Winter, 2021 - Issue 5

Welcome to the OSS InSight published by the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit's Office of Student Services. So many amazing things happen every day in our work with young people that we have to spread the word!

An Intro to the Office of Student Services

The Office of Student Services (OSS) has one main goal, success for students throughout their school career and beyond graduation. This goal is accomplished through collaboration with the students, other offices within the Intermediate Unit, parents, school districts and community agencies. OSS provides best practices through innovative programs and services delivered by outstanding staff and leaders to school-age children across Montgomery County. There are over 200 professional staff and more than 25 paraprofessionals supporting students and teachers for high quality programs. We are proud for the work we do on behalf of young people and strive for excellence each and every day. For more information visit https://www.mciu.org/offices/office-of-student-services/.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brittany Lourea-Waddell, OSS Director & The Administrative Team

Each month the students at Wyncote are sent a monthly themed virtual OT room, filled with links that take them to different OT activities like videos, Nearpods, or Boom cards so they can continue to work on their OT skills outside of their therapy sessions.

Our Autistic Support programs have focused on what we can learn during the changing seasons. Some fun examples of what we are learning are included below:

In Mrs. Vorwaller's K-2 classroom, we have been hard at work learning our numbers, the alphabet, and working on our motor skills! This month we learned about the letters I, J, K, and L and the numbers 10-13. We love singing our alphabet with Usher every morning and learning our letter of the week with Jack Hartmann!

It's also important for us to keep our bodies moving and we work hard every day to keep our motor skills sharp. Our favorite thing we do is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" yoga with Dr. Morak every week. We love picking out what animal movement we are going to practice.

Mr. Borda's K-2 class read about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and wrote short response compositions about what we like to see at parades. Later, we took a virtual field trip to Manhattan to learn more about the history of the parade and see it in action on the streets of New York.

Mrs. Hallman's 5th and 6th grade class has been reading books about the season of fall and all the things that are changing. We learned about changing leaves, changing weather and some foods we eat in the fall. We took a virtual field trip to the apple orchard and learned about many different kinds of apples and how they taste different. We also learned about the life cycle of apples and found out that our state is the fourth largest producer of apples in the country!

In Mrs. Stoczko’s 5th and 6th grade class, the students have been busy! One of our main focuses has been on strengthening our S.E.L. (Social Emotional Learning) skills! This month, we read a few books relating to the fall season and differences amongst people or things. One of the books was, The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin!

Spookley is a square pumpkin living in a round pumpkin patch world. At the end of the story, each of the creatures on the pumpkin farm realize that he has a valuable place among them. This class loves discussing themes from books once they are finished reading. They all tend to come back to this important thought...The things that make us different are the things that make us special!

Mrs. Schmidt's High School class at Springfield Twp. High dove head first into Readtopia's Cleopatra and boy did they discover all kinds of goodies about ancient Egypt. Their favorite topic by far was MUMMIES....
Here are some fun facts they uncovered ...
1. Mummies were any Egyptian who could afford to pay to preserve their bodies for the afterlife.
2. All organs (except for the heart) were removed and placed in jars.
3. The body was preserved by covering it in natron (salt) and wrapped in strands of linen.

Here is a funny mummy joke...
Question: Why don't mummies take vacations?
Answer: Because they are afraid they will relax and unwind!!!

It's been a beautiful fall, but SNOWY season, here we come!

The first grade students at St. Margaret School are learning to add and subtract using the multi-sensory program, TouchMath. Here you see Lola and Ava taking advantage of the plexiglass dividers. They see, say, hear, and touch points on the numeral, making a connection between the numeral and the amount it represents. What a fun way to practice identifying the TouchPoints and improving our computation skills!!

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) and students are busy changing biases and stigmas about stuttering by providing parent, teacher and classroom education trainings in our nonpublic schools. SLP’s messages to students are changing as we are becoming more aware of the negative impact of words we use, when talking to students and families. Stuttering is not something that needs to be “fixed” or extinguished! Goals in therapy are NOT for students to use their “tools” to fix stuttering or to be more fluent, as if there is something wrong. Instead, “strategies” are taught to help make communication easier.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for those ages 10-24. School staff are often the first ones made aware of safety concerns for students and conducting an informed suicide risk assessment is a vital skill for school based clinicians. To help in this area, the MCIU held a virtual workshop with suicide assessment/threat assessment expert, Dr. Terri Erbacher, in December 2020. Over 75 school based mental health professionals, including all MCIU mental health staff, learned the most up-to-date techniques for assessing at-risk students.

MCIU mental health staff utilize these research based protocols when assessing students and developing safety plans. MCIU school counselors, school psychologists and social workers are available to assist Montgomery County schools with suicide assessment, threat assessment, and/or crisis intervention. Please contact Dr. Aviele Koffler at akoffler@mciu.org and/or at 610-755-9342 with any questions.

The students in MCIU's Communication and Learning Classroom started a unit on Telling Time in math. Mrs. Hamilton made a large classroom clock to help the students understand minutes and hours. Students practiced telling time to the hour and half hour using individual Judy Clocks and virtually by doing a Boom Card and unique learning activities.

MCIU School Counselors have found fun ways to meet with students due to COVID restrictions. Elementary school students who work with MCIU school counselor, Diana Jones, look forward to playing socially distanced board games that reinforce skills. Each individual sits behind separate plexiglass tri-fold screens at 6-8 feet apart and both the student and counselor are wearing masks. To play the games, a cleanable cover is placed over the game board and the covered game board, along with the plastic pieces of the games, are given to the student (these are disinfected after each use). The counselor keeps the cardboard pieces such as spinners, tokens, and situation cards which are not as easily disinfected. Ms. Jones has found that the students are happy to play these games, even though they are being played in a different manner than before. Ms. Jones is excited to see students enjoying their learning, during this otherwise somewhat stressful time. MCIU School Counselors are also finding creative ways to teach classroom lessons on the importance of good social skills, while maintaining social distancing. MCIU School Counselors, Ms. Maggie Young and Mrs. Eileen Ford, visited with elementary school students to teach children the importance of good listening skills. They read the story, “Whole Body Listening Larry at School!” by Kristen Wilson and Elizabeth Sautter. With the help of Mrs. Potato Head, students completed a corresponding coloring activity to help encourage these listening and attending skills in the school environment.

The students in Mrs. Ortlieb's MDS class at Evans Elementary love the Singing Walrus. Mr. Randy surprised the class at Halloween with his ingenious costume! You can find the Singing Walrus on YouTube.

Ms. Winheld, MCIU school counselor, is working with 4th and 5th grade students at multiple non-public schools to promote the concept of a “growth mindset.” Growth mindset is a concept based on the belief that you can develop and cultivate abilities through efforts. Ms. Winheld teaches her lessons utilizing a new resource called Nearpod--a cloud-based educational platform that engages students through technology. Ms. Winheld’s lessons include fun and engaging activities where students actively participate by taking polls, drawing and writing their answers, and watching and responding to videos. Student feedback to Ms. Winheld’s lessons on growth mindset has been overwhelmingly positive!

At The Baldwin School and French International School, Mrs. Madonna's lessons were focused around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. These themes were incorporated into discussions, activities, and teachable moments by using the book, The Day You Begin by: Jacqueline Woodson. After reading the book with the students, different task cards, writing prompts, and discussion questions were used to understand the themes, skills, and morals throughout the text. The Day You Begin is a beautiful story encouraging children to appreciate their differences and connect with others even when they feel alone. In this story, a young girl explores how she feels different from those in her class as they tell their stories of summer. The reader finds out that she feels like she doesn’t belong, but other children share their examples of feeling the same way. This book can be used to encourage children to believe in the value of their own stories. Also, it can be a tool to encourage to think about empathy and putting themselves in the shoes of others.

In addition to the safety precautions of social distancing and cleaning the staff at Evans Elementary prepare for back to in-person learning. Mrs. Ortlieb, Mrs. Hamilton and Mrs. Campisi also gear up with their N95 face mask and face shield to welcome the students back to school.

MCIU school social workers provide a wide range of mental health services to support students. In addition to helping schools and families access community resources, MCIU school social workers conduct trainings, assist in bullying prevention programs, develop truancy elimination plans, and meet with students for individual therapy. Additionally, MCIU school social workers run a variety of group counseling sessions to address student needs. For example, Amanda Snyder is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who meets with students weekly for social skills groups at MCIU classrooms throughout the county. Groups have been held both virtually, and in person, and topics covered include identifying feelings, practicing coping strategies, problem solving, etc. Students love meeting with Ms. Snyder and they enjoy participating in groups while learning valuable social skills!

Prior to the holiday break, Anderson Students enjoyed a day of service. Students were able to select how they wanted to help others. Students made toys for rescue animals, made cards for those in need of holiday cheer, made gifts for loved ones, painted a photo board for the school and read books to elementary students. Earlier this year, students wrote letters of encouragement to people in hospitalization. Giving to others provides an automatic boost to self-esteem and sense of purpose and ultimately makes a difference that matters. The staff are proud of the giving hearts at the Anderson School!

We "sense" that we are having a good year at Myers Elementary! In our Myers Elementary K-2 Verbal Behavior classroom, we have been working on using sensory items to regulate our emotions with Mrs. Vorwaller. We have been exploring our sense through touch, smell, hearing, and sight. We have created sensory bins and sensory bottles together as a class. They are fun for us to look at and helps us calm ourselves when we are experiencing big emotions. One of our favorite activities is painting using shaving cream and finger paints. We also use this sensory time to work on our letters and shapes by making them in the paint like in our photographs!

In Mrs. Rodzwic's class we learned all about Martin Luther King Jr. We watched an educational video on Brain Pop Jr. about what Martin Luther King Jr. did for the civil rights movement. We also completed a biography on his life and contributions to the African American community. The students enjoyed reading facts about MLK and coloring a fact sheet. Mrs. Rodzwic's class learned important key details about Martin Luther King Jr. such as he was a leader of the Civils Rights movement, he fought for equal rights, helped end segregation, and gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech!

Mrs. Dwyer's group returned to in-person hybrid learning. We are so excited to welcome those students back into the classroom. Shout out to Ms. Donohue, one of our program TAs, for making our classroom fun, while still being socially distant! Another shout out goes to all of our students and families who remained virtual. You have all been so amazing at adapting to a new and changing schedule this week while we adjust to the hybrid learning model. You’re awesome and thank you for being so flexible!

Back in December, our class started a Pen Pal Project with residents in personal care facilities. We recently got our letters back from our new friends and have started discussing what we would like to write back in our next letter. Some of the things we’ve talked about so far are: how old we are, what our favorite colors are, our favorite foods, our favorite parts of school and our favorite movies, music, games and TV shows! We learned a lot about what our pen pals are interested in as well, such as: singing, crafting, drawing and painting, along with their favorite foods, movies, TV shows and music. We can’t wait to finish our letters and hear back from our pen pals.

PS- How cute are our socially distanced Jeep desks?

In January Mrs. Hallman's class learned how people celebrate the new year all over the world. We read many books about the inauguration and the presidency. We also watched the reading of “The Hill We Climb” on Inauguration Day. In February, we learned about Groundhog Day and how our state plays such a big role in this tradition. We also learned about Lunar New Year and read books about kindness for Valentine’s Day.

Students in Mrs. Myers' class at Wyncote Elementary are also participating in a Pen Pal program with residents in the nearby Hopkins Center Senior Citizens Facility. After learning about how to write letters and brainstorming interesting facts about himself, each student wrote an introductory letter about topics such as favorite activities and favorite colors. Happily, the class recently received letters from the pen pals and are excited to start the next round of letters! This program has both academic and social-emotional benefits for the students. In addition to practicing reading and writing skills, students are learning how they can brighten their lives and the lives of community members by reaching out and connecting. That's just a sampling from our recent happenings. Have questions? Want to learn more about our classroom based Autistic Support programs? Reach out to Kristina Corominas anytime! 484-688-3242 or kcorominas@mciu.org

At the January meeting of the Montgomery County Workforce Board, MCIU and the MontcoWorks NOW program were awarded another four years of youth workforce services. MWN serves youth and young adults, helping them to overcome barriers to education and employment. In addition, MWN staff provide college and career readiness support to school districts and career and technical schools. The MontcoWorks NOW team is comprised of youth career counselors Tiffany Smith, Hakim Jones, and Danielle DeLuca Wilburn and Facilitator of Workforce Partnerships Sara Reznor. Kris Koberlein provides special education support while Kyle Longacre and Kendall Glouner provide administrative leadership. The Youth Workforce program also requires a paid work experience component, where MWN clients are "hired" as temporary MCIU employees and paid through the MCIU payroll for completing work and training activities and for placements at MWN business partners. This requires significant collaboration with MCIU's human resources and business departments to keep all the paperwork moving. But the results are engaging experiences for MWN clients that prepare them for sustainable future employment. MWN also concluded the Teacher in the Workplace program at the end of 2020 with 75 teachers participating in four industry cohorts. Although cut short and modified by COVID-19, the participants enjoyed the diverse and unique professional development opportunity to visit businesses and non-profits across the county. Several of the teachers shared their reflections in a recent episode of MWN's Industry Insights webcast that are featured on the MontcoWorks NOW YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpNQYZ_WtwFTeCVMTKgSXCQ

• Crisis Team - Upon request, MCIU will send out teams of mental health specialists to support at times of crisis.
• SAIP -The Student Attendance Improvement Program (SAIP) provides a comprehensive school and home-based assessment and treatment plan, as well as ongoing mental health supports and social work services, for students who present with school refusal behavior and related challenges.

Email: bwaddell@mciu.org
Website: www.mciu.org
Location: 2 West Lafayette Street, Norristown, PA, USA
Phone: 610-755-9433
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mciu23
Twitter: @mciu_oss