Autism Q & A: Designing Instructional Programs for Skill Acquisition - There are a number of things that teachers should consider when developing an instructional program to teach a new skill. First, they must decide what to teach by evaluating the student and setting an instructional objective. Second, teachers needs to identify the instructional or natural cues that signal the student to perform the skill. Third, behavior change procedures must be selected, which can include...
Description: This collection of VESOL-referenced lesson plans created by TTAC ODU offers a range of engaging, hands-on instructional activities that can be used with students of all ages. Each lesson plan references multiple content areas and includes standards for multiple grade levels. Printable resources are included.
Description: Visionary Teaching resources for pinch cards, gestural responses, choice boards and other materials to increase opportunities to respond during VESOL instruction
Description: Your Life Your Voice provides ways for pre-teens, teens, and young adults to get help via call, text and email. Their trained counselors are able to offer advice for real life situations and they can be reached 24/7 via phone at (800) 448-3000 or by texting VOICE to 20121. They also provide tips and tools on their website for a number of issues such as coping skills, transitioning to adulthood, anxiety, abuse, identity, depression and more. It includes information on a Your Life Your Voice...
Description: Adaptive Toys for Children with Disabilities and General Toy Safety Inclusive Gifts for Kids with Disabilities and Their Families What Are Switch-Adapted and Switch-Activated Toys and Games?
Description: The English Learners with Disabilities Toolkit (2024) is designed to provide states and IEP teams with tools they can use to better understand their students who are English learners with disabilities and to determine in which state assessment (general or alternate) they should participate and whether accessibility features or accommodations are needed for their participation in any assessment. This toolkit does not address the development of complete IEPs for English learners...
Description: Creating an Autism-Friendly Holiday: Strategies for a Joyful Season - The holiday season can be overwhelming for many. Disrupted routines, travel, increased social gatherings and expectations, can contribute to stress and dysregulation. This article shares ideas on how to reduce stressors to contribute to a more joyful season for the entire family.
Description: This Microlearning Training provides small bites of learning on hot topics focused around foundational knowledge and easy-to-implement skills and strategies. Microlearning is always available and take just 10-15 minutes to review. This Microlearning series includes: Social-Emotional Learning Early Childhood Toolkit Classroom Essentials: Schedules Strategies to Support Autistic Learners Strategies to Support Everyday Transitions Foundational Five for Families
Description: Basic Psychological Processing Checklist: Teacher Interview Questionnaire - The Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals created a checklist for teachers to gather their perspectives on students’ cognitive and functional skills in the classroom.