Jeffco Public Schools

Dear Jeffco Families,

 In this unprecedented time, the Special Education Department is making every effort to provide appropriate special education and related services for students with disabilities. We understand that this transition has created new challenges for our students, families, and staff.

 While your child’s needs have not changed, the conditions in which we are working have changed considerably, so we want to collaborate with you to develop a remote learning plan for your child. In doing so, we are considering the nature of a student’s disability and the individual needs of the student with an emphasis on learning, access, and progress toward goals as our highest priorities. We trust that you are in touch with your child’s service providers to work together to plan for ongoing instruction. We greatly appreciate your collaboration, adaptability, and understanding as we are learning to navigate our current reality together. We can do this and support each other with grace, empathy, and kindness through this disruption.

To improve our processes, we will continue to review and respond to comments and questions submitted by the community.

Take care of yourselves and each other, and thank you again for all you do.

Respectfully,

Jeffco Special Education Team

A visual schedule is a format that allows your child to see what activities are planned for the day and when they are happening.  There are several different types of visual schedules to consider when thinking about your child.  Does your child need only two items on the schedule at one time?  Can they handle seeing the whole day planned out?  Do they need pictures or words to represent the activity?

Create your own visual schedule here!

In-person Jeffco Public Schools-based organized activities (or supports for these activities such as practice) which create group congregations are prohibited until August 1st. As a result, ESY services will be provided as remote learning opportunities. 

Dates for ESY Services are extended to July 1 through July 31 to accommodate the challenges of remote teaching/learning. Your child’s special education teacher will be contacting you to share more information.

In our efforts to ensure students have received remote instructional activities, we realize we may have overwhelmed some families.  Just tell us.  Ask your child’s case manager to help you prioritize the classes and services.  We can help you set up a daily or weekly schedule to help you organize a busy and unfamiliar day.

Here’s a sample schedule:  

1. Make a simple calendar - big piece of paper or even a wall with some masking tape will do - don’t make a line for every minute of the day unless your child needs that structure.  They can have some down time. 

2. Make a sticky note with each activity your child has been asked to do:  
a) Reading on Tues/Thurs 9:00 -9:30
b) Math on Wed/Fri  9:00 - 9:30
c) Mr. Calm (Mental Health) Tues/Thurs - 11:00 - 11:30 
d) Speech Wed 1:00 - 1:30 
e) Make a Lunch/Recess sticky note for every day

3. Put the sticky notes in the right order on each day -If the time changes - move the sticky

1. If you begin noticing patterns in your child’s challenging behaviors when they are starting to show signs of frustration or anger, you can begin by pointing them out to your child. Ex: “I notice you are stomping your feet, are you starting to feel frustrated?” By modeling the language and identifying telling signs of frustration, your child will also begin to notice the signals that indicate frustration in themselves, leading (eventually) to an increase in their ability to self-monitor. 
2. Once they have identified their frustrations, they can take a specific amount of time (use a timer) to practice some calming strategies (deep breaths, stretches, ect.) and return to the task. Please remember, do not use a break as reward time or free play, they should engage in an already identified break time activity and then return to the work. 
3. Some suggested break time activities: deep breaths, mindfulness activities, stretching, walking, movement breaks

1. Use very simple and direct language. Too many words can escalate someone even further when they are upset. Identify the emotion, prompt communication, and provide choices. For example, “You look frustrated. Do you need a drink or a walk?” Remind them “what they are working for.” This is great if you have a reinforcement system in place. 
2. If your child is able to debrief at a later moment, first ensure that they have had ample time to recover. Then try to discover why they were upset and create a plan to avoid becoming upset in the future. 

Try to identify what pieces of the work are the most challenging or frustrating. Is it the amount of work, the level of difficulty or the amount of time? There are other potential challenges as well, but once you have identified the specific area that is most frustrating, you can address or modify that part of the work.

Always validate the frustration, ex: “I can see you are frustrated with how much time you are having to spend doing ____. Would it help if we did 5 more minutes, then took a break?”

You can also offer choices of which work to complete. For example, “Would you like to do math or reading?”

You also can refer to a reinforcement system if you have one in place.

*See information on reinforcement systems listed above*

Use a reinforcement system. Remember to update their “reinforcers” as their preferences may change frequently! Use goal setting with your child as a part of the process. Ex: “What would you like to accomplish today?” Try to use their preferences, words and voice in making goals and behavior contracts. 

Sample Preference Assessment