Updates from Special Services

2012-01-19T09:56:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that pre-school screening will be held on February 10th at Prairieview school. Please call 630 783 5168 for an appointment. Also, please check www.sased.org for workshops and helpful information related to special education.

2011-11-07T07:53:00.000-08:00

Our first pre school screening of the year was held in October. It was the first time being held at Prairieview school. It was very helpful to be able to access the pre school classroom as well as equipment and staff. Our next screening will be held at Prairieview on February 10th. Call 630-783-5168 for an appointment.
Please remember to check the SASED.org website for helpful information and workshops. In addition to this website the Journal of Special Education and the magazine Focus on Autism and other Developmental Disabilities may be a helpful resource. If you every have any questions please feel free to call 630-783-5168.

2011-09-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

Reminder to call for pre school screening. Call 630-783-5168 to schedule and appointment for the October 14th screening. Areas to be screened are speech language, cognitive, gross and fine motor skills.
The area of special education is constantly changing. With the introduction of Response to Intervention there have been changes as to the eligibility process within the last couple of years. There are many interesting articles about Response to Intervention (RtI). Visit the website www.distictadministration.com/topicchannel.aspx for an informative article on RtI and data keeping. Please call 630-783-5168 if you have any questions.

2011-08-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year. Just a few reminders that our Early Childhood Blended Preschool programs curriculum night will be held on September 6th at Praireview School. Also. our first pre school screening will be held on October 14th at Prairieview School. Please note that there is a change in location. Previously we have held screenings at Elizabeth Ide School. They will now be held at Prairieview.

I know that this is an extremely busy time of year but I think it would be worth your wild to view a website that has some great educational activities for kids. The website is schoolthemes.com the article is "Fun Activities for Kids, Learning Activities for Kids, Kids Educational Activities".

2011-03-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring!! This has been a very busy winter for the teachers. All the special education staff had the opportunity to attend presentations and seminars on the County Institute Day. Some of the topics included RtI, Writing, Math Interventions, Anxiety, Autism, ADHD, and Executive Functioning. The teachers came back to school enthusiastic and excited to share with the staff and students. Pre school screening was held in February and in case you missed this our next one will be held in October of 2010. I hope everyone has a wonderful spring break and takes time to enjoy the beauty of spring.

2011-01-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all our Center Cass families. I hope you all enjoyed the break. Just a reminder that pre-school screening will be held February 18th at Elizabeth Ide school. Please call 630-783-5168 to schedule your appointment.

2010-12-10T11:08:00.001-08:00

2010-10-01T08:59:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder that pre school screening will be on October 15th at Elizabeth Ide School. Call 630-783-5168 for an appointment. Our next screening will be held February 18th also at Elizabeth Ide School.

2010-08-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the start of the 2010-2011 school . I hope everyone enjoyed the summer. Pre school screening will be coming up on October 15th. Please call 630-783-5168 for an appointment. Please check out our website and ccsd66.org for information regarding special education services and programs.

2010-04-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful spring weather. As the school year winds down I want to make you aware of a few changes to our early childhood program for the 2010-2011 school year. We will be operating a blended preschool program all day. The three year olds will attend in the morning and the four year olds in the afternoon. The program will be housed at Prairieview. Anna Marie Parker has been on maternity leave for this school year but will be returning to the position full time in the fall. We are all looking forward to a very exciting year. Our first preschool screening will be held in October.

2010-01-22T07:33:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that preschool screening will be held February 19th at Elizabeth Ide School. Please call 630-783-5168 to schedule an appointment.

2009-11-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

Our blended preschool program will be hosting its open house on Monday November 16th at Prairieview school. I am looking forward to meeting all the parents and introducing our staff and the curriculum. We also have the curriculum and helpful hints for parents on our district website.

2009-10-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

We have just completed our first pre-school screening of the school year. Our next one will be held on February 19th at Elizabeth Ide School. Call 630-783-5168 for an appointment. Please be sure to check out the District 66 website and click on any of the three schools then click on special education. We have just finished updating this site with information for parents on a variety of topics.

2009-09-11T08:13:00.001-07:00

This year is off to a great start. Our preschool screenings will take place at Elizabeth Ide school on October 16th and February 19th. These are for children 3-5 years of age. The screening will evaluate speech/language skills, cognitive ability and motor skills. If you would like an appointment please call 630-783-5168. Also, please check the district web site under special education for helpful web sites and information. All the best for the new school year.

2009-05-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

Just a few reminders for this very busy month of May. On May 20th Carol Dahlquist, Behavior Specialist with SASED will be presenting on brain research at our District 66 parent group meeting. This will be held at Lakeview Junior High in the LLC from 7-9 on Wednesday May 20th. Hope to see you all there!

2009-03-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring!!! Pre-school screening was held at Elizabeth Ide school last week. Our next pre-school screening will be in the fall of the 09-10 school year with a date to be announced at the start of the school year. If you would like to make an appointment please call 630-783-5168 in late August to early September to register.

This year we have formed a parent group to discuss current topics of interest. So far we have had our social workers talk about behavior and teachers from each building gave a presentation on instructional strategies. I am very please to announce that On May 20th we will be having another presentation by Carol Dahlquist, SASED Behavior Specialist. She is an expert in brain functioning and how it relates to school. I have had the pleasure of attending one of her presentations and was greatly impressed with all the knowledge that she had to share. I hope you can attend this informative night it will be well worth it. The presentation will be May 20th 7-9 p.m. at Lakeview School IMC.

2009-03-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

Just a few reminders for the month of March. This Thursday March 5th District 66 is hosting a parent group meeting with teachers from all three schools speaking on Instructional Strategies is the classroom and at home. It will be held at Elizabeth Ide School 7:00-9:00 p.m. Preschool screening will be held on March 20th at Elizabeth Ide School. Please call 630-783-5168 to schedule an appointment.

2009-02-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that pre-school screening will be held March 20, 2009 at Elizabeth Ide. Please call 630-783-5168 to make an appointment. There will be two meetings held for parents to discuss RtI and Instructional Strategies. The RtI meeting will be held at Prairieview February 19 at 7:00 p.m. This will be the second meeting held this year to inform parents on the progress made and the future of RtI in the district. The meeting for Instructional Strategies will be held at Elizabeth Ide school on March 5th at 7:00 p.m. Teachers from all three schools will present on homework strategies and helpful instructional strategies that can be used at home and at school. I hope you will be able to join us at one or both of these meetings.

2009-01-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all the Center Cass family. We are off to a very busy start to the new year. Benchmarking for RtI is going on at each building in the month of January. It has been exciting to see the progress the students are making in reading. Just a reminder that preschool screening will be held March 20th at Elizabeth Ide. Appointments are being taken now please call 630-783-5168. Also, our second parent meeting will be held at Elizabeth Ide on March 5 7:00-9:00. The topic will be Instructional Strategies presented by our district staff. Hope to see you all there.

2008-11-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe we have completed our first trimester of school. The Response to Intervention program is up and running throughout the district. The feedback so far has been very positive from the staff and community. Also, a thank you to the board of education who approved the purchase of several researched based interventions and staff training that have helped make this program a success. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

2008-11-07T12:09:00.000-08:00

Our newly formed Parent Group had its first meeting on Thursday November 6 at Prairieview. Our guest speakers were our three district social workers, Valerie McCaffrey, Virginia Westra, and Meg Wills. The topic of the evening was behavior strategies for effective parenting. The evening was well attended and well received. Two more meetings will be held this year one in February and one in May with the dates to follow. These meetings are open to all parents. I hope to see you all there.

2008-10-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Preschool screening was held at Elizabeth Ide last Friday, October 10th. We will be holding another screening on February 13th at Elizabeth Ide school. Please call 630-783-5168 for an appointment.

Center Cass School District is hosting the first Parent Group on November 6th at Prarieview School from 7:00 pm. - 9:00 p.m. The topic will be behavior strategies to use at home and at school. Our three district social workers, Valerie McCaffrey, Virginia Westra and Meg Wills, will be the presenters. Please come with questions and ideas to share. Hope to see you there.

2008-09-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air which means it is time for pre-school screening!! The first screening will be held October 10th at Elizabeth Ide school. Please call 630-783-5168 for an appoiontment.

Beginning this school year District 66 will host a parent group to be held in the fall, winter and spring. This group is designed to inform parents of the latest research and techniques available to assist at home and at school. In addition, parents will be able to ask questions and share any techniques they are currently using. Our first meeting will be held November 6 at Prairieview school from 7:00-9:00 P.M. The evening will include district Social Workers Valerie McCaffrey, Ginnie Westra and Meg Wills as speakers. More information will be coming soon.

SASED

2008-09-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Center Cass District 66 is a member of SASED, a special education cooperative located in Naperville. We employ speech therapist, psychologists, social workers, occupational and physical therapists from SASED. They offer training and services for behavior and other therapies as well. There website is http://www.sased.org/

Just a reminder that pre-school screening is Friday October 10, 2008. It will be held at Elizabeth Ide School. Appointments are being taken now. Please call 630-783-5168 for an appointment.

2008-08-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the 2008-2009 school year. Our first preschool screening will be October 10th at Elizabeth Ide. We would like to welcome our new psychologist,Gemma Johnson to Elizabeth Ide School. In addition to Gemma we would like to welcome Colleen Nino, who is substituting for Ivy Gabriel while she is on maternity leave. If you have any questions please call 630-783-5168. Have a great year!!

2008-04-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for returning the Special Services surveys. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and will be helpful in planning for next year.

Many of you may have heard of RtI (Response to Intervention). This is a new federal law with implications for general education as well as special education. Response to Intervention identifies and provides high quality instruction and research based interventions matched to student needs. RtI measures the rate of improvement over time to make important educational decisions. RtI uses ongoing student performance data to determine if an intervention is working. If the intervention is not working it is time to do something different. RtI uses a 3 tiered approach to problem solving. All students are screened. This tells us where each student is compared to peers. It tells educators which studnets need intervention. The students move up the 3 tiers depending on the level of interventions needed for the student to make progress. RtI is an overall integrated system of service delivery. RtI is not an eligibility system. It is not simply a way to find students eligible and or reducing the number of students placed into special education.

We have formed committees in all three buildings this year. The staff has attended training offered through SASED/ASPIRE throughout the year. We will continue to implement the RtI process next year.

2008-04-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a restful spring break. The Special Services Department is sending out a parent survey. Please take a moment to complete the survey and return it in the self addressed envelope enclosed. Your input is very important to the educational process. Thank you in advance for completing this important survey.

2008-02-29T07:27:00.000-08:00

Pre-school screening was held on February 22, 2008 at Elizabeth Ide school. This was for screening children ages 3-5 in the areas of speech language, fine and gross motor, and cognitive ability. We will be holding another screening in the fall of 2008. Please check our website for more details in the fall.

2008-02-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

On Insitute Day, February 5 our teaching assistants had the opportunity to attend a workshop on Autism Spectrum Disorders. They were inserviced on techniques that are most effective when working with these students in the classroom.

FYI - There is guide for parents entitled "A Parents Guide" which is the educational rights of students with disabilities. This the "the blue book" of special education and is developed by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for parents to learn about the educational rights of children who have disabilities and receive special education services. The ISBE website is available on line at www.isbe.net. In addition click on to www.ccsd66.org and access the special education link under our schools for more helpful information.

2008-02-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

There are several questions I am often asked concerning the special education process. I would like to address some of these questons here.
What is an IEP? An IEP is an Individualized Education Program written and developed for each public school child who is eligible for special education. The IEP is created through a team effort and reviewed at least once a year.
Who are the IEP team members? The IEP team consists of a multidisciplinary team that includes the parents, regular education teacher, special education teacher, individuals who can interpret the evaluation results, a representative from the school system, and anyone who may have special knowledge about your child.
How is eligibility determined? For a child to be able to receive special education services, he/she must be identified to have a disability that adversely affects his/her educational performance.
Once your child is found eligible for special education education services and IEP is written to meet your child's unique educational needs. The IEP guarantees that your child will receive the special education and related services as agreed upon and listed on the IEP.
There is a booklet available in the Special Services office 630-783-5168 that explains in detail this process. Please call if you would like a copy.

Remember Preschool screening held on February 22 at Elizabeth Ide. Please call 630-783-5168 to make an appointment.

2008-01-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday. We are off to a busy start this new year. I have begun the annual reviews with the high school. This is the second year that we hold the meetings at the high school instead of at Lakeview. The students are able to meet with and discuss their schedules with their guidance councelor. Having the meetings at the high school helps the transition to go smoothly.

On a different note I would like to explain a little about our special education cooperative. The School Association for Special Education in Dupage County (SASED) is a cooperative of 19 school districts providing services to 6,400 students with disabilities. A continuum of services is provided for all students with disabilities ages 3-21 at various participating school district locations throughout DuPage County. SASED as an extension of District 66, provides programs and services for students with moderate and severe disabilities and for students whose behavior requires an alternative setting. SASED also operates specialized programs for students with severe hearing, vision, and orthopedic disabilities. Private placement opportunities are also utilized, when appropriate. SASED can be found at www.sased.org. This website has information about programs and services as well as many helpful links.

Remeber pre-school screening will be held at Elizabeth Ide February 22, 2008. Please call 630-783-5168 to schedule an appointment.

Happy Holidays

2007-12-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

The special services department now has a parent link. This can be found on each of the three schools websites. There is a wealth of valuable information for parents on a wide variety of topics. In addition to this, I would like to remind the community that preschool screening is offered again this year on February 22 at Elizabeth Ide School. This screening is for children between the ages of 3-5 years and assess the areas of cognitive ability, speech and motor skills. Call 630-783-5168 and make an appointment.

Have a wonderful holiday and all the best in the New Year!

Autism Cases on the Rise

2007-11-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

Autism appears to be skyrocketing. The latest estimate, as many as one in 150 children on the autism spectrum. Groups are advocating more money for research. They claim that autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics is stressing the improtance of screening every child twice by the age of 2 for autism.

In the 1990's the autism umbrella expanded and is now known as autism spectrum disorders. Included in the psectrum is Asperger's syndrom and PDD-NOS or Pervasive Develoopmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.

Parent's perception of autism and austim services provided by schools has changed. Doctors for many years believed autism was the cause of being raised by a cold, unloving mother. This theory has since been discredited but remains difficult to change social perceptions. In the 1980's parents were often more comfortable with a diagnosis of mental retardation than autism. This has now changed and parents are more likely to be comfortable with a diagnosis of autism over mental retardation.

In 1990 the word autism as a disability category was added to the current categories. Before this was added autism was under other disabling conditions such as mental retardation or behavior disorders. The U.S. Department of Education data shows the number of students with autism rose from 42,500 in 1997 to nearly 225,000 in 2006. The number of students labeled as mentally retarded declined from about 603,000 to about 523,000.

There are many ideas as to why this increase is happening. Some believe environmental factors ranging from preservatives in vaccines to contaminates in food or water. Another theory is that autism is on the rise and the reasons are complex. Labeling and diagnosing play a role as do genetics but many believe the increase surpasses any of those explanations. Much of the money for research has concentrated on genetics research but this is recently being changed so as much as 50% of this money will be used to research possible environmental triggers.

Verbal Behavior Therapy

2007-10-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

On Institute Day, October 29th, special education teachers, support staff, and I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on Verbal Behavior Therapy. This therapy is designed for children with autism. It incorporates the use of applied behavior analysis, reinforcement techniques and language classification in a natural environment,using data based decisions to guide instruction. Language is divided into different functions. These functions are taught using highly motivating reinforces, modeling and repetition.

There is a growing body of research suggesting that the simultaneous use of vocal and sign training helps autistic children develop functional communication skills. Finding activities that are of interest to children with autism is often challenging. Verbal Behavior Therapy address this difficulty by identifying the child's interests - their reinforcers. Once the reinforcer has been identified, the teacher can use this to increase opportunities for learning language. Research shows that early identification and interventions are essential to maximum development. We will be incorporating this therapy into our early childhood through second grade.