AEM in the IEP: Where Do Accessible Materials and Technologies Fit?

Good. Afternoon thank you, for joining. Us I have a few things to get started with, before we actually begin the presentation. My, name is Joyce avala and my colleague Diana Karl is who you can see in the other little window. The. Webinar, is beginning. Now we, are recording, the. Materials, for the webinar as, you can see our downloadable, at the events, page related. To this particular, webinar you. Will also see things there. Following. The webinar as well. If. You are. Wanting. To use the closed captions, click on the closed captions, option, in the upper right corner of your zoom window, the. Captions, will appear along. The bottom of your screen and we have Mary our captioner, with us today and Mary thank you for what. You're doing to make this webinar, accessible. To more people. Also. In order to continue, the conversation that. We have here use the text, chat you, can open the chat panel from the upper left corner of your zoom window be. Sure to choose all, panelists. And attendees, from the drop-down above, the text entry field that, way you can. Make, sure that everybody, sees what's your what's your chatting and, also. If you would like to tweet and you are a tweeter. Tweet. Out at hashtag. AEM. Number. For a ll. So. Again the materials, for this webinar is available Det, for download on that, page. The. Link to the recording will be B will be available, within a week at the, same address. So. To, begin. The. Topic today is a min the IEP. Wheredo. Accessible, materials, and technologies, fit I'm Joyce. Viola the director, of technical assistance at caste and, we're. Sort of fondly calling me the director emeritus of, the aim Center Cynthia, Currie is now the, director. So, with us is Diana, Karl Diana would you say hello, hi. Everybody, glad to have you with us this afternoon. And I'd. Like, to just reiterate that, Joe, and I are very interactive. And, we welcome, you to write. Your questions in the chat window so that we can address, things as they come up. Thank. You Diana. So. The, the. Main ideas, are the major topics, for this session are what. Our aim and accessible, technologies, looking. At the two sides of the accessibility, coin, a brief. Overview of IEP, s and then most, of it is where my aim and accessible, materials, and technologies, to be considered, are, documented, in the IEP. So. What, are accessible. Materials. Basically. In, an, IDE. A woops, excuse me please. An. IDE there are provisions, that require state. And local education agencies, to ensure that printed. Textbooks, and related. Core instructional, materials, are provided, to students with print disabilities and. Then specialized, formats in a timely manner that's, a lot of words but basically it's saying if a student, cannot, make use of print. Then. That. Information. And print must be provided in a different way and we'll talk about that a little bit more do, know that the legal requirement, is placed, on state, and local education agencies. I DEA. Cannot, place. Requirements. On publishers, or on developers, so, it's up to state. And local education agencies. To understand, what. They need to do and then the, kinds of steps they need to take to do it there's, a lot of information on, the aim Center website that can be helpful, to you if you, need more information about those things.

So. That notion of specialized, formats what are those they are there. Are four Braille. Large. Print audio. And. Digital, text, and. Exactly. The same information, is in those. Formats. As the. Information, in the printed materials, the, only thing that's different is the presentation, of the materials, to the user so obviously. If you're reading Braille you're reading tactically, if, you're, reading large print you're reading, in the. Visually. Just like you are with regular, print only you need it bigger. Auditory. Means that you're the audible, or audio. Format, would, be that you are perceiving. The information, with, your ears you are reading auditorally, and then. Digital. Text, is they. The. Same information again it it and it's. Not. It's. Not different, in, any way then the printed. Book in terms of what's in it but, you can't you have a multiple multiple, options you can see, the video and the audio at, the same time you can also make, lots, of changes, in sizes, and all of that but keep in mind that, large. Print, and digital. Text. Which is made larger, are not the same thing large, print is well. This is print, this paper and so. Large print is, actually. In print, where, if you want enlarged, text on a screen what, you need is the digital, text format. So. There was a language change, in 2015. That mostly showed up in the. Request. For proposals, for what is currently the aim, center and footnote. 10 says, that accessible. Educational, materials means print. And technology-based. Educational, materials, including. Printed, and electronic. Textbooks. So. It goes on to say a lot more things, about about, them but basically the, notion here is as we, all know that it's not okay to. Provide access to print but not to provide access to. To. Technology-based. Educational. Materials. Electronic. Textbooks, the materials, that go with them. So as, the. Landscape has changed although. I DEA, has not been reauthorized what. The office of special education programs has, done is, expanded, that definition. So. That we, also have the obligation of course to, provide. Technology-based, educational. Materials, and electronic textbooks. Also, in, in. Formats. That are, accessible. So. There are a couple of other things besides IDE a that, that has to do with the provision, of accessible, materials, so two of those are two federal civil rights acts section. 504, of the Rehabilitation. Act and title 2 of the, Americans, with Disabilities, Act both. Of them prohibit, discrimination based, on disability and. If you cannot, if. You do not have access to the information, that is being provided, then obviously, you are being discriminated it, because of a disability they. Speak to the obligations. Of public schools to, provide accessible. Educational, materials to students, with disabilities who. Need them and there's a link there that if you'd like to know more about that you can find out a good bit more. So. Diana. What are accessible. Materials. Well. I also, wanted, to mention that Leslie will put the links on the chat so that you all can get those when we talk about. Accessible. Materials. Are, materials that are designed or enhanced, in a way that makes them usable by, the widest. Possible range of, student, variability. Regardless. Of the format whether it's print digital graphical. Audio or, video. Content. Can, be what. We call born print, and require. Retrofitting. That's just what joy, was talking about with the specialized, formats, or. Content. May be quote. Morin. Digital, that means created, in an digital, format, but, difficult or, impossible to. Retrofit, going. Back to try to make something that, has been created in a digital.

Environment That. Without. The design for, accessibility, is almost. Impossible and very difficult for, school. Districts, to do so. What, we have, thought, about and talked about is. That content. Really should be born. Accessible. Joy. I think you have to move to the next slide for me okay. So, based. On things that joy was telling you about idea, that. What idea says the, a I am. That, it refers, to instructional. Materials, and the, specialized, formats, of print materials, then, as joy revealed for you what said in 2015. Changed. The definition to, add print. Make it print, and, technology-based. Materials. And technologies, so. Educational. Accessible. Educational, materials means. The print and technology-based. Materials. And technologies, but. What we say is in general practice really. AI. M, is the same as AE m, and we you'll see both of them refer. To very often this. Is very technical about, what the difference is but, let's move forward with just knowing that they really, are impractical use, the, same thing the. Two things. That we talked about about the two sides of the same coin is. That, on, one side the. Information. Is the content, and on, the other side, accessible. Technology is. The delivery, system that. The, students, or anyone uses, to perceive, and interact with the content so. We have to look at both sides. Of the coin when we're considering, okay. So. Let's look at what's the definition of, accessible, technologies. That. Can be any device, hardware software, or handheld, equipment that. Provides access to life's, activities it's, a much broader definition. It. Can be used by with by people with a wide range of, abilities and disabilities and. One, of the key of. Criteria. Here, about, this that's important, to remember is, it, can. Be either. Directly. Usable without, assistive, technology. Or, compatible. And may usable. With. Assistive. Technology, I'm, sure that many of you who are out in the field and. Practicing. All the time, have come across software. Programs, that lock, out assistive, technology. So, those are not accessible, technologies. We're, looking for those that allow us to make. It usable, and accessible, with. The assistive, technology I'm. Gonna say a little something there Diana and I think when, we think about that directly. Usable, without assistive, technology, or compatible, with assistive technology one. Of the things that, is. Critically. Important, that we start talking about and asking, for lots and lots is, what, level of interoperability. Are, there between the materials, that are are, purchased, and used by every student and the, assistive technology devices that. Many. Students, or some students may use so. Yeah, and the key part of that about the two sides of the same coin is, that both, sides have to be accessible, in order for the. Students. To be able to perceive the materials. So. There. There's, a resource, at the bottom of the page and we'll move on to talk about the. Definition of assistive, technology, and services, my apologies, dr. Mann joined has to move.

The Science of forests for me so he's gonna work out a signal, or something. Being. Right I'm, sure you all are familiar with the definition, of the assistive, technology. Device that is, any item piece of equipment, or product system that. Used to increase maintain or, improve the, functional capabilities. Of. A child with a disability and. Of course these come from the idea, definition. And then, assistive, technology, service, means any surface, that, directly, assists, a child with a disability in. The, selection acquisition or. Use of, an assistive, technology device, and, we know there are quite a few. Services. That are listed in the idea definition. So. Let's move to the. Next slide and. This. Is another thing that we want to highlight because. We hear it an awful lot more out, at conferences. Etc is. That there's confusion, between what's. Digital. Text. And what, is the. Digital technology. Based materials. So, remember, that digital. Text, is that specialized. Format, that's, created. From. Print-based. Instructional. Materials. And digital. Technology. Is very different, it's. Learning. Materials, that are created in on digital, environment, and then includes, lots of different materials, such as etx, websites. The learning management systems. Software. Programs. Apps and, I'm sure you all can probably and, more. To that list and. Joy. I think you're gonna talk about tell, us about some lessons learned yes, I am one of the things of course and I suspect that many of you know this as well that, the need for accessible, materials and technologies, is related. To function, that function of gaining meaning, from, the materials, that are being used, to in the in the educational, programs, it's. Not about, a particular, disability. Category, there, may be multiple, disability. Categories, that impact, a student's, function. Functional. Ability, to gain information from, materials, and when. We think about those functions, it's really quite a broad range of functional, things even though we think of it very much around reading there, are a lot of other functional. Skills that, impact. The use of instructional materials, so this is just a list. Of some, of the things that potentially, are considered. Functional. Skills some of them related, to aim some, of them not so. A. Brief, overview of IEP s. Moving. To that part if anybody has any questions or comments certainly. Write them in the chat and I know we'll have a look, what. Is an IEP and I suspect, that there's nobody on this who doesn't know but, there really are those two parts of an IEP are two, ways. You look at an IEP one, is that that it the IEP, as a document. The the thing. That results, from, participating. In the IEP, as a process, so, the document, describes the services, the student will receive and the, process, enables, us all to work together to, develop that individualized. Plan that, will ensure. That the student does, get, the education, that they need and. That. Document, represents, the foundation of the child's educational, program and serves, as the. Tool or the road map to help teachers provide, instruction. I think, one of the things that's it's. Been. Interesting, over my lengthy. Career in education at this point is how. The. Importance, of the confidentiality. Of, the IEP. Sometimes. Leads, people teachers, to, think that they can't see them this, is especially an issue sometimes at high schools and we want to make sure that confidentiality.

Is, Maintained, but. It doesn't, mean that it's confidential, for the. People from, the people who are trying to. Actually. Implement, the program. So. Within, the IEP development there's, a cycle of access, and involvement in progress in the general ed curriculum that, is that is available and, must, be available to every student so. This, is that that circle. And and for me you're, always looking, at going up and up and up and of course we see that access, is just the beginning of, involvement, but, if you don't have access it's very difficult to be involved, so each of these is dependent. On the other. And. The. Cal does is connect to a mandate e well, access. Leads. To, increased. Independence. Involvement. Is certainly. Like. Participation. And progress. Is, very much like achievement. So you may see those, words back and forth a little bit don't. Even did you want to add anything. We. Have a question but I think we'll finish this segment and then go to that question, okay, and, I think, a little bit about injured. Injury Dianna, I'm gonna miss that one to you you, know this is a recent, Supreme Court case. And, recently. Else that did of a, long. Webinar. On it, and. With lots of different present, giving, additional, information. About it but. It's. Called the Andrew, F vs.. Douglas, County School District, and it the decision, came down March 22nd. Of last year. And. What. The, the basis, of it is is based. On idea remember, the idea messed me reasonably. Calculated, to enable, the child to achieve educational benefits. And that's, what we've had to work with for many years ever since. Idea. Came. Into being and. Previously. The courts were applying a. Standard, that's called merely, more, than de minimis which, is. Latin. For like, minimal, or the just. Well. Minimal, and. That was how they considered, educational, benefit, so you just had to give them barely. More than the minimum. To. For it to count as reasonably, calculated, but. With this injury, decision, that, this is these, are new words and these are quotes from the decision, that IP. Must be reasonably, calculated, to enable, a student, to make progress. Appropriate. In light of the child's circumstances. And that, changes, the standard, quite a bit in the, another. Part of that decision, is that the, goals may change but.

Every. Child should have the chance to meet the, challenging. Objectives. And. So. That, really changes. What the standard, is for measuring, whether, or not a student is achieving. Educational. Benefits, so. IEP. Teams are are. Encouraged. To look at this further and indeed depth, and we, included. A link to a question, and answer document that, really explains the decision, in depth. This is on the OSF website, and you. Have that link so that you can go and look at the questions and answers, and go into this in greater detail. Great. Thank you and I think. It's. It's a really interesting piece to think about this one because, ups that ante and I think when we think about the development of the IEP I, believe one of the one of the issues, in the, injury case was that it was basically the same objectives, year after year after year after year and so. As we think about all of this, it it really does help. Us or encourage. Us or make, us all. Work. Harder, together to make sure that we are truly. Providing, a free appropriate public education. Which. Of course from our point of view would be considering, oil accessible. Materials. When they are needed so. What, we're going to talk about next, is where accessible. Materials, and technologies, might be considered, than documented, in the IEP and, you're probably all, aware that, idea, doesn't specifically. Tell us where. We're, supposed to document, this and how it should be considered, but, what is it Clara, go ahead I just wondering if we wanted to address that. But. So. I think, you know the answer to that and I'm not and, I'm talking to the person who asked the question, that. Perhaps you could share a little bit in the chat about that could would closed-captions. Be considered, digital text. My. Off, the top of my head would say yes because. You're, getting it's. Another way, to perceive, the same information, the, captioner, is not adding. Things or taking away things from, what we say, but. Simply, providing. The information in a, different format whether, that format, would be considered a digital text I think, because it's shown on a computer, screen I believe that it would be considered digital text. If. Anybody, has another idea about that I'd, certainly like to see it in the in the chat because I don't know that there's anything that specifically. Says. What. Is and what isn't but the fact that it's on a screen that it is happening at the same time so. You're getting simultaneous. Information. Coming to you it certainly is a large print or Braille or or audio. So. That would sort of leave that digital, text piece or, it's. Really I'm. Sorry I think it's really interesting, question, because, you could also consider, it as accessible, technology. It's providing, the access to. The, whatever. The video or. You. Know whatever is, auditory. It's providing, the visual, Channel, and. So. You. Know it would be debatable, probably. So. I think Diana. I'm gonna say this and then let you go forth. So. Why, does it matter and the National Center on accessible educational. Materials said in, in some work in 2015. That we're going to talk about it a little bit later that, when aim and Technology are explicitly. Incorporated. Into the IEP the, likelihood, is increased that the students, use of, accessible, educational, materials will. Become an effective and integrated, part of the learning process which, is what, it's all about in, my opinion and I think in our opinion, and pretty. Much everyone else's, so, tell. Us a little bit about where. You might be able to put these things explicitly. In the IEP, Diana okay. Well, as I was mentioning earlier it's, not specifically.

An Idea but here, are the places that we think that it might go very well and. We're going to go through and expand. On each of these areas talking. About the evaluation results, the, present levels of performance special. Factors, annual. Goals in this, long run with special ed related, services, supplementary. Aids and services. Program. Modifications and, supports, as well as statewide assessment. And then of, secondary, and transition. Services. And. As. We move through we're. Going to talk about what are the, idea requirements. And then, how. You might how. Accessible. Materials, and technologies, might be considered, in that, area and one. Of the things we'd like to leave you with today, too is, that, although idea, doesn't require us, to put it in specific places it's, really wise if the district, or the state. Or whomever. Does. Address. This and do. It in a consistent way so that people across the. The district, or the school or whatever your circumstances might. They are doing. Things in a consistent, way and I have clarity about what. Might be expected. So. You can, put some prompts if you have forms, and so. That these areas are considered, as you move along so, let's look about, evaluations. Because, people. Come to the IEP meeting with all their collection, of past evaluation. Information and. The. Requirements, in 90s say that we have to assess the students, in all, areas, of suspected, disability. Use. A variety, of assessment. Tools and strategies and. Obtain. Information to. Assist in developing the, content of the, IEP, so. We're. Aim. And Technology might come into play is, looking at is the printed text or the digital, media a barrier. For the student are they having difficulty, with it does, the student made accessible. Educational, materials does. The student need eighty to. Access, the specialized, formats. Or the digital, materials, remember. That the two sides of the coin, with. The other side being what's. Needed so that the, student. Can access. Those materials, so. Let's, look at me an example, and we're going to take Sean. Who's a seventh-grade, student, and we're. Going to use him as we work through these different areas, to talk, about examples. He's, previously been, identified, as having a learning disability. But. According to the most recent evaluation. Data. Sean, is able to understand, grade-level content, but. He's unable, to independently. Derive meaning from print and. Technology-based. Materials. These, data suggests, that Sean. Needs further, evaluation. To determine the specific formats. And the features needed to support this learning, and then. After. Some further evaluation. We move to the next section and, this. Is, the. Results, of the further evaluation, which indicates that participate. In partner, partners. In the general laid curriculum. Shawn requires, a digital, text format of, printed materials, and assistive. Technology that enables, him to see and hear. The content at the same time for, audio-supported. Reading. Digital. Learning materials, will. Be needed, to be accessible. And to allow the use of text-to-speech. Tools. Jointly. You want to comment, about the, on. An audio, supporting reading sure. On. The aim Center website if, you search for audio-supported, reading, there's lots and lots of excellent, information, that. Was primarily developed, by dr. Richard Jackson who is on the aim team and also as a professor, at Boston College he. Happens, to be a person, with both a visual, and auditory. Impairment. And he. Talks about having. The audio-supported, reading, and, what. That does to his own. Ability. To read, at and. His level of fluency, it's. Really quite interesting stuff, and it's it's one of those things that I think for a long time we've known, somewhat. That, it's a really good idea for people who have difficulty, with decoding like Shawn apparently. Does. That. That providing, both the, auditory. And the visual pieces, simultaneously. Can, can, really be very very helpful in, not, only providing, access to the information, but also is, in, many cases a, tool. That that actually, supports. Reading. That isn't audio supported. So one, of the things I think that's interesting about this part when we look at evaluation and. It talks about further. Evaluation. Indicates that, and on. Is that, remember this is part of the IEP team so, the evaluator, is not making the decision, the evaluator, is providing, the information then. Enables, the IEP team to make the decision, also, as we go forward, which we will in just a second, keep. In mind that you may, not write this in all of the places we're talking about so.

Be Aware that there's a there are a lot of examples, here that you might choose among. Or. It, put, in some, way into, the IEP but we want to give you as rich examples, as we can so. Thank. You Diana continue, on okay. Let's talk about the present levels of academic. Achievement. And, functional performance. You. Know that that's required, by idea, to describe, these present, levels and describe. How the students, disability affects, his or her involvement, in progress. In the general curriculum, so. What we're looking at and considering, is is, the student, able to access and, derive meaning from print based instructional. Materials, and, is. The student, currently using, aim. And, assistive. Technology, to, access the. General education, curriculum this. Is one of the areas where it's really important, to be very specific, because. You build a lot of the IEP, goals, off of, this and, so if they be. Sure to explain. If they are using a mandate see exactly. What they're doing and, talk. About what their strengths, and weaknesses, are because. It's really important, to. Include all of that in this, area as you move through this, would be an area where they really, do need to all address, it probably. So. Let's look at an example again. The present levels a statement for, Sean is, that he's a sixth grade student who has a learning disability, he. Understands, instructional, content, at grade level but. Independently. Reads printed, material, at the fourth grade level so. Using, a tablet computer with, audio support the reading software he, successfully. Perceives, interacts with, digital, text formats. Of grade level, textbooks and printed. Materials across, the content, areas, so, that's quite a difference. And what, he's able. Think. - this, is one of the places where we've, not done it in this particular example but. When you're talking about present levels you, know we learn a lot about not putting a brand name but rather putting, the kinds, of features that are. Needed in tools and in materials, however. In present, levels it there is. Some. Thought, and. I go. With that thought myself that, we really should put in actually what, the person is using that, he may be he's using, a an. IPad, or maybe he's using some other tablet, maybe, he's using a particular. Kind of software, that he's comfortable with already. The. Key reason, for this is that if. We're going to change those. Things to something, else we, really need to be aware that there's going to be a learning curve and there will be a dip, before there's a rise so. It gives us an opportunity to, say can, we use the same things are they still right, for, the new goals, and objectives, he's going to address or. Do. And do we have them available or, should we get them for him there's a lot that can be thought about based, on what. He's using in the present levels if any of you have used word. Prediction you. Know that. Read. And write gold text-to-speech, is a word prediction is wonderful, and that. Solo's. Word prediction is wonderful, and there are many other tools but, well you also know is they don't work in exactly the same way so you may be talking about the same feature, but. Something. Totally different I, can, give you a great example we've, had two trials, with this particular, webinar. Tool. And, it's. It's new to us and so, we bumpered. Around quite a bit trying to get there and you'll notice several times I move the slides when I didn't need to because it looks a little a little different well, certainly. We hope to pay attention to the content but what happens, is that you do get, distracted. As a person, who's using, the equipment in the equipment being different and so, that's what we do when we change what a student, is doing. With. The present with what their tools are in their present levels of performance not. Saying don't change them or don't consider changing, them but it's always good to start with here, at this point with knowing.

What You actually may be changing. Or deciding. Not to change for, a student, and. Now, again. Reiterate. About being specific because it would be really important, to be specific about what, they're using, but the features are and how they're using in. Order to make those decisions that we were talking about so. Let's move on and look. At the the, next area where you might consider I. Am an accessible. Technology. And that's in the special factors, and, I imagine everybody's, familiar with the thighs. Special. Factors, that are in idea, that need to be considered, in the development and revision, of every IEP and, that includes, the behavior, supports, the, language, supports, per limited, English proficiency, the. Braille instruction. Communication. In the, 18 devices, and or services of course which is prominent, first but. We're, also. Expanding. This since. We're talking about accessible. Materials, that you need to really look at the about, whether or not the student, needs, instruction. And Braille and also. Would like to expand. Upon some. Of the thoughts that we may have previously had about the communication. Special. Factor, it, says that you must consider the communication. Issues, of all students. And it's, not just for those with who. Are hard of hearing our hearing impaired so. That. In the case of those who are. Hard. Of hearing you're hearing impaired then, there, are further things that you need to do but, what we haven't been considering, in the past is that. Communication, is both written and, can. Be oral, and so, therefore we need to look at the accessibility of, all, communication. As, a part, of considering, accessible. Whether or not they need accessible. Educational. Materials or, technologies. So. Let's. Look at the considerations. We I think I've already, spoken. To each one of those and. Then. In the. Next slide. We. Have the example, of the. Special, factor statement, that what, this is kind of reiterating. Things we've already said about Shawn he understands. Educational. Content, at grade level but. Is unable to read, sufficient, accuracy, fluency. To support, comprehension. At that level son, needs materials, provided, in a digital format, who, access the general curriculum and as Joe was saying before thee these, are. Somewhat, repeating, the same things but this is a example, of what you could say at this place about, the student, so. It. Goes on to say that Shawn, needs a tablet, and or other, computer, with text-to-speech and, more prediction, capabilities, in. Order to perceive and interact with the digital, text format of. Grade, level textbooks and other printed, materials used. Across, the content, areas. So. Did, you want to expand any about the example, there join, nope. I think it's fine I I think. Yeah. Here's the place where you again might, either, continue. On with with, the. With. Whether students, is using in the present levels, or. You might make, a change so based, on based, on as you do with all the other special, factors, what does the student need in order to work. Toward mastery of their goals so. Alright, okay. So then, we want to bring to your attention. Joint, Dear Colleague letter. And this was a communication. That. Was jointly with the Department, of Ed and the Department, of Justice, and in. This communication. Which Leslie I'll put the link, in the chat window for you it. It. Talks about that both idea. And 504. Guaranteed. The students, right to a free appropriate public, education, and, then, title, 2 of a da mandates, effective. Communication. There's, an analysis, it she replied that a student, with a disability, must. Have communication. That says that as. Effective. As, communication. With students without a disability, and. We, again. We make the point here about the communication. Includes. Visually. Orally, and marmot, orally presented. Communication. So. That's something we need to. Make. Sure that working considering. All parts of this. So. One. Thing that you might do is, that, you could put a specific pump, in your form such as does the student have a disability, that. Prevents, effective, use of standard educational. Materials. And then, they would address that issue and and, put, it in the IEP, if, yes, does, a student require, specialized, formats, of printed, materials, indoor, accessibility. Options, and digital, materials. We've. Heard from many districts. In school districts, that in. State. Agencies. That they are including. The, consideration. Of assistive, technology, and accessible. Technologies. In. Its. A six special, factory, so that's something you might mull over a little bit and consider how that might work, because. We do want those props there, join. Would you review for us about any ole goals sure. The, the, key. As you know is that, the. Requirements, are to state the measurable annual goals and. Both. Academic, goals and functional.

Goals, Also. Curricular. And extracurricular, and then, to describe how those goals will be met, because. Of the students disability related, needs so, that the student can be involved and make progress in, the general curriculum and, so, when we think about aim, and tech considerations. Here, you, you need to have those goals in place and, then you think for, which of these goals will accessible. Educational, materials, and/or. Technology. Be, needed, to support achievement. Of these goals so, that the student can make progress, in the, general curriculum, so. There, they're sort of a couple of ways that this might happen I have. A strong prejudice toward, one way and my colleague who is an attorney has, a strong preference. Another way so I'll tell you a little bit about this, maybe this. Is where the the. The. Technology, is written into the goal, by. May of 2015, when, using digital text formats. We could bump him up a few years couldn't we at this point we, don't know if he did that or not. When using digital text formats of social studies materials, in delivery technology, Sean our guy we've been following all along will, identify examples. Of sequential, comparative. And causal presentations, of information, in text with 80%, accuracy now, what we know already from what we've heard about Sean is that, he, if he has the appropriate materials. That digital text format on, his tablet, he, can do grade-level work and this is a grade level. Goal. That's that's absolutely regulated. To almost every curriculum. In some, way it may or may not be what but you, may or may not be using the Common Core but you're you're using something very close, to it so these are the kinds of things that a student at, grade, level the, shock the grade level Sean is functioning. In, right. Now is. It. Could be expected that he would do those things but he. Needs to have his materials, in order to make that happen. The. Other thing, that and I will say a little bit more about this if a, student, is is using needs accessible. Materials across the entire curriculum or, most. Of the curriculum, and also perhaps needs technology. Possibly. Assistive, technology, related to reading possibly, other. What. I think what I think is a, bit. Kludgy, as a teacher, is that, if you, state. The goal state, the materials, or state the format, in every single goal you, do an awful lot of repetition. And I. I would, rather see and it certainly goes along with. Universal. Design for Learning that, rather than putting, the, means within the goal that you write the goals and then you provide some, sort of paragraph, or. Something. That says for, these goals, this. Student, needs, to have whatever. Those. Those. Technologies, and formats, are available to them so. That's. My vent as a teacher my friend who's an attorney said, no no I like it like this because I want it to be very clear when. He's got to have this material I just feel like it's a, little a little, difficult, to say every, single time when, using digital formats, and sort of whatever, materials, it's he needs them for all materials so, looking.

At That just a thought. So. Then we get to the long one special education, related services, supplementary, aids and services program. Modifications and, supports, the requirement, here is that. We. Look at what the services. And the aides and the modifications. And the supports that will help the student advance, toward their annual goals the, involved in make progress with the general curriculum and be educated, with students, with and without disabilities. Then. The tech considerations. Are the aim considerations. Are okay. In. What ways can, aim, help the student be involved, and make progress in the general curriculum is, aim. Needed, as part of special, education, or a related service now, what that means is. It. Doesn't say is it delivered, as special. Education or, a related service or a supplementary, aids in service it says is it needed as a part of the child's, special education. Supplementary. Aids and services and, related services I think those are backwards but that's basically the three things and meaning. Meaning I think by that that, if, you are, if. You have speech, language services for. A particular child particularly, child is receiving speech. Language services but needs an augmentative, communication device. In, order to participate, and, benefit, from those, services, then, that, device, is a part, of. That. Students, related service. So. That's, an interesting, piece to think about that. Came to me to me from a colleague. That you long ago that said something about what what about that as a part, of thing and. It. Really did make a difference in how I began to think and talk about it and just last week I had a call from somebody saying in our district we deliver all assistive, technology, services and related services there was like that's. Not that's, not individual. Case-by-case and. It's, not necessarily, a part, it doesn't go with that a part, of idea, it's not how, we delay. For it globally. Butthat, what, is what, is it that the student needs aim for what is it that the student needs 84, just. Some things to think about and then, of course we want to think about what training related, to a more technology, will be needed for the student the educators, and the family and some, of those things that we think about supports, for use of Amen 80 include. Technology, and, training. Instructional. Strategies, support, services, and other accommodations, and, modifications that. May be, important, like I know that often if a student is using audio-supported, reading they, have to have a fairly quiet place to read, because. They're using, audio support if they're writing with text-to-speech, they, may need a quiet, place to do to do that so, it. May be something, related to. Preferential. Seating for, some situations, that doesn't mean in another room that doesn't mean back in the corner but ways that we have to think about that happening and, so we would put this into action and we think about Sean again we're going to talk about the the supports, and services that he needs he's, going to use that tablet, computer or other devices that and it tells why what, it's for that, provides, simultaneous. Visual and auditory output, to, support his perception. Of and interact, shown. With digital, text formats of grade-level, printed materials across the content, areas. And that. He's going to receive training on how to use that digital. Format. And technology. For participation, and achievement so it's not just here it is go for it he's actually getting support in how to use his his, materials. In technology, well which of course makes sense and then, again when we think not just, about what sort of technique, support. And training Shawn, needs but what about his teachers they will receive training to support his, use of materials, and technologies, doesn't, mean they have to know everything he's going to do but, they have to know how to support, him and it, does mention that other piece he will require headphones, and preferential. Seating in a quiet room of the class in a quiet area of the classroom when, he is reading with text-to-speech. So. Statewide, assessments. And a manned technology, let's look at what it says there, there, RSR include. A statement of the appropriate, assessment, accommodations, if any and if, the team, determines, that the student needs to take an alternate, assessment, then they have to state why the, student cannot. Take. The regular assessment, and why, the particular, alternative, is appropriate, for the student so, when we think about technology. What. Assessments, and accommodations, are needed for a student, who uses a m-- and how. Do these accommodations relate. To. The aim, and assistive. Technology that the student, is using in, the classroom this is a huge. Area, with lots, and lots that we could do a whole hour or, day or week on this, particular, issue.

Because. It is, it. Is very iffy. Many times what. Their what, a student is using in the classroom it's not allowable, on the, assessments. So then we have to think all right if they, can't use, this particular thing on this assessment, what, accommodations, can they use that will provide, support for them so that they can actually show what they know and are able to do so. In Shawn's case we want to make sure that that consistent. With the accommodations, and he's using in the classroom which is really good that means good things are happening with Shawn he, will receive the following accommodations. On the assessment, he will have read aloud but, it doesn't just say read aloud it talks about what, it is simultaneous. Visual and auditory access, to text through, independent. Use so we're not talking about somebody reading to him independent. Use of text-to-speech on all, allowable. Parts of the assessment, of course we all know that we roll our eyes at the allowable, parts but it's real and we do the best we can and also, work toward change and, then he, is going to scribe, but, again in an independent way not dictating, to ascribe but, text, input, through independent use of word prediction software on, all allowable. Parts of the assessment, and I will tell you that there's a lot of discussion, and a lot. Of forward. Movement in at least the, conversation. Moving. Along quite well about. Really. Looking at how classroom. Use and assessment. Fit, together, joy. Unmentioned. The this is a great example of what you were talking about before. That we were moving to a different system today, and trying, to use it and bumping. Around with, it that's exactly what happens to the students, and they're needing something in the classroom, and then they give them, different. Tools, to use on on the assessment. Right. That's, exactly right and I it was funny this morning when we were failing, our trial I. Didn't. I have an Apple watch to tell us what my heartbeat is and I didn't have it on and I told my husband later it's probably a good thing it would have probably disturbed. Me what the level of my heart rate while that was going on and what if I was doing something that meant I would. Or would not meet, the proficiency that. I needed. To. Show what I know so yeah, very important. And very high stakes and then. We come to transition. So, in transition, including. Post-secondary. Goals and transition. In. Excuse. Me including. Post-secondary. Goals and transition, services, in the IEP are important, to, develop, a summary of performance which, is really, an important, piece very. Similar. To, the. Present levels but but much more in-depth looking, at the student's academic achievement. And functional, performance and, recommending. How. Their, post-secondary, goals, might, be addressed, so. When we think about aim and text again how, do we help the student, and this is something that we should have been thinking about said Shawn was in the first grade or before how, can we help the student develop their self-determination, skills, that, they need in order to advocate, for themselves and their own need in relation, to accessible.

Educational, Materials this. Is what I need this. Is why I need it and this, is how, I know how to get it or how do I get help when I need it so, and then how can we help the student plan for his or her need for aim and related. Technologies, in the new environments, which of course requires. Conversation. And discussion between both. The sending environment, and the receiving environment, are the potential, receiving, environments, for the student join. Like that and share these then, the public schools have an obligation. To, determine. What services and the student, might need but, when they go to post-secondary. Environments. That's not the case and that's, why the, self-determination, skills, are, something really important, that, we build those all along like you said from, an early age they. Can't know. Okay, I'm sorry I didn't mean to cut you off no. That's funny it's just that they may be using. Accessible. Materials, and assistive, technology very competently, but, then it's it if. They move to the new environment those, skills may not transfer unless. They are able to, advocate. For what they need. Right. Exactly. And I've heard some very skillful. Self advocates. Talk. To, Disability. Services at at some very well-known universities. And they say oh no this is what we provide and if, the student is not able to say wait, a minute that doesn't meet my needs and this is why. Then. That student probably, is going to have a lot of backsliding, in their post-secondary. Education. Or their workforce. Important. Stuff so, putting, this into action, Sean's home state begins. Transition, planning at the age of fourteen however. In his school district, building, self-determination. Skills begins. Earlier again Sean he won. The jackpot in several ways the feat the, future transition. Planning might include, goals, such as he. Will advocate, on his own behalf determining. When he needs to use a specific. Scuse. Me a specific specialized. Format and what. Technology, works for him best in different. Contexts, because it may not be always the, same format, or the same technology, in a, variety, of contexts. And then. The second one is Sean will build the skills needed, to advocate, for himself in post-secondary. Environments. By leading discussions during, IEP. Development as Diana, said so well the. Push system, of k-12 education. Is a very, different place than the pull system, of post-secondary. Education, workforce. Development adult, services, so if a student, does not have the. Opportunity, all the way long to, learn more, about how, to advocate. For themselves specifically. Related, to not only these issues but others. We. Really are not doing. Everything we should be doing for them as as, their, teachers so. Diana. You want to talk about leveraging resources really, quickly sure.

Okay. Well this is a visual. Of the aim Center website and, there are tons of resources here, and one, of the things I would encourage you to do anything that you're looking for a little search window, up there it's a very robust, search engine. And this website and you can just put something in that search and find, things you're looking for like things, that we were mentioning today different. Links are there so. Enjoy, it would you move to the next one, please. This is a series. Of videos, that we did that you'll find the, the link is there. This. Particularly, student, her name is Uma and she's, a wonderful. Example, about, transition. Services. And self-determination. They, started at an early age with her and. She was she is a powerful. Person. Advocating, for her own needs, she has pretty. Significant. Visual problems. And. She. Uses Braille, she. Uses all the specialized, formats, really, and. There. We. Divided, the videos so, that they were shorter, and in different segments, and I think you'll find a lot if, you're doing with somebody in the chat mentioned, that they were going to be doing professional. Development you, might look at some of these videos here. Because. Though they're powerful when, you're presenting, to give a little, example of somebody using things, successfully. Great. Thank You Diana and there's also another student, in that same area called Bailey, and Bailey, has. Autism. But, he also has a print disability and again in both unit and Bailey's stories, there. Are as. Diana, said there's little snippets, sometimes. It's the student talking sometimes it's, their teacher talking about what changed over time sometimes, it's a parent. So. Really, a beautifully. Rich, set. Of potential materials, to use and and quite compelling. So. We've come to then it back to that same quote that we said earlier and now hopefully we, all have a sense of where. You, might put which, seems to be pretty much everywhere, that you might put a manned technology. Explicitly. Into, the IEP, because. We all want to foster the likelihood, that a student's, use of aim which, is actually, the only reason why we acquire it at all for students to use it, will, become an effective. And integrated, part of the learning process you'll. See at the bottom a link that, takes you to and, Leslie I'm sorry I don't, know the piece. That you put in the chat. But I bet you'll find it this. Has recently been an updated. White. Paper that goes through, very much, the same process, as we've, covered in this webinar that you might want to to. Put together Diana. And I and our, colleague, Joann, cars Carter who, is a. PhD. Attorney. Especially. An attorney she's, got a lot going on. Have. A look at that and you can also use that anytime you want that would be helpful to you joyeux, I'm noticing the. Comments. That kristin. Is saying that she used vaguely with her undergrad, students, and they, loved it gave them a whole new perspective. Great. And the great thing about about, Bailey's, whole situation. Is that when. You think about the. Need for aim being related to function, rather than it's a disability category, you'll, often see well that doesn't mean people with autism but, Bailey, has, such a strong. Accompanying. Print disability, that, for. Him it's it's rather remarkable. What, happens for him and to listen to his mother talk about who, he was and who he is is, pretty. Special, so. With. That said thank you we hope that you like. We. We, have another, question, oh sure, okay. From. Dawn wearing, the IUP, would you put teachers require, people training my, daughter has a hard time getting large print consistently. Our, high school teachers they're. Not organized, and prepared. Yeah. A couple of and this is just me talking but. You have a couple of issues I think one, of those places. Dawn. Would, be in that when.

We Talked about the support for staff and families that the training that goes along for everybody, in that section, that had you know special education related services all of those things listed that would be a place where it, would be just determined. And written into the IEP, who. Would receive some training on this, the, other, place. Is that, that, organization. Wise, you, might talk with an administrator, about the possibility. Of bringing. People together and having. A bit, of awareness, training of what difference it makes for her Diana. Did you want to add anything there I would answer that because she said they're having a heart she's having a hard time getting, it consistently. Out, of the places that we talked about like if, you already know that she needs it from past evaluations or. You, put it there you'd put it in the special. Factors, I mean present. Levels I'm sorry to, describe what she needs, you. Know they're just all these different places that it can be included in the IEP or. Written. As an accommodation. You, know so it, would be not only good, to get. The training for the teachers but. Also to. Include. It. Yeah. I guess, yeah. That's, good no no I that was that was because I hit the I hit the mouse the. Dawn. The other thing too would be to go to if. You if you need further assistance there. In, every state there is a named coordinator, and you can go to the aim center site and find aim in your state, a, section. Called aim in your state and that, you would call that person and ask for assistance so, I hope, that would help you too so. We're, come to the end of our hour thank, you for spending this time with us please, do take a moment to, complete, the webinar. Evaluation, Leslie, as I think already put it in the in the chat and if, you downloaded, the slides you see it here if you don't do it right this second, please do it soon otherwise, yes. And, it, does make a difference because, it helps us improve what, we do. I'm. Not sure what that is. Thank. You for joining us joy and Diana and also.

There, Are our, email, addresses and then, also you can connect with the aim Center through its website a name cast org, you, can also email, us at aim at Cass, org, we, also have a phone number you can follow us on Twitter on, Facebook. And. We're. Just right here so don't hesitate to call upon the, aim Center any time and it. Was my pleasure to be here thank you for being here with us.

2018-05-08 17:52

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