A Note from the Director:

The modern fifteen year anniversary is celebrated with watches or time pieces, an appropriate thought for ISRC. Many schools and families associate ISRC with the Visual Time Timers which are distributed to assist students. Educators and family members are encouraged to use the Visual Time Timers to promote positive behavior interventions and supports for students. For example, a student who is able to exhibit appropriate behavior for 30 minutes on the timer will receive a check mark or smiley face. When 5 check marks are earned the student will earn an appropriate reinforcement, such as one on one attention from an adult, or an opportunity to escape a non-preferred task. ISRC has seen many changes and has also served as a change agent for others. This edition of ISRC

Review covers many of those changes, from program-wide positive behavior support to online training modules. We appreciate the opportunity to work with the educators and families of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in Illinois, and look forward to the next 15 years of service.

Cheri Sinnott, LCSW

ISRC Director

Illinois Service Resource Center Serv ing Deaf/ Hard of Hear ing S tudent Behav iora l Needs

A T e c h n i c a l A s s i s t a n c e C e n t e r o f t h e I l l i n o i s S t a t e B o a r d o f E d u c a t i o n 8 4 7 - 5 5 9 - 8 1 9 5 V o i c e 8 4 7 - 5 5 9 - 9 4 9 3 T TY 8 0 0 - 5 5 0 - 4 7 7 2 H e l p l i n e ( 2 4 H o u r )

Em a i l : i s r c@ i s r c . u s I n t e r n e t s i t e : www . i s r c . u s

Fall 2008 Edition

Review

ISRC Provides 15 Years Of Service To D/HH Students

On August 15, 2008 the Illinois Service Resource Center celebrated its 15 year anniversary of providing services to Deaf and Hard of Hearing students and their families and educators in Illinois. The agency was created in 1993 in response to an RFP from the Illinois State Board of Education, with the Center on Deafness selected as the Administrative Agent. Ken Rislov served as the first Director from 1993-1994, followed by Judy Pierce who led the agency from 1994-2002. Under Ms. Pierce’s guidance the agency expanded to include additional clinical team members and an Information Specialist. From 2002 to present Cheri Sinnott has served as ISRC Director. In that time, with guidance from ISBE, the focus of service has expanded to include behavioral support at all three tiers of the Response to Intervention model. Additionally, ISRC is now a component of the Illinois Statewide Technical Assistance Center. In FY08, ISRC provided 781 onsite technical assistance visits to schools and homes of students who are deaf or hard of hearing with behavioral challenges. The past fifteen years have brought an increased emphasis on data and measurable outcomes. ISRC has responded with increased support for educators in the form of Data Collection Coaching and with tracking of individual student progress. Some forms of support are, of course, difficult to measure. Families and educators of students served have provided positive feedback on the services and resources received from ISRC. Said one grandparent, “We couldn’t have made it through without you.”

In This Issue Page 2. PBIS Reduces Number of Behavior Incidents Page 3. ISRC Services Support School Imp. Plans Page 3. ISRC Offers Online Training Module

John Powers Center Principal IASSW Citizen Of Year Congratulations to Terri Nilson Bugella, Principal of John Powers Center in Vernon Hills for being named the Illinois Association of School Social Workers’ Citizen of the Year. Nilson-Bugella was recognized for making a significant contribution to the enhancement of school social work services through her personal support of the implementation of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) at John Powers Center. Through PBIS, Nilson-Bugella has ensured that all students in the school have weekly exposure to social emotional learning. The expectations for respect, responsibility, and safety are tied to the Illinois Social Emotional Learning Standards. Lunch with the principal (Nilson-Bugella) was a popular reinforcement choice for students, who needed to save 75 reinforcement tokens to earn this privilege. Nilson-Bugella will receive her award at the IASSW Annual Conference in Peoria in October. John Powers Center is the ISRC demonstration site for PBIS in a DHH program.

Educational Team Members Report Fewer Incidents With PBIS

Educational team members at John Powers Center in Vernon Hills were surveyed in December, 2007 on their perception of problem behavior in the classroom and hallway. In June, 2008, after only six months of implementing Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), staff reported a decrease in the amount of problem behaviors seen in both settings. In December, 2007, 55% of staff reported an average of 0-7 behavioral incidents per day in the classroom and 45% of staff perceived an average of 8 or more incidents per day. By June, 2008, there was a decrease in the percentage of staff who felt there were 8 or more problem behaviors per day (42%) and an increase in the percentage of staff who reported 0-7 incidents per day (58%). There was a similar decrease in the percentage of staff who saw 8 or more incidents per day in the hallway.

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Educational team members perceived fewer incidents of problem behavior per day in June than they did in

December, following the implementation of PBIS at John Powers Center.

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ISRC Services Support School Improvement Plans

The Illinois Service Resource Center, serving Deaf/Hard of Hearing student behavioral needs, provides services and resources that support school districts with their School Improvement Plans. Districts with SIPs identify strategies and activities the district will implement for the various indicators of the State Improvement Plan. Although Indicators 9-13 are the ones currently reviewed for compliance, documentation of activities related to other indicators is beneficial. Sample improvement activities include: Indicator 4 - Rates of suspension and expulsion (for students with a hearing loss): ISRC provides training and follow up support for Behavior Support Teams from programs serving HI students throughout the state on the development of Functional Behavioral Assessments and effective Behavior Intervention Plans. ISRC provides technical assistance and training to programs serving HI students with the development and implementation of program-wide systems of support for HI students with behavior challenges Indicator 5 – Reduce the number of students (with a hearing loss plus behavioral challenges) to be educated in separate schools, residential, homebound or hospital placements: ISRC provides support with the development of individual service plans and coordination of wraparound-type home-school teams. Indicator 8 – Parent involvement: ISRC provides on-site technical assistance visits to both home and school. Parent involvement is facilitated through the development of wraparound-type home-school teams for students with intensive level needs. Individual service plans support home-school communication Indicator 10 – Disproportionate representation of racial/ethnic groups by disability: ISRC tracks demographic data on students identified with both HI and ED to identify schools with disproportionate representation of racial/ethnic groups and provides technical assistance with Behavior Intervention Plans for students in those schools. If a student in your district is Deaf or Hard of Hearing, ISRC is available to provide services and resources at no cost which can be documented in your SIP. For more information contact ISRC at 847-559-8195.

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ISRC Offers Online Training Module The Illinois Service Resource Center now offers an online training module for educators interested in Classroom Accommodations for Students Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The training module includes two PowerPoint presentations with audio, scripts of the audio portion, a quiz for each PowerPoint, and a selection of CPDU activities. Participants can earn between 3 and 5 CPDUs, depending on the number of activities they complete. The training module is free. For more information visit www.isrc.us and select Training.

Trivia Question

Who was the first Deaf president of

a University in the United States?

The first person to respond correctly via phone at 847-559-8195 or via e-mail at isrc@isrc.us will win a $25 gift certificate to Walmart for educational materials

***Congratulations to Dr. Debbie Guzan of North School in Villa Park for being the first to respond correctly to the Spring 2008 trivia question: Why did baseball umpires begin using hand signals? Although there are various theories, legend has it that Dummy Hoy, a Deaf baseball player, is responsible for the implementation of hand signals in baseball.

ISRC Team Cheri Sinnott, LCSW Director Dr. Steve Vaupel HI Behavior Specialist Dr. Daniel Friedman HI Behavior Specialist Raven Emeritz HI Behavior Specialist Dr. Jim Vanderbosch Consulting Psychologist

Ellen Kaiser Librarian

Josh Pryor Data Specialist Tracy Masri Admin. Assistant Barbara Sims ISBE Consultant

ISRC fiscal agent - Center on Deafness

Data Graphing ServiceNow

Available For Deaf Students The Illinois Service Resource Center, as part of the Data Collection Coaching service, is now able to create graphs of behavioral data collected on students with a hearing loss. Often, collected data is compiled in a folder or binder, and is not aggregated in a meaningful way. By creating graphs which depict behavioral changes, educators, students, and families can track student progress and make data based decisions on the appropriateness of interventions. For more information contact ISRC at 847-559-8195.

Learn more about services and resources available from the ISRC www.isrc.us

15 Year Anniversary Pin-Up Highlights From Previous Newsletters

Use visual strategies to assist students in the classroom (Spring, 1999)

• Sign language “evaporates” in the air, and the child with memory or concentration problems will not retain the information

Accommodations for students with AD/HD (Fall, 2001)

• Hyperactivity: Incorporate active responses, provide controlled physical activity, allow the student to hold something, change adult expectations

• Impulsivity: Keep the rules in view, reward “waiting” behaviors, provide social skills training and practice, change adult expectations

• Inattentiveness: Shorter tasks, alternate preferred and non-preferred activities, offer physical activities, support executive functions by teaching organizational skills and color-coding materials, change adult expectations

Anger Management: How to be in control and calm down (Winter, 2001)

• Learn to identify feelings of anger (When you are angry do you feel hot, annoyed, frustrated, intolerant, etc?)

• Leave the area (You can’t argue alone, you can’t be controlling when you are alone, you can’t hit anyone when you are alone, you can’t say mean things to people when you are alone.)

• Cool down (go for a walk, talk about it, think it through)

• Implement an alternative plan of behavior (don’t react, think, think, think) Everything I Ever Needed To Know About Being a Classroom Aide (Fall 2002)

• Solve most problems on my own and know when to ask for clarification

• Understand the roles and responsibilities of my job and the teacher’s job

• Have a sensitivity to diversity in culture, life styles, and value systems among the educators, students, and their families

• Confer on a regular basis with teachers about student schedules, instructional goals, progress, and performance

• Listen to parents to gather information about what can be done to meet the needs of the child and/or family

• Have the ability to prepare and use developmentally appropriate materials

• Have the ability to gather information about the performance of individual student behaviors and share it with professional colleagues

• Communicate and work effectively with parents and other primary caregivers

Getting The School Year Off To A Bang! (Fall, 2003)

• Tell the students what they should be doing instead of what they shouldn’t

• Try to have the students earn special rewards rather than lose privileges

• Don’t assume they already understand the “proper” way to behave in school or class: teach your expectations over and over again

• Frame classroom rules in a positive way (We walk in the halls quietly) Sensory Diet Activity Suggestions (Winter 2003)

• Tactile – Drawing with wet or dry chalk; making mud pies; finger-painting with paint, shaving cream, or pudding; manipulating small objects such as Legos, dominoes, jigsaw puzzles, or lacing beads; working with play dough

• Vestibular – Spinning like a top; swinging in circles on a tire; rocking in a rocking chair; jumping on a trampoline; running in circles

• Proprioceptive – Pushing and pulling wagons; pouring beans, sand, or water from one container to another; ripping paper; pressing pegs into a pegboard; kneading dough; pushing palms together; moving through tunnels

• Visual – Playing flashlight tag; dancing with scarves; blowing bubbles; drawing chalkboard circles using both hands; tossing beanbags; playing toss the balloon

Transition Planning Prepares Students For Adult Living (Spring, 2004)

• For sample transition goals in the domains of Vocational, Post-Secondary Education, Residential, Community Participation, and Recreation/Leisure, visit the downloads page of www.isrc.us and select newsletters, Spring 2004 pinup

Behavior Support Tips For Deaf/ Hard of Hearing Students (Fall, 2006)

• View flexibility and frustration tolerance as skills that students need to learn

• Minimize the message – use short phrases to explain expectations

• When a child is confused increase opportunities for success by providing the correct answer and then requesting that the child mimic it back

• Predictability lessens anxiety – students respond best to consistency and routine

• Refusals or other inappropriate behaviors may be a reflection of low self-esteem

• View inappropriate behavior as a teaching opportunity Points To Ponder For Student Behavior Support (Fall, 2007)

• Provide choices

• Teach replacement behaviors

• Visual supports reduce frustration

• Teach expected behaviors using the TMPR model – Teach, Model, Prompt, Reinforce