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PEAL NEWS
Parent Education & Advocacy Leadership Center
www.pealcenter.org
Parent Education &
Advocacy Leadership Center
1119 Penn Avenue
Suite 400
Pittsburgh, PA 15222.4221
412.281.4404
1.866.950.1040 toll free
www.pealcenter.org
Save The Date!
The PEAL Center’s 9th
Annual Inclusive
Communities Conference
PEAL Now Serves Families and Youth
Statewide
The PEAL Center is honored to have been selected to receive the Parent
Training and Information Center grant from the U. S. Department of Education
Office of Special Education Programs to assist parents of children and young
adults with disabilities across the state of Pennsylvania!
“Families of children with disabilities often report how difficult it is to not only
absorb the shock of an initial diagnosis,” says Liz Healey, Executive Director,
“but to find resources and information needed to help them navigate the
medical and educational maze they have entered and will remain in for the
rest of their child’s life. The world they come into with the birth of a child with
a disability is a maze with no clear
entry point.”
Common Ground:
Creating a Community
Where All Belong
Wednesday
March 25th, 2015
at the Doubletree
Monroeville
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
PEAL Expansion . . . . . . . . 1
Dear Cindy . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
PEAL Projects . . . . . . . . . . 3
Inclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Health Care Needs . . . . . . 7
Winter 2014
The PEAL Center now serves EVERY county
in Pennsylvania!
“Research repeatedly shows that
families find that their best source
of information and support is other
families who are parenting a child
with similar needs. The PEAL Center
is an organization of parents of
children with disabilities reaching
out to provide information and
training on education and health”
The PEAL Center is committed to
ensuring that children, youth, and young adults with disabilities and special
health care needs lead rich, active lives and participate as full members of their
schools and communities.
This award brings an added emphasis on helping youth and young adults
understand their rights in various systems as they transition from school to
higher education, employment and community living. The PEAL Center will
mentor youth to advocate for themselves and to advise systems to better
understand their needs
Over the last 9 years the PEAL Center has honed its ability to help families
navigate the special education service system in Western and Central
Pennsylvania. This new 5 year grant will allow PEAL to bring these services to
all of Pennsylvania. The PEAL Center looks forward to this exciting opportunity
...Continued on Page 2
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Dear Cindy:
PEAL Expansion Cont’d
My son is in the 3rd grade and he has autism.
The school wants to keep him in general
education classes, but how is he going to learn
there? He is not on the same grade level as the
other children in the classroom. Also, he has
behaviors in the classroom that have to get on
the teacher’s nerves and probably bother the
other kids. So why do they want him in these
classes?
With this expansion comes
a need for additional staff.
The PEAL Center is thrilled to
welcome Diane Perry to the
PEAL Center
family. Diane’s son David, 21,
received special education
services and is currently
exploring college, working,
and volunteering.
Questioning Gen Ed?
Dear Questioning,
As members of the IEP team, parents bring vision
for their child’s future to the table.
Teachers and administration come and go—
parents are the constant. So, we wonder, what
do we want for our child?
We want them to be happy. We want them to be
accepted. We want them to enjoy life. But how
do we make sure that will happen? We presume
that our children, all of our children will be the
best that they can be. To be the best they can
be, we let them fly, falling and getting up when
they need to. Our kids with disabilities deserve
the same. Will they fall? Yes, they will. Will they
get up? Yes, they will.
In school, we want to give them the best
possible opportunity to learn. That is done by
presuming competence. Not guessing at what
we think they might be able to learn, but making
the least dangerous assumption and assuming
they will soar. We can do this by exposing our
kids to the same general education curriculum
that all children get. This does not assume that
they will learn the same as others, gain the same
knowledge as others or be able to prove they
have learned the same as others. It does mean,
however, that we have given them the
opportunity to show us what they “can do” rather
than assuming what they “can’t do.” There is no
harm in that!
In order to do this we will have to ensure that our
children with disabilities are given the supports
and services they need to be successful, however
that is defined for the individual student.
Whether that be academic supports, behavior
supports or physical supports, it is all based on
the individual needs of your child.
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Diane and son David
Diane has worked in the field
of educational advocacy and
family leadership as well as having served as President of
Pennsylvania’s Education for All Coalition (PEAC) for the
past 10 years.
PEAC is a partnership between families, school districts,
higher education and self-advocates collaborating
together to ensure students receive the supports needed
to be successful learners.
Diane is now an Eastern Region Parent Adviser for the PEAL
Center, “I feel like I am at home assisting families one-onone and am looking forward to providing trainings to
empower families.”
Ana Pacheco, the manager for Latino Services at Vision for
Equality, will be working with the PEAL Center doing
parent advising with Hispanic families. Ana is the mother of
Joel, 26, who received special education services and
pursued his medical transition and other services as an
adult. According to Ana “ Joel has been and is my best
teacher!” Ana has been advocating for children receiving
special education services and developmental
disabilities, and her passion is parent active participation in
their children education ... “ I am very happy the PEAL
Center is serving the children and families in this area and
very excited to join them!. Ana served as appointed adviser
to the Statewide Special Education Advisory Panel.
The PEAL Center is hiring! For a complete listing of open
positions, or to see full job descriptions, visit:
www.pealcenter.org or call 1-866-950-4404
Consider supporting the PEAL Center with a year end
contribution as we expand to cover the entire state of
Pennsylvania!
To donate, please visit:
http://www.pealcenter.org/donate.php
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Ongoing Projects at The PEAL Center
Project MAX - MAXimizing Access and Learning: Pennsylvania Core Standards
In the Fall of 2013, the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance and Training Network or PATTAN kicked-off a five year
inclusion project called Project MAX. Project MAX focuses on increasing the ability of Pennsylvania schools to
provide students with complex support needs maximum access to the PA Core Standards.
The PEAL Center and HUNE are working with PATTAN to develop informational materials and trainings for
families about how children with complex instructional needs can benefit from being provided with instruction
aligned with the PA Core Standards. Also, the PEAL Center will be inviting parents to join a statewide network of
families whose children will be participating in Project MAX.
Project MAX uses teams made up of professionals and parents who commit to a multi-year
plan that involves summer professional development, monthly professional development,
and monthly team meetings. Begun in a small number of Intermediate Units, ultimately,
Project Max will be implemented throughout the state.
Professionals and parents may struggle to understand how to provide access to the PA Core
Standards for students with complex instructional needs. Project MAX encourages both
parents and professionals to presume competence for students with complex needs,
sharing the same high expectations for all students, and learn how to provide access to the
PA Core Standards.
Would you like to know more about Project MAX? Visit PATTAN’s Project MAX information
page located at http://www.pattan.net/category/Educational%20Initiatives/Project%20MAX Or, contact Brenda
Cole at 1-866-950-1040 or bcole@pealcenter.org
Your Child Your Choice
Today, more than ever, parents have many schooling options for their children
with disabilities, including charter schools, cyber schools, parochial schools,
private schools and home schooling. Many children with disabilities who attend
non-traditional schools do not have the same procedural safeguards and
inclusion supports as children with disabilities who attend public schools.
Parents select non-traditional schools for many reasons. However, methods to
successfully support children with disabilities in the least restrictive
environment may be less well known in their non-traditional settings.
Internationally known educator, author, lecturer, and consultant on inclusive
education, Cheryl M. Jorgensen, Ph. D. is leading a group of PEAL Center parents
and professionals on a journey toward achieving inclusion in non-traditional settings. From Vision to Action:
Moving Toward Inclusive Practices for All Children, is an innovative virtual and face-to-face training program
designed to support parents and professionals in asking and finding the answers to the sometimes difficult
questions about using inclusive practices to support students with disabilities in the same classes as their peers.
Vision to Action participants have reported successful use of the strategies they have learned through Dr.
Jorgensen.
...Continued on Page 7
Inclusion! It’s What We’re All About!
As the PEAL Center expands to cover all of Pennsylvania, we wanted to remind our supporters what we are all
about. The Inclusion of all children in school and in society is at the fore-front of everything we do. Below are a
series of questions and answers about inclusion provided by nationally recognized researchers and friends of the
PEAL Center.
So what are the Benefits of an inclusive
education?
Dr. Rich Villa,
Bayridge Consortium Inc.:
Everybody Wins!
Inclusive education has numerous
documented benefits for students with
disabilities.
Over forty years of research and experience has
demonstrated that students with disabilities who are
included in general education settings perform better
both academically and socially than comparable
students with disabilities in non-inclusive settings.
Students who are included have fewer absences,
perform closer to grade level than peers in pullout
settings, and have higher achievement test scores.
Additionally, research has shown that post high school
quality of life indicators such as employment,
happiness, friendships, and self-esteem are higher for
students with disabilities who spend more time in
general education classrooms. Finally, the general
education environment provides students with
disabilities access to peers who can serve as academic,
social, and communication models.
There also are documented benefits for students
without disabilities.
The presence of students with disabilities does not
negatively impact the learning of typical peers. In
fact, Kalamouga and colleagues’ meta-analysis found
that 81% of the outcomes reported showed including
students with disabilities resulted in either positive or
neutral effects for students without disabilities.
Furthermore, researchers found that the inclusion of
students with severe disabilities enhanced classmates’
as well as their own achievement, self-esteem, and
school
attendance.
General and special education teachers and other
school personnel benefit as well.
Educators working in inclusive schools frequently
acquire new skills through professional development,
collaborative planning, and co-teaching. This results in
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their developing capacity to differentiate instruction for
all of their students and an increase in overall student
achievement. General and special education teachers
experienced in co-teaching report that they are happier
and feel less isolated.
Well what about friends? How does an
inclusive education help to build social
relationships?
Jeff Strully, Executive Director,
Jay Nolan Community Services:
Bullying, loneliness, abuse,
exploitation, and isolation are too
frequently some of the outcomes
students with and without disabilities experience in our
schools. It doesn’t have to be this way and more
importantly, it should not be this way! While there is
no easy nor simple answer, inclusion is a vehicle that
allows all young people to attend caring, concerned
schools that celebrate diversity and where differences
are viewed as strength not a weakness. Inclusive
education is one where people get a chance to get to
know one another and with hard work, luck, etc. can
develop friendships and social relationships.
The song phrases “after
all the crap I learned in
high school…” (Simon
and Garfunkel) and
“Time slips away and
leaves you with nothing
mister but / boring
stories of glory days”
(Bruce Springsteen) show that it is social relationships
and big dreams that we leave school remembering
more then anything. Who
remembers the big exam? But I am sure we all
remember our first girlfriend, the home-coming game,
the dance, drinking in the parking lot, etc.
Schools are, without a doubt, about learning. Nobody
disagrees, but it is also the place where we developed
our first and longest lasting friends; our first love; our
first experiments with becoming an adult; and lots
more.
If we can’t find ways for young children and older
teenagers to live together how are we going to do this
for adults? Schools are so critical in forming
relationships and providing hope for a better future not
just for some, but for all.
Ok but what about students with
behavior needs, how does inclusion work
for them?
Dr. Paula Kluth, Author,
Consultant, Advocate:
When children hit, argue, avoid work,
or struggle to sit down, teachers may
assume they need to be removed
from the inclusive classroom. For
some learners, this may be true for a
period of time; they may need breaks or require a “safe
space” that can be used as a preventative measure. Long
term exclusion, however, should not be the “adaptation”
implemented every time a student struggles.
Inclusive classrooms are important for all students.
Students with behavior needs are no exception.
Inclusive classrooms offer key preventative behavior
supports such as appropriately challenging curriculum,
responsive instruction, peer models and a learning
community. They also provide a rich context for
learning new skills. Students cannot learn social skills
without opportunities to make friends. They cannot
learn communication skills without interacting and
working with competent communication partners and
they cannot learn competencies related to behavior
if they are not allowed to solve problems and work
through difficulties in an authentic context.
Of course it is
Inclusive classrooms important to
individually assess each
are important for all child to determine
what adaptations may
students. Students
be needed to ensure
with behavior needs success. Placement in
an inclusive classroom
are no exception
is not enough. Most
students with complex needs will require a range of
supports. Some may need visuals (e.g., choice board)
and sensory supports (e.g., fidgets). Others may need
opportunities for movement while others may require
help from therapists and tools for emotional regulation
“
”
(e.g., deep breathing).
One tool I have used to determine student needs is the
Strengths & Strategies Profile (http://www.paulakluth.
com/readings/inclusive-schooling/strengths-and-strategies/). Teams may find this tool useful as they plan for
inclusion and create new ideas for positive behavior
support.
So what opportunities will students with
disabilities have when included in
general education classes that they
wouldn’t have in a self-contained
classrooms?
Cheryl M. Jorgensen, Ph.D.,
Inclusive Education Consultant
Not only do inclusive classes and
schools offer unique opportunities
for students with disabilities,
inclusion is related to better
outcomes!
Despite this, we are often asked to justify why
students with disabilities should be educated
alongside their classmates and to show the
advantages of an inclusive education. Since the 1970’s
there have been zero research studies done showing
better outcomes for students with disabilities when
they are educated in separate classrooms. Further, a
growing number of studies found that school
achievement and post school outcomes are
positively correlated with the amount of time children
with disabilities spend in a
general education
classroom – regardless of
the severity of their
disabilities. In these
studies, students with
disabilities improved their
communication, social
skills, behavior, reading
and math skills. Fewer
absences from school was
also demonstrated when
students with disabilities
were included in general
education with the
appropriate supports.
...Continued on Page 6
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Inclusion! cont’d
It used to be thought that the educational programs of
students with more significant disabilities – those with
intellectual disability, autism, or multiple disabilities -ought to focus primarily on learning functional skills.
With rising expectations and the use of assistive
technology, we now understand that all students can
develop literacy and numeracy skills, all students can
learn the essential elements of the general education
curriculum, and all students can learn the skills for
responsible adult life by being fully included when they
are in school.
In addition to the positive effects of inclusive
education, we also know that there are many negative
consequences of educating students with significant
disabilities in separate settings including poorer quality
IEPs, a lack of generalization of skills to regular
environments, disruption of the opportunity for real
friendships with classmates who don’t have disabilities,
the absence of appropriate role and behavior models, a
negative impact on all students’ attitudes about
disability and diversity, and a decrease in confidence by
general education teachers for teaching diverse
learners.
So what opportunities are available to students in
inclusive versus separate classes and schools?
Opportunities for a high quality education, social
relationships with peers with and without disabilities,
and the typical experiences that will lead to students’
full lives in their communities when they leave school.
OK great! So what advice do you have
for parents when they are working with
school teams towards an inclusive
education for their child?
Julie Causton, Ph.D. & Kate Richmond, M.S
Syracuse University
with your school team in order to achieve the most
meaningful inclusion for your child.
Share your inclusive vision with your child’s team.
Use this vision to set the tone for a collaborative and
positive relationship by including your child’s dreams,
talents, strengths, and needs. By voicing this vision you
can help your school team focus on ways to incorporate
these strengths and skills into your child’s IEP plan and
throughout the school day. Consider sharing
photographs or even a short video to illustrate your
child’s skills and gifts in order to provide the team with
a holistic view of your child.
Encourage your school team to learn about best
inclusive practices. Share articles and resources and
suggest that they observe successful inclusive
classrooms or schools. You can even include inclusive
training for your child’s staff in the IEP under support
for school personnel (See Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act of 2004, § 300.704(b)(4)(i), (b)(40(xi)).
Know the law and familiarize yourself with the full
range of supplementary aids and services that will be
used to support your child in the general education
classroom. The
federal law that
governs special
education, IDEA,
mandates that all
students with
disabilities have
the legal right to
be educated in the
Least Restrictive
Environment (LRE)
and cannot be removed from a general education
classroom until the full range of supplementary aids
and services have been considered. We suggest
bringing a list of these aids and services with you to the
IEP meeting. We also encourage you to download the
free iAdvocate app to provide you with legally sound
responses to many specific challenges your school
team may present as barriers to inclusion.
Remember, as a parent you know your student better
than anyone! Your collaborative efforts are essential to
the successful and meaningful inclusion of your child.
As a co-equal member of the IEP team, parents play an
essential role in advocating for the needs of their child.
What follows are a few ways to help you collaborate
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Children With Special Health Care Needs Can Take Advantage of Supports to Help Them Successfully Be Included
in Their Classrooms.
Children with physical and mental health needs may be able to receive nursing support, an instructional aide,
personal care aide, or wraparound services in school and early intervention.
In order to qualify for nursing services they must be medically necessary and are typically provided for children who
have complex health care needs requiring the services of a nurse to continually assess and meet their needs.
Nurses follow the care plan prescribed by the child’s physician. Nursing services can be provided through the child’s
IEP.
Instructional paraprofessionals are provided in accordance with the child’s IEP. Paraprofessionals assist the teacher
in providing instructional services by reviewing materials taught, assisting with classroom management, and
providing accommodations from the IEP. This service is usually provided in any instructional setting and may be
provided to the individual, a group of students, or the whole class.
Personal Care Aides help the child with personal care during the school day.
This may include assisting students with activities of daily living, such as use
of medical equipment, assisting students on and off their bus, positioning
children, assisting with self care needs, as well as monitoring their health and
behavior. Personal Care Aides may not work with more than one child at a
time however they can be assigned to assist different children during separate
blocks of time. Service of a PCA are a decision of the IEP team.
Wraparound services, which are Behavioral Health Rehabilitative Services
(BHRS), are mental health services provided in the home, school, or community and must be medically necessary.
Wraparound services are provided by therapeutic staff support, mobile therapists, and behavior specialists. These
services may be used in school to help keep a child in a regular classroom instead of a more restrictive classroom
and may be provided in daycare or early intervention. These services should be considered short-term training
opportunities for school staff to learn effective ways to handle behavioral concerns and are subject to being
reduced or eliminated by the child’s medical assistance insurance each time services are renewed.
If you feel your child may benefit by one of these services, be sure discuss your child’s needs with the IEP team. For
additional support or to answer any question you might have, please contact the PEAL Center.
Your Child Your Choice, cont’d
One participant used Vision to Action materials to conduct a training for teachers in her school setting. Another
participant indicated using Jorgensen materials to write an educational plan with her daughter’s school team.
Many of the participants have agreed that encouraging schools to provide common planning times for general and
special education teachers is essential to support quality inclusive practices.
This training series offers open enrollment. Those interested in joining From Vision to Action for the remaining
virtual and face-to-face training sessions can contact Brenda Cole at the PEAL Center. New enrollees can catch up
by viewing archived webinars and handouts so that they will have the same information as those who have
participated in the series from the beginning.
Would you like to know more about this training? Visit the PEAL Center’s Upcoming Training page at http://pealcenter.org/trainings-upcoming.php Or, contact Brenda Cole at the PEAL Center.
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Want to Help the
PEAL Center?
Parent Education & Advocacy
Leadership Center
1119 Penn Avenue Suite 400
Pittsburgh, PA 15222.4221
412.281.4404
1.866.950.1040 toll free
www.pealcenter.org
Donate to the PEAL Center by
signing up to receive the
newsletter electronically—saving
PEAL $1.50 per issue! Go to www.
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Mailing List in the left column or
call 1-866-950-1040
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PAID
PITTSBURGH, PA
PERMIT NO. 377
Save the Date!
Common Ground:
Creating a Community
Where All Belong
Wednesday,
March 25th, 2015
@ the Double Tree Monroeville
#PEALCon2015