TRANSCRIPT - Tech Tea Time: Assessment to Present Levels to IEPs Ð 8/29/24

>>Donna: All right. We are going to visit some links that have to do with quality indicators. Last week and the beginning of this month we were to discuss. Assessment. And today we're gonna expand on that. With more documentation, the feature matching. Which is how to take our data. From our assessment, and match it with. Not the product necessarily, but the features that the student needs matching with that product comes later. So we want the. To successfully complete their academic tasks. With those features. We'll also chat about acquisition or procurement and specific supports. Because we have oops. Sorry went ahead too fast. Because we have so much to discuss this week. It is going to be an overview and not. Really a deep dive into these indicators. So you will have them. In your handouts to be able to explore them. So we're not going to read. A 100% of all of the indicators. The 1st session we went over Indicator one and 2, which is assessment and consideration of need. Then our reschedule from last week covered 3, 4, 7, 8, and the Texas 4 step. We're gonna discuss those a little bit today. But again, deep dive. Go and read those indicators. And then we're gonna also continue into indicator. So if we're looking at Indicator 3, which is our at and the Iep. It sets out our guidelines for documenting a team need and. All of the service. We talked about the parts of service in our last session. That it's not just Getting the device to the student. It's also making sure that the student knows how to use it, that the team knows how to use it. Repairing, and all of the things that are associated with that device are included in our at service. Alright! We're gonna talk about. All of these issues. As we keep going ahead, so our common errors in this part is. Do we know how. To implement and include at the ieps. Ieps, including at use a formula approach. That would be an error. We want to make sure that is individualized for the students. Oh, looks like our Our link that went out with handouts is not the right one. We'll get that to you. A, t. Devices are included in the Iep, but no at services to support them. So that would be a big error if our device is included. But we're not wrapping that in services to make sure that we're not abandoning the tech as soon as we get it. So previously, we talked about collecting all that good data we're talking about. Data. That is. At various distances. We're talking 16. For reading. A little bit further than that, for our intermediate. Vision, and then anything past 6 feet for our distance. So how do we take that data that we've collected. And then interpret it, and find the right features. And the right items. So let's look at if you've ever been in a workshop with me about assessments. 6 has come up. This is an amazing tool that can be used. Anywhere. It is not a comprehensive assessment, it is just a tool guide. So it gives us a way to spark our. Brain to thinking, how can I meet the needs of this student. So I'm gonna show you how this works. I've already set up my account. It is secure. Password protected. So you would log in you, add a profile. I keep my matching student to profile on a list outside of the program. So I just know that Profile 6 is the student I'm working on right now. And let's look at. Writing. We're not talking about adult domains. So we're just gonna leave that here. We're talking about student domains. So if I start that domain. It asked me questions. This is more coming soon. Sorry I should not have picked writing. I was exploring that earlier. So let's look at math. Okay, so in math. Our 1st thing that comes up. How does the student see? So we can choose. Does the student have no functional vision? So that would be one of our students who was. Reading Braille. No difficulty with visually math content. Difficulty visually accessing physical tools, such as calculators and rulers. Difficulty, visually tracking math information. And difficulty. Seeing mathematical information due to color, shape, size, or spacing. You could see how they gave us a nice range here. So let's do. Difficulty Tracking. And seeing, to color. Then they want you to clarify so. When you're having trouble seeing math information. What does that mean for this student? Is it just distinguishing color. Is it shape. Or is it size and spacing? So let's say, it's color and size are difficult. Visual tracking. How are they having. Trouble tracking? Is it horizontal, or is it difficult orientating? So we're gonna be. Doing both of those. And just because we're low on time, I'm going to kind of zip through this part here. And say we have. Just a few. Issues here. Manipulating. And so, you see, you would go. Through and check what applies to your student. Activities, the daily living, extracurricular activities. Alright, so as soon as you get everything checked, it gives you a review. This is everything you told us about the student. Now it gives us a lovely report that we can download. Or we can look at. The suggestions they make for features. So a visual access tool for math. Would be things like alt text on images. Well, what does that look like? We can pull down. The image and say, that's what that looks like. We can also get a description of what that looks like. We can do the same for. Color adjusting it shows you how to adjust some items. It also tells you how to do so. We get some low tech items. A line, guide, ruler. Explains what a lot guide ruler is. Magnification. Handheld. Or CCTV. Gives you some explanation of those things. Masking. What's really nice. Is, some of the items have videos about what masking is and how to set it up. So you can see you get a lot of great suggestions. For different tools that you can use, or different features that you can use, based on the information you put in. Know that. What comes out of this is only as good as what you put into it. So make sure your data is good and accurate. So that's. My favorite tool. Cifs. By Ocali. So once we know what features we need. How do we decide what device to pick. We have to look at some decisions because we're comparing. Apples to apples. Okay, if we're looking at a magnification device such as a magnifier. Or a CCTV. First, st we remember we are providers, not prescribers. So if we're looking at magnification device, we need to make sure we have a low vision. And take that data in as well. So the low vision came back, and it said. We need these features on one of these tools. So now we have to compare those tools and say which one. Works, best. So when we're taking our data on these to either. Note. Efficiency. Note. Effectiveness. Or we're taking trial data to take to the low vision. There's some great decision. Guides. These can also be used in your assessment period. Your yearly updates. At 12 point Font. What distance does the student need to be. If you're using a 12 point font at 10 or smaller, how far does the student have to be from the from the magnifier. So this gives you some nice data and a way to take your data for that. When we're talking magnifiers. What does the student need? Are they traveling to 8 classes? Are they staying in one. Can the magnifier be a desktop type? Or does it need to be a handheld. Can it be smaller and fit in the pocket? Is it just for spot reading, or does it need to be a larger device. Does it need to have an optional stand where the student can put it on the stand and work with their hands free. Does it need to have smart component for text to speech? Not all magnifiers have text to speech on them. There are a wealth of resources on the teaching students with visual impairment site. That you can. Used. At no cost. 2. Help you with documentation. As well as some great. Resource documents for creating accessible. Items. Get down here! So they've got some nice assessment tools. They've got the consideration guides that we've talked about. Implementation data. Reference guides. Some low, mid, high suggestions. If you're looking at making a decision on whether or not to get an ipad or a tablet. There's some decision. Guides, electronic braille devices. Video magnifiers. Magnifier comparisons. These occasionally will go out. But they've kept this general. A desktop model. A flex arm camera, a tablet system, digital imaging system and pocket or handheld. So to to tell you the difference of those. Our tablet systems are more like our Macs. Our desktop models are. More like the The Jupiter. I believe the flex arm are more like the Oh, the name has slipped my mind. I was just looking at one this week. It's a magnifier with a moveable camera arm. So like the ones on the connect 12, and Mac connect. Move around. Pocket and handheld are your smaller handheld magnification. So this gives you a nice comparison of what type of. Use for each magnifier. Alright! And then we have our other decision guides. So this is a great place to go. If you are looking for a way to document your decision. So you've collected your data. You've decided what features you need. And. You've picked the device. Based on all of your recommendations. From your. Family. It's very important to have family impact or family input. You've gotten your prescription from your low vision, Clinic. And now you need to acquire the device. So what do you do? The first.st Is to be sure you have your action plan. Who is responsible for each part of acquiring that. Device. Who this, and. Ideally should be done. While you're doing your assessment planning. So it's who does each part of the assessment. Once the evaluations have been, and assessments have been completed who is in charge, and by what dates. To acquire the device. And then who is to train. The. Student, the teachers, the family, and those folks around. The student. Next is purchasing. Vendors. Who's on your. Campus is a vendor. Who does your campus usually use. Vendor discounts. Ask if you don't ask. It's just going to be what price they give you. So talk to your vendors. See if there's a different time of the year where you can get more discounts than the other. If you don't need something right away, or you're planning for the next year. See when you can buy it, to get the best discount. See your it department. When they do their bulk, buys. It may be cheaper to bundle your device with some of their bulk versus you as special. Ed. Purchasing it separate as one individual device. Does the student need a device for home computers, for the blind as a resource. For getting Computers that can be used at home. Lions Club has scholarships. And other grants that can help with getting devices. So there are ways to get. The devices funded. Tech scholarships. Local organizations will will have grants. To get devices. So lots of avenues to check. There. Alright! Indicator 7 is making sure that we have our administrative support for. For a t. So if we're going to assess. Identify. Get the script from the low vision clinic for. These magnification devices. We need to have administrative support. In. Purchasing. Transitioning is that device gonna go from home to school and from school to home. What agreements do we need to have in place there for safety, network security, and all of those. There is the administrative side of the budgeting and planning. And then scheduling the A. T. Services for the staff, the family and students. So having your administrator on board to get those. Pieces, in. Place, so that your staff and your family know. So we're going to jump forward. You can go back and read over those indicators. 7. To our Texas 4 steps. So. Those of us that are out of state excuses for a moment while we take a detour through our Texas 4 step yearly review requirements. And. My Texas folks. You'll recognize some of the wording in the next couple of slides. So what is meant by the Texas force. 4 step in the yearly. Hard for a t. Step. One is that we review that data in our present levels of functioning every year. For at. a a t is isn't a stagnant. Process. In that the student. Students needs may change. Throughout the year, so we don't want to wait for 3 years to reevaluate. So excuse me wrong word, reassess. Accuracy, the implementation and the progress on their at. So we want to review that yearly. We want to establish goals and objectives. Determine the difficult or impossible tasks, and decide if the it devices. Are required, and document that. So the next part you. Y'all may notice. And recognize the 3. Check marks, regardless of what? Iep software you use. You. See these 3. It is our. Responsibility to document. Not only one of these 3 choices. But to document. Why? If we check at is not required, we need to make sure we have it completely. Almost more. Then why it's required. So. That is not something we check and say, student doesn't need at this time. Why does the student not need at this time. Alright. So if we're looking at specific supports, for at that's our transition, our instructional supports and our professional development. We have indicator. That. Wants us to make sure that everyone that is wrapped around our. Understands the devices, they may not be able to use them fully. But understand what they're for and why they're being used, and why it's important for the student. To have access to their devices at all times. If we have a communication device. And we go into the classroom, and the communication device is always in the students. Cubby. That is not going to be beneficial to that student. So we need to make sure we have that. Support, wrapped. All the way around. The student and their team. All right now, onward and upward to our Iep. This is Indicator 5 and 6. And I'm going to leave those for you to go back through. So if we're looking at. Writing our Iep, it's going to be a data integration. So everything that we have already taken. Our goals should be grounded in that data. We're going to align it with not only our. Functional. But our academic goals. And it's crucial that we dovetail those together. So that our academic and our functional. Go together into a Con cohesive program for that student. We want to make sure that the things we're teaching. Transfer over into that transitional time, out into the community and and into home. So if they know how to use a magnifier in the classroom. But they're not applying that same skill. Outside. We've missed an opportunity to strengthen a skill. So we wanna make sure it's it's cohesive and wrapped around their full day. And we want to empower the support team. Goals should empower the whole educational team to support the student. And get them collaborative, working together and sharing all those responsibilities. We want to integrate the device. For learning. Across the whole process and maximize their efficiency. And then we need to make sure we have all the data to justify the funding. The goal should articulate the necessity of the of the desired outcome. Thereby providing compelling rationale for securing the funding. If you have the data, there can't be an argument. If you have that strong data, you have your case, you have your support. You can prove it all. So goals are our tasks. And objectives are learning. Let's check out our ploths first.st So if we're writing our present levels. Let's look at our idea. So if we're looking at idea. You're gonna hear me say this a couple of times specific to our Texas people. We have to do a statement of present levels. And functional performance. That involves how the child's disability affects their progress in the general. That is to say. Texas has some very specific disability impact statements. It's no longer acceptable to just state that the students visual impairment affects their ability to access general curriculum. Check with your special education. Administrator. For specific trainings on. How those impact statements are to be written and what components they are to include. If you've gathered your data, you will have everything you need for your impact statements. If we're talking about preschool children. It's how their disability affects their participation in the activities of the preschool age. Child. Alright! So what does all that mean. Academic. Achievement in general refers to their performance in those reading math, language, arts, areas. Functional performance generally is understood as the skills and activities that are not in. Reading, math, science, social studies and history. We think of that as. A lot of our Ecc. Even though Ecc is entwined in both areas. Most people think of the Ecc following in that functional performance area. But we have our. Our content. That is part of the Ecc. That's for academic. So they you cannot extract the 2. Data and collected information must come from a variety of sources. Okay. We are not just having data from the low vision. And that's what we're basing it all on. Data from that clinical setting in the low vision. Will be very different. Possibly, then, what happens in the classroom? Where the student is. Positions, the clutter that's in the classroom versus the very sterile environment of the low vision clinic. So make sure you have data from all your different sources. How that student functions at home. Outside. In the school and in their academic environments. Love to go visit with my owns on this part. They give me so much great information. So. Iris has a great breakdown, or IRIS. Center. On high quality statements. So check that out. We are not gonna have time to dig into their offerings, but it's a great resource for you. You'll notice some very similar items that we talked to from our beginning of the month. We use the set. Documentation. Student. Environment task and tools. You'll notice your ploughdown. Accesses all of those. In the construction of the plough. So we're talking about our student strengths there. The area of concern the parents concern. And ways, the students. Strengths can help. Address. Concerns. So what can we build upon. Then we have our progress. Effects of the progress in the general. Again. Texas has very specific disability impact statements. So our guiding questions here are, how does the disability or the skills. Shortfalls. Affect their access to the general curriculum and progression in that curriculum. We also have our baseline information. We need to be specific. At this many inches. With a paper copy. Of text in this font, size. That is bolded. In this color. With this contrast we need to be very specific. Things need to be objective. Observable. Rather than being subjective. So. If it's observable, the student is swearing. Rather than subjective, being disrespectful. Well, how are they being disrespectful. It needs to be measurable. And something that can be collected frequently if they only do. The main The main item, if they only do it once 6 weeks. We can't really collect data on that very effectively. So what skills build up to that 1 6 week. Identify our concerns and state content standards. Then we need to connect our goals and services. Is there enough information. That will guide those goals, objectives, and services. Alright. So we're gonna look at some examples. I'm going to read this for our folks who. Who may need it. And you can read along. M, is. Just for reference. This is a completely made up students. This is not referring to any student. So we're just using M. M. Is a 9 year old. 4th grade student who is eligible for special education services under the category of visual impairment and orthopedic impairment. M. Has a strong, expressive, and receptive language, skill. He actively engages in class discussions, and performs at standards on tasks that require auditory comprehension. Example follows, multi multi step directions, answering comprehensive questions about class discussions, or about passages that are read to him. His strong communication skills have also earned him the friendship and respect of his peers, many of whom look to him as a class leader. M's disabilities. Disability negatively affects his academics in completion on independent assignment. In addition to school concerns, parents worry about the effects of his visual impairment outside of school. For example, M. Avoids tasks that require him to. Access, print materials, new restaurants where he is unfamiliar. To the menu. So that was an example of. Stating some student needs. We don't have. Our exact data in there. Yet. But we've got some examples of what the student need would be. So let's look at effects on general education and baseline. The 4th grade curriculum involves independent print activities. And we switch to another student here, for example. But we can say, this is M, or we can say, this is a new student. Kay's access to curriculum skills. Digital, so. Digital skills, worksheets, completion, digital share and visual guided reach impede his progress in class. He is self conscious about looking from his classmates. As a result he is unwilling to use text to speech technologies. On his tablet. Even with headphones, or to partner with a peer. Reader. Kay is currently reading at a rate of 70 words per minute. When he has digital enlargement of 24. On a hard copy or 14 point font, with 150 zoom. Baseline, for his grade level is 120 words per minute. K. Has a tablet with touchscreen capabilities and has mastered opening documents, navigation, while zoomed into a document. So you can see in this. As we've expanded, we can cover. How his. Vision is affecting him, and what are his baseline scores. His baseline scores compared to. Standard for that grade level. His or 70 words per minute at those certain conditions, and baseline for his grade is a hundred 20. So connections to goals. So. Yes, there's enough information there to determine an annual goal. Or services. Because we have. Timeframe conditions and criterias. So let's look at those goals. We're wanting to set our setting. The feature of the technology we're using. That is not branding. So if we're talking about, the student needs touch screen versus a mouse, we will talk about a touch screen device. With certain features like a note taking app handwriting, pencil. etc. We would not say. The student will use an ipad with apple pencil. That ties you into a brand. If that device. Disappears. Is broken, needs to be repaired. Those items would have to be repaired immediately with the same item. We could not substitute. Another similar device. If that other was gone. We need to make sure we include why the technology is being used. What level of support or independence prompts we need. And then how is it to be measured. We're gonna be focusing on 2 separate parts. Going forward. The overall goal, and then the objectives at milestone moments. So if we look at our goal for a functional activity. During sensing motor activities. M will use a touchscreen device with cause and effect jams. To motivate visual guided reach. You notice I did name an app there a specific one. But I did not make it concrete. It is a such as duplo jams. So I could use any app with my touch. Screen device that has cause and effect. As long as it meets those needs. I'm not tied to jams. Because I have that as an example. The device will be placed on a slant within the central field division without, within a quarter environment. He will touch at least 3 items on the screen with one hand. With less than 3 underhand physical prompts. Within a 15 min period for 4 out of 5 trials. By June 15, th of 2,016. We could do this as. 2024. You change the date as it fits. Now. If we had. A little more data. We could add, the device will be placed on a slant board at a. 45, degree, angle. Within the central vision. At a distance of. 16 inches from chest to edge of. Slant board. You can be that specific, if that's what that student needs. When it comes to placement. Because the you're. Teachers. Some will read the the. Functional vision and and get that information. Some will go directly to. Your goals and and read those and see what they need to do. So we want to be as. Detailed as we can. So our next one. Is an academic. So we've got that student. We reviewed him who is needing to work on sending. In classes with paper, worksheet. M. Will independently access a digital version of the same worksheet as classroom peers. Using a touchscreen device with screen magnification features such as an ipad. Okay. Again, such as it gives an example. That way, folks that have no clue. What some of the other touch screen. Devices are, have a frame of reference. He will use a device to independently with less than 2 verbal prompts. Her class to view and complete work at the same time as peers. For 2 out of 3 handouts. For 3 out of 4 weeks. So those are our big goals. We need to break those down into our individual benchmark objectives. And what I've done here is stagger. And what Ting Tsu has done? Who. If you if you haven't visited. Any of her information. She's. Amazing. You'll see her name come up a lot with the West Coast group over there. So she's got some amazing stuff. What she's done here is stagger. Those goals. So we are measurable in smaller bytes than our yearly goal. So by October 15.th And we'll send an invitation to shared folders using a cloud computing program such as Google Drive. That allows us to use Microsoft or any other drive that is used in the district. With at least 2 teachers who utilized handouts in the classroom. He will do so by decreasing verbal assistance from the Tbi. So those are. That's 1 of our. One of our items. By January. And we'll independently use the zoom accessibility feature on his touch screen device. To view digital documents in his preferred viewing size. He will do so for 2 out of 3 documents that require magnification with less than 2 verbal prompts per document. And you can. Pair these down, customize them, how you, how you need with your students, device. But you see how we're scaffolding those one to the next. If I haven't said it enough. In the times we've been together. Talk to your it, department. Our devices and Softwares have features that. May need to be approved for being added to your security. Protocols. So if you have a student who's using a tablet based CCTV that has smart features, it needs access to the Internet. So you need to make sure that your it department is aware of that, that they approve that process and can get your devices on. Jaws. We've had some issues with jaws, and I know we have some folks. I think in here today that we've worked together with their it department. To get. They're. Security protocols adjusted so that their kiddos could use some of their key commands that were being. Obstructed by security, lockdowns. Braille. Note. Needs to be added as a trusted device. They get locked down really fast, cause they they show up as. Independent Device. Or mobile device. So we need to go through our it department to make sure those are supported. Okay, so indicator is our implementation. So how we've gotten our objectives. We've got our goals. We have our IP in place. We've got our device. Now, what do we do? We want to avoid drive by drop offs. So we've got our our magnifier kids ready to use it. We wanna make sure. They know how to use it efficiently. And that they have those skills down pat. There are some curriculums that I have linked here that are very nice. That. Wrap. Fun items. Into instruction. This in focus with low vision. Kit, I love it has great some great activities. Ap. Has some great activities in the envision one and 2 Kit. So there's some. There are lots of great activities in in these kits as well as some trial devices. Tsbi has some video resources for magnification. So if you're looking for some more in depth, videoed items. That are Are good for magnification. So there's instruction. There's various environments. And what to do when you have that tough customer. We've talked about Hey? Can I try that. But. You know. You can give them the skills and teach them the skills. But are they going to use the device? So some tips and tricks on what to do with those? Tough Customers. If we are looking at screen readers and computers. There are some great. Typing programs, now. Used to be. We just had Talking, typer. And I'm dating myself in that. I remember when talking was on a 4 sided cassette tape. And had to have. The special player that. Played tracks. And then we got them on the. The big digital cards, and then we got them on CD, and then they went digital. So I've seen the whole gamut of talking. But now there's such. Great. Online. Typing programs in there. Investigate how to integrate that into. The students day. If. All of their peers are taking a computer class. That's 1 of those point and click. Type computer instructional times. That's not really important for the kiddo. Then can we layer our typing into that class for them instead. Can we layer jaws instruction into that class. And speaking of jaws. There are some resources here in. There's some commercial ones. It with Cody. He does some great. Little cohorts for braille and Internet navigation and jaws. So. Something to check out. Freedom, scientific has. Training for teachers. So this teaches you how to teach your student and gives you resources. So this is a nice place to have access to that. And we have short term programs. That can help you address your students. Instruction. We have in November. A. Teacher, student weekend where the students are taught basic skills. And you are taught basic skills in teaching right along. Side of them. In another classroom. So if you're interested in that, it's teacher and student together on campus at Tsb. For. The For the students in the earlier grades. All right. Braille. Devices. Again check your vendor. When we're acquiring our braille devices or magnification devices, we need to check our vendors. Not only for purchasing, but some vendors offer. Training and follow up after. They! Sometimes have loans. In the State of Texas. We have a loan program. We have a few devices. We don't have a a ton. But we have a 6 to 8 week. Some of your service centers have loan programs. TTAP. Through ut has some trial centers. That are around the escs that allow you to trial devices and come to their centers. If you're getting items from Aph. Check in the documentation under the device. When you order it. There are checklists for a lot of our devices, our high tech ones. And Youtube Youtube University is a real thing. Your students, Are going to find them when they become. Computer literate and are able to. Find things on their own. So explore some of those we have kids that have made videos that are wonderful. To share preview them first.st But there are quite a few Youtube videos that are appropriate to be used.