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Description: E-Learning Modules - The VDOE offers free online learning experiences, or modules, that address a variety of topics in Special Education and Student Services. Certificates of completion are available for some learning modules. The VDOE does NOT maintain a copy of participant scores or proof of participation. Special Education Resources - The Federal and State definition of special education and specially designed instruction are: "Special education" means specially...
Description: Edutopia provides helpful tips and strategies for new teachers, their mentors and their administrators.
Description: This extensive planning guide provides tools to successfully understand the college environment for students with learning disabilities, including a student's rights and potential accommodations. Whether it’s in-person or online college, this guide shows you where to find the best resources for achieving your goals.
Description: Everyone wants to be valued and have a sense of belonging in their community. The need for valued belonging is true for students in a school community as well. Although belonging is equally important for all students, students with significant cognitive disabilities are less likely to experience a deep sense of belonging. Developed to directly address the creation of school communities in which each and every student is included in all aspects of everyday school...
Description: To support member districts in implementing best practices for trauma-informed instruction, Hanover has developed this toolkit on trauma-informed instructional practices that can be implemented at the elementary and secondary levels. Specifically, this toolkit provides guidance and evidence-based practices that building-wide teams can use to develop a plan for working with teachers on trauma-informed instruction for the upcoming school year.
Description: Teacher Induction: Providing Comprehensive Training for New Special Educators This module emphasizes the importance of administrative support for beginning special education teachers. It also demonstrates how teacher support can increase the teacher's effectiveness in the classroom (est. completion time: 1 hour) What are some typical challenges faced by new special education teachers? Page 1: Experiences of New Special Education Teachers The first few years of a new teacher’s time in the...
Description: This practice guide, developed in conjunction with an expert panel, distills contemporary early childhood and preschool education research into seven easily comprehensible and practical recommendations. The guidance will help to prepare young children to benefit from the learning opportunities they will encounter in school.
Description: 6 Tips for a First-Year Special Education Teacher - It's not uncommon for special education teachers to feel extra anxious facing their first year of teaching, as they have additional, unique responsibilities to complete in order to have a successful year. To keep you afloat, here are some tasks you should tackle first. Review All IEP Due Dates Make Positive Contact with Parents Review and Organize Your Students' IEPs Create a Game Plan for IEP Meetings Lean on Your Mentor Find Your Work-Life...
Description: Easterseals UCP provides meaningful and exceptional services so that children, adults and families living with disabilities, behavioral health challenges and autism can live, learn, work and play in their communities. Easterseals UCP’s Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) services provide home and community-based supports that help children and adults be engaged and contributing members of their family and community. Our Behavioral Health programs are evidenced-based and...
Description: This form includes the task, the description and the team member responsible for the AAC trial implementation.
Description: Prompt Hierarchy - This is a visual with descriptions of different levels of prompting that focus on increasing motivation and allowing wait time. Revisiting the Adapted AAC Prompt Hierarchy: Seven Years Later - A prompt hierarchy that focuses on creating motivation for AAC users and scaffolding the level of prompting they need to be successful.
Description: First responders and other emergency personnel are starting to use this helpful tool to communicate with individuals who are not responding to verbal instructions or questions. These may be individuals who are non-verbal, on the autism spectrum, or simply feeling overwhelmed or confused. By pointing to pictures on the ECB, emergency personnel can focus their need for information with the individuals level of understanding, ideally securing even a yes or no response allowing them to provide...
Description: Emergency Communication Boards (Chileda Institute) Paramedic & Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Symbol Board (Widget Health) Emergency Chat Google App Developing Positive Interactions for People with Developmental Disabilities and First Responders, Police, and the Justice System: A Guide for People with Developmental Disabilities and Their Loved Ones (Updated November 2020) (The Arc of Northern Virginia)
Description: This data collection tool is a written summary of a particular lesson or activity.
Description: This data collection tool is in the form of a checklist and helps a team determine if a device is being used for a variety of communicative functions.
Description: This data collection tool helps teams collect information on whether a response is independent or if the user needed a prompt or a model to elicit the response.
Description: Check with your local T/TAC to determine if these resources are available for check out.
Description: This Wheel of Apps for Complex Communication Support Needs (AAC) has been given a refresh and update. This 'wheel' of Apps provides a categorised guide to iPad Apps for individuals with complex communication support needs, who may need to use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). We appreciate that identifying AAC Apps from the many available can be a difficult and challenging task, so we hope that in creating and sharing this resource, it will help you with that process. (10/2023)
Description: AAC Evaluation Genie assists teams in identifying skill areas that relate specifically to the language representation methods commonly found on augmentative communication systems. It helps to build a framework for selecting an appropriate augmentative communication device for ongoing evaluation and/or device trial.
Description: This Youth Engagement Rubric to identify the ways your students are engaged, address the challenges associated with getting students involved, and the positive outcome of their involvement.
Description: The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is announcing a Fall 2022 cohort of the Journey into Teaching Academy. This is a yearlong professional development initiative for teachers completing their second year of teaching at the end of the 2021-2022 school year (SY) and entering their third year of teaching during the 2022-2023 SY as a provisionally licensed special education teacher. The Journey into Teaching Academy has been designed as a program to provide teacher support beyond mentorship...
Description: Main Report: This 163-page report fills a profound gap in our knowledge of school-age students who are deaf-blind and have significant cognitive disabilities. Brief #1 provides details about this group of students, recommendations for identification, and implications for instruction.
Description: There are no prerequisites to introducing augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to children and young people with disabilities. This article from Avaz Inc. shares many of the common myths and misconceptions around prerequisites for AAC and explains the facts that busts this myth. This article is a must read for all practitioners who work with children and students who use AAC! Posted December 4, 2020
Description: The following charts can be used to assist a team in gathering information, based on the SETT Framework by Joy Zabala.
Description: Tools that help people communicate are called Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), and can range from simply utilizing pictures to a high-tech device such as a tablet, iPad, or computer. Here are some guidelines that can help parents recognize when to consider AAC: Child isn’t talking at all Children start saying words by the time they are between 12 to 18 months old, and begin combining 3 to 5 words together into sentences by the time they reach preschool. If a child is over...
Description: Read more about Low-Tech & High-Tech AAC - AAC can be described in different ways. Understanding these different descriptions will help you know about the types of systems available, as well as help guide your decision-making as to which AAC system might be the best fit. Types of AAC Aided systems: Use external products and materials to help a user get across a message. These may include AAC systems such as core word boards, communication books or speech generating devices. Unaided systems:...
Description: The AAC Assessment Compass can be used to guide your AAC assessment framework.
Description: Schools can provide parents and caregivers with information about essential services that help their children achieve success. There is a positive relationship between family engagement and student performance in school. When families are actively engaged in their children’s academic career, their children are more likely to do well in areas such as academic performance and school behaviors, and to have a positive attitude toward school.
Description: The Data Meeting Toolkit is a suite of tools that groups can use to guide conversation around data and support databased decisionmaking. The toolkit provides resources to support success before, during, and after data meetings, including A description of essential data meeting roles and responsibilities, including key stakeholders A protocol of steps before, during, and after meetings to guide selection, analysis, and decisionmaking using data Examples of how to use the toolkit to address a...
Description: The purpose of this policy statement is to highlight the important role of principals in implementing inclusive and effective special education services and to offer policy recommendations to support additional training and ongoing professional learning for school leaders.
Description: These educational resources were created by and for educators and instructional leaders. They include: eBook: How to Create a Coaching Program That Works eBook: Feedback Strategies for Coaches & Administrators eBook: Using Video to Achive High Performance And More!
Description: What you'll learn from this article: How are ADHD and substance abuse in teenagers connected? Why do teenagers with ADHD use drugs? Are ADHD medications connected to substance abuse? How can parents help teenagers with ADHD avoid substance abuse?
Description: Arts integration can inspire children with a lifelong love of learning and of the performing arts. When you bring the arts into the classroom, you create joyful, active learning experiences that engage children in ways that can increase academic and social-emotional development for all kinds of learners. Wolf Trap Institute’s professional development empowers infant, toddler, preschool, and kindergarten teachers to integrate the performing arts into their classrooms. For more than 35...
Description: The teenage years have a lot in common with the terrible twos. During both stages our kids are doing exciting new things, but they’re also pushing boundaries (and buttons) and throwing tantrums. The major developmental task facing both age groups is also the same: kids must pull away from parents and begin to assert their own independence. No wonder they sometimes act as if they think they’re the center of the universe. This makes for complicated parenting, especially because teens...
Description: Mental Health Disorders and Teen Substance Use What you'll learn from this article: Why is substance use more dangerous for teens with mental health disorders? Why do teens with mental health disorders use substances? Why does substance use make a mental health disorder worse? Experts note that to encourage teens to reduce or stop substance use, it’s important give them other coping strategies to manage their problems without turning to substances.
Description: Guide to Transition for Families of Youth with Disabilities in Virginia - When young people move from high school to adulthood, a lot of things change. It’s an exciting but also stressful time and we want to help. The Guide is for families and students who want a one-stop resource on the many things related to transitioning from high school to adulthood in Virginia. The Guide provides important information about decisions that may need to be made for and with your child. Topics Include:...
Description: The purpose of the Early Intervention Reading Initiative (EIRI) is to provide early reading intervention services to students in kindergarten through the third grade who demonstrate substantial deficiencies based on their individual performance on a literacy screener provided or approved by the Virginia Department of Education. Virginia’s provided literacy screener is a part of the Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System (VALLSS) provided by Virginia Literacy Partnerships (VLP).
Description: For 57 years and counting, the Autism Society, including our nationwide network of affiliates, connects people to the resources they need through education, advocacy, support, information and referral, and community programming. Mission: We create connections, empowering everyone in the Autism community with the resources needed to live fully. Vision: Creating a world where everyone in the Autism community is connected to the support they need, when they need it.
Description: This webinar, featuring Drs. Donna Sacco, John Hoover, and Tracy Spies, illustrates considerations for implementing data-based individualization (DBI) with ELs that accounts for their unique academic, social, behavioral, linguistic, and cultural experiences, assets, and needs. They share why it is important to (a) deliver instruction that represents culturally and linguistically sustaining best practices, and (b) distinguish the needs and assets of learners to improve progress (i.e.,...
Description: Getting along with others, paying attention, following directions, making responsible decisions, and managing emotions are challenges for many students who require intensive intervention, and may be linked to difficulties with executive functioning, communication, behavior, and academic learning. In this webinar, presenters Mara Schanfield and Zach Weingarten shared an overview of how social emotional learning (SEL) relates to intensive intervention and offer sample strategies and resources for...
Description: The U.S. Department of Education announced the release of new guidance from its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to help public elementary and secondary schools fulfill their responsibilities to meet the needs of students with disabilities and avoid the discriminatory use of student discipline. These newly released resources are the most comprehensive guidance on the civil rights of students with disabilities concerning student...
Description: People with Autism and other developmental disabilities and their families are disproportionately impacted by the ongoing public health and economic emergency caused by COVID-19. The Autism Society of America believes that increasing vaccine confidence is a crucial step towards improving the lives of people with Autism, their families and communities as we all work towards ending the pandemic. Through its Vaccine Education Initiative (VEI), the Autism Society is committed to increasing vaccine...
Description: Toolkit for Schools: Engaging Parents to Support Student Health and Emotional Well-being - This toolkit was created to help raise parent awareness about school connectedness and its role in supporting student health and emotional well-being, and why family engagement both in and out of school is important. It is a resource for CDC Healthy Schools partners, education leaders, and other collaborators. Partners and schools can use this toolkit to let parents know how healthy and supportive school...
Description: Preschool LRE Reference Points and Discussion Prompts is a summary of the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) provisions of the IDEA as it applies to preschool aged children with disabilities can be used as both a quick reference guide and training tool. Topics under the five sections outline reference points and discussion prompts. Reference points are drawn from several sources such as IDEA regulations and Federal Register comments. Discussion points are intended to help state and local teams...
Description: This guide outlines a four-step program evaluation process that provides a framework for coordinating SEL programs that are feasible, appropriate, and effective.
Description: This research report summarizes recent surveys conducted from over 15,000 respondents on student and staff SEL competencies, awareness and confidence, impact of SEL instruction, and SEL support and training.
Description: What is the Science of Reading? The Science of Reading is an interdisciplinary body of scientifically-based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing. This research has been conducted over the last five decades worldwide. It is derived from thousands of studies conducted in multiple languages in cognitive psychology, communication sciences, developmental psychology, education, special education, implementation sciences, linguistics, neurosciences, and school...
Description: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline - The 988 Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States. We're committed to improving crisis services and advancing suicide prevention by empowering individuals, advancing professional best practices, and building awarenes VDOE Suicide Prevention - Schools can play a key role in suicide...
Description: Guiding Principles of Structured Word Inquiry (“scientific word investigation”) The primary function of English spelling is to represent meaning. The conventions by which English spelling represents meaning are so well-ordered and reliable that spelling can be investigated and understood through scientific inquiry. Scientific inquiry is necessary to safely guide spelling instruction and understanding. Scientific inquiry is the only means by which a learning community can safely...
Description: Joan Sedita explores the power of writing to support students’ reading comprehension.