UPPER GRAND DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES The Special Education Advisory Committee of the Upper Grand District School Board met on Wednesday, October 2, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. in the Boardroom at 500 Victoria Road North, Guelph. The following Association Members were present: Pauline Busby, Community Living Guelph-Wellington, Carole Craig, Parents for Children’s Mental Health-Wellington County, Jason Offer, Association for Bright Children-ABC (by conference call), Laurie Whyte, FASworld Canada and Don Richardson, Integration Action for Inclusion in Education and Community (Ontario). Present from Staff were: Jacqueline Foster, Special Education Coordinator, Christine Kay, Principal, Tracey Lindsay, Superintendent of Program, Sandra Szpular, Special Education Coordinator / Collaborative Projects Lead, Cheryl Van Ooteghem, Principal of Program, Sandra Roberts, Vice-Principal, Special Education Consultants – Carla Anderson, Barb Tomkins, Mark Howe and Leta Vos. Trustees Present: Marty Fairbairn and Jennifer Waterston Regrets: Kim Brenner Parents for Children’s Mental Health-Wellington County, Sharon Dills, Learning Disabilities Association of Wellington County, Beth Haworth, Community Member-at-Large and Stacey Stevens, VOICE for Hearing Impaired Children, Sue Shaw, Autism Ontario-Wellington County. Absent: Carrie Proudfoot, Autism Ontario-Wellington County Marty Fairbairn called the meeting to order and thanked members for accommodating the meeting date change. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Pauline Busby moved that the agenda of the October 2, 2013, meeting be approved. The motion carried. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Jennifer Waterston moved that the Minutes of the meeting held on September 11, 2013 be approved. The motion carried. REVIEW OF ACTION ITEMS Tracey Lindsay, Superintendent of Program reported the action items from the September meeting around the Consultation process and the Letter to Parents / Special Education Advisory Committee Minutes … Page 2 October 2, 2013 Guardians of Children with Special Equipment Amount (SEA) Equipment will be covered as agenda items this evening. CONSULTATION PROCESS Tracey Lindsay, Superintendent of Program referred to the Association Consultation Information chart distributed to everyone this evening. This chart was developed to assist in gathering information from the various SEAC association representatives about how they currently provide information to their associations, how the associations would like to be consulted on matters related to Special Education and how the associations would like to receive information on matters related to Special Education. Members were asked to break into small groups to discuss the consultation process and provide feedback/input. The information was then gathered, will be compiled and shared at the November SEAC meeting. DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS (DSM-5): DISCUSSION OF CHANGES AND IMPLICATIONS IN THE AREA OF NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS Dr. Mary Susan Crawford, Chief Psychologist, provided a powerpoint presentation entitled “Changes in DSM-5: Implications for Education – Part 1: Neurodevelopmental Disorders”. She began by providing an overview of the changes from the DSM-IV-TR and the DSM-5 noting the changes were made to assist with making it compatible with ICD-9 that includes physical and mental health issues for common diagnostic criteria. It can also assist with seeing the areas where the criteria is helpful. The DSM-5 focusses on children through adulthood. This evening an overview comparison of the Intellectual Disability, Autism Spectrum Disorders and Specific Language Disorders were being reviewed. Dr. Crawford spoke about the criteria in the area of Intellectual Disability which looks at the Intellectual Deficits, Adaptive Functioning and Onset. The severity of the intellectual disorder is now determined by the level of adaptive functioning. The current criteria are similar to those set forth by Developmental Services Ontario or DSO. The Autism Spectrum Disorder list comparing the differences in the DSM-IV-TR and the DSM-5 were reviewed. The list of criteria in the area of Autism Spectrum Disorder include: Social Communication and Social Interaction; Restricted, Repetitive Pattern: Behaviour, Interests or Activities; and onset during the Early Developmental Period were also reviewed. It is hoped that the changes will help provide further clarity around the ASD diagnosis. Explanation was provided about the area of Specific Learning Disorders and the criteria within this area: Academic Skills Deficits, Assessment and age of Onset. Finally, it was noted that while the diagnostic criteria for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder were basically unchanged, it is now included under the category of Special Education Advisory Committee Minutes … Page 3 October 2, 2013 Neurdevelopmental Disorders, rather than grouped with disruptive behaviour disorders. Laurie Whyte thanked Dr. Crawford for her presentation and inquired whether Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders is included in the DSM-5 and expressed concern that this often ends up as a behavioural identification in the categories and definitions of exceptionalities. Dr. Crawford responded that she will check into this and respond to Laurie Whyte. Don Richardson inquired about how we plan to increase awareness across the board specifically around the impact of accommodations and IEPs. Dr. Crawford explained that presentations have been made to board and this information is also being provided to our Child and Youth Counsellors at an inservice. Don Richardson further inquired if this could be a goal we set for our Special Education Plan. Both Tracey Lindsay and Marty Fairbairn agreed this could be a goal. “SCHOOL TO COMMUNITY TRANSITION RESOURCE” A TOOL FOR TEACHERS WORKING WITH STUDENTS WITH A DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY Leta Vos, Special Education Consultant, introduced the “School to Community Transition Resource” created in partnership with the Upper Grand DSB, Wellington Catholic DSB, Community Living Guelph Wellington and Developmental Services Ontario Central West Region. The document was presented at the Bridges Conference in May 2013 and has been provided to teachers of our developmental disability programs. The resource assists teachers with program planning, guiding and developing Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and Transition Plans. It is divided into six sections: Readiness Profiles (1 through 5) which assist in determining the appropriate placement for the student; Transitional Checklists (Dufferin & Wellington); the Community Participant Supports and Programs (Dufferin & Wellington) provides a description of the program and service, and how to access, as well as the suggested skill set for students; and Residential Options. Samples of the Readiness Profiles and the Transitional Guide Teacher Checklist were displayed. The next steps were also shared: the Tri-Ministry (Ministry of Children and Youth Services, Ministry of Community and Social Services and the Ministry of Education) Transition Planning Protocol which we expect this fall; information is being provided for teachers of secondary developmental disability classrooms for students from Developmental Services Ontario; teacher inservices will be provided around community participation support opportunities; focus evenings will be planned for students and families; and, the creation of integrated transition plans for students age 16 year and older. It was mentioned that the community support information in the document is available on the Developmental Services Ontario website as well. Special Education Advisory Committee Minutes … Page 4 October 2, 2013 Pauline Busby commented on the transition planning meetings change, noting the importance of this being a conversation with parents on a yearly basis. LETTER TO PARENTS/GUARDIANS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EQUIPMENT AMOUNT (SEA) EQUIPMENT Sandra Szpular, Special Education Coordinator/Collaborative Projects Lead spoke about the creation of the letter to Parents/Guardians of children with Special Equipment Amount (SEA) Equipment. This letter was reviewed at the September SEAC meeting and members were given the opportunity to provide their input. The draft letter was also shared with Special Education Resource Teachers at a recent inservice. This evening, copies of the letter were distributed to include revisions made following input received. The letter will also be shared with the Special Education Review Committee before being rolled out. Also, distributed this evening was UG2GO information containing various sites for elementary and secondary students and UG2GO bookmarks which contained a space for the student’s “user name” and “password”. The bookmarks were created following input received from members. Suggestions on the distribution of the bookmarks and other items to consider including were put forward. Following inquiries about accessing user names and passwords, Christine Kay confirmed that teachers are able to access and provide passwords for their students through our Staff Web Portal. Don Richardson commented on the wording on the UG2GO login page “for UGDSB students and staff” and asked whether parents/guardians were able to access this as well. It was decided that staff would consult with Information Technology departmental staff regarding the wording. OPEN FORUM Don Richardson reported that Integration Action for Inclusion in Education and Community (Ontario) will be arranging another conference this year and will share details once confirmed. Laurie Whyte reported on a presentation by Diane Malbin taking place in Waterloo in November. She also spoke about a book written by Emily Oster and a letter written by Dr. Mercer in response to the book. Carole Craig reported on the Parents for Children’s Mental Health Annual Conference held in September. A summary of the sessions provided can be found on the PCMH website. Jason Offer spoke about the 7th Annual Family Information Fair which is being held on October 26th at the Centre Wellington Sportsplex in Fergus from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Admission is free and he noted this is a great opportunity to network. Special Education Advisory Committee Minutes … Page 5 October 2, 2013 UPDATES FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PROGRAM Tracey Lindsay provided the following updates: • The Special Education Fall In-services took place on September 16th and 17th with various topics covered for Special Education Resource Teachers. • Educational Assistant Re-Allocation meetings are taking place with staff and should be complete by mid-October. • Tracey Lindsay attended a School Mental Health Meeting for all Mental Health Leads and Superintendents in Toronto today with Dr. Lynn Woodford. One of the topic items was World Mental Health Day on October 10th. Our board is going to encourage students to enter the Kids Helpline telephone number into their cell phone as part of this day. TRUSTEE REPORT Jennifer Waterston reported the boundary reviews are continuing and public meetings will be starting. Marty Fairbairn spoke about some of the items in the 2013-14 OPSBA planning document - Coalition for Children and Youth Mental Health Summit, the Special Education Funding model, Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy. MEETING SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION(S), MOTION (S) AND ACTION(S) Action Items include: • Request having Information about mental health and the DSM-5 shared at an upcoming meeting. • Include increasing awareness of the impact of the DSM-5 across the board as a goal in the Special Education Plan. • Report back on the plan for the roll out of the new DSM-5 and the success of the roll out. ADJOURNMENT Jennifer Waterston moved that this Committee adjourn at 9:10 p.m. to report to the Board. The motion carried.