Fall 2009

SELPA 1 CAC Newsletter Los Altos • Mountain View-Whisman • Mountain View Los Altos High School • Palo Alto • Santa Clara County Office of Education

IEP Wisdom

From Members of the CAC In This Issue: 1

IEP Wisdom

2

Meet Some New Members of the CAC

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Los Altos SEPTA Begins Third Year

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Ability Awareness Reaches More Students

6

The Palo Alto CAC

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Calendar of Events

Karen Mueller CAC Chair (650) 964-3689

The following are some tips we have gathered from several members of our CAC, just a few of the things we have learned over our collective years of IEP meetings. We hope you find them helpful. You can also find this on our web site, www.selpa1cac.org. And if you have a tip that you’ve learned that you don’t see here, email us (at [email protected])! We’ll add it to our list. Be prepared! •

Take the IEP Training class that is offered by Parents Helping Parents (find a schedule of classes at www.php.com).

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Know who will be attending and what their roles are with respect to your individual child’s needs.

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Know your rights. You’ll find a list of IEP resources on our web site, www.selpa1cac.org, or you can call PHP.

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Talk with your child’s teacher so that the meeting can be a way to formalize ideas that have been mostly hammered out in advance.

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Talk to other parents so that you have a good idea of what services and resources are available in your district. Ask your IEP administrator if he can recommend another parent you can talk to. You can also consult your child's therapists, others in the school district (the special ed director, the programs specialist) or an advocate (the CAC, PHP, or an independent advocate) for examples of what a school district is able to do.

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Get copies of the school’s information a few days before the IEP meeting. Give the school copies of your information ahead of time: your goals, concerns, and perhaps articles about your child’s condition and recommended approaches to address that condition. This way you don’t (Continued on page 4)

Patty Hurley Warm Line (650) 949-1926 Shari Arensdorf Newsletter Editor (650) 494-3534 ¿Usted habla español? (650) 947-0119 www.selpa1cac.org

Editor’s Note You have received this newsletter because you have a child with an IEP in the school districts that our CAC serves: Los Altos, Mountain View-Whisman, Mountain View Los Altos High School, and Palo Alto Unified. With this issue, we have switched to a more automated system of sending it out, as opposed to the very manual method we had been using. This may result in some families getting more than one copy. If this irks you, we apologize. Please feel free to pass your extra copies on to anyone else who might be interested — a teacher, a therapist, another family that might be seeking help — or to recycle them. Thank you!

Notes from the CAC Chair From Emotions to Advocacy This coming school year we will face financial problems in education due to the state budget crisis. As parents of special education students, we want services that will help our children succeed in school. This year, more than ever, we need to realize that the special education staff is stretched thin. As a community let’s set a goal to treat them with kindness and understanding, even while we advocate for our children. We can create a sense of balance by making sure to compliment teachers whenever possible. Even a small gift of flowers from your yard can brighten their day and create a better atmosphere for all of our children. The SELPA 1 CAC The CAC is a group of parents of children who have IEPs. There are 17 folks on our steering committee. We serve families in Mountain View, Los Altos, and Palo Alto whose children struggle in school. We have

a website that has a wealth of information: www. selpa1cac.org. We facilitate bringing our Ability Awareness Week program to school campuses. We have a warm line so that you can have your specific questions answered (949-1926 Patty or 964-3689 Karen). Talking to other parents and sharing our knowledge and experience is our most important function. Having an unusual child can be challenging, especially when you first get a diagnosis and are searching for what to do. We offer “coffees” six times a year. These are parent education events that address a range of topics. We have a hospitality time 15 minutes before each coffee; our CAC members wear badges so that you can identify them and ask any questions you may have. Perhaps the most important thing to do when you have a special child is to have a support group. While I also enjoy a group that is centered on my child’s specific difficulties, the CAC is a mixed group that provides tremendous emotional camaraderie. We always welcome new members to our steering committee. —Karen Mueller

Meet Some New Members of the CAC

parents who are earlier in the journey. She is currently the president of the Los Altos Special Education PTA (SEPTA). Her advice: “Get involved. You learn something new in every conversation!”

Annie Morgan is a parent of a special needs child and a resident of Los Altos. “In my search for information to help my daughter, I found the SELPA 1 CAC at a Special Education Parent Teacher Conference. I filed it away for a long time while I went out and tried to find answers of how I could help better serve my child. I came across it again in my mounds of paperwork and decided to give it a try. I quickly learned it was a valuable resource of information and education on numerous topics that directly affect my child everyday. What I didn't expect was the support I would receive by just being able to listen and participate in an intelligent, educational, and informative organization.”

Teresa Maldonado Marchok, a Mountain View resident, has two children. Her 10-year-old daughter with autism attends Monta Loma elementary. She is a licensed physical therapist, certified Pilates instructor and was a former professional contemporary dancer in NYC. Teresa joined CAC in late 2008 and is inspired by the level of mutual respect and camaraderie members have for one another. "The meetings are always productive and positive in tone.” Her special interest focuses on using movement to motivate kids. She's currently facilitating the integration of Brain Gym exercises into her daughter's classroom. “Being involved in CAC is a great networking resource and it fulfills my need to give back to my community.”

Gita Gopal, from Los Altos, has two sons in college and a daughter with learning differences in 7th grade at Blach. She retired after 20 years in the high tech industry about 3 years ago to spend more time with her children and to get involved with helping students with special needs and their parents. Over the years, in researching educational and treatment options for her daughter, she has often felt alone and unsure as to what to do next. By getting involved in CAC and Los Altos SEPTA, Gita gets to be part of a supportive community with immense collective knowledge about special needs education and to also be able to help other

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Nancy Chan works in her clinic in Palo Alto where she practices physical therapy , Pilates, golf fitness, and nutrition counseling. Her daughter has Selective Mutism and goes to Los Altos High. She joined CAC because she likes the parent education classes. She also enjoys the emotional support the group offers, given that there is currently no support group for Selective Mutism in the Bay Area.

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S E LP A 1 C A C N E W S L E T T E R

Inspiration “Children will teach you about yourself. They’ll teach you that you are capable of deep compassion, and also that you are definitely not the nice, calm, competent, clear-thinking, highly evolved person you fancied yourself to be before you became a parent.” —Harriet Lerner, The Mother Dance

Los Altos SEPTA Begins Third Year The Los Altos Special Education Parent Teacher Association has completed a successful and active second year and is gearing up for its third. A group of dedicated special education parents, along with Anne LePage as the District Sponsor, are committed to strengthening the community and our schools through inclusion and education. Above all, they hope to support and empower students with diverse learning needs and their families.

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SELPA-SEPTA Parent Education Evening Socials (dates and topics to be announced).

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Meet and Greet with Superintendant Tim Justus (September 16, 2009).

Meetings are generally held at different elementary schools in the Los Altos district. The Los Altos SEPTA will continue partnering with our SELPA 1 CAC to offer opportunities such as Ability Awareness Training and educational seminars. You are welcome to visit the SEPTA website at www. losaltossepta.org or contact them at info@losaltossepta. org. To join email [email protected].

Over the last year, SEPTA organized social events for the children, including a talent show and a play. These events had broad participation and were much enjoyed. SEPTA also provided parent educational opportunities and forums for parents and staff to discuss the planned program restructuring. Over the next year, SEPTA plans to continue the successful social and educational events. Other goals include helping to ensure smooth transition to the new district program structure, and working with the administration to establish an advisory council for special education issues Included in the Los Altos SEPTA Calendar of Events for 2009-10: •

Bi-monthly general meetings; the first one is in September.

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Family events for community building/ fundraising: Fundraising event in the Fall, Talent Show in Winter and a Student Play in Spring.

SELPA 1 CAC NEWSLETTER

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may be needed, so adjourn the meeting and arrange to meet again later.

IEP Wisdom (Continued from page 1)

have to hurriedly read something during the meeting. And do feel free to write example goals; the school is usually happy to work from them. •

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Be ready to answer specific questions about what behaviors are especially challenging and how you'd like to see your child behave differently. Have a list ready of your child’s specific academic problems (example: he can't hold a pencil or sit still for more than 5 minutes). Also be ready to list your child’s strengths so that the people in attendance can get an idea of the whole child.

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Be hard on the issues and soft on the people. Learn how to leave you emotions at home. Learn how to use school jargon. Remember that no one is as interested in your child as you are. Become an expert on your child.

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Do not sign the IEP until you have slept on it if you have even the slightest reservations. It is easy to wait and hard to revoke it once signed.

Some other tips: •

Having an IEP meeting in June can be a problem. What the school has said it would do can get lost in the year-end shuffle and everybody will have forgotten everything by the time the new school year rolls around. Ask to have it moved up to May or even April, so that some things can happen before the summer break.

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It's good to try to meet with the new teacher, in the new classroom, just before the start of school. (It often has to be the day before the first day of school, since many teachers aren't back until then.) This doesn't have to an IEP meeting — although it will likely involve everyone who was at the IEP — but merely an "orientation," where everyone can meet each other, look at the classroom environment and identify potential problems.

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Put everything in writing – all requests, meeting minutes, reports, etc. A paper trail can be a useful tool if questions come up.

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Be aware that there is a stay in place provision in the law – your child remains in their current placement until an agreement is reached about a new placement. This is great if you like where they are…and not so great if you are trying for a new placement.

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If you think you have compliance issues or any other issues, get in touch with the CAC warm line. They are familiar with district personnel and can help you find the best way to proceed.

At the meeting: •

Bring your spouse with you to show that you are united. If you can’t bring a spouse, bring a second set of eyes and ears.

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The old saying, "You can catch more flies with sugar than vinegar" holds true. Phrase things in a positive way. Always recount the successes before you discuss the problems.

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Think of the meeting as a collaboration. Consider the idea that hearing the different perceptions that others have of your child may help you to better understand him. Try to listen with an open mind. Remember that your child's behavior at school may be different than how it is at home, and that the IEP is about the school portion only of your child's life.

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Be clear, be fair and be polite at all times. Remember to bring your sense of humor to the meeting. It is in your and your child's best interest to avoid becoming adversarial.

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Don't be afraid to call another meeting, even if it's been a pain to coordinate everybody's schedule. Good reasons to call another meeting can include:

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The form has not been prepared. There should already have been some footwork done to prepare for the IEP meeting, such as filling out Form A-1, which shows where the child is right now. Which means the person responsible for the IEP form (usually the resource teacher) has already consulted with the child's teacher and gotten a picture of the child's current abilities, etc. (and don't let them just photocopy last year's!).

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You have not reached agreement on goals and accommodations. More information or back-up

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S E LP A 1 C A C N E W S L E T T E R

Ability Awareness Reaches More Students Do you ever feel that even though you have tried to prepare your child for the world out there that maybe the world may not be prepared for your child? This seems to be the sentiment among many special needs families. How can we help cultivate a welcoming environment which is willing to learn about and accept our children? It seems the common goal of parents is education and inclusion for all, mainstream and special needs students alike. The SELPA 1 CAC student-centered Ability Awareness Week program seeks to shed a bright light on these key concepts. Over the past six years this program has been rolled out many times to our public schools in Los Altos, Mountain View and Palo Alto. This multifaceted program allows students from kindergarten through 8th grade to experience simulations of common visible and invisible learning and social challenges which our children deal with every day. There is much discussion about teasing and bullying and how individuals have the power to make better choices. The hope is that each student will feel empowered by feeling very significant in the world around them and by respecting and receiving others with various challenges with love and understanding. In Los Altos, we have been to Santa Rita Elementary, to Covington Elementary three times, and to Almond Elementary three times. Loyola Elementary will be hosting a third AAW in November. There have also been AAW programs held in Mountain View and Palo Alto, including Bubb, Landels, Castro, Fairmeadow, and Juana Briones elementary schools. We have even consulted with Mountain View High School for their Best Buddies Program and with many schools outside of our SELPA. SELPA 1 CAC NEWSLETTER

Program Returns to Los Altos Springer Elementary in Los Altos is hosting a week of AAW for the second time during the week of September 21-25, and both the new principal, Wade Spenader, and the rest of the campus is quite excited about it. Karen Mueller, our SELPA 1 CAC president and a Springer parent, will be leading the program. Mueller has this to say, “I always feel energized when I do this program. The students are so receptive, responsive, and inspiring. They are surprised by the experiences and anxious to share their ideas.” AAW Goes To Middle School A relatively new area of our Ability Awareness program is AAW for middle schools. We have developed a new series of hands-on activities which promote awareness and respect for our own and others' strengths and challenges. The program is specifically designed for students who will are encountering an expanded peer group which may have different life experiences. We allow the students to "experience" such things as dyslexia, memory issues, and perception differences, and stimulate informative discussion among the students. So far, we have reached the students of Jordan, JLS and Egan middle schools, either as a one-day health class supplement or during one class period. How About an AAW at Your School? The new edition of the AAW “how-to” manual is near completion and will be posted for parents and teachers to view on our web site. If you are interested in hosting this valuable program at your school, please feel free to contact Patty Hurley at 650-949-1926 or [email protected].

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The Palo Alto CAC

Missed A Talk?

The Palo Alto CAC is a separate, independent group that also holds parent education programs. All programs are held in the PAUSD Board Room, 25 Churchill, from 7-9 PM. The following are some of the programs planned for 2009-2010. For updates and more information, go to www.cac-paloalto.org.

Have you missed a talk or CAC event that you really wanted to attend? Now you can view talks that you have missed on DVD. We have been filming our talks and copying them onto DVDs for the past few years. They are available at the Covington library in the resource room. All DVDs must be checked out with the librarian there, and standard library rules apply.

September 21 Dr. Francis Wren on "Keeping the Conversations Open; Dealing with Teenage Depression" October 26 Meet and discuss issues with the PAUSD school board candidates.

We would like to start putting our videos online via YouTube so that you can just click on a link and be there. This will be a goal of ours for this coming year. If you know a little something about video editing, and want to lend a hand, please send an email to [email protected].

November 16 Dr. Susan Markowitz on "Parenting Children with Special Needs: Finding the Balance Between the Joy and Sorrow"

We have the following titles available in the Covington Library from the 08-09 academic year:

February 22 6th Annual CAC Sweetheart Awards: Honoring those in our community that make a positive difference in the lives of our children with special needs.

College for LD/ASD and ASD students

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Cyberbullying Parent Survival Skills Legislation Combining Natural and Medical Treatment for ASD and ADHD children College Fair speakers

Visit us on the web at www.selpa1cac.org

Warm Line

Corrections

Anyone needing advice concerning special education issues is welcome to call our SELPA I CAC Warm Line (650) 949-1926 between the hours of 9:00 AM and 9:00 PM. If we don’t have the answers, we will direct you to someone who will.

If you move or otherwise need to change your mailing address, contact your school and they will pass along the information for our mailing lists.

La Línea de Ayuda Si se necesita ayuda con la coordinación se puede llamar “La Línea de Ayuda” (650) 947-0119 de 9:00 AM hasta las 9:00 PM. Si no le podemos ayudar le podemos dirigir a alguien quien puede.

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Contributions We’d love to hear from you about topics that interest you or any ideas or tips you might have. If you have something that you’d like to share with others or that you’d like to have printed in this newsletter, please email Shari Arensdorf at sarensdorf@ sbcglobal.net.

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SELPA 1 CAC NEWSLETTER

Calendar of Events PARENT EDUCATION COFFEES FOR 2009-2010 Programs are held in the Covington Elementary multipurpose room, 205 Covington Road, Los Altos. Doors open 15 minutes before each program for light refreshments and socializing. We ask for a donation at the door, but otherwise all of our events are free and open to anyone who feels they might benefit. No registration is necessary. Speakers and programs are subject to change without notice. Be sure to check our website, www.selpa1cac.org, for the most current information. September 23, 9-11 AM Momfulness Parenting can be stressful, especially if your child has an IEP. Come hear Denise Roy, a meditator and a family therapist, talk about how to use mindfulness to discover peace, joy, and wholeness while parenting even while your child may present special challenges. She is the author of two books: Momfulness and My Monastery is a Minivan. October 21, 7-9 PM I Think My Child Needs Help—Now What Do I Do? A presentation for parents just getting started. The first hour will be a panel presentation by a developmental psychologist, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, and a speech pathologist who will cover how they assist families who are seeking initial help. Dr. Steve Newton, a Los Altos-based developmental psychologist will discuss private testing and evaluation as well as psychological therapies. During the second hour, the floor will be open for your questions and concerns. November 18, 7-9 PM Movement to Motivate Come hear how you can use movement to enhance academic and physical learning as well as self esteem. Learn some practical strategies that you can put into practice immediately. Programs presented include Brain Gym, Pilates for Kids, and Dance in the Classroom. Speakers include Teresa Maldonado Marchok MPT, a physical therapist and mom of a special needs child, Ehud Krauss, founder of indepenDANCE, applying the benefits of dance education to academic improvement, and Rose Nolen, a third grade teacher integrating movement into her curriculum for the last 15 years. Event geared for parents and teachers. January 20, 9-11 AM Meet Your Special Ed Directors A moderated panel discussion by SELPA 1 Special Ed Directors Anne LePage, Steve Gingras, Hilarey Davis, and Carol Zepecki. They will discuss K-12 special ed programs and services that may be available to your

SELPA 1 CAC NEWSLETTER

child, including transitioning issues and how to most effectively work with the special ed team. They will also discuss how state budget cuts and federal stimulus money affect programs and services in our four districts. Bring your questions on these topics. March 17, 7-9 PM Sibling Relationship Issues When One Sib Has Special Needs Leslie Vasquez, program coordinator from Parents Helping Parents, will discuss how siblings may have issues such as isolation, loss of attention, embarrassment, guilt, and responsibility. Learn some strategies to deal with these issues and ways parents and others can support siblings. Also, find the positives that siblings gain by being actively involved with a brother or sister with special needs. May 5, 7-9 PM Cognitive Therapies Cognitive enhancement with programs such as PACE, Brainware Safari, Cogmed, and Captain’s Log can provide many benefits to all students. These programs use brain-based learning and assist those that need extra boosts with their auditory and visual functions and short and long term memory. Sound therapy can also play an important role in cognitive enhancement. Come hear several speakers discuss the benefits of these alternative approaches.

SAVE THE DATES! If you would like to get involved with any of the CAC’s activities, come to one of our steering committee meetings. We meet the first Monday of each month during the school year, from 9-11 AM, in the Special Education portable at the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District Office, 1299 Bryant Avenue, Mountain View. Here are the dates for this coming year: October 5 November 2 December 7 February 1

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March 1 April 5 May 3 June 7 PAGE 7

2009-2010 SELPA I CAC Coffees For a description of these programs, see page 7.

September 23, 9-11 AM Momfulness

January 20, 9-11 AM Meet Your Special Ed Directors

October 21, 7-9 PM I Think My Child Needs Help— Now What Do I Do?

March 17, 7-9 PM Sibling Relationship Issues When One Sib Has Special Needs

November 18, 7-9 PM Movement to Motivate

May 5, 7-9 PM Cognitive Therapies

Covington Elementary School Multipurpose Room 205 Covington Rd., Los Altos

SELPA I CAC Newsletter is distributed by Santa Clara County Office of Education 1290 Ridder Park Drive SELPA Office-Mc277 San Jose, CA 95131-2398