What are you doing for professional development in terms of implementing interventions before starting the special education process at your site?

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School Psychologist and Administrator Interviews

School psychologists play a critical role in evaluation and determination of eligibility for special education services. They often consult with teachers and families about characteristics of disabilities and types of services and supports available in the school system and community.

This is a Block 1 Field Experience. In this block, your field experience must be completed before or after school, or other designated time when students are not present.

You will interview a school psychologist and an administrator for the first field experience.

Allocate at least 3 hours in the field to support this field experience.

Interview a school psychologist and an administrator, from any K-12 educational setting, about the following:

  1. What is your role in special education?
  2. What responsibilities do you have specific to meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities?
  3. Considering the students you have worked with, what disabilities have you encountered? Describe your experiences.
  4. What are the developmental milestones associated with the disabilities you have worked with that teachers should pay attention to?
  5. What is your role in the IEP process?
  6. When should teachers consult with you regarding the needs of their students?
  7. What is the role of the school in early intervention? How do you communicate that to the family, and how do you support the staff?

Additionally, ask the school psychologist the following:

  • What professional development opportunities related to special education do you feel would benefit staff in your school or district?

Ask the school administrator the following questions:

  • What are you doing for professional development in terms of implementing interventions before starting the special education process at your site?

In 500-750 words, identify the school setting, summarize, and reflect upon your interviews and explain how you will use your findings in your future professional practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.

Document the locations and hours you spend in the field on your Clinical Field Experience Verification Form.

Submit the Clinical Field Experience Verification Form to the LMS in the last topic. Directions for submitting can be found on the College of Education site in the Student Success Center.

Provide examples of effective nonverbal communication techniques (either by those you observed/watched or from those in the text) that you could use as a professional in a health and human services setting. How and why would you use them?

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Typically, we think of verbal communication as the words that we use to convey messages. The reading for this week helps us see that other things may be communicated through our verbal messages beyond the actual words used. Our choice of words and how they are conveyed can have a tremendous impact on our interactions with others, including clients and colleagues in human services settings. In this first discussion forum for the week, you will review a fictional case study in which you will be asked to provide examples of effective verbal communication techniques in a human services setting.

Read Chapter 4 of The Interpersonal Communication Book and review the summary information found on page 107. Last week we discussed how a cultural framework might shape the meaning or understanding of communication. What other factors may determine the message conveyed through verbal messages? Consider some principles of verbal messages that would be important for working with clients in human services settings. Would these principles also apply to working with colleagues or community members? Think about some guidelines that could help us communicate more effectively with others.

Case Study: You have a new job as a case manager in an assisted living facility for individuals over the age of 65. Part of your job is to help new residents get settled in to the facility, including explaining activities that are available to them. You also try to help new residents become part of the community at the residence. John is a 70-year-old man who has recently moved into your facility. You discover that John has a slight hearing impairment which affects his ability to both communicate as well as participate in group activities, and you must consider this when interacting with him. Up until now, he has only lived in his own home. Using this case as your example, please address the following:

  • Discuss two factors that are a part of verbal communication, beyond the actual words themselves that might be important in your first meeting with John.
  • Using information found in Table 4.1 (page 94) of your text, provide two or three examples of effective verbal communication techniques that you could use to engage with John within this particular setting. Describe one communication theory that can be applied to your interaction (e.g., how you verbally communicate, how you perceive John’s verbal communication, etc.).
  • Describe one communication theory from Week One’s required website reading (i.e., constructivist, attachment, communication accommodation, attribution) that can be applied to your interaction (e.g., how you verbally communicate, how you perceive John’s verbal communication, etc.).
  • What do you think may make it more personally difficult for you to communicate effectively with John? Why do you believe this to be the case?

Initial Post: Prepare a 300-word minimum reply that sufficiently addresses each of the items above. Don’t forget that it is critical to cite your sources of information, including the textbook, in APA format.

 It’s Not All About the Words

While verbal communication is just one way of articulating messages to others, it’s not the only skill that human service professionals need to utilize when working with clients. Nonverbal communication carries significant weight when it comes to conveying messages of all sorts. In this discussion forum, you will have an opportunity to provide examples of effective nonverbal communication techniques appropriate to a human services setting.

Read Chapter 5 from The Interpersonal Communication Book and watch the following video, People Skills:Communicating without Words (Links to an external site.) retrieved from the Films On Demand database.

Reflect on your own experience regarding nonverbal messages. Have there been situations in your life when the nonverbal messages were much clearer than the verbal messages? What about times when the words that were spoken did not match the nonverbal cues? How is online communication different in terms of nonverbal messages? What kinds of messages do you send nonverbally via your style of dressing or mannerisms? How would nonverbal messages affect your communication with clients or colleagues?

Spend approximately ten minutes observing two or more individuals in conversation at a coffee shop, store, or work environment. It is best if you observe individuals that you do not know. Please be respectful and unobtrusive in your observation. As an alternative, you can observe the interactions between characters on a television show. Following your observation and using your textbook as a guide, please respond to the questions below for your discussion post. If you are basing your post on television characters, please identify the show.

Initial Post: Prepare a 300-word minimum reply that sufficiently addresses each of the items below. Don’t forget that it is critical to cite your sources of information, including the textbook, using APA formatting:

What nonverbal messages did you observe?

  • How did the nonverbal messages or cues aid in communicating effectively?
  • What consistencies or inconsistencies between verbal and nonverbal messages did you observe?
  • Provide examples of effective nonverbal communication techniques (either by those you observed/watched or from those in the text) that you could use as a professional in a health and human services setting. How and why would you use them?

Required Text

DeVito, J. A. (2016). The interpersonal communication book (14th ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu

provide a 250-500 word rationale that supports your instructional choices in responding to the needs of April, as evidenced by research on best practices for semantics disorders and the use of assistive technology.

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Teachers consider many factors when developing unit plans to meet the needs of a variety of students. It is important to consider the strengths and needed accommodations of students in the classroom when developing lessons and units. If there are students with specific language impairments, the teacher must also consider ways to facilitate communication and engagement during classroom instruction. There may need to be a plan to pre-teach vocabulary, or plan certain questions that can be answered by students who may use a device or other mode of communication.

Read the following case scenario to inform the assignment that follows.

April is a fourth grader. Her performance on norm-referenced measures is 1.5 standard deviations below the mean for her chronological age. April has good decoding skills, but has difficulty with reading comprehension, semantics, and morphological processing. One accommodation that is prescribed in the IEP is the use of visual cues to support comprehension of new skills. She lacks organizational skills for writing and struggles with word choice. April receives services from a speech and language pathologist who is working on understanding word parts, vocabulary, and multiple meanings of words. You instruct April in a resource classroom with five other fourth graders who also struggle with reading and written expression.

Using details from the scenario, create a week-long English language arts unit plan based on the Common Core ELA fourth grade literacy standards specific to vocabulary acquisition and use.

Use the COE Lesson Plan Template to complete five formal lesson plans that include the following:

  1. A measureable IEP goal for April that includes assistive technology. Include this goal within the “Learning Target” section of the COE Lesson Plan Template.
  2. Learning targets aligned to the ELA Common Core fourth grade literacy standards.
  3. Strategies to enhance language development and communication skills.
  4. Strategies and technologies that encourage development of critical thinking and problem solving.
  5. The use of augmentative and alternative communication systems and a variety of assistive technologies to support communication and learning.
  6. A unit pre- and post-assessment that incorporates technologies to measure April’s measureable IEP goal progress.

Each lesson plan must be completed and submitted as a separate completed lesson plan.

In addition, provide a 250-500 word rationale that supports your instructional choices in responding to the needs of April, as evidenced by research on best practices for semantics disorders and the use of assistive technology. Support your rationale with a minimum of two scholarly resources.

Submit all lesson plans and rationale as one deliverable

Provide a 250-500 word rationale of your reading comprehension plan that shows alignment between your curricular/academic goals, activities, and research-based strategies.

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For this benchmark, you will use the following case scenario to develop a research-based early reading comprehension plan for the student. Your plan will consist of learning activities that facilitate vocabulary development and reading comprehension.

Case Scenario: 

Seven-year-old Alfonso has two months left in his first grade year. He is active and outgoing, has many friends, and loves to play soccer. Science is his favorite subject. He enjoys learning anything related to space and sloths. He is very curious and particularly likes hands-on academic activities that use manipulatives.

Alfonso enjoys reading and writing, but struggles. During literacy class instruction, Alfonso is able to sound out words well, but struggles with word meanings and finding connections among words in various grade appropriate texts. Alfonso also struggles with reading comprehension and has a particularly hard time making connections between what he reads and what he already knows. He often brings up irrelevant information when trying to make these connections.

Alfonso’s teacher, Ms. Seymour, wants to utilize specific strategies for Alfonso to ensure he masters the vocabulary and comprehension skills that are expected before the end of the year.

Part 1: Vocabulary Development

Select a children’s story to teach from (e.g., “The Three Little Pigs”) that could be used to develop Alfonso’s vocabulary and reading comprehension skills.

Based on the story that you have chosen, devise a learning activity aligned with a curricular/academic goal for Alfonso that focuses on vocabulary development.

Utilize at least two research-based strategies to address your curricular/academic goal. Choose strategies that incorporate reading, writing, speaking, viewing, listening, and thinking skills. Provide opportunities for Alfonso to apply these skills to different situations, materials, and ideas.

In a 150-250 word description, include the following:

  • The aligned curricular/academic goal (standards).
  • A brief explanation regarding how the learning activity would be carried out.
  • An explanation regarding the research-based strategies you would use to enable Alfonso to apply reading, writing, speaking, viewing, listening, and thinking skills to different situations, materials, and ideas.

Part 2:  Reading Comprehension

Based on the story that you have chosen, devise a learning activity aligned with a curricular/academic goal for Alfonso that focuses on reading comprehension.

Utilize at least two research-based strategies to address the aligned curricular/academic goal. Choose strategies that utilize verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to facilitate active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction between Alfonso and his classmates. In a 150-250 word description, include the following:

  • The aligned curricular/academic goal (Standards);
  • A brief explanation regarding how your activity would be carried out; and
  • An explanation regarding the techniques and research-based strategies you would use to facilitate active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction.

Part 3:  Rationale

Provide a 250-500 word rationale of your reading comprehension plan that shows alignment between your curricular/academic goals, activities, and research-based strategies. How do these strategies or activities address Alfonso’s specific learning needs? How could these strategies for vocabulary development and reading comprehension be utilized across the curriculum? Provide examples.

Include at least three sources from your reading to support your position.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite