School System Resource Meeting

The Focus for me this month has been How to Help Cassie Succeed at School. Therefore I have not had too much time for the Blog.
I am very pleased to report the school meeting went extremely well. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Cassie's academic progress and implement measures to ensure her success. The Principal Catherine Youngblud is really terrific and knows so much about how to ensure success at school. She understands the complex issues involved with Cassie and knows how to navigate well through the education system. Cassie's OT Joanne Doherty attended as well as Mr. Moase (teacher), Mrs. McIntosh(EA), Mrs. Holloway (Resource teacher) and myself. Joanne recommended Cassie use assistive technology. Her fine motor is weak in printing and cutting although she has made improvements. A computer should be Incorporated into her program. The teachers had samples of Cassie's printing and the OT felt the legibility was good. The printing takes allot of time for Cassie and slows her down somewhat. It was recommended that Cassie use her programs Clicker 5 a few times a week in the computer lab. The Clicker 5 program is board approved and helps children write independently? The EA's will no longer be scribing for Cassie.

Clicker is a writing-support tool for any subject area.The program helps a child build sentences by selecting words, phrases and pictures. Cassie finds it useful to hear words spoken by realistic software speech before she writes and Cassie can hear completed sentences spoken back to her. The program is powerful, versatile and easy to use. I love it because it is supported by hundreds of free teaching resources at LearningGrids.com!

Here is a little bit more about the tool!!

The Clicker 5 Guide

1. What is Clicker?

Clicker is a writing support and multimedia tool for children of all abilities.

At the top of the screen is a word processor called ‘Clicker Writer’.

At the bottom of the screen is the ‘Clicker Grid’.

This has ‘cells’ containing letters, words or phrases that you can click on, to send them into Clicker Writer – so children can write sentences without actually writing or using the keyboard! This is a very good program for a little girl with memory problems and complex learning difficulties.

Funding continues to be a big problem for schools in the area of computer availability in classrooms. I was surprised to hear Cassie's classroom has no computer or outlets available for computer hook up. What a shame but funding money is allocated carefully by the principal and Fessenden is an old school.

Cassie has been supported by her OT Julia Lockhart at CDRP and has worked hard to learn to type. Julia made Cassie a color coded one handed typing program. We notice when Cassie tries to type two handed the weak left hand slows her down and her concentration comes off her sentence building to concentrate on getting the weak hand to type. I am pleased about the easier one handed typing and allowing Cassie freedom to work on her school work. When Cassie reaches a certain skill level then Julia will apply for funding for a lap top for Cassie. This will be so helpful for ensuring success in her school life!! I can't wait actually to have access to her own laptop that I can fill full of tools she needs to be independent. Cassie may have some weaker skills in grade 2 but already she is developing some awesome skills that other grade 2 children don't have. I think being a strong key boarder will certainly assist her academically.

A Few other terrific ideas came out of the meeting. Everyone agreed how hard Cassie works. Although she is not at a grade 2 level on her IEP she is continually making progress. Cassie's math is improving. She does well with a number line. She is beginning to pick up regrouping. Cassie is at a DRA level of 2B. She requires consistency to be successful. Catherine suggested she try some taped books from the library. The main points that I loved from Catherine were: Cassie needs to be a risk taker, try to empower her, independence and initiative are very important and keeping the school experience positive. It was recommended that Cassie be in a split 2/3 class next year so she has more time to keep working at a grade 2 level if she needs. I love these strategies and I am so excited to see Cassie's progress!!I recommend to parents to attend meetings. The brain storming is invaluable. The expertise of each part of the school team coming together for ideas will surely help ensure Cassie makes academic progress. I had a list of ten issues on a paper I wanted to address and interestingly I never brought any of them up because they were all addressed in the meeting with out me initiating the topic. I was very pleased with the outcome and am working with Cassie a lot at home to reinforce what is being worked on at school.
Thanks to the Fessenden team you are invaluable and we appreciate the extra efforts for our girl!