Sharing best practices and promoting inclusive opportunities for students with special needs
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Executive Director's
Message
Dear LABBB Community,
Recent world events and ongoing conflicts remind me daily of the importance of gratitude and grace towards others. The complexity of our interactions with each other, the incredible pace at which information comes at us, our need for shared resiliency and compassion, and our ability to embrace gratitude as we work to create awareness are gifts and opportunities we can provide each other. We often have to be mindful that when there is conflict and chaos, that we must make space for gratitude and appreciation. Gratitude and appreciation allow us time to engage in empathy or compromise and may allow for shared smiles. It is with gratitude that I say thank you for sharing your children/ young adults with us! Every day we share their smiles, maybe some conflicts, and we share in their successes.
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is rolling out a new IEP form; this Parent letter from DESE outlines the IEP initiative. Each public school district will be rolling this out. Please stay tuned, we will share information as it becomes available.
LABBB Evening Parent Meetings
We are continuing to hold LABBB Parent Meetings on the same evenings as monthly dances. This provides parents an opportunity to drop off their child at the Lexington Community Center (39 Marrett Road), then attend the meeting upstairs at the Center.
These informative meetings allow us to discuss various topics related to programming, special needs planning, recreation, transition, post-22 planning, supplemental security income (SSI), financial planning, and many other important topics.
Our November meeting this year, we welcome Ms. Alyssa Limerick, LABBB's MCAS Coordinator, who will be sharing a wealth of information about everything MCAS ... who is eligible for the Alt Assessment or available accommodations, preparing, competency portfolio and much more!
Parent meetings for 2023-24 will take place from 7:00 to 8:15 pm on the following dates:
October 26, 2023
November 16, 2023 - Everything MCAS!
December 7, 2023*** NO Parent Meeting
January 18, 2024 - Special Needs Planning with Leo Rotman
** February 1, 2024 - Work Incentives for Families and People Served (Time Change - meeting from 6:15 - 8:15; Dance starts at 6:00)
March 7, 2024 - Introduction to the New IEP with Katie Meinelt
April 4, 2024 ***** NO Parent meeting
April 25, 2024 ****Transition Fair at Grace Chapel in Lexington
May 30, 2024
We look forward to seeing you!
With appreciation and gratitude,
Pam
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Functional Math @ Burlington High
“Surf Shops”
By: Rebecca Niman
Students in Ms. Niman’s math class have been putting their functional math skills to the test while starting up their own simulated “surf shops.” After learning about business and entrepreneurship, students are working on developing their own surf shop from the ground up. After brainstorming and pitching their surf shop names to a potential “customer base” they are budgeting start up costs (rent, furniture, inventory), planning their store layout using measurement formulas, stocking and purchasing inventory, applying for their business loan, all in anticipation for their grand openings. They will then be responsible for tracking spending/profit for a year using simulated scenarios. The ultimate goal of this project is to produce a profit at the end of the shop’s first year. This learning based project is an engaging way for students to be exposed to and apply important functional math skills in a meaningful way.
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Fun in October
By: Michelle Collins
Hooray, two months down!! The Wellington crew in room 243 has been doing a great job getting to know our weekly schedule!
They love starting their day singing and listening to songs during morning meeting. Their all-time favorite, “the days of the week song” with the music being from the Adams Family!!
They had fun learning all about October by creating an acrostic poem for “Autumn”, art projects for Columbus Day with the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria and making dream catchers for Indigenous Peoples Day.
Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins are everywhere, we painted them, cut one up and saw all the insides. Most of the kids didn’t like touching the pulp or seeds. Yuck!!!!
Here is some of their work, we hope you enjoy!!!
Room 243 @Wellington
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Clinical Corner: Prepping for the Holiday Season
By: Shelly Albert, M.S. Ed, BCBA, LABA
The holiday season can be an exciting time for many, but also a stressful time for individuals who crave routine and predictability. Holiday gatherings can be unpredictable, loud, filled with social expectations, and can be in an unfamiliar place. Here are some helpful tips that can help you and your family prepare for this and hopefully put your child more at ease in these situations.
Previewing: Social Stories are one way to preview a new situation. You can include pictures of family members and attendees at a gathering, a picture of the location, a rough itinerary of what types of activities may happen, and anything else you think would be helpful for your child to preview. If you have a good idea of the activities, you can also create a visual schedule to bring along with you.
Bring Tools and Reinforcement: If you know your child doesn’t enjoy loud gatherings with lots of people, it can be helpful to bring headphones or ask the host if they have a space in their home they feel comfortable letting you access for a quieter space. If eating unfamiliar foods can be difficult, you can bring familiar food as a backup. If your child enjoys a preferred toy, fidget, or another regulating item (music, iPad, etc), bring it along to help ease the transition.
Consider a Slow Transition: It can be overwhelming to enter an environment with lots of stimulation. If possible, consider using a slow transition to a new space and give your child time to get used to it. This may mean that they enter the space for a few minutes, and then go to a quieter space for a few minutes, and then go back and forth until they adjust.
Talk with Your Host/Guests Ahead of Time: For those family members who may be less familiar with your child, it can be helpful to chat with them about tips for interacting with your child. Telling your family and friends about your child’s current interests can help give them an “in” on having a meaningful interaction with them!
Taking some time to prepare your child and loved ones ahead of time will hopefully put you and your child at ease. Wishing you and your family all the best during this busy time!
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Closing the Gap 2023
By: Emily Hurd and Amanda Hobson
In October, we were lucky to have the opportunity to attend and present at the annual Closing the Gap conference in Minneapolis. Closing the Gap is an organization focused on supporting people who use assistive technology, as well as families and professionals.
We were excited to have a chance to present some of the work on self-advocacy that students and staff in our Marshall Simonds Middle School program have done over the past year. We shared our approach to developing self-advocacy intervention at the curriculum, classroom environment, and larger program environment levels. Slides and materials from our session can be found at this link: https://sites.google.com/view/knowyourrightsctg2023/home
In addition to presenting, we got to attend sessions on a wide range of topics, including:
● literacy for students with the most complex support needs
● supported decision making for emergent communicators
● mental health vocabulary in symbol-based AAC systems
● transition to adulthood
● building assistive technology capacity at the organizational level
● coaching and mentoring
● supporting paraeducators
● switch-adapting toys
The conference also included an AT Makers event, which sparked lots of fun ideas for do-it-yourself adaptations. We’re looking forward to putting what we’ve learned into action with our students and team!
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Transition Dept: Beyond Work
By: Tori Dennis
Transition services are far more than just building skills to be able to “work”… Transition skills are developing ways or plans to continue learning, be an active member of your community (either through recreation & leisure, vocation, volunteerism, or other) and learning to live as independently as possible. Transition skills are taught across domains by each member of the student team. When a student turns 14, they are recognized as being transitional age by the state. Providing services to support each student to create, work towards, and achieve their post-secondary vision is the mission of the team. One area of transitional readiness that all students (all humans) work towards is the ability to self-regulate. In order to self-regulate, students must develop a sense/awareness of self. The mindfulness movement continues to take our classrooms/communities by storm, and how great?! Schools across the country are bringing yoga and mindful practice into the classroom. Students are given time during their day to think freely, breathe, and move their bodies with intention. But it doesn’t stop there. In learning the practice of self-regulation, we are giving students the tools to support themselves in a variety of environments. Students who learn these strategies in the safety of their classroom (or home) environment, are more likely to be able to pull upon these “tools” when feeling out-of-sorts in a new environment; such as the community.
The transition department supports the bridge between classroom and community; by embracing these skills, and meeting students where they are at. Mindful practice and tools for self-regulation are taught proactively to familiarize students with what might work best for them. Then, these tools can be accessed as needed (whether guided or independently) in new environments to support a meaningful existence, and a confident ready-to-learn body and brain.
A personal favorite to teach is yoga. There is more to this strategy than postures, and plenty of methodologies to use with students. There are 8 limbs in the yogic philosophy, asana, the physical practice, being only one. The link below is an article from Yoga Journal that breaks down each limb, and gives some suggestions to try. Much like we do curriculum, find the “entry” and “access” points in yoga, and individualize it to the student.
We are already doing some of these things. We teach our students to interact in kind and expected ways with others, this is yoga. We teach students to care for themselves, this is yoga. We strive to support and induce a feeling of integrity and self worth in all of our students, this is yoga. Yoga’s eightfold path, and what that translates to in all of our daily lives, is vast and completely unable to be captured in a few short paragraphs. Here are a few ideas:
1. Don’t know the poses? No worries.
You don’t have to know all the different “postures” to practice yoga. To maintain a healthy spine, one must move in 6 different ways daily. How can you guide students through stretches that move their spine? (forward and back, side to side, twisting left and right). For students with physical disabilities, get creative, they can be seated, or lying down. **Safety first** Always consult a Specialist if you are unsure/need support to move a child’s body. We want to be sure movement feels GREAT and is safe for every BODY!
2. Read your audience.
What type of music (if any) do your students enjoy? Would they benefit from instrumental/meditative music? Or maybe it’s hip hop? Play music based on your
student’s preferences (or none at all!). If you are not in a location to access music, you might allow a student to use their headphones, or skip music all together. Don’t feel barred by specifics. You can create the climate by supporting students to follow your lead.
3. Behaviors…
They happen. How can you best support students who see “yoga” as another demand? Try yoga from a chair, or standing at a table, it doesn’t have to be on a mat. For students who may become confused by being asked to repeatedly stand up, and sit down, be mindful of your sequencing. Do all the sitting postures first, and then move to standing postures. Your purpose will get lost in translation with too many directions. Try to simplify whenever possible. Use pictures, and better yet, model! Rotating through small groups can work great, and keep your
classes short. If movement is too overwhelming on any given day, take time to sit and breath.
4. Where?
Yoga can be practiced in the classroom, van, in a field, in a chair, at the grocery store, at the farm, in CVS, at cab duty, ANYWHERE. Just breathe.
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Rules for learning
By: Crystal Kaloostian - Chenery Upper Elementary School
Rules are what makes the world go round, but they also make a class run smoothly. Whenever we start a new year, we need to make sure to teach students about rules and expectations. What I like to do at the beginning of each year, after students get used to the class, is have a discussion about what rules we need for learning. What does this mean? It means, what do we need to do to make sure everyone can learn. The students are given a list of what we had from the previous year and we discuss any changes we want to make - What to keep, what to delete, what to add, and what to combine. They love this as it gives them a say and some power in the classroom dynamic. It also helps everyone buy into following the rules as they helped to make them. Having students help create the rules, shows them that teachers respect their opinions and want to include them in their own learning environment. I invite you all to give it a try.
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LABBB Adapted Physical Education, Recreation and Social Opportunities
IMPORTANT DATE CHANGE for LABBB RECREATION:
Our April LABBB dance has been changed from
April 25, 2024 to April 4, 2024. Please change this on your calendars!
Our October Halloween Dance was another great success. Weather was on our side and we were able to hold the festivities outside, under a tent. Our scary and not so scary blowup decorations helped make it a bootacular event. We had 60 of our LABBB students in attendance and 30+ Best Buddies from our Bedford and Lexington Chapters. We even had board games going on, supplied by our Lexington Best Buddies, for those who just wanted to enjoy the music but not dance.
The LABBB Best Buddies Craft Fair was another highlight of October. The funds raised will allow our Best Buddies chapters to plan more fun events for our LABBB students and their buddies. Thank you to all who came to shop or just visit. See you next October.
Upcoming events:
November 16 Harvest Dance, Lexington Community Center for current students
November 27 Monday Bowling
November 29 Wednesday Recreation - Walking/Glee and Dance/Arts & Crafts
November 30 Dinner & a Show Trip - AFD Theatre, “One Slight Hitch”
Remember to follow @LABBBREC on Twitter
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LABBB Parent Resources
https://www.mass.gov/orgs/department-of-developmental-services
Interested in fitness or arts programs for your child? Check out these resources.
Many families ask for ways to help their children be active and healthy at home. One family recently shared a program that they found for their son. It is called Inclusive Fitness and it is a program that helps to create healthy lifestyles for neurodiverse people, their families and communities. For more information, you can check out their website at https://inclusivefitness.com/.
This information is offered as community resources that may be of interest to our families. LABBB does not have any specific affiliations to these programs.
Greater Massachusetts Special Needs Events
Family Support Center Directory by Town
Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress
20 Burlington Mall Road, Suite 261
Burlington, MA 01803
781-221-0024
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Families with MassHealth Need to Renew Coverage:
Families with MassHealth need to renew their coverage this year in order to maintain coverage. Coverage protections put in place during the pandemic will end soon, and MassHealth will return to standard annual eligibility renewal processes. Please help inform MassHealth families that they need to take the following steps:
- Update contact information – make sure MassHealth has their most up-to-date address, phone number, and email so that they do not miss important information and notices about what else is needed.
- Report household changes to make sure MassHealth knows about any changes in their household, like a new job, address, changes to income, disability status, or pregnancy.
MassHealth Eligibility Redeterminations Information
Merrimack Valley Disability Transition Fair: Virtual Event with the Lawrence Public Schools. https://bit.ly/3Mo8Lmq
• Visual Impairment “Early Connections” Conference: w/ Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown https://bit.ly/41mrOCJ
• The Inevitable Aging Process for Special-Needs Caregivers & Their Loved Ones: Webinar with the MinuteMan Arc https://bit.ly/3KqQkvX
• Higher Education for Those with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities in Massachusetts https://bit.ly/3KjDzCd
Special Needs Art Programs Inc.
Registration for the Fall 2023 through Summer 2024 program year will
begin on August 1st. SNAP will have a new registration platform for
signing up singers and artists. This new platform will offer many more
features to make the sign-up process more efficient and let you check
on payments and registrations easily!
Registration is on a first come, first serve basis and enrollment is
limited. Please register early to secure your spot.
Riverside Family Support
Extra Steps Launches Innovative Programs
Wilderness skill building can be a thrilling and empowering adventure for school age kids. A new program called Kids in the Wild is being offered through Extra Steps Pediatric Therapies. The first session will take place on December 10th in Sudbury for children ages 7-12.
Additionally, Extra Steps is offering Caregiver Workshops to help families build connections with one another and promote skill development in their loved one. An example is a workshop held on Nov. 2nd that focused on holiday stress.
For more information, contact Director Sherry Kenin.
Asperger/Autism Network (AANE) provides individuals, families and professionals with information, education. Community, support and advocacy is offering free community connection sessions .Our.Free Online Community Connection Sessions are single-session discussion groups and a great way to meet our staff and connect with the community for the first time. All times listed are in the Eastern Time Zone. Please click the date for more info and to register.
Housing Navigator Massachusetts
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Discovery Museum Announces 2023 Series of Free Events for Families of Children with Disabilities
Discovery Museum is ADA-compliant and all exhibits are accessible, designed according to Universal Design principles to be both aesthetically pleasing and useable by the widest possible range of people, without regard to age or ability.
Special resources are available to families including noise-reducing headphones, a sensory guide to the Museum, sensory-based programming, and American Sign Language (ASL) language facilitators at some events. Additionally, dinner, including a gluten-free option, is provided at all evening events.
All Especially for Me events are free to attend for all family members, but preregistration is required. Dates and registration links can be found online at http://bit.ly/EspeciallyforMe.
2023 Event Schedule
Sensory-Friendly Afternoons (open to the public, but no group visits are scheduled):
Tuesdays 1:30 to 4:30pm | December 5
Evenings for Families with Deaf, Hard of Hearing, & KODA Children (closed to the public):
Saturdays 5:00 to 8:00pm |
Autism-Friendly Evenings (closed to the public):
Saturdays 5:00 to 8:00pm | December 16
All-Access Evenings (closed to the public):
Saturdays 5:00 to 8:00pm | November 18
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A LABBB PODCAST
Patric Barbieri, Hosts a Podcast talking about special needs planning and resources related to our community
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LABBB Collaborative
123 Cambridge Street, Burlington MA. 01803| LABBB.com
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