A pleasure and joy for me to be here. Um, I am Jeff Hones, for
those who may not know, uh, school board member for District 5,
and it is a pleasure to join you for today's exceptional
student education lunch and learn. I want to thank our
ESC department and staff for organizing these
valuable sessions that I, I know keep our families informed and
empowered. The time and care that go into coordinating
these forums truly make a difference. And so as a school board member
and a and a parent as well of an ESE student, I
understand how important these opportunities are for sharing resources,
strategies, and community support. I am a strong
advocate for ESC services and deeply appreciate the
work being done to ensure that every student has what they
need to thrive. So I want to thank you for your partnership and continued
commitment to our students' success, and thank you for having me this morning this afternoon as
well.
Thank you, Doctor Holness. It's a pleasure to have you join us to take out of
your very busy schedule to be with us today.
Thank you, thank you. OK, so next up will
be Ms. Stephanie Acosta Castro, and Stephanie is going
to update your parents on policy 4900
and the parent surveys. Good afternoon, Stephanie. Good
afternoon, Gwen and the lovely parents of Broward County Public Schools. Thank
you so much for being here. I want to start off by giving an update on
policy 4900. Policy 4900 is a local
policy. That was passed on July 29, 2025
allowing for the use of audio video recording and self-contained classrooms.
As of October 31st, we have 50 classrooms that
currently have audio visual recordings happening within
their classroom. As a reminder, the parent's Bill of Rights is
what determines um when the camera can be turned on. It does have to be a
self-contained classroom. These are also known as our special program,
our ASD IND cluster programs, and or
SVE at the secondary level. Once all parents
within that classroom have provided consent, then the camera is able
to be turned on. We are also in
the process. If you are receiving our emails, you should have received
an email for a survey. We're currently completing two different
surveys. One is about a gifted programming and or gifted
academy, and the second is regarding the autism
school autism charter, autism support. This is a really
great opportunity for you to provide um. Input into the
redefining process, um, all of the suggestions will be
presented to the board so that they can direct the superintendent and how they would like
to proceed in regard to these topics, and we will be dropping
those surveys into the chat so that you can access them directly. You
don't have to worry about typing all that back into your computer just give us a few
minutes and we'll get those dropped into the chat for you. I
also wanted to take this opportunity to give a small shout out
to Blanche Ely High School who is hosting on December 11th
an ESC transition fair. This is something that they've coordinated with
their community and with um resources that are available to people
that live within their community, so it's never too early to start
thinking about transition. A lot of times we have our middle school students and we
feel like transition is just so far away, but it comes quicker than you.
You think so absolutely I recommend that if you can make it
out to this transition fair, um, the quest also hosts a great
transition fair just be on the lookout we'll also be posting these on our social
media accounts and then this is also National School Psychology
Week. So if you happen to be on campus and you happen to run into your school
psychologist, make sure that you give them a shout out, a hug, a thumbs
up because it is National School Psychology Week, and they do so much for our
students and our families. Thank you so much, Gwen. I'll be on for a little
bit in case there's any questions in the chat. OK. Thank you, Stephanie.
OK, so we're gonna move right along and now at
this time I told you you will be hearing from Ms. Shive again so
um I'm going to welcome back to the meeting Ms. Sabrina Shive
our director for curriculum, and Sabrina will be talking to you
about supporting your students at home.
Ms. Shai, welcome again. Yes. Hi, thank you
so much for having me. Um, I'm happy to be the director of
curriculum and also, uh, a parent of a student with
autism. So, um, some of these strategies that some
are gonna be repeats that you've heard, I always just feel though that it's just important to
just refresh and remind ourselves, especially as we're moving into this
holiday season. Um, it, it's even more
important sometimes. To just kind of remember and review and have a great structure
at home to assist and and many of these things I've done myself as a
parent and I'm happy to share with you all so that you
also can have, uh, that perspective and that ability to
feel that success at home as well as school. So this is our session
overview that's just gonna kind of share the things that we're gonna be
discussing today and we'll go ahead and just move straight into um our
topics so we can go to the next slide. So we are gonna
do just a review. I know that there was some discussion on executive functioning, but
I do think it's important just to just to remind that the executive
function that children are, you know, having sometimes trouble with whether it's
at home or at school, really has to do with their control center
in their brain. So, you know, it's not something that maybe they're
choosing sometimes behaviors, but they're really just
having difficulty with how the brain is um.
Figuring things out as they're navigating. So these can show
up and trying to stay focused on something to
following directions. A lot of times when we're giving our children directions,
multi-step directions, we feel like, oh we just told you, but they might have
difficulty with those, uh, tasks and also just managing
their time, knowing how much time has elapsed and their materials.
So if we're going to be building our executive functioning skills,
there are some uh best practices that you can utilize.
One is just really establishing a consistent daily routine. So when
you pick your children up to have a, a an a routine
that's consistent for them. So every day we come home, maybe we start with a
snack and then we go into homework. And then we do
dinner and we also do bath and then we do maybe
some free time prior to bed. So, of course, that might not be
the routine you're following, but if every day I'm doing that routine, that's
really helpful so that the children can feel
success and know the pattern of what to expect after school. We
do know that um. Sometimes we have to change
that routine because things come up, we might have a doctor's appointment or a dentist
appointment, and that's why using a visual schedule really
helps because I can now change the component of the schedule. So
if I have the schedule for my morning or my evening
mapped out. And then I have to make a change. I can then review that with
my child to say today instead of going home for a snack, we're going to the
dentist, and that could be in the car on the way to school just so
that they know or when they get in the car after school, let's look at our schedule
and see the things that we're going to be doing this afternoon. When we
look at our tasks, if, if we're asking children to do whether
it be their homework or whether it be their um
chores at home, we wanna make sure we're breaking the tasks up into small
manageable bits so that they, we can do one thing at a
time so that that that child doesn't have to remember multiple things.
And that comes with the next one providing checklists and visual
aids sometimes help as we want to move to giving multiple
step directions because now what I can do is
show them on the schedule. Let's, when we do this task first we do
this, next we do this, last we do this, and if I
get lost in it as a child, I could say, can you check your checklist?
Where are we on the checklist? And um. Just to give you like some
background with my own child when she was in 2nd grade, she's now in
um college, I mean, I'm sorry, she's graduated college and and actually
um In, in her post-life, uh, uh, being very successful,
and she's now using her own checklists. But in the past, what I could say
is one of the checklists I would have in her room would be a morning
checklist, things like brush your teeth, get your
backpack, put your shoes on, um, things that I knew that if
I, I would have to kind of remind her all the time. But now I had
that list, so I was able to have her start to check her
checklist so that she would make sure she knew. Each time what to
do. And then finally on this one is just fostering that self
monitoring and reflection. So talking to your child about
is this helpful, helping them determine which
strategies work, um, if they're able to do so. And also for yourself as
a parent, is this strategy helping?
We'll go to the next slide.
Part of some of those schedules, uh, if your child is like my
child was, they might take too long in one part of that task.
So timers really help managing that time. So
sometimes, um, when we have some executive functioning, we might
not know the elapsed time. It feels, we might say 10
minutes, and they might take an hour and think that's been 10 minutes.
So, uh, something visual like a visual timer that we set
can help students and your children figure out
how much time has elapsed and when that timer goes off, it helps them realize that's
what 10 minutes feels like. So basically, looking
at that, I think that's a really great way to help them plan and manage their time.
Um, it also helps them figure out how long. Long a
segment is and they will start to get used to, oh, that's what 10 minutes feels
like we always want to, of course, reinforce our success with
praise or rewards. It could be as simple as, you know, if you do
everything in your checklist in the time that we set on the timer, this
is a reward that you would, uh, be able to get or for some of our children, it's
just enough to give them praise. Great job, thank you, good job doing.
This, and even if they're partially successful, it's always helpful
to reinforce the positive parts and just, you know, you did a
great job with brushing your teeth, but we really have to
work on bringing your shoes. Let's go back over that checklist.
And really any time that you can, whether you're in the car,
driving, uh, whether you're watching something on
TV. Reading together, reinforcing
those real life examples that tie in together, um, to
help them kind of have those scripts of how do I handle things when they're
coming up in real life. Next slide.
And then we can kind of see, especially as we're going into a digital age,
for some, a planner's great, they can handwrite them.
For others it might be difficult to handwrite and digital might be better.
I think, um, the generation, when our generation, we
wrote everything down, I think now we're seeing most, a lot of people keep their
calendars digitally, but it's really helpful if Children get used
to not just having it in paper but also digitally,
um, especially if you have an older child and they have a phone helping them
utilize that as much as you practice it, it will then as they're
becoming into adulthood, become something that'll help them through
that adulthood. As much as you can label materials, if it's for
different subjects, even if it's for things at home.
Labeling things really helps with remembering color coding,
so math is always blue. Let's get out your blue math
folder, um, so that they kind of remember if I, if I have a
blue textbook, I might want a blue math folder labeled math. So that's kind
of how it, it helps connect with the brain. Um, we really wanna make
sure where you're doing the homework if you can find a nice space
for your children to be able to study so that they can see that
that's different from where I watch TV or that's different from where
I, um. Have my snack. Sometimes that's super
helpful. And then just again, we go back to just building that
predictable family schedule. For some that might be having a family
calendar up where we can review it the night before, the morning
of. Um, I've seen people use color codes for different
children, you know, you have soccer today, you have a
doctor's appointment, so it's just kind of to help them remember that these are
strategies to help us stay organized day to day. Next slide.
These are again, just kind of going back over the two that I really
wanted to focus on because I do feel like we've talked about the top one a lot. But the
middle one is creating to do and turning folders. That seems
like a school thing, but it's a really great home thing too, because you're
gonna find that they do that at school. So if you could do that at
home also, that could be helpful. So if we know we have homework, um, if we're
letting, you know, letting a Have a snack break or we're having a play
break having the things that we have to do in one place and then when
we're done having it in another place and then we maybe put it into our
backpack to go back to school. So to do and turn
in is helpful even with our own chores like.
Here's what you're going to do to do, and then here's where you're going to do it when you're
complete. It just kind of helps build that continuity of what the expectation is at
home, and I alluded to it slightly about those separate areas as much
as possible, and I know it's not always possible, but as much as possible if
you can create separate areas, so this is where we.
You know, study, this is where we play, this is where we eat. My
bedroom's where I relax. So, um, even if like, if I lay on my bed
to relax, maybe there's somewhere I can sit at a desk or,
um, in a separate place in my bed, or when I'm on my bed, I use a separate
desk like those pillow desks. So something that differentiates for
children. How do I know I'm not supposed to be laying here and
sleeping? When do I know that I'm supposed to be studying? So it kind of helps us set,
set more, it helps our brain the more we can look at those types of things.
So with that, when we're looking at homework, making sure,
you know, there's that quiet, distraction free workplace, you guys might
be similar to me, um. I'm talking about something, I
see something, I get distracted. Now I have to remember what I'm doing. So
same with our children when they have a lot of
distraction around, it becomes really difficult to study or do my do
our homework. Make sure again, breaking those assignments
into smaller parts is really important. You know your child and you know
how long, um. They're able to work. If you start
to see frustration. It's OK to take a break. Just as, as adults,
sometimes we know, you know what, I better take a break. I might need a walk. I might
need to get some water, just kind of helping them realize that it's
OK if there's a long term assignment. Maybe I'm gonna do a few,
take a break, walk around a little bit, get a glass of water, and come back.
That's OK too, because it helps us to build that. Stamina that we're gonna need
not only at school but you know, in life as well. You wanna try to schedule
as much as possible. I know it's hard sometimes with activities, but if you can
schedule as much as possible, consistent homework time, that's really helpful.
And again, we've talked about those checklists and visuals. Uh, if those are really helpful for
your child, even with homework, it's nice sometimes to see that when I'm done with
my homework, I'm gonna be able to do something that I really wanna do.
Some of the things that are used at school that could be helpful at home
also are any types of text to speech, um, if they're
using them in school to be able to use them at home. I know computers
nowadays, cell phones have a lot of those, um,
options that you can use. And, um, even in college, in, in case you haven't
had a child in college, they actually have those options with textbooks. So it's really
great to for your children to get used to using those things if
they're helpful for them, if they're part of. Their accommodations and something that they
use audio books, um, you know, if you have a
child that's tired but you still want them to like maybe listen to stories,
sometimes it's a nice break to have an audiobook. I could be following along with
that audiobook, but it kind of helps me to be connecting
visually with the story, which is also nice. And we talked about those
visual timers. We did not get to talk too much about sensory. If
your child does, um, have, needs some sensory. Breaks having
those things close by that they're able to access while they're
doing their homework while they're studying um is
also helpful because that can be another way to take a break and they
do have lots of apps also online that help with self
regulation and focus. Of course with any of those types of apps as a
parent, you know, you would want to use them and manipulate them first, make sure you feel like they're
appropriate for your child, and then, you know, use them alongside them at home.
Something that you can also do, especially this time of year too, as the
schedules sometimes are a little less consistent because You know,
Thanksgiving's coming up. You might have family members coming in town,
you know, maybe they, your child didn't get as much sleep that night because
family came in. Really connecting regularly with your teachers
is important. Whatever communication system you're using with them, let them
know if there's. Being a change to something that's going on in the house,
um, so that they're aware and can preemptively
assist and, and making that transition more smooth, sharing with
your teacher too, that if you found something really helpful, I know a lot of
times, um, if, if you're finding something like you
found a great, uh, toy or fidget that your child's
using, that's helpful. That might also be something that the teacher might be able to work into
their plan. You can ask your uh school, do
they are they using a checklist or any tool that's been effective
there that you could also use at home. It's always great if
your child sees that continuity between home and school.
And just really, it's just that way of encouraging that two-way communication that
we're a partnership, we're in this together. Um, I know the old saying it takes
a village, but it, it really is helpful the more we
have multiple people assisting in similar ways, I think it
really helps our children be able to do things
that they're trying to do at home and at school.
Next slide.
And be patient, be, be, uh, I think this is a funny one to me
as a, as a parent, um, especially as we start to get into
this holiday time, there's a lot of busyness, there's a lot of
events, there's a lot of stimuli with lights
coming up, Christmas trees, sometimes we might have,
um, decorations outside, different types of
foods. Just being realizing that, you know, it's OK.
Take a deep breath, um, you know, And how can we make sure
that we are able to take care of ourselves and remember that it's OK
to sometimes allow some extra time for tasks if
we're feeling overwhelmed or they're feeling overwhelmed, really trying to
just encourage that we're being persistent during some times that might
look different than it looked in September. In September, we're ready to go for school.
Children are excited to be back. And now. They might be getting more tired,
so just kind of encouraging that they're doing a good job and
persistently celebrating those accomplishments, you know, modeling
flexibility yourself and a positive attitude. So sometimes
they kind of say like thinking out loud and saying what you're thinking out loud.
So, oh, I really wanted those french
fries. They don't have any more left today, so I guess it's OK.
I'm gonna get this instead. So you kind of show that
sometimes. Mom or dad also, you know, has to be
flexible. Things aren't always gonna go exactly how we want. So
how do I model that by saying it out loud, um, when things
happen, letting our children in on what we're thinking and feeling cause that'll
definitely help them. And really just from now and
through the holidays, I think January comes with that new sense of renewal
and. You know, people start to get the kids really start to feel excited
again about, you know, oh it's time to go back to school, we've had a long break, but from
now until that time really focusing on those small successes every
day and how we can kind of just focus on something
positive each and every day I think helps both us as parents and
also our children feel like they are able to accomplish all
the things that they need to accomplish.
And I did want to share the um Fin network.
So one of the things that we, we partner with, or one of the places we partner with
is Florida Inclusion Network, and Florida Inclusion Network does
have Um, a lot of parent resources and
tips, and a lot of the information that was in
here came from some of those tips. And actually, the reason, one of the
reasons I wanted to use their, um, tips was because, well, we had
just recently met with them, and they wanted to make sure that parents knew that they
were there. And I thought this would be a great way to show you these wonderful
tips that Finn puts out for parents and that Also have access
for them and they're short um
documents that you can look at. There are some videos in there too,
so definitely if you would like to learn more about these
parent resources you can please go to that Fin network and
they would love that you were being able to utilize those
resources. Also, if you need some assistance
with this time that. We know is coming up with these holidays and
you're looking for help with visuals help with
suggestions, you know, your local school ESC supports are also a great
place to say I, I can use some help or is there
something you're doing at school that I could also do at home that would help make
it a smoother transition? And then I always like to say that we're here as
your district ESE support to also assist in that.
So if you need to reach out to us for the things that we're
explaining or you're looking for resources this meeting that
you're coming to um any chance that we're able to just help
you navigate school and home we really wanna be a
partner with you because many of us in this department, you know,
are we have experienced this as parents and as educators and
now as um. Educators working in this district
department and it's so important to us that you get
to experience success with your children, that your children get to
experience success in their schools and that when they graduate from
our Broward County public schools that they have the
opportunity to have a successful post-secondary life that
is really what we want is for that happiness that success, um.
All the way through and of course, when they leave us as well. So, thank you,
you know, so much. I know I have uh my last little slide
uh when if we could just play the last little slide, I just put a little
uh note I believe on it. I think
there's one more. I think that's the last one. I don't have
another one for you. Sorry, OK, I got one more slide that was just
basically saying that, you know, I just really wish everybody a
really successful and positive day and afternoon. I wish you
all, you know, a really great experience through the next few
months as I know these are very, very exciting, um, and thank you again for coming out
and letting us share some resources with you. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Ms. Shai. That was awesome, and you're getting
applause from um some of the parents as well. OK,
parents were wonderful. Hearts too,
in case you can't see that. So we're gonna continue
on with our session this afternoon. So next up, I told you
that you would also be hearing a lot about social
stories. So at this point I'm very happy
to introduce to you Ms. Rhonda Bachman.
Um, Ms. Bachman is a fiddler's program specialist
and welcome Rhonda to the meeting. Well, well, thank
you very much, Gwen and hello, everyone. Thank you so much for
giving me an opportunity to, uh, take a little time to give you a
parent tip. And actually, as Sabrina had mentioned
that, uh, you know, you, you can always connect with our school
support personnel. And so I'm going to talk today about
one of the evidence-based tools
that we use in our school systems all the time. for our students,
especially our kids with autism spectrum disorder, but
really as, as we are becoming to understand
that these types of, uh, this type of tool
is really effective for just about anybody who
might be having difficulty navigating the social world.
Uh, in figuring out those hidden rules
that are, uh, that are not always so easy to figure out,
especially if you're new to an environment, and certainly again, our
students who are, who have autism, uh, may have a hard time
deciphering. Uh, what are the rules of social
situations? Uh, and so I'm gonna be talking a little bit today about
that. And just like Sabrina also mentioned, um, that it's the
holiday season, season, right? And that always makes me
happy. I think I need to take control of my slides here. Let's see if I can
do that. It's give and take a minute here.
Let's see. Not advancing, so let me see
if I can. If you, if you want me to, Rhonda, I can do that for
you. No, I'm good. Thank you though, Gwen. It just took a minute for my computer
to decide it was ready for it. So yeah, just like Sabrina was
mentioning, the holiday season is here, and I love the fall and
holiday season season. I find it so much fun,
you know, we have pumpkin, we see pumpkins all over the place and any
other sort of decorations that might go with that, that some people celebrate.
Some people are dressing up in costumes, and what, what do we do that for?
And what do we do when we, when if we do dress up for Halloween
and what is trick or treat all about and what are the right things to
do and the wrong things to do and the different things to do. Then, then we're
in November now, so we have family coming
over, people coming into our space, uh, you know,
uh, a lot of extra things going on, and then we have a big
Thanksgiving dinner, and we're, we have all sorts
of foods that we might not like or we might not want
to experience, or maybe we love and we want to eat them all the time. And
then we're having this big family dinner and maybe our aunts and
our uncles and our cousins are joining us. And so like now I have to share
my space with everybody and, and what is it OK to say and what is
not OK to say. When you think of our students. And all
of these pieces are coming upon them along
with the everyday activities of the social
interaction and social world. Uh, and then we keep going
because Sabrina also mentioned the idea that, you know, you might
have decorations outside, and so those might be distracting, or they might
be so much fun, or maybe you can't sleep because you're thinking about them.
Who knows what our kids might be dealing with. And then there's decoration. inside.
And so then there's more stuff in our house that might be wonderful
to see, or distracting to see. And what do all those
symbols even mean? And what are we even doing with all that? And
then, you know, my, our kids might be saying like, why is there a tree in
my house? You know, that's not supposed to be here. And so, you
know, when, when we're dealing with kids who have special needs, we
don't always know what they're thinking, uh, and And how
they're understanding what what is happening in the world around
them. And then now we add like going for a holiday show,
being in a holiday show, practicing every day for a holiday show,
that's breaking my routine. That can be very confusing.
And then, oh my gosh, if, if we're bringing the kids to the mall to meet Santa,
uh, like, who is this guy? I don't know him. I don't want to touch
him. I don't want him touching me. Uh, and then presents. So yeah, we
get presents, but what is the right thing to do when we get presents? What
is, what is expected, uh, you know, like, is
it, uh, are all the presents for me or do other people get them
and then do I have to wait for them to open their presents? So the
holiday season is wonderful and fabulous, but
also not just for our special needs kids, we can
be overwhelmed with it, but certainly our kids with autism tend to
have some, some, um. Uh, maybe
misinterpretations or misunderstandings, and
in the social world that dealing with and figuring out all
that in the social world can really get
confusing. And so these might be some of the feelings that
our kids uh feel, especially at this time of the year,
confusion, misunderstanding, uh,
aggravation, maybe embarrassed when they don't know something, uh
some distress, depression. And all of these can
cause uh unexpected behaviors from
them, because they may just not really know what
the hidden rules are, what the social norms are,
or just even understand what's going on in this
social situation. And so for a number of years,
we have been using a social story to
help um our kids understand.
And The social expectations of the
situation and um what they might be
able to do to help themselves selves feel good and be able to
navigate through it. So a social story
written uh was actually first developed by a woman named
Carol Gray, who was a teacher in Jenison,
Michigan in the 1990s. So yeah, social
stories have been around for a while. And so That's why we
call it an evidence-based tool, because
from people using it time and time again, we have found it to
be effective in helping our kids navigate
the social world that they may have some difficulty or
confusion in. Um, Carol Grey, um, is a
very cerebral thinker, but also
very practical thinker. And so, Uh, when she was
working with children and she started out working with children with autism,
and when she was working with children, she, she realized that
they have different perceptions about the social world and
social interactions. And so she wanted
to better understand their perceptions,
as well as help them to be able to
be comfortable in social situations where they were having difficulty.
So she created this, this idea of
writing a story that accurately
describes either a social context, like,
um, what you do when you're in the cafeteria,
or a skill, so developing uh a specific skill like
learning to greet people when you walk in the room, an
achievement or a concept. So And so
through writing a story about the situation, she
could provide not only what the social
context of the situation was, but also to help
provide appropriate social cues, so to help students
who were having difficulty figuring out and
deciphering what they should be doing in a social interaction or what they
could be doing in a social interaction. Um, she,
uh, she provides social cues, and then
also the perspective of others, really
self and others. So thinking about how a
person feels and then thinking about how what we
do also um affects how
others feel, and then. In many
cases, it will also include a recommended
social response. So a way that
as the person, they can interact and
feel comfortable in that social situation and sometimes that social response.
Would be a replacement behavior for something they're
doing that's unexpected, right? And so we're helping them do
more provide or have more accepted
or expected responses in a social
situation. So you see the purpose would be to improve the
responses of social responses with
accurate social information for the for the child or the student.
And really, again, they were, it was first developed in the
1990s, and we in Broward County have probably been
been using it for since its inception
because we learned about it. I mean, I remember
using it in 1992, so we really have been using it
for a long, long time. Um, and again, it was originally designed
for students with autism, but we, we understand now that,
you know, anybody could have a missed confusion about social interaction. I
mean, I've written social stories for my husband who isn't
quite as socially interactive as I am, and so I kind of
detail what what's going to happen and, you know, like
I, I used to go to all of the autism walk.
and I would have to write, you know, I'm going to be talking to a lot of people I
know. If you don't want to talk with them at that time, you can
go walk around, you can get a cup of coffee. And so I kind of
delineated out the social situation for him.
So here's a social social situation or a
social story written for a uh young
child who was riding the bus, who was having some difficulty. And so
this is a very simple social story, uh, and
I'll read it to you as you read it to yourself. I ride the
bus to school. Sometimes I get upset when I ride the
bus because it's loud and crowded.
I can put headphones on and listen to music when
I feel upset on the bus. Staying relaxed on the
bus feels good. So see it's a very simple
story that kind of delineates out the social
context, the bus, obviously a noisy
bus or noisy for that child.
And so as a solution to that problem. Well, I can
put on headphones and listen to music, and that way the noise of
the the rest of the kids on the bus is not so upsetting for me.
And, and then always affirming that that's, that
would be something that makes me or others feel good. So that's
a very brief quick social story and it's written
specifically for a student about a specific
situation. We also might write a
social story in a more generalized way or
for a more generalized reason, like most of our our
teachers in our special programs classes have a
social story about um having a fire drill
because a fire drill does, uh it is an unexpected
situation that has some very specific requirements but also
has some specific. Difficulties like being noisy
or having people rushing around, and so
it's not written, it may not necessarily be written for one
specific student, but to help the students in the
class understand what the expectations of the situation are
going to be. So that's riding the bus. So let's take a little bit
uh of a closer look at the parameters of
writing a social story because many people talk about social
stories, but Carol Grey's um
perception or uh creation of the social story
has some very specifics to it. So the first piece
is uh a pro the process of writing a
social story. So first, there's going to be some sort of
social difficulty that a child or a person is
experiencing. Um, and so then the first thing
you have to do is make a goal of like, what are we
gonna try and achieve? What is, what is the issue at hand,
and how are we going to help them. So you're writing a goal or you're you're
starting with a goal in mind. And you're gathering information.
So like the the story for the bus, um,
that the reason the student was having difficulty was because it was
very noisy. Um, it wasn't that,
um. That he had to sit in a certain spot or he had to have a seat
belt on. It wasn't that, uh, you know, he didn't
want anybody else near him. It was that it was noisy and
crowded, right? And so that's the specific information
that was gonna make a difference for the story. So once you gather
your information, you develop your story. We're gonna talk about those parameters in
a minute, and then you deliver the story.
And part of the um use of social stories
is that you might deliver the story 2 or
3 times or 2 every day for 2 or
3 weeks to help this, the person, the child,
the student, um, start to internalize,
uh, and be able to then utilize the
new responses, right? And so with
that, there are some uh specific details
or a specific format to follow. So in
general, you break down a challenging
social situation into it's understandable
chunks about the social world, and then you
provide an alternate replacement behavior. Now
usually a social story is written in the first person.
Um, so it's either you're either um saying
I can do this or I need to do that, or
you, you can even use the person's name. So if, if the
child who's having the difficulty really needs
help internalizing it to them, then I might even
say Jason rides the bus every day, instead of
just, I ride the bus every day. It could be Jason, so.
Um, it's either first person or third person
using the name of the person, uh, who the story is written for.
Um, and then the story is written in a
statement format, so we're making statements about
the situation. And then we're always writing in the
positive terms and in positive terms.
So, um, if a student is having difficulty on the
bus, um, because of the noise and they
might like scream out, everybody be quiet, we
wouldn't. We wouldn't write specifically, I will not
scream out, everybody be quiet. We would give the
alternative replacement behavior, right?
So we're always writing in the positive terms to help the student
know what to do instead of writing about what we
would like them to not do what the unexpected behaviors are.
So there are basically two major types of sentences.
Remember, there are always statements, so there's there's sentences, and so
there are descriptive sentences. Those are like the
WH um questions of the
situation, like what, where, who. So those are
the descriptive pieces. Then there's a perspective piece,
and that's either how the child themselves or the student, the person
having the difficulty, how they feel, or
potentially how others might feel. Um, and then,
uh, you could have a cooperative sentence, so something, a sentence
that might have to do with working together or thinking about the
other uh people that are involved in the social situation.
Um, and then always an affirmative, so celebrating
the success of now using the this
different response that they've learned through the social story.
That's one, those are one type of sent um
one group of sentences, and they are the descriptive piece.
And then there is the directive types of statements or
sentences. And so the first one is a
directive or coaching piece, and that would be the,
the, the um statement that would
help give an alternative response. An
alternative response, so a more expected
response for the situation at hand. And then,
um, you might even have a control statement. That's where
the student actually or the child themselves, the
person dealing with the situation, um,
reflects on the use of the directive.
Or coaching alternative response and then putting it
into their own uh kind of um thought process.
And then you also could have a fill in the blanks. So if it, if there's
um some type of sentence where you want the, the
person who the story is for to actually then reflect and
be able to um put in a piece to help
them better internalize. So those are the
two, the 7 different types of statements that are broken
into two major categories. And the reason that I show you the two
major categories is because the rule of thumb
for Carol Grey's social stories is a
2 to 1 ratio for
every 1 directive type of statement,
so the, the coaching. The control or the partial for
every one of those, you should have at least
2 of the descriptive types of statements.
So the descriptive perspective, cooperative, or
affirmative. So, and that's probably
what somewhat makes Carol Grey's
actual true social stories a little bit different, because
a lot of times we see people writing social stories that have
a lot of directive that the students should do this, that you should
do that, you should do this. And with Carol Grey,
we're we're giving an alternative response,
but we're making sure that we're thinking. Deeply
about how we've described it and how we've helped the,
the child or the student understand the situation,
and then, uh, also celebrate their success.
So that part is really very specific to Carol Grey's social
stories and there are, uh, so you may see some different ones,
um, out there. Know that Carol Gray's always
includes 2 to 1 descriptive to directive. So what
I'm gonna ask you guys now is, um, and
uh Gwen, can you, can you tell me, can um our participants right in the
chat? Um, yes, they can.
OK, so they can write in the chat. OK, so this is a little challenge for you
guys because we don't really have time to write a social story,
um, but, oh, and I forgot to take my, put my timer on. Um, we don't have time to write
a social story, but I would like you to, um, see if we
can look at our writing the school bus social story. So if
you will take a quick little snapshot of the seven different kind of
statements. So I'll give you a second.
And now here's that same social story. So I ride the bus
to school. Can anybody put in the chat or everybody put in the
chat? What kind of statement do you think that one was?
Remember which one, which statement answers
uh WH questions, so the basic about the
story. So I don't know if you're writing in the chat or not, but I'll go ahead
and say that's a descriptive. So we've got our one descriptive
so far. And then sometimes I get upset when I
ride the bus because it is loud and crowded,
so. That's the student's feeling about
the situation. So if you're looking at your
uh your snapshot, you're probably saying, well, that's a perspective
statement, and you would be right. It's the the child's
perspective of what's going on. I can put headphones
on and listen to music when I feel upset on the bus.
So this is giving an alternative if the music or
the the uh. Bus is too
loud. Here's something different you can do. That's
a directive or a coaching statement. And then
staying relaxed on the bus feels good. And so again,
celebrating that if I'm, if I use my alternative
response, I'm probably gonna have a better day. That would be
the affirmative. And you know what, for many of our children,
especially our younger students or special needs students,
students with autism. Putting in uh
visuals might also help them, so we might put a couple
visuals to help them um remember the
pieces that are important in the story.
So back to social stories and the holiday season. So you
may be thinking now of different situations that
Um, you know that your family is gonna be doing,
and, um, where maybe your special needs
child might be having a little difficulty or your husband, or
your spouse, or your uncle, who knows. Um, and so
these might be some of the issues that people experience during the
holidays where the social context. Or
they may be exhibiting some, um, unexpected
responses, and we want to help them through to navigate and have
a, a calmer, happier feeling. And so these are some of the things
that you might need to write a social story about. And
so now you have a little bit of a guideline of writing those social
stories and as, um,
Green Your school-based support, who would be
more than happy to help you write a social story to make
sure that your holidays are that much better
um for you and your children. And just to let you know, I have
a few resources here. Again, if you wanna snap, take a snapshot,
if you wanted to learn more about Carol Grey's social stories,
there are a number of great websites, including the actual
Carol Grey Center.org
website. So I invite you to check in with that, and I want to
thank everybody for allowing me this time to give you a little tip
and uh hopefully I'll see you again sometime soon. And with
that, please have a wonderful holiday season season.
Thank you so much, Rhonda. That was very informative and thank you parents
and Rhonda, you are getting applause, so thank you very much.
OK, so I'm gonna take control again. I'm actually I'm not gonna, I'm
gonna stop sharing.
Because our next up on our agenda is
our community partners, and so I am delighted
this afternoon to share with you that we Are
spotlighting the Children's Services Council and so
to that end I introduced to our meeting Ms. Jessica Rincon,
who is the assistant director of program services and
also Ms. Demetria Rolls, the strategy manager for
special needs. Good afternoon ladies, welcome. OK,
thank you, Ms. Gwendolyn. And you do have um
presentation rights if you need to share, um,
go right ahead and do that. Thank you for coming
today. Of course, it's a pleasure. So, good
afternoon, families. It's so nice to actually have an opportunity to
connect and see you all, even though I can't see your faces, it's OK. I know
we're a busy group. Um, so I'm Jessica Rincon, assistant director
of program services, and I'm so happy to be here with an
amazing team. Um, we have Ms. Demetria Rawls,
our strategy manager over special needs. Hey, Demetria.
We also have Janelle Henry, our programs manager, and Talay
Bogle, our other programs manager. And so you are looking
at a team dedicated to developing and
overseeing services for children and youth with disabilities, um,
and so we feel so fortunate to be here with you today. Um.
So I wanted to share as you look at the screen, that CSC
is an independent taxing authority, and all of
the programs that you'll hear about today are made possible um
because of taxpayers like yourselves and because of this
investment that you've put into Broward's children and families.
And so because of this, we can partner with agencies to fund services like
after school, employment, and um mental
health services. So let's kick us
off. If my technology
will work today. So what you're looking at
here is our family resource guide. Um, this
is a comprehensive, easy to use directory for services for families
in Broward that the CSC produces every year, and there's a
handy QR code there if you take a screenshot, um, you You can take a
snapshot with your phone and get automatically linked to our
family resource guide. So this guide covers everything from
basic needs to health and mental care, education, disability
services, legal assistance, you name it, it's in
there. And it's designed to empower families, and
I encourage you, please share it widely. There's a ton of resources
and they're available for you. Additionally, the
CSC produces the funded provider guide, which is our
companion to the family resource guide, but it's focused on programs and
providers that CSC funds, and you'll hear more about some of those
services and providers a little bit later in the presentation. So using
this guide, you can see who we partner with, what services they offer.
And what services and program design
looks like really quickly at a glance. So by making this visible,
we're able to ensure that there are stronger referrals and service
coordination for families like yourselves, and many of our
programs are free of charge or low cost to our families.
So this is just a quick look at the guide. So
when you get it, it is pretty, it's pretty large, um, but don't
be intimidated. So the best thing you can do, there are headers
that allow you to locate disability-specific
or needs specific items and providers, um, and there's a
little paragraph for each service that's in the funded program
directory for you. So,
in addition to producing resources for the
community, we also fund um drowning
prevention coupons. So drowning prevention, as you all
probably know, is a major need for young children in our community, and
CSC partners with local government and school-based programs to offer swim
lessons, water safety instruction, and coupons for
low-cost instruction. So,
if you go to Water Smart Broward or you use the
QR code and you apply for the coupon, one thing I want you to know
is that it's not just one coupon per year, it's actually
4 and you can get 4 more the next year and 4 more the
next year. The goal is for our families
and our children to build that
water experience over time, so we don't expect
um Uh, Michael Phelps after 44 swim
lessons. So, we wanna encourage you to know that that is available for
you. Um, and they also provide adult swim lessons. So if you
are an adult who is looking for swim instruction,
definitely take a look at um Water Smart Broward.
Another key resource that we fund and that is available in
our community for you is the 211 helpline. Families can call
211 and get connected to multiple service options. We
also have a program that connects with um
Jafco to provide case management. So if you're in a
situation with your child or you. And you need
some additional support navigating this incredibly complex
system of care we have here in Broward. Um, definitely reach out to
211 and they can work to get you in the right place. And you're always encouraged
to reach out to the Children's Services Council as well. Like I said, I have a
great team here. We are always happy to take your call.
So with that said, I'm gonna turn it over to Ms. Demetria Rawls, our
special needs strategy manager, to talk about Broward Partnerships for
kids. Yes, good afternoon. So I'm gonna talk a
little bit about how you as a parent or as a
professional can get involved with Children's Services
council. So we have something called Broward Partnerships
for Kids, and if you're interested in shaping the future of the
community for youth and families, this is where you want to be.
Our mission is very simple. We want to open the doors
of opportunity, care, and support for
Broward children and families, and this is an initiative that started
in 2001 with Children's Services Council, and it
consists of public, private entities, government,
faith-based organizations, community residents, and
parents just like you. We have over
30 committees, and if you can think of almost any
issue that youth or child in Broward County would face, we
have a committee for that. If you're interested in mentorship,
want to know more about human trafficking, about working with girls,
boys, and special needs, we have a committee
for you, and you can find all this information at
www.brobertpartnerships for
Kids.org. Next
slide, please.
OK, so my favorite
Broward partnerships for Kids Committee is actually called SNA,
and it is our special needs advisory coalition.
So if you can think of any issue that
relates to children and families with special needs, we come
together on a quarterly basis to talk about those issues. Our
mission for SNA is to provide advocacy and leadership.
To enhance the lives of children with disabilities and we wanna
make sure we support you as parents so that you're an
advocate in collaboration, planning,
funding and training to create a more comprehensive system of
care. And we also have 5 impact groups, so you can think of
SNA as a larger group that we talk about special needs for Broward
County, but if you have a particular interest in a smaller
area, we have an impact team for you. So if you're
interested in 0 to 5, early intervention or
6 to 14, which is what we call our tween group, we have a
15 to 22 year old group and transitions to
independent. And then a community outreach and community
partnerships, and we are a premier
organization from all over the county, so it doesn't matter if you live
north, south, east, west or central, it's the time that
we come together, brainstorm, collaborate and
provide resources for children. And families with special
needs. We have over 100 agencies in
Broward County registered with SNA through Broward Partnerships for
Kids, from Behavior Health, we have the school board,
of course, we have the hospital district, family networks on
disabilities, and lots and lots of organizations, and we would
love you to join. And
the next slide is how you can join. So I'll give you a few seconds to
get your phone out and scan that and even though we meet
quarterly, you can still join and find out information, get
copies of our minutes, find out when other snack members are
having community events. We'll put you on our
lister for that, and it's a great way to stay connected. Again,
thank you, and I'll turn it over to Janelle.
Good afternoon, everyone. So we are going to be
talking about the after school and summer
camps for out of school time programs.
So, the eligibility is, you must be a Broward County resident, the
child must be ages 3 through 21, with a
documented physical, developmental, or
behavioral health diagnosis that requires extra
supervision or adaptive supports.
The cost of families, these are based on a sliding scale
by income and household size. Some families actually
do pay $0. Please note that the
program operates during the school year and are licensed by
Broward County Child Care Licensing.
So, for our inclusion out of school time programs, the
provided staff have access to inclusion
specialists to help identify needs and
accommodations. This is also through our
advocacy network. Agency, they also
assist with inclusion supports for little ones.
Next slide, please.
During our after school high school programs, oh, I'm sorry,
that's not for me, that is for Miss Mrs. Taikwei Bogo. I'll hand it over
to her. Thank you, Janelle. If you want it, you can have it though
cause you're always with me anyway. Um, good afternoon, parents. I am Taiway
Bogle and I'll be presenting about our supported training and employment
program, which helps youth with documented disabilities, gain
skills, confidence, and work experience to support a successful
transition into adulthood. So the impact of this
year-round program across Broward County is providing
aftercare and summer employment experiences to the youth,
youth develop workplace skills, independent living skills,
and real world practice through mentorship as well as
family engagement. Our program also strengthens inclusion and long
term employability for youth with special needs.
Eligibility is posted. On the screen, but to reiterate,
for those who reside in Broward County, ages 15 to 21,
and the youth must be able to participate in a ratio of 1 to 8
and have a verified disability. There are a plethora of service
components including success coaching and counseling,
individualized service plans, employment and career exploration,
and soft skills and life skills training. Next slide please.
Back to Janelle with respite. Thank you. We will now talk
about our weekend respite program. The eligibility is,
you must be a Broward County resident and the child must be
ages 3 through 21, with a documented physical,
developmental, or behavioral health diagnosis that requires
extra support, extra supervision, and adapted
supports. The services are provided at no cost
to families. The program operates on 45
Saturdays for 8 hours. Yes, parents, on a
Saturday for 8 hours. They have weekly
field trips. To different activities
including the trampoline parks. They
also do character development education using the paths
curriculum. They incorporate this into their lessons,
so they will have a lesson maybe about friendship on that day,
and then when they are on the field trips, they will work with the youth, the
children on how to be better friends and things of that
nature. So again. The weekend respite program
operates on 45 Saturdays for 8
hours on a Saturday for 8 hours,
OK, and they take the youth on weekly field trips, there
are meals provided, they are cared for, they are
receiving education in the form of character development,
education, again on a Saturday for 8 hours at no cost to
our families. Next slide.
I hand it back to Jessica. Thank you, Janelle. So if you
didn't know, respite is on the weekend at no
cost for our family. So we definitely want you to take
advantage of all the resources um that we shared with you today.
But more importantly, just a couple of things I wanted to share. So if
you are in a position where you're looking for after school
programming or summer camps, especially we know once
spring break comes. Around and it's coming around fast since it's already the
holidays. You wanna start looking for, you know, what you're gonna do
for potentially spring break camp and also summer camp. Um, please
take a look at our funded provider guide. You'll see a number of our funded
providers here on the screen, and I also wanted to share that.
Our programs are low to no cost to families, but
they're also tied to educational outcomes. So your
children and youth in our programs, they're not only going to
have a place to go, um, that's supportive of their needs, but
they're also, we as the CSC and the
counsel that oversees us, we report out on the success of these
programs and the curriculums that are being used and just how
performance is. So know that if it's a CSC funded program,
I can pretty much guarantee you it's gonna be a quality program. Um, and
if you ever have any questions, please feel free to reach out
to Children's Services Council. Um, you can find all of our
information on our website at CSC Brower.org. Um, we
also have a newsletter blast that you can register for there on the website
to see any community resources, any resource fairs that might be
coming around. Um, and that way you get notified of those. But
without further ado, that is all we have for
you. So thank you so much. Thank you.
I really want to thank the team from um Children's Services
Council. You all were phenomenal. I do believe um Ms.
Francis is monitoring our chat. Are there any questions? Yes,
we do have one question. I'm sorry, we do have one question in the chat.
Uh, families would like to know who do they reach out to for the weekend respite
program if they're interested.
So depending on where you are in the county for
convenience, you may reach out to Memorial Healthcare. They have
a location in Hollywood, Florida, and then you can also reach out
to the Christina G. Smith Community Mental Health Foundation.
They are located in South Central Broward in
Plantation of South State Road 7. Again, so that's Memorial
Healthcare for short. And Smith, you can reach out to them both and
let them know that you are interested in respite services
for your child on a Saturday for 8
hours. Thank you so much. I think you drove that point
home that you really got bonus points for that. Um, I
also noted that um Ms. Rolls indicated in
the chat some of the links that you parents, you can just click
right on and get access to other information. That was shared today
or I believe it probably also will direct you if you have
additional questions. So again, thank you
ladies, you are awesome and parents, thank you for hanging in there
with us today. Um, we are at the end of our
meeting. Please mark your calendars because the very next
meeting is December 3rd. Um, we will be in the
same meeting space at 12 from 12 to generally about 1.
15 to 1:30 and I think we're right on point today,
so I want to wish you a great afternoon and thank you for your
time. Thanks again, Children's Services Council
partners. Have a great day. Bye.