There are positive outcomes, and so parents, just please know that we will be providing
information to you today that will enhance your knowledge that you already have regarding
services that are provided to your children, and we also want you to know some of the information
may be a refresher.
You may also have new information, so just celebrate that we are intending to give you
information to assist you.
Our second meeting, Norm, has to do with embracing new learning, meaning we thank you for actively
seeking out and being able to meet with us doing this 90-minute period.
We are celebrating you, parents, because you are open to receiving the new knowledge, skills
or different perspectives, even when it may differ from yours a little bit.
And finally, that final meeting, Norm, has to do with managing our distractions.
Yes, we are still virtual.
This is our new world order, so to that end, I'm going to ask if you would assist us
by maintaining a focused, respectful environment by making sure that your microphone is muted,
your cameras are turned off so that we can make sure we have good bandwidth so that everyone
can enjoy the presentation.
So assuming that positive intent, embracing the new learning and managing your distractions
are the meeting norms.
If you agree with these norms, please go back to your reactions and let me know.
Wonderful.
Thank you so very much.
So I wanted to share our agenda for today's session.
In a few minutes, you will be receiving a greeting from our Executive Director.
Since Diane Egan, we are very happy to have her with us today.
And then when Diane is done, Ms. Kelly Fisher, who is our Assistant Director for ESE, will
share information with you on requesting support and some test-taking tips.
We have another one of our Fiddler's Program Specialists, Dr. Janice Lapay to share family
success strategies.
These are things parents that you will be able to do at home to keep your child engaged
and to continue the learning.
And finally, we will spotlight one of our community partners.
Today, we will be spotlighting 211 Broward.
So you will be able to hear about all the great work that is going on at that organization
and then we'll move forward.
So this is our agenda for today.
If you are really good with that, go back again to your reactions.
Let me know that you agree with the agenda for today.
All right.
So having said that, then I'm going to turn the microphone open and welcome Ms. Diane
Egan, our Executive Director, to the meeting space.
Good afternoon, Diane.
Good afternoon, everyone, and happy new year.
As we start this new year, our ESE department is committed to finding every way possible
to support families.
And so we've continued our Lunch and Learn sponsored by Gwen's team who helps us with
the organization and facilitation.
Thank you, Gwen.
She's our supervisors for our Florida Diagnostic Learning Resource Systems.
And she makes sure that she keeps us on track and that we provide a great meeting.
Thanks to all of you for being here today.
Our goal, of course, is to give you resources that you can use right away with your family.
I see we have some new people here.
So I'm the Executive Director of the amazing Division of Exceptional Student Education,
and we are a support division that supports schools, families in the community, and making
sure that we're connecting you with resources as needed, and certainly supporting our schools
where our students are educated each and every day.
So we're going to share some information with you today regarding test-taking tips.
I know that for some people, it's important to them to get some strategies for how they
can support at home.
There are some tests that you can study for and prepare for, and there are some that are
just giving you information along the way about how your child is learning.
But the way we approach testing is so important, so we're going to go over some of those things
today.
Thank you to our parent tip and our community partners for being here today and also sharing
resources with our family.
Wishing you all an amazing 2026.
We hope you took some time over the winter break to enjoy family and friends and take
time to rest and relax and rejuvenate.
As we're in the second semester now, we know it starts moving very fast.
Thank you all for being here today.
We're always here to support you and we are excited to be able to answer any questions
that you put in the chat after our presentation.
Thank you so much.
Thank you Diane.
And so parents, before we get started with our session today, I have a couple of announcements
that I want to share with you.
So the first one has to do with the DOE Department of Education Annual Parents Survey.
So please use your phone, scan the QR code on your screen.
The DOE Annual Parents Survey is now open.
Parents, this is your opportunity to provide feedback to the Department of Education regarding
how well your child's school is involving you or encouraging you to participate in
activities.
So the survey is very short.
It is for parents of children who are in grades pre-K to 12, and you will be able to respond
to those questions, give your feedback, offer suggestions, and then move forward.
So again, I'm going to leave it up for just a second for you to be able to scan the QR
code.
If you do not want to scan, you can also just go to bit.ly/eseparentsurvey, all one word,
and it will direct you to the survey.
The survey is in a variety of languages for your convenience, and again, it only takes
a few minutes to complete.
I know that there are less than 15 questions that you would respond to.
So please be sure to complete the survey.
It is open now through June 30th, 2026.
The next announcement that I wanted to share with you has to do with a great opportunity
for a family event that is free.
It is referred to as sensory Saturdays.
Now, sensory Saturdays is an opportunity for you to enjoy your family at the Nova Southeastern
University Art Museum.
And the program is really a friendly program for children, specifically who are on the autism
spectrum ages 6 to 17 and their families.
The next session will be held on Saturday, this coming Saturday, January 10th from 930
to 1030 in the morning, and your child will be able to enjoy making art, projects, wandering
through the galleries, and there are all kinds of special sensory areas that they will be
able to participate in and enjoy the museum, so families, this is free for families.
So the only thing that is required parents is that you are SVP, so I'm going to encourage
you to do that because space is limited.
Again, the sensory Saturday session will be held on Saturday, January 10th, 930 to 1030
at the Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale.
And again, you can scan the QR code to register.
Okay, so we're going to move into the meat of our meeting today, so at this time I would
like to introduce to you again Ms. Kelly Fisher, Assistant Director for ESE, and Kelly is going
to talk to you about how to request support if you need it and also test tips.
Good afternoon, Kelly.
Good afternoon, Gwen, and thank you for the introduction.
I just wanted to say welcome back families.
I hope you had a nice, restful holiday break and a good start to the new year.
So like Ms. Buscombe just mentioned, I will be sharing some information about, you know,
where you can go if you have specific questions or need any kind of specific assistance regarding
your child, where to go for help, where to start.
I know sometimes that can be very overwhelming, you know, as to know where to start, if you
have a question or concern that needs navigation or assistance from somebody at the school
level.
So I'm here to kind of steer you in the right direction and I'll give you a path, you know,
on which you can kind of start the concern and then progressively take it, you know,
if that concern continues to escalate.
So what I wanted to start out by saying is whenever there's a question, if you've got
a question or concern about your child specifically related to either their IEP or their disability,
you're always going to start by contacting the school first.
That's going to be your first layer of contact.
In my experience, 99% of most concerns and questions can be very quickly and very easily
resolved and handled if you contact a school first.
As soon as they're aware, they can take quick and swift action and working with you to
help resolve and navigate that concern.
When we typically, when we see a breakdown or a disconnect is when the school is not
aware that there was even a concern.
So sometimes that can cause a little bit of a delay in the time that it takes us to
be able to respond and adequately resolve that concern to your satisfaction.
So always start with the school and your initial point of contact at your child's school is
going to be the ESE specialist for any questions related to the IEP.
And when I say that, what I mean specifically is if you've got a question about how services
are being delivered, when they're being delivered, whether they're being delivered through a
push in model or a pull out model, any specific questions about the model or the delivery
of services that are being received by your child would be questions for the ESE specialist.
Anything, questions about accommodations.
Remember your students do receive accommodations during classroom instruction, during classroom
testing, as well as on any state and district wide assessments.
So we want to make sure, you know, obviously that you're in communication with the ESE
specialist to understand exactly how those accommodations are being implemented and
provided to your child throughout the day across each of your classes that they're entitled
to.
So if you have any questions about those accommodations, because sometimes I know depending on the
child and the need, your students can have many accommodations in different areas.
So you want to make sure that you're, you know, keeping that line of communication open
with the ESE specialist if you have any concerns about how they're being implemented or even
if you'd like to add an accommodation or remove an accommodation or just have a question
about an accommodation, that would be your first line of contact.
If you've got questions that are maybe specific to a teacher or service provider or a teacher,
a teacher assistant, maybe even, that might be working directly with your child throughout
the day, you would start with the ESE specialist and then they'll connect you with the person
that has the answers to the questions that you're looking for.
But starting with the ESE specialist is going to give you the information you need and the
quickest possible manner.
So once you start with the school and if you've got some questions or concerns and they're
not necessarily related, you know, to the IEP or your child's disability, but they are
more of a nature, you know, more of a serious nature that rise to a higher level of authority,
that is where you would start with your school-based administration.
So that would be your assistant principal assigned to your child's grade level or cohort.
There's usually an assistant principal assigned to each grade level at each school and if
you are unsure of who that is at your child's school, you can check the school's website
and it should identify the name of that staff member, all of the school-based administration
and then the grade levels that they're assigned to so that way you can identify the correct
person to start that communication with.
But these are for concerns that obviously requires immediate adult assistance or intervention
from a higher level of authority.
They're usually, like I said, more serious in nature, typically they might be about concerns
that you might have with a particular teacher or an individual staff member that you want
to take further with an administrator.
You might be in disagreement with a disciplinary decision or the way that discipline was handled
by an administrator at your child's school.
So this is an issue that you would take to that administrator, that dealt directly with
that discipline and then they can give you the options for either challenging or appealing
that disciplinary decision if you want to take it further than that.
Anything related to bullying, we know in our district we have a zero tolerance for bullying
across the district, we take it very seriously.
So if you suspect that your child is being bullied or there's any evidence of bullying
taking place on your child's campus and you're aware of that and you want to communicate
that to the proper authorities, start with the assistant principal and that administration
is trained and the protocols in the next steps that that school needs to take to thoroughly
investigate those allegations and ensure the safety and the well-being of the potential
victims that may be involved in those incidents.
Obviously, a top priority in all of our schools.
So if there's anything that you feel is compromising the safety of your child or their emotional
and physical well-being, that you feel, you know, warrants the attention of the administration
at the school, this is something that you would take straight to the administration as well.
These are just, you know, an example of several things that typically would go to school-based
administration but obviously it would include, you know, more than just what we included
in those examples.
Once you start with the, you know, the school and you feel that the school has not handled
the concern to your satisfaction or maybe the concern is still lingering and you feel
like it hasn't been resolved, you can then elevate or escalate that concern to what we
call the region and our district has made up of four different regions including the north,
the central, the south and what we also call the school transformation office.
And the regions are really responsible for providing that direct supervision, oversight
and support to our schools within each region and it's understandable if you don't know
what region your child's school belongs to because we are the sixth largest school district
in the state of Florida and even I have trouble remembering sometimes, you know, which schools
are part of which region.
So we are going to drop a resource in the chat for you right now which gives you a list
of every region and the schools that make up that region if you're unsure of which region
your child is in.
But that regional, next slide please.
That regional, every region has what we call the regional assistant director assigned to
the region also known as the RAD and that would be your second point of contact after
you've already attempted to work with the school and resolving your concern and then
after that, you know, after that you feel like there's still some concerns that haven't
been resolved to your like your satisfaction, you would then escalate that to the next level
which would be that regional assistant director for your respective region.
And some of the most common reasons for our parents who end up contacting the region after
trying to, you know, giving the school the opportunity to work through the concerns first,
it typically it's lack of communication or ineffective communication at the school level.
Sometimes parents get frustrated because they've attempted to contact the school maybe multiple
times and they still feel like they haven't gotten a response from them or the response
that they were looking for.
They still might not be happy or satisfied with discipline decisions and they want to
take those to the next level.
Any kind of concerns with grades or discrepancies in grades where they feel that maybe their
child didn't earn the right grade or they just have a question about maybe how the grade
was justified.
And then any concerns again like I said that they feel weren't handled properly by the
school that they want to take to that next level.
These are the names of each of the regional assistant directors broken down by each region
alongside their contact information.
We will also drop this information in the chat as well so you have it for future reference.
We don't expect you to memorize all this information but we want you to have it handy.
That way if in the event that you do need to contact the region, that we've got that
those resources and those contacts accessible to you.
Next slide please.
So specifically when we talk about the points of contact in our ESE department, I'm the
first point of contact in the ESE department, I'm the assistant director and I work very
closely with the other regional assistant directors.
The really the only difference between our work is that I support families across each
region, across the entire district and they support the families just within their regions.
But the work that we do on a day-to-day basis and working and supporting our families is
very, very aligned and very similar and we are very committed to working together very
closely with you in collaboration with the schools and the principals to be as accessible
as possible and highly responsive to the needs of all of our families regardless of
whether concerns come in directly to the ESE department or that they come in through
the region.
We've got that close connection and that close collaboration and we're always navigating
concerns together.
We're never working on something in isolation of one another.
We're always working together to resolve the issue alongside you as the parent.
So again, I would be that second point of contact that you would go to if you feel like
you did start with the school's ESE specialist and for whatever reason, you weren't comfortable
with that answer or that outcome and you still felt like the concern was still lingering
and not fully settled, I would be the next point of contact and then of course I would
work with the school to figure out how we could resolve the concern in a way that makes you
happy as well as the school so that we can work together and move forward.
Next slide.
We also have another contact in our department that is Stephanie Morelos.
She's our ESE parent liaison.
I work very closely with her as well and her role mainly is to really educate parents on
their rights that they have because they've got rights, they're called procedural safeguards
and that's the rights that their students have with disabilities.
So she is that point person that is there to explain their rights if they have questions
about those rights, exercising those rights if they choose to do so she is that point
person for educating and empowering them on the process for exercising those rights.
She also works to really facilitate that communication and bridge gaps between our families and
schools and help keep those positive relationships going between the schools and our families.
Next slide.
And then we have our local conflict resolution which is part of our compliance office and
this is for our families intending to resolve any disputes or conflicts or disagreements
they might have with the school or the IEP team.
This allows us to work through those concerns locally prior to that you exercising your
rights as parents in using those procedural safeguards.
So this is where you would start if you wanted to try to mediate those concerns locally at
our level before taking them any further.
And we will drop some of those parent resources that I just explained in the chat for you.
So again that you have them for future reference but the first one will be the guide that I
kind of went through step by step for who to go for if you have questions or specific
concerns where to start and then where to take that concern next if it hasn't been if
you feel like it hasn't been properly handled to your satisfaction.
It also will include those identified points of contact that I just shared with you for
each region as well as the contacts within our own ESE department.
We'll also share that list of schools broken down by each region and then we also have
a parent communication form for you to submit any kind of questions or concerns or comments
you might have and we will re-receive that information directly through our department
and then we review those comments and those questions and somebody from our department
will get back to you with an answer as to how to move forward with that question.
So the next part of the presentation is just talking a little bit about getting your child
ready for our spring testing that is right around the corner.
It's hard to believe that it's here but before you know it, it will be here so we want
us to start planning and preparing your students for those assessments now so they're more
comfortable and they're more relaxed and we can kind of put your mind at ease when they
get to those high stakes testing situations.
So we have a resource that we're going to share with you today and it's going to give
you a detailed description of every assessment, every state or district-wide test that your
child is required to take based on their grade level or their grade band.
The area that they're being tested or assessed on through that assessment.
It also includes the window of administration which typically means that test can be administered
anywhere within that window of time.
Those windows usually range anywhere from two to six weeks and like I said those tests
can be administered anywhere within that window.
However, as those test dates get closer, your schools will be communicating those approximate
testing dates for your child.
That way you'll have a better idea of exactly when they're testing, what time they're testing.
As opposed to just a general window which is all we have now.
So that information will be forthcoming and you'll receive that directly from your school,
most likely your school's testing coordinator.
It also indicates what grade levels are participating in which assessments, whether those
tests are paper-based tests or whether they're computer-based tests.
So you know exactly how your students will be testing before they go into that testing
window, it will also indicate the amount of standard testing time that they're allotted
to take that test.
This doesn't include extended time, so for those of you whose students do are entitled
to that extra time on test, they will get their standard testing time plus any additional
time that they're entitled to on their IEPs.
So I don't want you to get worried about seeing the word standard.
It will be standard plus whatever additional time they're entitled to.
And then they'll also share the date that we expect those results to be shared by the
state or the district.
And usually that's a general timeframe, not an exact timeframe, but that's just what to
expect in that spring testing calendar resource that you're going to get today.
These are just some test-taking tips.
Like Ms. Egan said, to kind of like help you, help your child, put their mind at ease and
help them really, really prepare to sit for those exams to ensure that they can perform
to the best of their ability when they get to those situations.
The most important thing obviously is encouraging them to self-advocate.
Now you don't have to worry about the testing accommodations.
They are going to be prearranged and will be in place for your child regardless of what
of your child will not have to specifically ask or request those accommodations.
They are being arranged right now ahead of time by the ESD specialist who's working alongside
the school tester coordinator to make sure that everything is in place for them on that
testing day and they won't have to ask for anything.
Everything will automatically be arranged and coordinated for them ahead of time so it'll
be a seamless process when they sit for those exams.
But it is a good idea to start encouraging them to advocate for themselves and that part
of that just means understanding what accommodations they're allowed to have.
They should be aware of what their testing accommodations are.
They should know if they're entitled to get extra time, test in a smaller group.
So those accommodations are on their IEP and it's a good idea when you're having these
conversations with them ahead of time leading up to those testing days that you talk specifically
about what their accommodations are so they understand and they're comfortable and familiar
with what is expected on those exams.
It's a really also another good idea to talk about each specific accommodation and how
the use of that accommodation is connected to helping them do better on those exams.
It's really important for them to understand and see how using extra time, for example,
help them do better on a particular test compared to when they maybe took the test without
extra time.
So it's really important that they understand the accommodations and how the use of them
leads to those improved test scores and doing well on those high stakes test.
And most importantly, make sure that they know how to utilize and request those accommodations
as often as they need them.
Positive encouragement, obviously, is something that's going to help build their self-confidence
and their ability.
Some of them, you know, we know that they get nervous and sometimes that testing, test-taking
anxiety seeps in and can impact their ability to perform under those time testing conditions.
Sometimes it can be very stressful for them.
So the more that we can build them up and their self-esteem, their positive encouragement,
the better they're going to do and the more comfortable they're going to feel going into
those tests.
It's also a good idea to develop calming routines to help reduce any anxiety.
For example, if your students are using electronics or devices at night that are, you know, keeping
them overstimulated, it might be a good idea to kind of start weaning them off those devices
a couple weeks before the test so that they can feel more relaxed and more comfortable
going into those tests.
It's also very important to emphasize the importance of doing their best and putting
forth their best foot, you know, making sure that they understand that these tests matter,
that they count some count for promotion to the next grade level, some count for students
in order to graduate high school, other tests count as a certain percentage of the overall
grade for that student in that class.
So every test counts in a different way for every student.
So make sure that when you're speaking with your child and getting them ready and having
those conversations that you explain that they, you know, how important it is to do their
best because if they think it's important to you, then it's going to matter to them
and they're going to do their best.
And then also just like anything, practice makes perfect, the more that they can practice
and prepare at home using iReady, any kind of practice testing materials that might be
given to them ahead of the test, the more that they can practice with these materials,
the more comfortable they'll be with the testing format and the testing platform.
So the more practice, the better they can get, you could start now with those practice
materials.
I know some teachers have already sent them home.
So it's never too early to start that practice and that preparation.
Next slide.
That is your last slide.
Thank you.
Kelly, you do have a couple of questions in the chat if you want to just address them
in the chat or would you like for me to read them to you?
You can read them to me.
Okay.
What about questions related to curriculum and differences between GIN-ED and cluster
curriculum?
Okay.
Go ahead.
I was going to say it's a kind of few going and then they want to obtain training about
how the new promotion criteria and alternative criteria works.
Yeah.
So the questions related to promotion criteria can be answered by the school that they've
got the most recent updated guidance from the state and any changes that were made
to that promotion or retention criteria.
So I would start by contacting the school and getting those questions entered by the
school.
There's a question that asks, how can they opt out of testing or is that an option?
It is not an option to opt out of testing.
I mean, it's a state-mandated requirement.
So I'd have to like learn more specifically about the reason for requesting the exemption.
But generally no student, any mandated required test students are required to take by the
state.
And then there's another question about how to obtain additional practice materials.
So I Ready is a great resource.
Also to obtain some additional reading and ELA materials.
In addition to that, we also can share out some resources in the chat as well for also
some practice testing practice websites that students and parents can go on to at home leading
up to the test to help them prepare for those exams.
So we can share some of those resources in those websites in the chat today.
Okay.
And they're asking, yes, please send those materials.
And how do they opt out of homework, make more school based questions?
Yeah, it sounds like more school based questions.
And again, I'm going to put my number in the chat if you have any specific questions about
your child that we can talk about further off this platform.
I will share my number with you.
That way you can contact me directly and we can take this conversation outside this platform
and we can kind of go a little more in-depth and I want to make sure that I'm answering
questions for the good of the group here based on the audience today.
So I will make sure that I share my contact information with you before we end today.
And also, Kelly, you did reference the assessment calendar and the other flyer, both are in
the chat and we will be happy to send it out to all parents as well.
Correct.
And again, that's a breakdown of every assessment that the school district is administering
across every school.
So that applies to, that should apply to every single family that's in participation today.
Thank you.
There are no other questions in the chat.
Excellent.
Kelly, that was very informative.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for answering the questions and we were starting to make sure parents are able
to receive the information that you provided.
So thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Okay, parents, so next up, we're going to move into the next segment of our session today.
And this is where we call it, it really is family success strategies.
I might want to introduce to you Dr. Janice LaPey, Phyllis Program Specialist, and Janice
will talk to you about things you might do to enhance your child's writing experiences
at home and then we'll move forward.
So good afternoon, Dr. LaPey.
Hi, everyone.
How are you?
So let me go ahead and take control.
As Gwen said, my name is Janice LaPey and I work for Phyllis and today I'm going to
be talking a little bit about writing supports at home.
And so it's going to be some fun stuff.
I know with the whole notion of testing, it's very stressful, homework and all the things
they're obligated to do, but I love the practice of writing.
And I think that writing is a critically important skill, not just for the purpose of learning,
but also for the purpose of communicating.
And so I want to start off giving a little bit of context.
Writing is a very complex skill because it involves multiple skill sets.
Generally speaking, when we talk about writing, we usually divide them into two kind of processes.
And the first one is actually learning how to write, letter formation and the practice
of putting streaming letters together to make words and then the process of actually writing
to learn, right?
And so for writing to occur, our children must be able to generate ideas, organize their
thoughts, spell and form letters, then letters stream together to make words and words stream
together to make sentences and so on and so forth.
They'll need to use proper grammar and punctuation.
And then obviously they'll need to look at their work and revise and make additions or
make changes.
So as you can tell, the writing process is very difficult.
And sometimes it's, well, all the time it's very tedious.
And so my goal for today's strategy really is to incorporate writing as part of your
everyday life because writing is a practice skill.
And so the only way that you get better at it and that you get comfortable with it is
actually by practicing it.
So the first section that we're going to talk about is learning to write.
And when we talk about learning to write, it begins way before the child actually writes
words, right?
Or sentences.
It starts with the development of fine motor skills and visual spatial skills and hand
eye coordination.
And that allows children to hold their writing tools, whether it's a pencil, a crayon, a
paper, and it also supports their ability to control their hand movements and to understand
how marks and shapes and letters are formed on a page, okay?
So things that we can do at home for learning to write.
And I've kind of divided them here into three categories.
And either you have these things at home, they can be purchased very inexpensively and
dollar tree.
I'm always collecting.
When you go to IHOP or Denny's, they give you the little pack of crayons, clearly I still
have a little one at home.
He's six years old.
And so I collect them and put them in a little ziplock bag so that he can draw on things
and it keeps them entertained when we go out.
So inexpensive things.
So the first area I want to talk to you about is fine motor.
And most of the things that we like to do that are fun and stimulating because if you
make it too difficult or too complex, then kids are less likely to engage in it, right?
It's kind of like you want them to eat their vegetables and you mix it up with the spaghetti
so they don't taste it or see it.
Same thing with writing practice for learning how to write.
So play-doh manipulation using the tongs and tweezers to move items because that helps
them not only with their hand-eye coordination, but it also helps them strengthen their fine
motor skills, any form of scissor practice, stickers because they actually have to peel
the sticker and then place it in specific areas, helping in the kitchen, using measuring
tools or stirring items because they have to move their hands and they have to use their
fingers to organize or to coordinate where they're moving materials to.
So these are things that are fairly inexpensive that you can do to increase their fine motor.
If we're talking about hand-eye coordination, some of the things that we do, and I think
I saw them the other day in the Dollar Tree, the hand-lacing cards and beads, putting beads
on a string, puzzles and building blocks.
And I think the really cool thing about the advent of technology is that the building blocks
now are magnetic, so they actually help the kids place it in the right area.
Playing catch, and I would start with like a big item first so that they can catch the
item and then you could move to the most smallest, which requires hand-eye coordination.
Any of those like dot-to-dot activities where they're forming a shape of an animal or something,
and obviously water play, maybe now it's a little chilly outside, but in the summer
times or in warmer weather, water play is a really good hand coordination.
Hiding things in the water, having the children pour things in, sand play, you could even
use rice or beans where they have to locate items with that's buried inside.
So all of those things will benefit their hand-eye coordination.
And then they're going to progress from strengthening their fine motor, strengthening their hand-eye
coordination to actually copying and drawing.
And so in this phase, we're looking at tracing, maybe copycat drawing, you draw a shape and
they draw it behind you, drawing on various surfaces, dry erase boards, maybe writing
on like a gridded paper, on construction paper, and also using various tools, markers, the
way they slide or glide across the page, you'll notice that their hands will kind of slip
versus using a pencil or a pen or a marker, pre-writing shapes.
They have like all of those little workbooks and Dollar Tree where they'll like trace.
I like the ones that are imprinted in the text rather than just dotted lines because
it helps to keep their hands in the space or in the line.
And I would do lots of picture stories every night when you're reading to your child doesn't
have to be anything complex, maybe you draw a picture or have them draw a picture.
And this is kind of the early stages of reading comprehension where they draw a picture about
something that you've read to them and have a description.
Maybe you talk to them about it.
And what's really, really cool about this is that you can actually get yourself a journal,
they have them in Dollar Tree, and watch their progress over time, which we'll talk a little
bit about that.
Are there any questions on learning to write and some strategies to support our babies
that are learning to write?
Scholars, I should say.
I'm Ms. Dr. Lapey.
We just have one question in the chat.
Sure.
Are there any programs that the school district used to provide explicit teaching for comprehension
and writing, targeting kids that are not necessarily neurotypical?
So, let's ask the question again, is there a curriculum you said?
Something that we specifically use.
I think they're looking, the answer would be that we focus on the standards.
Well, there are writing standards, and so yes, there are writing standards and I start
all the way in kindergarten.
And so, yes, they do work on those.
It's embedded in the curriculum, writing practice, and writing for learning is embedded
in the standards.
They do have programs like handwriting without tears, but I'm not too sure up to what grade
level that goes to.
And I think that might be pre-K.
Is that pre-K?
I don't want to say it wrong.
I think it goes all the way up, but I'm not sure.
It goes all the way up.
Thank you, Rhonda.
Rhonda said it goes all the way up through elementary.
Okay.
And she added in the chat, like visualizing and verbalizing for the UFLY program.
And UFLY does actually, where it does both actually comprehension and writing.
Okay.
Any other questions?
Okay.
All right.
So, I'm going to go on now to our next section, which is Writing to Learn.
And when we talk about writing to learn as, oh yes, I see a question pop up.
You have a question, Victoria.
Her question is, are those things available at every school?
Well, the standards is available at every school, the school is really determined whether
or not they have a resource.
You might want to check with your child's school specifically to see whether or not they have
a program available, or they have the program they are at their school rather.
Okay, sure, no problem.
All right.
So, when we talk about writing to learn, we're talking about using writing as a way to think
about, to understand, to remember, and to communicate information.
And in this type of writing, the focus is not necessarily on handwriting or spelling
or grammar, but more on our ability to express our ideas and to make meaning.
Writing to learn includes short responses, making lists, notes, diagrams, reflections.
There's really a lot of flexibilities there.
And the activities that we're going to talk about today kind of help students organize
their thoughts.
It helps to deepen their comprehension because the writing to learn requires synthesis.
And so, I will know what the student is thinking about what they read through their own understanding
via their writing.
And it actually kind of helps us give them some guiding questions to help that synthesis
along.
It also helps to connect new learning to things that they already know.
So personally, and for my children, I have a journal.
One, it really was just the memory keepsake because I wanted to see what their writing
looked like when they were really young, to what their writing looks like past elementary.
And also, because the kids get to go back to it, it's kind of a fun way.
I do writing, some type of writing activity with my son every single day, either he's
drawing a picture about a story he read or he loves soccer, he plays soccer.
And so he writes in there about his soccer.
So I think the most important key about the writing process is that it is a practice skill.
And so when you incorporate writing daily, even if it's silly things like, "Hey, help
me make my grocery list," or, "What would you like to eat today?
Can you write me a menu of what you would like to eat today?"
To get the kids thinking and jotting down their thoughts is really important.
And you could write for many reasons.
So the holidays just passed and we used to do a letter to Santa or a letter to the Easter
bunny, a letter to the Amazon guy that hadn't delivered his packet yet, just random things
that I could think about for my kids to write.
For him to share a story, sometimes he needs to decompress in the car after school.
And so I say, "Okay, well, can you write me one thing you really liked about school today,
or can you write to me one thing that you really like about school today?"
And it's simple one line, one sentence, and I just want him to get in the practice of
writing every day.
Recently, well, I've always been a writer, I write all the notes.
You can ask any of my team when I'm in meetings.
I like to write a lot of like to doodle, I like to write, but I've actually started
to keep a journal to write my personal reflections and the more that you do it and that you model
it for your children, the more likely they are to engage.
It's important to praise effort over perfection because no one's writing is perfect.
We can always review our writing and find mistakes or find things we would like to do
better.
And guess what?
As you practice your writing, you do naturally get better.
So praise the effort more than the perfection.
Do things short and sweet, have discussions about the stories or their journal entries,
and read often.
The best way to learn about writing is to look at and read the written work.
Picture books, stories with lots of pictures, but sometimes get into the chapter books that
don't have a lot of pictures so that they have to use their imagination.
And maybe you could help them by saying, "Oh, these are descriptive words.
So is it sunny?
Is it dark outside?"
And have them draw pictures to go along with those chapter books to get their feelings
and thoughts and kind of understand what descriptive words look like in the narrative text.
And so do you have any questions about the writing to learn section?
There are no questions at this time.
Okay.
And my last and final tip is the best advice for writing is to have fun.
There's so much in our school day that's a task for our students and it's hard.
But I think that if we go back to having fun doing comic strips, buying comic books, letting
them see the joy of the comic books and the comic strips really will help them because
you want to spark their interest.
So anyway, my name is Janice Lappe.
Thank you so much.
And I hope there's something you can gather from today.
Thank you so much, Dr. Lappe.
I'm sure the parents found it very invaluable information.
You're welcome.
Okay.
And you're getting thanked using the chat as well.
So parents, we are at the last part, the last segment of our meeting today.
And so I am going to introduce to you our community partner.
Part of this session is to make sure that you are informed of all of the various resources
that exist within our community.
So this afternoon, I want to introduce you to Ms. Dasheenee Monastim.
I know I assassinated your name, but I hope I got close to it from 2-1-1 Broward.
Good afternoon, Dasheenee.
Good afternoon.
You have present rights if you need it so you can share if you have a PowerPoint.
Okay.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
We can see your screen.
Okay, perfect.
So hello, everyone.
My name is Dasheenee Monastim.
I am the community relations specialist for 2-1-1 Broward.
And I want to thank you for attending and being able to share what 2-1-1 does have to
offer.
So first, I want to talk to you about our four objectives and our hope is that you learn
about 2-1-1.
So I want you to learn about 2-1-1, the three digit number, what it is, when you call it
and what the three digit number is all about.
And I'm going to talk to you about 2-1-1 Broward's services.
I want you to understand the services that we provide.
My hope is that you feel comfortable educating your participants about 2-1-1 to help them
get connected to us and to learn about 2-1-1.
And lastly, I want to share with you our 2-1-1 challenge, a challenge that would help
increase our community awareness.
So let's talk about the three digit number 2-1-1.
1-1 knows about 9-1-1, but not everyone knows about 2-1-1.
And 1-1 numbers are nationally assigned three digit dialing accesses to special services.
These numbers are easy to remember.
The purpose of 2-1-1 is to help people access local community resources.
So say, for instance, someone lives in New York and has a disability and has physical
therapy, counseling, and other services.
Then they move to Broward County.
Where do they begin?
The idea is simple, 1-number to call, 2-1-1.
And not all 2-1-1 are crisis centers.
We are a blended center processing information and referral and crisis calls.
We provide 24-hour telephone counseling, emotional support, suicide prevention, and intervention.
Now that I told you about the 3-digit number, I really want you to understand the purpose
of 2-1-1.
So let's talk about our mission.
2-1-1 Broward is the live 24-hour comprehensive help line to provide all people with crisis,
health, and human services support and connect them to resources in our community.
Here are a few of our proud partners and funders.
So all about 2-1-1 services.
We are 24-7-365, anonymous, confidential, and a free help line.
We offer emotional support to help people feel heard and understood.
Assessment, information, and referral.
This is a dynamic process making sure that we understand the person's needs and provide
them with the most appropriate community resource.
Crisis intervention.
And when I say crisis, I refer to a life-threatening situation such as suicide, child abuse, elderly
and neglect, and domestic violence.
We provide advocacy and follow-up.
We want to make sure all clients feel supported when they call and that sometimes means we
can advocate for them and follow-up to ensure that they're connected to resources.
We also offer care, coordination, and peer support.
This is a similar service where we provide ongoing support to make sure that the person
feels supported and gets connected to resources.
These are our core services.
We are an accredited crisis center with the American Association of Suicideology and accredited
with inform USA as an information and referral center.
Next, we will talk about how to get connected in a person's preferred way, so let's see
the different ways to get connected with 2-1-1.
We can -- not everyone will want to dial 2-1-1 for help.
They may not feel comfortable talking to someone.
They may be in a hurry and prefer to get texts to help.
So maybe it's a use not feeling comfortable talking to someone or someone ashamed what
they have to say and rather share their stories via chat.
You can call 2-1-1 or text her zip code to 898-211.
When someone doesn't know where to call for help, it's difficult to find the resources.
It can be very frustrating and confusing trying to find resources on your own, especially when
you don't know where to start.
It can be like a never-ending maze.
It can take someone up to seven or eight attempts till they get so frustrated that they just
give up.
When you call the different numbers, they could say you called the wrong number or were
out of funds.
This is where 2-1-1 comes in and gets you connected.
2-1-1 cuts through the maze.
We receive calls such as, "I can't pay my rent, I need help finding childcare, I lost
my job and I can't afford to feed my family."
This is where we come in and connect you with those resources to assist you.
Who calls 2-1-1?
It is a female.
It is male, social workers, someone who is unemployed, someone with a disability, high
or low-income, youth, veterans, teachers, professionals, someone with insurance, and
someone with that insurance.
People with mental health conditions, older adults, teenagers.
So who do you think should call 2-1-1 and the answer is everyone?
Now I would like to talk to you about the three types of calls we receive.
Did you know that right now 2-1-1 has been managing over 60,000 calls a year?
The three types of calls we get are assessment and information and referral.
This is a dynamic process about hearing the person's story, learning about their needs
and identifying the most appropriate resources.
COVID has resulted in people losing work, becoming homeless for the first time.
We locate services in their area where they work, whether or not they have insurance and
that's where we can get them their resources.
There are over 2, 2,600 programs and agencies in our database.
Listening calls.
They're about emotional support.
Think about the last time you were really angry or depressed and how easy was it to think
or problem solve.
This shows how important it is to have someone available 24 hours a day to provide you with
support when you don't have someone to talk to during these hard times.
This is an opportunity to talk to someone in a non-judgmental atmosphere that is trained
to do so.
Crisis calls.
We receive a call from someone who had been feeling hopeless for weeks, overwhelmed by
life's pressures and the weight of his emotions.
One night it all became too much and he considered giving up.
But before making any decisions, he remembered a number for suicide prevention outline.
A trained counselor listened without judgment, helping him express his feelings, the counselor
provided empathy and reassurance and by the end of the call he felt a sense of relief.
Knowing he wasn't alone and that help was just a phone call away.
Did you know that the 11th leading cause of death in our nation is suicide?
We help people feeling overwhelmed and in pain feel hope.
There are times when they may need an intervention.
We link them to services such as the mobile crisis unit or 911.
Our goal is to keep people safe.
We try to hear them and provide them support when they need when they need us the most.
So let's talk about the heart of 211.
Our helpline counselors that we have Spanish and Creole speaking staff on staff.
If we do not have the counselor in the available language, we will.
We also have access to 24 hour interpreters and available in over 240 languages.
They are genuine, caring and empathetic people.
They are multilingual, highly trained, empowering and advocates for everyone.
So our comprehensive helpline will tell you about the programs we offer and who we serve,
serving children with special needs and behavioral health concerns, teens, older adults and veterans.
Our care coordination follows along the programs of our caregiver navigation, children's behavioral
health and children's special needs.
So this is our special needs connections program.
Our special needs program offers support and answers and hopes to empower families.
It starts from birth to the ages of 22 for children and young adults, for developmental
and physical disabilities such as autism, deaf and hard of hearing, cerebral palsy,
Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities.
We provide education and guidance about special needs and child development and also we provide
a sense of relief for families to be able to contact us and receive help in getting resources.
Our special needs connections, families are linked with services with one call.
We provide free developmental assessments, early intervention resources, support groups
and advocates, school system supports, assistive technology resources, respite and home programs,
legal resources, guardianship information, specialized doctors, recreation and social
activities, transitional resources and so much more.
Our case management is done through JAFCO.
Do you need extra support to link with services, find therapies, obtain benefits or seeking
respite care, need and home therapies?
The special needs connections case management program is here to support your family.
In collaboration with the Jewish adoption and foster care options, the special needs
connections case management program offers intensive supported services such as coordinated
case management and face to face support for families and caregivers of youth with disabilities.
The purpose of this program is to empower families so that they can meet their goals
and their children can thrive while overcoming barriers to accessing services.
The distinction between care coordinator and case management is care coordination is a
telephone support and short term care.
And meanwhile, case management is intensive, face to face and generally at last up to three
months.
To get connected to case management, would you doubt 211 to talk to us about the mental
health about your youth behavioral health needs, we help linked people seamlessly with case
management services.
Behavioral health, people do not often know how to get behavioral health services, meaning
mental health and substance use.
They don't know where to start.
Sometimes it's friends and family struggling to help the loved one.
The behavioral health help line provides a comprehensive support source for children
and adults that have questions or concerns about behavioral health and who have been
impacted by mental health or substance use conditions.
We are here to help provide emotional support, education, prevention and supportive services
for adults and children.
Navigating the system of care can be a challenging experience especially when you might not know
where to turn.
Our services can help people find hope and the answers they need.
Our behavioral health info line is a free program that provides children, young adults
age, 18 and younger, and their families with care coordination, linkage to specialized
mental health services, case management and substance use programs.
Being a young person at times can be challenging.
Young people can experience mental health illness and substance use.
Adolescents are affected by mental health needs including anxiety, destructive behavior
and mood changes.
Some of these issues can result in drug or alcohol use which can lead to life threatening
situations.
This is where 211 can come in and help our adolescents in need.
Our case management is done through Broward Behavioral Health Coalition.
This provides intensive supportive services such as coordinated case management and face
to face support for families and caregivers of youth with mental health and suicide concerns.
So this is our referral form.
Referrals can be directly made from our website.
I can also drop the link into the chat if anyone needs the link.
So this is our peer support program.
It's done through my Florida Vet.
Our Mission United Program.
Life in the military teaches veterans to be strong in the face of some of life's most
challenging obstacles.
Sometimes it can be hard for veterans to ask for help.
Some veterans struggle accessing their veteran benefits, finding work when returning to civilian
life or they may need help because they're experiencing homelessness.
Mission United is here to support our veterans with case management, employment concerns,
legal issues, education, financial issues, health and housing support.
And back to my Florida Vet.
My Florida Vet is a state initiative of the Veterans Administration to help veterans connect
with services.
We offer care coordination and the nature of peer support services is that veterans are
able to top two veterans so they can share their experience in a way that offers strength
and hope to veterans struggling to readjust.
My Florida Vet offers support with mental health concerns and substance use recovery.
Touchline.
Imagine being an older adult living alone and no one ever calls you.
No one checks up on you.
You don't hear a live voice every day.
You may have outlived your loved ones, friends and children.
Our older adult should not feel alone.
Touchline is one of the most heartwarming programs because it is a safety and reassurance
telephone call to older adults that are over 55 and older that live alone.
Children advocates call them on a daily basis and we just want to make sure that they know
that they're not alone and that someone is available to check up on them and make sure
that they're okay.
Being a caregiver can be very challenging.
Sometimes caregivers struggle taking care of their loved ones and themselves.
The caregiver navigation service is here to help.
A program powered by AARP and United Way Worldwide, this is a program that provides caregivers
with resources and solutions and allows them to support their life and work balance.
Our teen space program.
Where does a teen who is scared to tell their parents that they've been using drugs and
the problem is only getting worse by support?
Our teens turn when they feel pressure, stress, anxiety or even confused.
Teen space is a place to make sure our youth have a safe place to call, a place that is
non-judgmental and understanding of their stories.
Did you know that youth aged 15-34, the second leading cause of death is suicide in our nation.
This allows teens to openly talk to someone in a non-judgmental atmosphere and this is
available 24/7.
This is the national crisis line for mental health, substance use and suicide.
988 is a new number that launched in July of 2022.
988 does not replace other community numbers like 911 or 211.
We can help prevent suicides and we are here to support those experiencing any behavioral
health crisis.
When to dial 211 and 911 and 988.
211 is for connections to community resources, emotional support and crisis intervention.
911 is for emergencies, medical, fire and police and 988 is for crisis, mental health, substance
use and suicide.
One of our community partnerships is with ELC.
They provide financial assistance for child care, voluntary pre-kindergarten, quality child
care and they also do resources and referrals.
Another community partnership is with VITA.
They do taxes, I believe if you're making less than $60,000 a year they can do your
taxes for free.
Our 211 Broward website.
Do you want easy access to all of the resources that are available in our community?
Our community resource portal is easy to access from our main website, 211- Broward.org.
Simply click on find services.
The online community resource portal makes all of our resources readily available for
our helpline counselors.
The resource information offers all the details someone needs to help them connect to the
right resources.
It's a powerful tool for helpers in the community.
It's easy use and much more user friendly.
Community education outreach, so this is where I come in.
I conduct all of the presentations, I attend fairs, I also distribute materials if anyone
is in need of 211 materials and I also do all of the trainings as well.
And if you do need me to provide any outreach, you can find that on our website as well and
that form gets sent directly to me.
Supporting 211, we are looking for volunteers, donations and you can also join Club 211.
You can follow us on social media, we're on Facebook, indeed, X and also Instagram.
So the 211 challenge, many of you today may have not known about the scope 211 services
and the comprehensive services we offer the community.
You never know when a friend, neighbor, co-worker or family may need assistance.
So we challenge you to tell one friend, two friends, one family member and one co-worker
about 211, make sure someone who you care about knows where and how they can get connected
anytime, anywhere and anytime they need it.
And here's a quick survey for you guys to fill out.
It takes about a minute.
So I'll just leave this on the screen for like maybe a minute.
[BLANKAUDIO]
And now I can move on to the next slide.
Thank you for listening about 211.
I hope that today was very informational.
I hope that you guys understand the scope of 211.
And I'm here for any questions.
I can also link my email down in the chat as well.
Dashini, that was a lot of great information.
Thank you so much.
I know a lot.
Thank you so very much and I'm sure our parents did too and you're getting a lot of reactions
positively to your presentation.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Are there any questions in the chat for Dashini?
There are no questions in the chat, but Dashini, you still have your PowerPoint up if you'd
like to take it down.
Yep, there you go.
No questions in the chat at this time.
Okay.
Please leave your email though.
They are asking that you put your email in the chat.
No problem.
Great.
So parents, we are hoping that today's session has really enhanced the information that you
may already have known.
All right.
May have been new information to you today.
We've shared information on how you can request your information.
We've given you test taking tips for your children.
Dr. LaPey has shared the family success strategies on writing and the connection to that.
And now you know all about 211 or at least you know more about 211 than you did before.
Many of you are asking about how to get the video stream for today's session.
Please know that we will be sending that out to you in an email and we will have the video
streaming from today's session on our website in three to five days, but we will also send
it out to you today in a parent link email.
So be on the lookout for that.
I want to thank Ms. Kelly Fisher as well for her presentation today and parents mark
your calendars because our next Lunch and Learn with ESE is Wednesday, February 4th.
So I'm going to wish you a good afternoon and I look to see you in February.
Thank you so much.
And thank you, Yolanda, for monitoring the chat for us.