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Island Educational Services Newsletter
www.IslandEducationalServices.com
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Closed for Veteran's Day (Nov 11)
Thanksgiving (Nov 28 and 29)
| November 2013
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This past week I had the opportunity to take a Mental Health First Aid class. The class is an opportunity for community members to learn how to respond with compassion and support when interacting with neighbors, co-workers, family members, or others in the community who have mental health concerns. Kitsap Mental Health (KMH) therapists facilitate the program.
Island Educational Services is planning to bring Mental Health First Aid for Teens to the Island on Saturday, January 25th. Hyla Middle School has offered space for the workshop. The workshop runs from 8:15am to 5:00pm; $30 covers the cost of the handouts and a book; clock hours will be available for educators for an additional $15. Please email me if you are interested! There will be more information shared via the website and future newsletters. I would also like to share with everyone that our offices are fragrance-free offices. I am highly allergic to perfumes and colognes; I can become quite ill just from a scented dryer sheet. Unfortunately, many of our students wear heavy doses of scented products and the fragrance lingers in the hallways, bathrooms, etc. I would greatly appreciate a thoughtful conversation with your child about not wearing perfume or cologne on the day of tutoring. (I know this is a lot to ask, but I have tried various medications to desensitize my reaction, but none work well.) Thank you!
As always, please let me know if you have any questions about our services.
Sincerely,
Lydia Harrison
206-842-8240
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Bainbridge Healthy Youth Summit
Saturday Nov 2 at Bainbridge High School
9:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
The first of three community meetings addressing Bainbridge Island youth behavior and development. Marilyn Price-Mitchell, PhD, developmental psychologist and founder of Roots of Action, will present a research-based model of positive youth development. The Summit is co-sponsored by Bainbridge Youth Services, the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island, Raising Resilience, and the Bainbridge Island School District and will be held in The Commons at Bainbridge High School. Register online or contact BYS at ( 206) 842-9675 or call (206)780-2965. (Forum 2 will be held January 18th from 9am to noon and Forum 3 will be held March 15th from 9am to noon.) |
Extended Test Time: It can improve both grades and self esteem
It wasn't until Allison Schwartz attended college that she allowed herself to accept that her dyslexia, not her intellect, was limiting her ability to succeed in school. Schwartz knew she struggled more than others when it came to tests but didn't want any accommodations. She didn't want to stand out from the other high schoolers. It was only after Schwartz went to college that she garnered the courage to ask for extra time on tests. She found that professors were very willing to accommodate her request AND she found that, with studying, her grades and her self-confidence soared. Formally diagnosed with Dyslexia in her twenties, Schwartz went on to obtain a Master's Degree from Columbia University and then co-founded Grameen Research, an internationally known micro-finance non-profit. To read more about Allison's story, see Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity.
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"Organizing the Disorganized Brain" Presentation
Ronnelle Browning, Sakai Intermediate School counselor is giving her annual presentation on Thursday, November 7 at 6:30pm at the Sakai Library. Ms. Browning will address the unique organizational challenges 5th and 6th graders face. Brain research, learning styles and practical strategies will be discussed. For more information call 206-780-6500 or visit Sakai's website.
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New "Everything you need to succeed in school" Website
A new website for students, particularly those with disabilities, is offering free "anytime, anyplace" resources, materials and information to help students meet the Common Core Standards. The website, created by the Center for Technology Implementation (CTI), links evidence-based practices, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and technology to guide students and educators.
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Life360, the "Stay Connected "GPS" App"
A free app seeks to keep families and close friends in sync and safe. The app allows Circle members to see where other members are on a private map, group message each other, allows one-on-one messaging, and summons help in case of an emergency. Available for all smart phones, the app works when the phone is connected to the internet, is running in the background, and has all location services turned on. The core service is free. |
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The App Corner
There are new educational apps for the iPad that support students in math:
Number Pieces
A great free app that allows every student with an iPad to have an endless number of base ten blocks at their fingertips. Whether they are learning basic place value, modeling how to add decimals or exploring expanded notation, this app is worth looking into. Children can write all over the iPad screen and demonstrate their thought process as they manipulate the virtual base ten blocks. Protractor A tool used to measure angles. Children can simply practice making acute and obtuse angles by moving the line on the screen, or they can measure the angles in objects placed on top of the iPad. Sand TimerChildren can monitor the pacing of a project or homework. It can also be used to time anything up to 60 minutes. GeoboardA tool for exploring a variety of mathematical topics introduced in the elementary and middle grades. Learners stretch bands around pegs to form line segments and polygons and make discoveries about perimeter, area, angles, congruence, fractions, and more. |
'Habilitation' Among New Health Care Benefits
"To rehabilitate," according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means "to restore to a former capacity."
But what if that capacity - be it walking or talking or brushing one's teeth - was never there in the first place? In that case, you aren't talking about "rehabilitation" but "habilitation."
People need habilitation when they have a congenital defect or disease that impairs the development of basic life skills. For example, autism may leave a child unable to speak. Cerebral palsy may result in language delays and severe physical limitations. Birth defects may leave a child deaf.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, habilitation services will now be widely covered for the first time in private insurance plans. Rehabilitative and habilitative services are among the 10 "essential benefits" that must be provided by all plans sold on all the state and federally run health insurance exchanges. Starting in 2014, all individual and small group health policies sold outside the exchanges also will have to cover habilitative services.
But as is the case with some of the other "essential benefits," the federal health law mandates coverage of habilitation services without spelling out exactly what that means. The states, together with insurers and advocacy groups, will have a big say in what, and how much, is covered.
Proposed coverage requirements by Washington health insurers include speech therapy, occupational therapy, and aural (hearing) therapy, but not services provided at school pursuant to an Individual Educational Program (IEP). Parents may want to write the Washington State Insurance Commission with comments before the rules are finalized.
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Who is the Gifted Child?
Dr. Gail Gross, in this recent article, discusses the biological differences, based on recent research, between children who are gifted and typically developing children. Dr. Gross also shares the characteristics common in gifted children and the differences between male gifted children and female gifted children.
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Dyslexia Display at Bainbridge Island Library
There is a lovely display at the library of famous people with dyslexia in recognition of National Dyslexia Awareness. Stop by the front hall and check it out! (Thanks Charlotte Rovelstad for sharing.)
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