New! Parent Support Group Series Begins in February at St. Louis LDA
Do you want to connect with other parents and learn more about issues relevant our LD or ADHD kids? Register today for our upcoming workshop series to be held at our office from 6:30 to 8 p.m. There is no cost to attend one or all sessions but registration is required by calling St. Louis LDA at 314-966-3088.
February 13: Homework Strategies and Support Participants will be given tools and strategies to support students with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders when dealing with organizational skills, homework, and planning.
March 12: Parenting and Communication presented by Dr. Barb Talent Establishing effective communication between parent and child is a goal we all share! Join us for a discussion of disciplinary tools and communication strategies designed to facilitate a positive parent/child relationship.
April 16: Bullying Bullying is a big issue in our society today. Find out how to identify if bullying is an issue for your student and what to do about it.
May 16: Social Skills for LDA Students Participants will hear about social deficits associated with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. Participants will be given tools for teaching and developing social skills with these students.
Five Reasons to Hire an Educational Consultant/Advocate
by Alicia McColl
Educational consultants traditionally help families decide upon a school for a child based on the child's strengths, weaknesses, grades, test results and any pertinent medical or academic reports. In addition to helping families find a school that is a good fit for a child, educational consultants can be advocates for children with specific learning disabilities, individual education plans or programs for exceptional students.
Educational advocates can be brought in by parents to evaluate cases for children with disabilities and make recommendations about services, supports and special education programs. Educational advocates are often times hired by parents to go to eligibility and IEP meetings and negotiate services for students when those services are falling short of expectations.
According to Pamela and Peter Wright, authors of Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Adovacy - The Special Education Survival Guide, parents should have two goals:
• To ensure that the school provides your child with a “free appropriate public education” that includes “specially
designed instruction . . . to meet the [child’s] unique needs . . .” (20 U.S.C. §1401)
• To build a healthy working relationship with the school.
Our St. Louis LDA consultants take on the role of advocate, working with parents to make sure students, especially those diagnosed with learning disabilities or ADHD, are getting the education they are entitled to under state law.
Reasons to hire an educational consultant/advocate:
1. To provide parents with a valuable resource.
2. To provide guidance related to special education or 504 options.
3. To participate with parents in team meetings concerning educational planning.
4. To be an outside resource to parents regarding the educational rights of their child under the law.
5. To help interpret diagnostic reports related to cognitive strengths and weaknesses, attention deficits, anxiety, specific to how they impact academic functioning.
For more information on how to advocate for your child, or to find out how St. Louis LDA can help, call 314-966-3088.
A Class With CLASS™
by Karen Thomson
A teacher works with a small group of pre-school children at a low table. She scans the room occasionally, but responds individually to the conversational bids made to her by each child. A 4-year-old boy approaches her for help in tying his shoes. She bends down to tie one of his shoes and as she does she describes what she is doing and suggests that he try to tie his other shoe. With her help he succeeds in his effort to tie his other shoe. A group of children in the block area begin to have a disagreement and another teacher, who has been preparing the next activity, letter cards for the alphabet wall, quickly moves to assist the group with negotiations over the sharing of a truck. He explains that each may take a turn and compliments the children on using their words.
The children are active, the air is filled with conversations and the room has ample materials, but research has shown the single most important underling factor for successful learning is the relationships in that classroom. Not just teacher to student relationships but student-to-student relationships as well. Recently a new tool has been used to assess these relationships it is called CLASS™ – Classroom Assessment Scoring System™.
Used widely in Head Start settings, CLASS™ requires training and a reliability test to be completed before it can be used. The educational consultants at St. Louis Learning Disability Association have taken the training and passed the
reliability exam and are able to do classroom observations. In addition LDA also offers trainings on the CLASS™ tool, how to implement it and how to use it for professional development with the teaching staff.
“The CLASS™ tool has really caught on in the Head Start world, but it is also very useful for all early education classrooms.” states Pamela Ritterling LDA Early Education Coordinator.
In addition to the teacher training and classroom observations, LDA staff are happy to do parent orientations too. Families find the skills used in CLASS™ helpful in working with their children at home.
Relationships are key in so many situations, and are especially instrumental in the learning environment. CLASS™ is another tool that LDA has to train, coach and help with the development in this area of learning.
For more information about the presentations, training, coaching or classroom observations call LDA at 314-966-3088.
New! Parent Support Group Series Begins in February at St. Louis LDA
Do you want to connect with other parents and learn more about issues relevant our LD or ADHD kids? Register today for our upcoming workshop series to be held at our office from 6:30 to 8 p.m. There is no cost to attend one or all sessions but registration is required by calling St. Louis LDA at 314-966-3088.
February 13: Homework Strategies and Support Participants will be given tools and strategies to support students with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders when dealing with organizational skills, homework, and planning.
March 12: Parenting and Communication presented by Dr. Barb Talent Establishing effective communication between parent and child is a goal we all share! Join us for a discussion of disciplinary tools and communication strategies designed to facilitate a positive parent/child relationship.
April 16: Bullying Bullying is a big issue in our society today. Find out how to identify if bullying is an issue for your student and what to do about it.
May 16: Social Skills for LDA Students Participants will hear about social deficits associated with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. Participants will be given tools for teaching and developing social skills with these students.
Five Reasons to Hire an Educational Consultant/Advocate
by Alicia McColl
Educational consultants traditionally help families decide upon a school for a child based on the child's strengths, weaknesses, grades, test results and any pertinent medical or academic reports. In addition to helping families find a school that is a good fit for a child, educational consultants can be advocates for children with specific learning disabilities, individual education plans or programs for exceptional students.
Educational advocates can be brought in by parents to evaluate cases for children with disabilities and make recommendations about services, supports and special education programs. Educational advocates are often times hired by parents to go to eligibility and IEP meetings and negotiate services for students when those services are falling short of expectations.
According to Pamela and Peter Wright, authors of Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Adovacy - The Special Education Survival Guide, parents should have two goals:
• To ensure that the school provides your child with a “free appropriate public education” that includes “specially
designed instruction . . . to meet the [child’s] unique needs . . .” (20 U.S.C. §1401)
• To build a healthy working relationship with the school.
Our St. Louis LDA consultants take on the role of advocate, working with parents to make sure students, especially those diagnosed with learning disabilities or ADHD, are getting the education they are entitled to under state law.
Reasons to hire an educational consultant/advocate:
1. To provide parents with a valuable resource.
2. To provide guidance related to special education or 504 options.
3. To participate with parents in team meetings concerning educational planning.
4. To be an outside resource to parents regarding the educational rights of their child under the law.
5. To help interpret diagnostic reports related to cognitive strengths and weaknesses, attention deficits, anxiety, specific to how they impact academic functioning.
For more information on how to advocate for your child, or to find out how St. Louis LDA can help, call 314-966-3088.
A Class With CLASS™
by Karen Thomson
A teacher works with a small group of pre-school children at a low table. She scans the room occasionally, but responds individually to the conversational bids made to her by each child. A 4-year-old boy approaches her for help in tying his shoes. She bends down to tie one of his shoes and as she does she describes what she is doing and suggests that he try to tie his other shoe. With her help he succeeds in his effort to tie his other shoe. A group of children in the block area begin to have a disagreement and another teacher, who has been preparing the next activity, letter cards for the alphabet wall, quickly moves to assist the group with negotiations over the sharing of a truck. He explains that each may take a turn and compliments the children on using their words.
The children are active, the air is filled with conversations and the room has ample materials, but research has shown the single most important underling factor for successful learning is the relationships in that classroom. Not just teacher to student relationships but student-to-student relationships as well. Recently a new tool has been used to assess these relationships it is called CLASS™ – Classroom Assessment Scoring System™.
Used widely in Head Start settings, CLASS™ requires training and a reliability test to be completed before it can be used. The educational consultants at St. Louis Learning Disability Association have taken the training and passed the
reliability exam and are able to do classroom observations. In addition LDA also offers trainings on the CLASS™ tool, how to implement it and how to use it for professional development with the teaching staff.
“The CLASS™ tool has really caught on in the Head Start world, but it is also very useful for all early education classrooms.” states Pamela Ritterling LDA Early Education Coordinator.
In addition to the teacher training and classroom observations, LDA staff are happy to do parent orientations too. Families find the skills used in CLASS™ helpful in working with their children at home.
Relationships are key in so many situations, and are especially instrumental in the learning environment. CLASS™ is another tool that LDA has to train, coach and help with the development in this area of learning.
For more information about the presentations, training, coaching or classroom observations call LDA at 314-966-3088.