Seattle Schools Special Education PTSA Events

Seattle Special Education PTSA General Membership meeting on Tuesday, January 17th from 8-10 pm. 

Executive Director of Special Education Devin Gurley will attend and answer questions. We will have a presentation from District staff about training and implementation of the District's revised policy and procedure on restraints of students. There will be a chance for small groups to make connections in breakout rooms. We hope you can join us!

Register on Eventbrite:
https://general_membership_meeting.eventbrite.com

Register in advance on Zoom for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/.../tZErde...

To join or renew your membership go to https://seattlespecialeducationptsa.org/

ASL, Spanish, Somali, and Vietnamese interpretation provided.

During the Washington State Legislative Sessions, WSPTA will send action alerts and informational broadcasts to WSPTA members who have subscribed to WSPTA's Action Network Group. These action alerts are quick, easy ways to communicate with our legislators on topics they are actively working on. 


May be an image of text that says 'Supporting Your Dyslexic Student 2022/23 Live Virtual Series for Families and Professionals 22 Special Ed & Dyslexia: Eligibility Under SLD Category Heather Schwindt Understanding Assessment Data & IEP Progress Monitoring Heather Schwindt ይንวን 23 Implementing SOR: Support for the Jen Gen Ed Classroom Stacy Bain 1028 23 Effective Intervention Sarah Fish Social Emotional Impact of SLDs, and Self Advocacy Kerry Jensen Heather Davis 23 Executive Function Support for Students Yey w/ Learning Disabilities Kathy Austin DYSLEXIA Presented By INNM Seattle Education PTSA everychild. EST. 2022 DECODING DYSLEXIA'


"Kids Do Well If They Can" Community Advocacy Meeting

Join us on Wednesday, January 25th at 7p.m. to discuss ways to support kids, parents and schools through the model of Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS): an alternative to punitive disciplinary practices that focuses on identifying problems that cause concerning behaviors in kids and engaging kids as partners in solving those problems collaboratively and proactively. 

On the agenda: 
• CPS trainings: what do they consist of, who are they for, how can they be accessed
• The use of CPS in reducing restraint and eliminating isolation in schools 
• OSPI's Restraint & Isolation Workgroup's Legislative Report (and Recommendations)
• Requesting CPS trainings in our schools: email templates
• District and state-wide strategies to implementing CPS

Zoom Link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83913339381

'Sip & Chat' is the Seattle Special Education PTSA's community gathering with families of students with disabilities where we come together to:
  • Listen to our community needs.
  • Support and share information, provide a sounding board, create a sense of belonging, and develop relationships.
  • Share what we learn with the district to advocate for our students.
  • Parenting a child with disability is not easy, and that’s before the challenges that the education of our children can bring on.
THIS SIP & CHAT WILL BE FOCUSED ON FAMILIES WITH STUDENTS WHO ARE TWICE EXCEPTIONAL/2e 
2e - Children who are highly capable/have high cognitive abilities and have disabilities.
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Please join us in a virtual community meet up on Thursday, January 19th at 8 pm MST. Brew a cup of coffee and chat.
All are welcome to join, membership is not required. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Register on Eventbrite:
https://sip-chat-2e.eventbrite.com

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 853 4984 6759
Passcode: 457827
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Given the fact that education is horrifically out of step with science and medicine on the issue of dyslexia, I sincerely hope every single teacher who has a chance to attend these dyslexia lectures does. Dyslexia is not just a difficulty reading but rather a neurobiological difference in language processing (phonology, specifically), and it's not the same thing as a non-dyslexic person having difficulty reading caused by discredited approaches such as three-cueing, balanced literacy, etc. These populations need very different things from school.

Our schools are full of teachers and counselors and administrators who sorely need this information.

Teaching Teachers
1/15/23, 8:23 PM
Outsider said…
Strange thing is, I have read in authoritative media, articles quoting well-placed experts who insist that dyslexia is not a thing, just a fancy word for slow to learn reading, with no identifiable neurological differences from any other slow reader; and the intervention is the same as for any slow reader. This seems to be an especially UK-centered school of thought. But probably a lot of teachers have been exposed to it.
1/16/23, 10:59 AM
Anonymous said…
Yes, that's a scientifically inaccurate and 30-year-old conception of dyslexia, and sadly very common indeed, although understandable because widespread fMRI studies have become feasible only in the past 5-10 years.

There is actually a physical difference in where linguistic information is processed in dyslexic and nondyslexic readers' brains, namely, nondyslexic readers use three separate areas of the brain to do this while dyslexic readers typically use only one. Most colleges of education including UW do not have faculty teaching new generations of teachers the state of the art in dyslexia research and interventions with an awareness of these strides in understanding it.

Ironically, if you use a curriculum designed to work well with dyslexic students, it works well for all students, and there is minimal need for pull-outs because fewer students will be struggling. But the interventions we use for struggling readers have to be different depending on whether they have dyslexia as the underlying cause or not. Example: memorizing spelling lists out of context is not usually helpful for kids with dyslexia and even counterproductive, but they can be helpful for kids struggling with reading for other reasons. Any teacher or interventionist or SLP who doesn't know that kind of nitty-gritty seriously lacks important tools for their job.

Dyslexic students at middle and high school ages who have learned to read but with a pattern of deficits they don't exhibit in other areas need quite different interventions again.

The education and neuroscience worlds do not seem to communicate with each other, and that siloing is harmful to both teachers and students. I wish UW did not allow it persist. But, in the meantime, this series of lectures should prove enlightening to many who lack this background.

mitt
1/16/23, 2:27 PM
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