It is a pleasure for me to recommend Kristen Mattson for a position in special education for the state of South Carolina. Kristen was the special education facilitator at South Garland High School during my tenure as principal. Kristen stepped into the position with the goal of improving the ARD process not through her directives, but through observations, visiting with administrators, teachers and parents on how best to meet the needs of the students. These observations and conversations helped Kristen design and implement effective strategies that moved our meetings from time eating monsters to streamlined effective events that focused on developing well organized plans to meet each student’s academic and or social needs.
Effective communication with the special education staff helped improve all aspects of our ARD meetings. Case managers were prepared prior to arriving to the ARD which allowed additional time for the staff to
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She is very conscientious to make sure all staff members are aware of any changes in the law and is on top of problems that may arise. There were never any discrepancies that took place during ARD meetings as determined by audits conducted by our school district and TEA during Kristen’s tenure as special education facilitator for South Garland High School.
Serving the largest high school special education population in the district had challenges in itself, however, Kristen puts in many hours in order to be familiar with each student’s case and to make sure every meeting was run efficiently and all avenues were exhausted to meet the need of the student and parents.
Due to her incredible knowledge of special education rules and regulations along with her ability to organize tasks, manage people, superb attention to detail and a caring heart, Kristen would be an outstanding member of the special education department for the state of South
My assignment is a combination of two interviews. I interviewed an Assistant Principal, Ms. Katis Romig, as well as, our Curriculum Director, Mrs. Maria Petkanas. They are both responsible for the curriculum development and instruction for the school where I work, P.S. 811Q. I also learned a fair amount from Ms. Romig and Mrs. Petkanas including that District 75 Citiwide Special Education’s Deputy Superintendent, Ms. Barbara Joseph, had given the school feedback and suggested writing curriculum and textbooks. This was the only feedback she gave our principal during her observation last week.
Standard 1.1 discusses how special education teachers need to understand how language, culture, and family background influences the learning of students with exceptionalities. Standard 4.3 discusses how teachers should collaborate with other teachers and parents to use multiple types of assessment information in making decisions. Standard 5.5 discusses the transition plans they have to implement in collaboration with the students, families, and teachers. Standard 6.3 discusses how teachers understand that diversity is a part of families, cultures, and schools, and that they can interact with the delivery of special education services. Standard 7.0 discusses the collaborations that teachers need to start having with families, educators, and related service providers. 7.3 discusses the promotion of collaborations for the well-being of the individuals with exceptionalities. These standards show what the teacher is beginning to do with the families that have a child with
Detroit, once known as a bustling city of fast cars and bling, is now known for its poor education system. Detroit, minus its Red Wings, has failed at every turn economically and educationally. With its population cut in half and poverty rates soaring, there is no telling what can stop this disaster of a city. The only hope, it seems, is to better educate the region that Detroit inhabits. Detroit Public Schools has been one of the worst performing school districts in recent years. In 2013, the city of Detroit filed chapter 9 bankruptcy, the largest account of bankruptcy to-date. Good teachers avoid Detroit Public Schools because of the poverty, job quality, and low pay, leaving children with the unqualified teachers they have today in this poverty-plagued city that they call home.
The organization I work for is a nursing home management company. That’s the simple definition. Health Services Management Group manages of the operations of eleven (11) skilled nursing facilities (SNF), and three (3) home health agencies (HHA). Each of the SNFs and HHAs are operated/licensed by a single purpose entity. Of these long term care providers, one (1) SNF and two (2) HHAs are operated as non-profit organizations. The purpose of the non-profit providers, ultimately, is to fund The Trousdale School. “Trousdale School serves high functioning adults with intellectual disabilities, providing academics and life skills for the purpose of learning independence.” 1
Osceola School District administration team is starting to implement a new plan to support the classroom instruction. The district administrators are focusing mainly in the subgroups of special education (ESE) and English language learners (ELL). In my work-site, the human resources allocated to both of those programs are usually disconnected of the regular education or content classroom. There is no communication between the regular teacher and the special education specialist. Part of the district superintendent plan is to provide the specialists with professional development in content, for them to support the regular class instruction. Additionally, the specialist must provide support as “team teaching” in the mainstream clas...
Kaitlyn was initially referred to special education during her 3rd grade year due to concerns regarding academic progress. Following a comprehensive evaluation, Kaitlyn’s ARD committee met and determined that Kaitlyn met the IDEA special education criteria as a student with a specific learning disability.
I also volunteer, assisting students with various developmental and learning disabilities complete their educational tasks (e.g. homework and test preparations). In the past, I’ve worked as a teacher’s aide in the Buffalo, NY public school system and as an undergraduate assistant in the Buffalo State Speech-language and Hearing Clinic. I plan to become a school-based SLP preferably in the Washington, D.C. area. I have great interest in working in the public-school system because I believe that it will allow me to reach and assist a large array of children with a wide variety of unique needs. I am particularly passionate about assisting children that come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds because I come from one myself. I also believe that children are often misdiagnosed with language or speech impairments because they use a vernacular that is different from mainstream English or because they fail standardized tests that are not culturally appropriate for them. Correspondingly, a child’s language or speech impairment can be overlooked because they use a vernacular that differs from mainstream English. As a school-based SLP, I will strive to ensure that all children receive the appropriate services they require, warranting that they become proficient communicators and will be able to use their skills to enhance their lives and contribute to society. Nothing will give me more gratification than to help children make greater use of their communicative
East Brooklyn Community High School is a small transfer school located in Brownsville. The school has a small staff and a small population of students compared to most high schools in New York City. The history department has four teacher, Ron the Global Europe and Global Asia teacher, Ariela the Global Middle East, Global Latin America and Caribbean and Economics teacher, Jimmy the SPED teacher who helps out in all the history classes and myself Dominique the US History and Government teacher. Together we are a tight unit that spreads the love of history to our students. As a department every week, we check in on student performance, lesson study projects, and regent preparation for students in addition to weekly lesson approaches. Sometimes if we have time during our meetings we help, each other map out upcoming units. As a department, we observe each other classes to learn different strategies of teaching content and literacy.
It was my pleasure to be able to experience children with these disabilities. A day spent at Westgate was aery active one, I always was able to write plenty of notes from my observation. When the English language students were peer mentored with their 4 grade class, they had to write an autobiographical poem. The fourth grade students had to help their first and second grade ELL students write this poem. When the poem is all written out the students will then type up the poem on word and create a PowerPoint. After the poem was finished they would then present the poem in front of the whole class. This activity was pretty challenging for the fourth grade student because they had more reading and writing skills then the first and second graders. Ms. Lewis; the class teacher had to always redirect the ELL students because they did not understand what to do or what some of the questions said on the organizer. The next day I was in I was able to experience working with three students that had learning disabilities in the classroom. The teacher would separate the children in to groups, the learning disability children were paired up with me and they were given different book pages and problems to work on. Since these children were struggling in math I was able to help them comprehend. I was asked plenty of questions on how to do the problems. Usually Ms. Lewis is paired up with these students but today instead of me just observing them she wanted me to be hands on with the students and be able to interact with them. The next day I went I observe the boy with ADHD. It was very interesting to observe him. I was able to see him use assistive technologies to be able to focus. He also was seated on the outside of the desk range right by the teacher’s desk. I believe he was by the teacher’s desk and on the outside so he was
Education: Benny continues to attend South Amboy Elementary School in South Amboy. He is currently in the third grade regular education. When Benny was first placed in the Rodriguez home. He was not enrolled in school when he resides with his biological parents. Benny struggle with writing and did not have the opportunity to develop healthy peer relationships because this youth’s mother reported that she “home schooled him” without the approval of the school district they resided in. Since Benny has been enrolled into the South Amboy Elementary School his academic progress has improved but he is still below average for his grade level. Mrs. Rodriguez has requested for Benny to be evaluated by South Amboy Special Service. CM will follow up with
Two years ago, I embarked on a journey that would teach me more than I had ever imagined. As a recent college graduate, I was thrilled to finally begin my teaching career in a field I have always held close to my heart. My first two years as a special education teacher presented countless challenges, however, it also brought me great fulfillment and deepened my passion for teaching students with special needs. The experiences I have had both before and after this pivotal point in my life have undoubtedly influenced my desire to further my career in the field of special education.
The students in our classrooms, both special education and general education classrooms, require individualized education to reach their full potential. Each child’s potential is different just as each child’s road to reach it is different. Our job as teachers is to be there for the student’s to help them reach their potential through their own unique way.
Special Education Teachers’ significant development priorities to learner achieving objective. I interview Dan Liptak a special education teacher at The Hawthorne Country Day School a nonprofit organization considering students through various disabilities. Hawthorne Country Day School is a non-profit/private school wherein students have Autism. Notwithstanding has learner’s kindergarten to age 21. The students categorize insufficient assistant ahead of elevated facilitation. There are several students who arrive from various school districts in New York. In addition, The Hawthorne Country Day School offers various trainings such has CPR, CPI and distinctive Applied Behavioral Analysis. The ensuing paper summarizes my findings consequently
This may involve handling disputes regarding IEPs in dispute resolution hearings, or teaching proper social skills as a service to help build skills (Hardman, et al., 2013; Osborne, & Russo, 2014). Moreover, as a special education teacher I will need to know how to appropriately fill out paper work, such as IEPs and transition plans (Hardman, et al., 2013; Osborne, & Russo, 2014). This class helped me understand what is expected of me when doing this. Additionally, I will do what I can to ensure that my students make adequate progress and are learning to the best of their ability (Hardman, et al., 2013; Osborne, & Russo,
Special education is an incredibly important, but often underappreciated aspect of education. There is a stigma around individuals with disabilities, that leads people to assume those in special education are less capable or smart as their peers in in a strictly traditional classroom setting. That could not be farther from the truth though, and the individuals in special education are just as capable of learning and maturing in to successful adults. As a future teacher, I was not really aware of how little I knew about special education until I enrolled in this course. This course has helped change and shape my views of special education, and helped me gain a better understanding of what exceptional children are and how I can better serve them