View Email as Web Page

 

In This Issue

Theme:

  • High-Leverage Practices in Special Education: HLP9: Teach Social Behaviors


Articles:

  • Social Skills and Students who are DHH
  • Article Highlight from Odyssey
  • Read Captions Across America Day
  • Evidence-Based Practices for Students who are DHH


News from RMTC-D/HH

  • TA-Live! HLP9
  • Passport to Learning
  • Lesson Integration


Teacher Spotlight

  • Krista Phelps-Elliott
  • Brianna Balch


Expanded Skills Spotlight

  • Title: Bluffing, Never Have I Ever
  • Standards: SP.PK12.DH.3.5a & SP.PK12.DH.5.5 


Teacher Toolkit

  • LiveBinder of Tools for HLPs
  • Loan Library Resources


Did You Know?

  • Marine Lab
  • NRSC Summer Camps
  • Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS)
  • Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education


Upcoming Events

 

Theme: High-Leverage Practices (HLPs)

HLP9 - Teach Social Behaviors

Gif of HLP9 with flower withered and Candace interpreting

Happy November! The theme for this month is based on the ninth high-leverage practice from the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center and Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)’s High-Leverage Practices (HLPs) in Special Education: Teach social behaviors. Keep reading for resources and more!

 

Articles

Social Skills and Students who are DHH

Social skills for students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) have become a leading topic discussed among teachers of the deaf/hard of hearing throughout the state of Florida. A frequently asked question posed to RMTC-D/HH staff is, “how do you teach social skills to students who are deaf or hard of hearing?” Students who are DHH are general education students first, and therefore should be provided the same opportunities for Tier 1 instruction as all other students, including instruction in social skill development. There are some nuances, however, when it comes to teaching social skills to students who are DHH. For more information on this, watch the Technical Assistance Live (TA-Live!) HLP9 video.

Article Highlight from Odyssey

2022 Odyssey Transformative Practices in Instruction

A 2021-2022 issue of Odyssey, a magazine produced by Gallaudet University, has an article titled, “Social-Emotional Learning: How Can We Best Support Deaf Adolescents?” (Herzig & Leannah, 2021). In this article the authors discuss the interconnectivity of language learning and social skill development. Read a snippet:


Language and communication have everyday effects on deaf and hard of hearing adolescents as learning scenarios become more complex and they work to develop a sense of belonging, build relationships with others, and develop a healthy sense of identity and self-esteem. Social-emotional learning and language learning are so related that they are almost indistinguishable. When students increase their language proficiency, they also undergo social-emotional growth, and when students are involved with social-emotional learning, they increase their language proficiency (Spencer & Koester, 2015). 


The article goes on to provide practical tips and interventions for educators and families for social skill development for students who are DHH.

Read Captions Across America Day

Read Captions Across America (RCAA) day, March 2, is a collaboration between Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) and the National Education Association (NEA). This annual event coincides with Dr. Seuss’s birthday and celebrates captioned media as a reading tool for ALL children. Watching captioned media every day builds literacy and boosts learning (DCMP, n.d.). This year ASL interpretation has been added to the story Green Eggs and Ham with the ASL pop-up window. Order your kit today: posters, bookmarks, certificates, and DVD*. 

 

*A free DCMP membership is required to receive the DVD. Teachers with at least one student with a sensory impairment in their class, individuals who are DHH, VI, or DSI, and families of children who are DHH, VI, or DSI qualify for a free DCMP membership.

 

RMTC-D/HH wants to see how you are celebrating. Share your videos and pictures with us on social media or to info@rmtcdhh.org and you may be featured in a future Tech Notes. Please ensure a parent media release form is signed before sharing personally identifiable information.

Evidence-Based Practices for

Students who are DHH

Best Evidence Encyclopedia logo with a bee holding a pencil and a book

Evidence-based practices for students who are deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) are scarce. The high variability of students in this low-incidence population makes research difficult and is a contributing factor to the lack of published work on topics related to the education of students who are DHH. This, however, does not mean that evidence-based practices should not be used for students who are DHH. On the contrary, evidence-based practices should be used as much as possible to close the achievement gap of these students and optimize outcomes for them. It may be that professionals have to take evidence-based practices designed for other student populations and adapt them to be accessible for students who are DHH. There are many practices that prove practical as well as effective for students who are DHH with some adaptation.


RMTC-D/HH staff reached out to Johns Hopkins University regarding the review of literacy strategies and curricula specifically designed for students who are deaf/hard of hearing to be considered as evidence-based as outlined in the criteria for the Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA). A list of strategies/curricula with their corresponding research were sent for review by the Johns Hopkins University team. The Johns Hopkins University team will develop a section on both the Evidence for ESSA website and the Best Evidence Encyclopedia website that will be dedicated to populations of “special focus,” of which “Deaf/HOH” will be the first category. While the websites are in the process of being updated, Johns Hopkins University has begun including articles in summaries on the Best Evidence in Brief newsletter. The Best Evidence in Brief archived newsletters feature two evidence-based literacy interventions/curricula for students who are DHH:


Educators can sign up for the Best Evidence in Brief newsletter to receive upcoming evidence-based resources for students who are DHH.

News from RMTC-D/HH

TA-Live!

TA Live High Leverage Practices in Special Education with RMTC logo in top right corner and first page of HLP publication in bottom right

In the TA-Live! series, RMTC-D/HH is diving deep into the High-Leverage Practices in Special Education from the CEC and CEEDAR Center.


Before the next scheduled discussion, participants will be encouraged to*:



*Unable to complete the homework? Please still feel free to join RMTC-D/HH staff for a discussion on resources and tools Florida educators utilize related to the HLP discussed.



For this month’s TA-Live! discussion session, RMTC-D/HH will be joined by the Florida Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports Project (PBIS). Have questions for PBIS you would like to submit before the discussion session? Please fill out this form.

When?

February 8, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET (1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT). With a watch party of the homework starting at 1:45 p.m. ET (12:45 p.m. CT).

Register

Passport to Learning

Passport to Learning with a map a camera and a passport

Passport to Learning is a free micro-credential professional learning system that is designed for Florida educators, specialists, and related service providers that serve Florida students. You, the "traveler," can apply for a "passport" (an online account) and sign up for a travel package. Then, along with fellow travelers and a travel guide, you will explore a variety of destinations, create souvenirs, and keep a scrapbook. Travel completion includes a stamp in your passport, inservice points, and optional CEUs. The more travel packages you complete, the more passport stamps, inservice points, and optional CEUs you will receive.


Expeditions starting in February 2023 include:

 

  • Accessible Educational Materials
  • Alternative and Augmentative Communication, Band 2
  • Technology for Vision & Hearing, Band 2
  • Physical Access & Participation
  • Assistive Technology Assessment, Your Role

When?

Registration is open January 30th through February 10th.

Register

Lesson Integration

RMTC-D/HH is excited to announce AT in the Classroom: Lesson Integration, a collaboration between TLC-MTSS, ACCESS, and RMTC-D/HH. Participants will understand how to integrate assistive technology within the Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards Access Points. The intended audience includes educators who are working with students with the most significant cognitive disabilities including those who are deaf/hard of hearing.


The two opportunities for AT in the Classroom: Lesson Integration will be:

  1. February 16, 2023 in Crystal River, Florida and
  2. March 21, 2023 in St. Augustine at the Holiday Inn World Golf


Interested parties please email info@rmtcdhh.org with the subject “Lesson Integration” for more information and registration.

RMTC-D/HH Teacher Spotlight

Know an educator (e.g., teacher, SLP, interpreter, educational audiologist, paraprofessional) who is doing amazing things with students who are D/HH? Fill out the nomination form to nominate someone or even yourself!

Gif of Krista raising her hands in air while breathing

RMTC-D/HH spotlights teachers of the deaf/hard of hearing (ToDHHs) Krista Phelps-Elliott and Brianna Balch in Seminole County for February 2023 as they model and discuss teaching social behaviors to their students who are DHH. The theme of this spotlight was based off of the ninth high-leverage practice (HLP) from the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR) Center and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)’s publication High-Leverage Practices in Special Education. HLP9 states, "Teach social behaviors.”


Krista Phelps-Elliot graduated from Flagler College with a bachelor's degree in Deaf Education and Intellectual Disabilities and is currently in her 38th year of teaching in Seminole County. Krista has been active in other areas around the state presenting at the Florida Educators of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing (FEDHH) conferences, teaching the online component of Visual Phonics, providing Fingerspelling Our Way to Reading trainings, and participating in the writing and development of the most recent online module, Language-Reading Connections:DHH.


Brianna Balch earned her master's degree in Deaf Education from Lamar University and her Bachelor's degree in Deaf Education from University of North Florida (UNF) (SWOOP). This is Brianna's 4th year teaching. She has taught as an itinerant and is currently a PreK-2nd self-contained teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing. Along with teaching, she works as a parent advisor with the DHH Parent Infant Program through Florida School for the Deaf and Blind (FSDB). 

Expanded Skills Spotlight

Bluffing, Never Have I Ever

First Page of Bluffing Never Have I Ever Expanded Skills Lesson Plan

Standards:

SP.PK12.DH.3.5a State and apply listening and learning rules, including recognizing that hearing does not mean understanding, attending to the person who is speaking and/or signing, talking only about what he/she is learning, and requesting repetition or clarification when needed.


SP.PK12.DH.5.5 Anticipate and use repair strategies to ensure communication occurs during difficult listening situations or when communication breakdowns occur.


Brief description of the lesson:

Students who are DHH often use coping strategies like bluffing, faking, and pretending when they do not understand in challenging listening situations. Teachers may need to explicitly teach social skills for communication repair. In this lesson, the teacher and students discuss and role play possible plans of action and communication repair strategies within a supported environment.


This lesson was written by Terri Nicas, Teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing in Hillsborough County Public Schools.

Have an idea or lesson plan for Expanded Skills standards? Submit your idea by filling out the RMTC-D/HH Expanded Skills Lesson Submission form.

Teacher Toolkit

Resources:


In order to keep all the resources in one place, RMTC-D/HH has created a LiveBinder that is categorized by the twenty-two “High-Leverage Practices for Students with Disabilities” from the CEEDAR Center and the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). To see the resources available by each category, check out the LiveBinder!

Resources from the RMTC-D/HH Media and Materials Loan Library:


The below resources are from the Media and Materials Loan Library* that have relevance to the high-leverage practice "HLP9 - Teacher social behaviors."


*Florida stakeholders may borrow these and many other resources from RMTC-D/HH's Media and Materials Loan Library, for FREE. Each material comes with a return label, making even the shipping at no charge to the borrower.

Cover of Advocacy in Action
 

Advocacy in Action - A Self-Advocacy Curriculum for Students who are D/HH


(Catalog Number: 1938): Advocacy in Action provides tools for teachers to help students identify and develop self-advocacy skills. The text is designed to be easily individualized for each student or small group of students and for each teacher or parent.

 
Cover of COACH

C.O.A.C.H.–Self-Advocacy & Transition Skills for Secondary Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing


(Catalog Number: 1939): This book uses a problem solving model of C.O.A.C.H. – Concern- Observe- Access- Collaborate- make it Happen to address access and communication needs. The book includes: rationale for the instruction model, step-by-step directions, goals and activities, assessments, and reproducible worksheets. Each section addresses specific aspects of advocacy and develops underlying skills to support application.

Cover of Building Skills in Independence in the Mainstream
 

Building Skills for Independence in the Mainstream


(Catalog Number: 1940): Building Skills for Independence in the Mainstream was developed as a guide for DHH professionals to support their work with classroom teachers and with students to develop the skills needed for independence with hearing aids and self-advocacy.

Cover of Steps to Assessment

Steps to Assessment - A Guide to Identifying Educational Needs for D/HH Students


(Catalog Number: 1943): The focus of this guide is appropriate assessment practices for children from transition to school at age three through high school. Categories of assessment are presented, as are ways to apply information from assessment results to identify instructional and accommodation needs for students who are DHH.

Cover of Building Skills in the Fast Paced Classroom
 

Building Skills for Success in the Fast-Paced Classroom


(Catalog Number: 1958): The purpose of this book is to provide resources that will assist students who are DHH in optimizing their achievement through improved access and self-advocacy. It targets skills that must be mastered in order to benefit from the general education curriculum.

Cover of Steps to Success
 

Steps to Success


(Catalog Number: 1959): Steps to Success is an instructional model for students who are deaf or hard of hearing in grades kindergarten through 12. It is designed to develop skills that will enable a student to be an effective listener, a successful communicator, a proficient reader, and a knowledgeable consumer of goods & services related to hearing needs.

Did You Know?

MarineLab


The National Technical Institute for the Deaf, NTID Regional STEM Center (NRSC) is providing an all-expenses paid field trip to the MarineLab at Key, Largo, FL! NRSC will book flights and transportation to the MarineLab camp and provide overnight staff to supervise the students. Register your class now!

Summer Camps


NTID Regional STEM Center (NRSC) has three all-expenses paid summer camps at the University of Alabama Huntsville where students can meet new friends who are DHH and experience life on a college campus! Registration is now open.

  • June 11 - July 1, 2023: STEM Academy for students at least 15 years old and in 10th-12th grade. Students improve academic skills and develop leadership skills. 
  • June 11 - June 17, 2023: STEM in Agriculture for grades 9th-12th grade. Students will learn how robotics work in agriculture.
  • June 18 - June 24, 2023: GenCyber is for rising 9th grade through 12th grade. Students will explore potential careers in cyber security through hands-on experiences.

Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS)


Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) offer students with disabilities an early start at career exploration and preparation for adult life. Beginning at age 14, students with disabilities can connect with VR for Pre-ETS through the school transition staff, guidance counselor, or self-referral. Students with disabilities may participate in Pre-ETS without having to apply to VR or be determined eligible for services. Learn more from the Florida Vocational Rehabilitation webinar Pre-ETS Training for School District Staff and VR Staff.


Do you have a student currently participating in Pre-ETS and they would be willing to share their experience? RMTC-D/HH would like to highlight their participation. Email RMTC-D/HH at info@rmtcdhh.org.

 

Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education


A new issue of the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education has been released. Read articles like, “ASL Developmental Trends Among Deaf Children, Ages Birth to Five,” “How Many People Use Sign Language? A National Health Survey-Based Estimate,” “Longitudinal Models of Reading and Mathematics Achievement in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students,” and more!

Journal of Deaf Studies cover vol 27 issue 4

Upcoming Events


Check out the RMTC-D/HH 2022-2023 Calendar for more upcoming events!

 

Quick Links

Loan Library

Events Calendar

Post a Job

TA-Live! Archive

Tech Notes

Just In Time News

DeafTEC Information

RMTC-D/HH Team

Carmelina Hollingsworth

Sherry Conrad

Mark Keith

Laura McDonald

Nancy McFalls

Candace McIntire

Scott Walsh

Cara Wilmot

RMTC-D/HH provides Tech Notes as a free resource to teachers, professionals, and families around the state in order to pass along potentially useful information and expand the knowledge and opportunities available to educators and families of children who are deaf/hard of hearing. This email was funded by the Florida Department of Education Bureau of Exceptional Education through federal assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B funds. The information included does not reflect any specific endorsement by any parties involved.

Resource Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing

Florida School for the

Deaf and the Blind

 
 
 

RMTC-D/HH | rmtcdhh.org

Facebook  Twitter

References:

Described and Captioned Media Program [DCMP]. (n.d.). Read Captions Across America! https://dcmp.org/learn/638 


Herzig, M. and Leannah, C. (2022). Social-emotional learning: How can we best support deaf adolescents? Odyssey. Gallaudet University.


IRIS Center (n.d.). High-leverage practices. Resources. https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/resources/high-leverage-practices/


McLeskey, J., Barringer, M-D., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M., Jackson, D., Kennedy, M., Lewis, T., Maheady, L., Rodriguez, J., Scheeler, M. C., Winn, J., & Ziegler, D. (2017, January). High-leverage practices in special education. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children & CEEDAR Center. https://highleveragepractices.org/


Visual Language and Visual Learning Science of Learning Center [VL2]. (2016, April). Raising the Whole Child: Addressing Social-Emotional Development in Deaf Children. (Research Brief No. 11). Washington, DC: Linda Risser Lytle & Gina A. Oliva.

Suggested Citation:

Resource Materials and Technology Center for the Deaf/Hard [RMTC-D/HH]. (2022, February). HLP9: Teach social behaviors. Tech Notes. https://www.rmtcdhh.org/tech-notes-archive/