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Jennifer Steffich

Director of Student Services

Student Services

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Special Education

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Who makes up the department?

Child Study Team which includes:

School Social Workers

School Psychologists

Learning Disabilities- Teacher Consultant (LDT-C)

Effective School Solutions Counselors

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Child Study Team (CST)

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Who makes up the department?

Teachers in each buildings teaching self contained classes for Autism, Multiple Disabilities , Learning Language Disabilities, Emotional Regulation Impairment, Preschool Student with a Disability.

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As well as Pull-out Replacement and In Class Resource for various grade levels. Instructional Assistants both district employees as well as contracted services.

Teachers/Instructional Assistants

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Who makes up the department?

Related Service Providers which includes

Speech Language Therapist (SLP)

Occupational Therapists (OT)

Physical Therapists (PT)

Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA)

  • RBT support for individual students (BIP)

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Related Services Providers

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Students

Current # Classified Students 737 (increase of about 50 from last year)

Current # Speech Only Students 90 (about same as last year)

Current # OOD Students 51 (about same as last year, # decreasing)

Current # PSD Students 67 (down but early in school year )

Current # Self-Contained Programs 29 classes district wide (3 tuition in students REACH and MAMS)

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1.Elementary

Breakdown of Programs

  • Autism- 5 classes 3 @ CL, 1 RD, 1 ST
  • Multiply Disabled 2 classes @ ST
  • Language Learning Disability - 2 classes @ ST
  • Emotional Regulation Impairment 1 class at RD
  • In Class Resource- every grade level at various building for ELA and Math
  • Pull Out Replacement- begins grade 2 for ELA/Math

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2.MAMS

Breakdown of Programs

  • Autism 1 class
  • Multiply Disabled 1 class
  • Language Learning Disability- 3 classes
  • In Class Resource- every grade level for every content area (Grades 6-8)
  • Pull-out replacement- every grade level for every content area (Grades 6-8)

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3.MRHS

Breakdown of Programs

  • Autism 1 class
  • Multiply Disabled 1 class
  • Emotional Regulation Impairment 1 class
  • Language Learning Disabled 2 classes
  • REACH (13 students)
  • In Class Resource- every grade level for every content area (Grades 9-12)
  • Pull-out Replacement- every grade level for every content area (Grades 9-12)

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02.

MAMS

Increase amount of time in the community to support them in increasing independent living skills.

MAMS Coffee Cart

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Elementary

Monthly outings to Shop Rite as well as some recreational activities such as Field of Dreams Park in Toms River.

Lloyd Road runs Cafe

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MRHS/REACH

Opportunity to be out in the community multiple times a week and daily in the REACH program. Preparing them for transition to adult life.

MRHS/REACH- district wide jobs (copying, cafeteria, etc)

Community Based Instruction

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Wilson Reading

  • Homoegenoulsy grouping of students at MAMS, Lloyd, and Elementary Schools
  • Everyone in program from last year was assessed to track progress- benchmark data. Assessment given at end of year as well
  • Scheduled marking period check-ins to discuss student progress and update rosters if necessary
  • Next steps, review iReady data with building counselors of 3rd grade elementary students both gen ed and sped to determine if there is a group of students in need of Wilson instruction
  • Utilizing the Wilson criteria for determining students who are appropriate for program.

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Staff Assignments

  • Re-organized Child Study Teams to ensure that there are full teams at the necessary grade levels.
  • One person designated to case manage Out Of District students.
  • Bi-weekly team meetings with Lauren Kelly
  • Bi-weekly office hours with Lauren Kelly

Child Study Team

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Staff Assignments

  • Continue to work with Related Service providers to navigate towards incorporating a more integrated model of service.
  • Streamlined contracted services.
    • Lauren Kelly- meets with them on regular basis to ensure they are modeling the department vision.

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Related Services

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Staff Assignments

Assigned teachers to programs to showcase their strengths as well as provide opportunities for growth and change.

Teaching Staff

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1.

District Wide Professional Development Opportunities

  • Child Study Team- monthly department meetings that focus on procedures for maintaining compliance and legally compliant IEPs.
  • Providing guidance on managing and navigating caseloads.
  • Main area of focus is Least Restrictive Environment, utilizing data to make these recommendations.
  • Discussions about what data to utilize.
  • Support teams in working with families to make decisions based on data.

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1.

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District Wide Professional Development Opportunities

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  • Teachers- Utilizing resources within the district to support in a variety of areas- behavior, specific programs, small group instruction, data collection.
  • Next steps, working with Special teachers on how to support students with IEPs in their classroom.

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District Wide Professional Development Opportunities

  • Instructional Assistants-Hosted a Professional Development for both district employees and contracted services about roles and responsibilities and how to run small group instruction (supporting teachers).
  • Plan on doing another Professional Development in the Spring.

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SEPAG

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  • Special Education Parent Advisory group (SEPAG)
  • Meet quarterly with Executive Board
  • Have developed a working relationship they can give Student Services feedback on what the Special Education community is seeking, what is going well, and what we could be doing better
  • Tables at each back to School Night
  • They host at least 4 meetings each year
    • 1st meeting was last night
    • IEP Process was last night’s topic

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Student Services

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Professional Development @

Ravine Drive

NJCIE-New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education Grant- awarded to Ravine Drive (building wide initiative)

Dr. Cronin choose topic of Behavior Management Strategies based on his buildings data and where he saw a need in the area of Professional Development

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  • September Professional Development- Introduction to Program
  • October Faculty Meeting- Professional Development on Behavior Management Strategies for their classroom
  • Nov/Dec- Classroom Visits- individual teacher support

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Risk Assessment Teams

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  • Identified staff have been trained (principals, school social workers, counselors, school psychologists)
  • Solid procedures to track data and results of each Risk Assessment completed
  • Professional Development on Community Resources for supporting families in need
  • Fit to Return- work with families to make this a less stressful experience. Provide resources and ways to obtain required documentation.

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Nurses

  • Meet with Head Nurse monthly
  • Streamlined Process for Home Instruction, and Sports Physicals
  • Worked closely with Maschio’s regarding food allergies
  • District Trainings including CPR and Epipen occurred district wide

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MARSD Cares

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  • Committee Members representing each building
  • Monthly meetings
  • Process to track support provided to families in need
  • Husky Closet
  • Thanksgiving Baskets
  • 1st Annual Winter Wonderland!

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Homeless Liaison

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  • Trained all secretaries on how to complete homeless documentation
  • Work with Transportation to ensure set up ASAP
  • Have Counselors and Child Study reach out monthly to get on these families
  • Provide specific resources ot these families in need

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Thank you!

Working in Matawan-Aberdeen has been such a PLEASURE and I thank you for the opportunity!

Jennifer Steffich