From Topics on Children Birth to Three to Robotics & Reading in the Primary Grades

There is much ground to cover as we work to develop our pre-school system in Vermont and refine our primary grade experience.  It always seems there is so much to learn, from what the latest research is telling us to using technology tools to make the work more efficient and manageable.

The VT-HEC maintains its long-standing commitment to young children. Since 2005 we have run an Early Childhood Pathway to Endorsement Program leading to the Early Childhood Licensing Endorsement and EC Special Education Endorsement that can also lead to a Masters degree. In addition, we offer an annual array of workshops and related single courses as we work with other providers to meet the professional development needs in this critical area. This year’s line-up includes:

• Effective Social Communication & Social Interaction Interventions for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with Patty Prelock, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, in Montpelier, VT (10/12) A Vermont treasure and national expert on child development, communication & ASD – One of our favorite people sharing the latest and most promising research and strategies –  not to be missed!
• Tips and Tools for Early Childhood Special Educators, with Judith Masson in Montpelier, VT ~ Two workshop dates (9/29, 10/26) with a 1-credit graduate course option. Practical tips, processes and short-cuts that you can adapt to your setting to make your work life easier and more efficient – lots of practical ideas to put into practice tomorrow.
• Teaching Reading Comprehension to Students Who Require More Explicit Instruction with Tina Newman, Ph.D; Heather Flynn, Ph.D; and Kimberly Marshall, MA, BCBA; in Montpelier, VT ~ Two workshop dates (10/16 & 11/13) After a very successful presentation last year, we are bringing back these folks for two days to share more in-depth strategies to teach reading to students who have learning challenges. This is the kind of specially-designed instruction every interventionist, special and primary educator needs in their tool box.
• Coding from the Littles to the Middles: Robotics in the K-6 Classroom with Arlyn Bruccoli and Jennifer Fitch in Montpelier, VT (11/17) Hands-on opportunity to see how robots and coding can be integrated into your classroom and curriculum. Jennifer is a classroom teacher and Arlyn a media/technology master. These delightful presenters work together and can talk about their collaboration as well as the technology – plus you get to play with a variety of robots.
• Connecting the Dots: Using Best Practices to Support Infants, Toddlers, and Their Families in Montpelier, VT ~ Four workshop dates (11/3, 2/9, 3/23, 5/3) with a 3-credit undergraduate course option. Bringing you expert perspective and information on topics important to supporting young children and their families. Knowledge that will benefit everyone working with young children.
• Lights, Camera, Action! Using your Smartphone or Tablet to Create Efficient and Effective Learning Opportunities for your Students with Chris Knippenberg and Patty Thomas in Montpelier, VT (12/15) Video is a technology tool that that can be used creatively with all kids with a little practice to motivate, teach and demonstrate learning. Learn how in another of VT-HEC’s WORKshops.
• Getting Ready to Learn Series: Three Make and Take WORKshops with Patty Piotrowski and Chris Knippenberg in Burlington, VT (2/2, 3/13, 4/10) – One of our most successful WORKshop series for a reason: focused on creating materials to meet the specific needs of young students with learning challenges – you will leave with an arm-load of learning materials tailored to support your toughest kids and tips on how best to use them.
• It Came from Outer Space: Integrating Technology and Writing Across the K-3 Curriculum with Arlyn Bruccoli and Jennifer Fitch in Montpelier, VT (3/9) The title says it all…. Arlyn and Jennifer will show you how and have you practicing with the tools they use working together.
• A Systematic Approach to Teaching Socialization and Play for Young Learners with Chris Knippenberg in Burlington, VT (5/4) Learning to interact with peers is one of the most important skills a child can learn and for some it doesn’t come easily. Chris will help you develop and plan for those students in a way that will benefit all kids.
• Check out our other series for offerings that may also address your interests and needs including: Special Education; Trauma, Resilience & Anxiety; General Education – Proficiencies & Personalization
• VT-HEC WORKshops are learning opportunities that are planned to have participants practicing, applying and tailoring the concepts, skills and models that are being shared for much of the day and often include a course option to support implementation in your own setting.

Special Education, Early Childhood, Autism, Reading, Trauma, Behavior

We hope we can help you get the year off to a great start with offerings in key areas of need that focus on gaining practical knowledge and skills as well as applying them in real ways to benefit students.

The VT-HEC began in 2000 as an effort of the VT Department of Education, VSC & UVM.  Our first program was the Pathway to Special Education Endorsement course series that continues to this day and has had over 350 completers. In addition, we have offered a selection of workshops and single courses for all those who work with struggling learners and students with disabilities.

Registration will open August 10^th for these Fall offerings:

1. Trauma & Resilience– There are many introductions out there on the impact of trauma and the strategies that can help but the VT-HEC is developing an array of learning opportunities that will go much further & deeper in supporting the application of the most effective strategies and creating in-school expertise. Working with the Northeast Family Institute (NFI) and experts like Joelle Van Lent & Gillian Boudreau, we are planning a coordinated workshops series and course sequence for 2017-2018 & beyond.  

Trauma-Informed Schools – September 26 & October 23, Rutland, VT:  David Melnick of NFI will kick things off with a two-workshop series that has an extended course option.

Spring 2018 Workshops & Courses: We have three additional offerings in this series for the spring– a Part II course presented by David Melnick, a workshop series & course by Joelle van Lent and Gillian Boudreau focusing on resilience, compassion fatigue and mindfulness and Paul Foxman on anxiety.

2. Tips & Tools for Early Childhood Special Education, September 29 & October 26; Montpelier.  Judith Mason shares practical tools that will benefit both the newest and your most veteran staff member and give them an opportunity to tailor these tools to their own settings.

3. Special Education Orientation, October 5 & 6; Montpelier. If you, your principal or your staff members are new to your position or to VT, this session is one you want to mark on your calendar now. Andrea Wasson, accomplished special education administrator and presenter/instructor, surveys the special education rules, process and best practices to help you and your staff get off to a confident start in this complicated field. 

4. Autism Spectrum Disorder in Young Children, October 12; Patty Prelock, one of the most knowledgeable and distinguished experts in the field, will present this “can’t miss” presentation focusing on the latest research on ASD in younger children. 

5. Teaching Reading Comprehension to Students Who Require More Explicit Instruction, October 16 & November 13; Montpelier- with Tina Newman, Ph.D; Heather Flynn, Ph.D; and Kimberly Marshall, MA, BCBA. A very practical review of the specialized instruction needed to teach reading to many students with challenging disabilities delivered by three experts in the field – a necessity for every reading interventionist and special educator.

6. Special Education Law Update – November 2, Montpelier – Art Cernosia is a fount of knowledge and perspective on what is important to pay attention to and what is coming down the road concerning special education & related law, court decisions and regulations. 

7. Power Struggles: What to do When a Student Says, “Make Me!”, November 8, 2017 Killington, VT – Jon Udis. Jon shares both what not to do and the strategies that work to de-escalate the situation and get students back on track. 

8. Connecting the Dots: Using Best Practices to Support Infants, Toddlers, and Their Families, Montpelier ~ Four workshop dates (11/3, 2/9, 3/23, 5/3) with a 3-credit course option. Covering topics important to everyone working with young children.

• Check out our other series including: Early Childhood; Trauma, Resilience & Anxiety; General Education – Proficiency & Personalization
• Go to vthec.org for more information & registration.  Watch for the full year VT-HEC calendar

Advanced Child Development Course at Special Reduced Rate

The VT-HEC will be starting a new cohort of its Early Childhood (EC) & Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) Pathway to Licensing course sequence this summer at the Early Childhood Summer Institute to be held at Castleton University in July. The VT-HEC will offer the first course in the course sequence, Advanced Child Development, at a special reduced rate for the Institute. The VT-HEC is pleased to be joining many of Vermont’s early childhood organizations, agencies and higher education programs in putting together a slate of courses focusing on preparing high quality Early Childhood Educators.

The VT-HEC EC/ECSE Pathway to Licensing program is open to Vermont educators wishing to add either the Early Childhood or Early Childhood Special Educator endorsements to their teaching license or to qualified individuals seeking initial licensure in either EC or ECSE through peer review. The EC course sequence (18 credits) and the ECSE sequence (21 credits) both begin with Advance Child Development..  All courses meet the Agency of Education competencies in EC and ECSE.

Visit the VT-HEC website for more information about the EC/ECSE program: https://www.vthec.org/programs/early-childhood-licensure/

The Early Childhood Summer Institute at Castleton is a true collaboration among many of Vermont’s Early Childhood organizations and programs.  It is designed for Early Childhood Educators (birth through grade 3) working in public schools, private early childhood and after-school settings and the administrators who support them.  There will be over ten courses offered on the Castleton campus during the week of July 24-27, 2017. The VT-HEC is proud to be participating in this effort by starting the new EC/ECSE cohort at this event at a greatly reduced cost.

To register for any of the courses offered at the Early Childhood Summer Institute or for more information go to:

https://events.castleton.edu/Register/EarlyChildhoodSummerInstitute

Expanding VT-HEC’s Capacity to Provide Quality Professional Learning Opportunities

The VT-HEC Board of Directors has established the VT-HEC Mission Investment Fund for the purpose of advancing the goals of the VT-HEC to provide high quality professional learning opportunities to help ensure the success of every Vermont student.  The VT-HEC Mission Investment Fund will be focused on developing new professional learning programs in high need areas and supporting increased access to current VT-HEC offerings.

So far in FY’17 the VT-HEC Mission Investment Fund is supporting:

1. the new VT-HEC Early Childhood Workshop series, Connecting the Dots, which will begin on November 30, 2016 with the workshop, Strengthening the Foundations for Best Practice and Effective Curriculum with Jim Squires.
2. a limited number of scholarships for our Early Childhood/Early Childhood Special Education endorsement pathway and other courses and workshops.
3. development of a new program focused on Trauma-Informed Schools. This will include a series of graduate courses partnering with Northeast Family Institute as well as related workshops.  The first course, Developmental Trauma and Trauma-informed Schools:  Theory, Practice, Implementation, will start this spring. The first workshop, Truama-Informed Care, is scheduled for November 9 & 10.
4. development of a professional learning offering for paraeducators and others based on the Registered Behavior Technician competencies of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. We hope to begin offering this course in the spring of 2017.

You Can Help….

Please make a tax-deductive contribution to help us expand the impact of the VT-HEC Mission Investment Fund so that we can offer additional scholarships and develop new programs to meet the most critical professional learning needs in education in Vermont.

If you are going to make a donation this tax season please consider helping us help those that educate and support Vermont’s children and youth. Go to: vthec.org

The Science of Reading: Language, Print and the Brain

The VT-HEC is very excited to be bringing Donna Coch Ed.D from Dartmouth College to Montpelier, VT on December 9 to talk about reading and the brain. In this interactive workshop, we will explore the reading brain from the perspectives of education, psychology, and neuroscience. We will examine scientific evidence related to developing a brain that can read, from visual processing of letters to making meaningful connections to what the reader already knows. As Donna describes the day:

My overarching goal is to help the audience think differently about reading, and I borrow from all kinds of research about reading to tell an evidence-based story that I hope will be both familiar and new – familiar enough to build on a common foundation, and new enough to support deeper reflection on practice. I don’t believe that neuroscience studies can tell teachers what to do in their classrooms, but I do believe that neuroscience studies can provoke teachers to think about what they do in their classrooms, and what their students are doing,  in new ways.

Learning to read is an amazingly complex task that requires the development, interconnection, and coordination of multiple skills and neural systems. A theme throughout the day will be the remarkable plasticity of the human brain: educators and students together are literally building brains that can read. We will also consider children who are struggling to develop these skills and systems.

Donna Coch, EdD, is an Associate Professor in the Education Department at Dartmouth College. In her research, she uses a noninvasive brain wave recording technique, in combination with standardized behavioral measures, to explore both what happens in the brain as children learn how to read and how the fluently reading brain works. She teaches classes on the reading brain and atypical developmental pathways. A goal of both her research and her teaching is to make meaningful connections among mind, brain and education.

If you are involved in teaching literacy from pre-k through grade 5, are parents  of young or elementary-aged children or working with students who are struggling to master literacy skills, you won’t want to miss this informative and exciting learning opportunity.

For more information and to register go to: vthec.org

Chris Knippenberg, Teresa Bolick & Julie Taylor Highlight Fall Line-up

Now in its 15^th year, the VT-HEC will once again present an exciting, informative and practical series of workshops focused on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).  New to the line-up is Teresa Bolick Ph.D who will address the high incidence of co-existing disabilities in students with ASD and Julie Taylor SLP who will discuss using high technology core language systems with these students and others with complex communications needs.

High Technology Core Language Systems and Autism –  October 16, 2015: Julie Taylor SLP – Discover why using high technology core language systems can benefit students with ASD and others with complex communication needs and explore receptive language and behavioral visual supports for these students in this up-to-date review of how technology can support your students in the critical language area.

ASD & all the Other Ds! Autism and Co-existing Challenges – December 6, 2015: Teresa Bolick Ph.D – A remarkable number of individuals with ASD are diagnosed with other disorders but it can be difficult to recognize and treat them. This workshop will describe the co-existence of ASD and other disorders as well as challenges that may not be recognized as separate diagnoses (such as anxiety). This workshop will describe a systematic approach to understanding the cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral challenges of individuals with co-existing disorders and identify evidence-based educational, psychosocial, and behavioral interventions.

This will be the third year that the VT-HEC sponsors the highly successful series of WORKshops that are planned around participants being able to make and take materials that are developed to match the needs of their own students.  Chris Knippenberg will again lead this series partnering with Elena Frimerman, Patty Thomas and Patti Piotrowski. This year the topics will include socialization and play, using photo and video supports for learning and transitions, and designing visual systems to support early learners.  Past participants have left these workshops with not only ideas to put into practice right away but actual learning materials they can use with their students. This series includes:

A Systematic Approach to Teaching Socialization and Play for Young Learners – October 2, 2015: Chris Knippenberg/Elena Frimerman – Many children with developmental issues need specific, directed support in learning the basics of solo play and the foundations to notice and play with others. Learn how to reduce barriers to participation for children who struggle to engage in solitary and social play.

Creating Fast, Effective Photo/Video Supports for Participation, Transition & Learning – November 13, 2015: Chris Knippenberg/ Patty Thomas – Creating supports such as choice boards, task routines, social stories, and visual journals to support individuals with ASD and other developmental and learning differences that can be incorporated into a Universal Design for Learning approach.

Designing Visual Systems to Support Independence for Early Learners –  January 15, 2016: Chris Knippenberg/Patti Piotrowski (Registration opens December, 2015) – Schedules, work systems, and task directions are all important visual tools that enable children with ASD and other developmental disabilities to move independently through their day. This session will focus on starting systems for preschool and early elementary learners. We will explore a framework of choices to design individualized supports matched to a child’s cognitive, developmental, and motivational needs.

For more information or to download flyers see here: vthec.org

ASAP  – Approaching the Solution to the Autism Puzzle

The Vermont Interagency White Paper on Autism Spectrum Disorders of 2006 confirmed what all school districts in Vermont have been experiencing: a dramatic increase in students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) over an extended period of time.  Among the things the White Paper identified as being critical to address this growth was a significant increase in professional development to expand the capacity of case managers and staff to meet the needs of these students. Unfortunately, research has shown that most inservice training never results in the new skills and knowledge being consistently applied to benefit students.

VT-HEC’s new program, ASAP, aims to change that by developing a sustained, comprehensive and coordinated professional learning program on ASD that includes graduate courses, embedded professional development and workshop series that provide multiple year-round options for effective professional learning on ASD.  ASAP graduate courses can lead to VT-HEC’s Autism Specialist Certificate and include two courses to be offered this spring, ABA I starting in January, and ASD: Issues in Assessment & Intervention taught by the distinguished Dr. Particia Prelock of UVM. (If you have not taken a course from Patty you are missing a great opportunity to learn from an extremely knowledgeable and accomplished educator)

To help ensure professional development actually results in changes for students ASAP is providing a coordinated program of sustained and embedded inter-disciplinary professional development and supports for schools working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The ASAP team of experts takes the best interventions and assessments from multiple perspectives and delivers training and coaching to the school team to help them work together to apply the new skills to the students they are working with. Ultimately, it is the goal that these local school teams will be able to act as supports for other members of their school community in addressing the needs of all their students with ASD. ASAP has been piloting this program in Barre City and is now ready to accept new school districts in the program.

To compliment this work, the ASAP program is also offering a series of three workshops this spring focused on increasing learning opportunities for young children with ASD as well as a special workshop focusing on using iPads with students with ASD.  Chris Knippenberg, OT, will be the lead presenter for the series of workshops that will have participants actively engaged in developing the kind of appropriate tasks and materials for pre-school and early elementary-aged students with ASD that will result in increasing their engagement, independence and learning.

Kathryn Whitaker will be leading the workshop that will show how iPads can be used effectively and creatively for students with SLD in a morning session and ASD in the afternoon.   To find out more about these exciting learning opportunities see: https://www.vthec.org/documents/2013/10/autism.pdf  and https://www.vthec.org/documents/2013/11/technology-updated.pdf.

If you are particularly interested in how technology can be used with students who have challenges to their learning, the VT-HEC is offering another interesting option: two workshops with Chris CichoskiKelly that will explore this topic in depth and give you the opportunity to try out programs with students in between the two workshops https://www.vthec.org/documents/2013/11/technology-updated.pdf

For more information on ASAP and VT-HEC’s other related offerings contact Joy Wilcox, ASAP Coordinator  ([email protected])

Is High Quality Early Education a Good Investment?

We have often heard educators say that it pays to invest in early childhood development, but what would an economist say about  early childhood education as a public investment? In his article, “The Economics of Inequality”, economist James Heckman explores that question, not just from the moral equal opportunity viewpoint, but also from the perspective of investment return and the factors that will be most effective in increasing the productivity of the American economy. (more…)