Carroll County Chamber of Commerce issued the following announcement on July 29
North Carroll Middle School has received the 2021 McLean Yoder Award for Professional Excellence presented by the National Joint Committee for the Communicative Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities.
This award was named after Drs. James McLean and David Yoder, preeminent research scientists in the area of communication and intellectual disability. It was established to honor a team that exemplifies high quality professional service to individuals with severe disabilities. Nominations were solicited from throughout the United States and judged according to the National Joint Committee’s published quality indicators specific to communication assessment, goal setting, and program implementation.
The Committee felt that North Carroll Middle School was particularly noteworthy due to the team’s commitment to school-wide inclusive practices. The team has a clear dedication to the development of universally accessible materials that benefit all students. Results of their teamwork have provided students who use augmentative and alternative communication systems increased independence, and a stronger sense of school community to engage with peers.
Two years ago, North Carroll Middle School began including all their students with severe disabilities in general education content classes. They changed master schedules, trained all personnel on the importance of communication and inclusive practices, and focused intently on interprofessional collaborative practices. These practices included regular planning meetings, enhanced communication strategies across team members, and restructuring environments to make students’ communication, engagement, and learning easier and more meaningful.
Staff members came together to focus on improving communication, social, and content skills and knowledge for students with severe disabilities. Speech and language service delivery was moved primarily to general education classes; training was provided to staff on lessening cognitive load and increasing opportunities for students’ engagement in instruction through sensory, physical, and environmental considerations; and an equity coach worked with staff to develop IEP goals that support students’ academic, social, and community skills within inclusive settings. Family members, general educators, and students provide information and ideas for appropriate IEP goals and instruction.
In addition, staff received training and the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication systems and other behaviors specific to individual students with severe disabilities was modeled, and the balance of communication among and between students with and without disabilities was increased. An example of this work is the Universally Designed interactive structure developed for teaching science vocabulary. This electronic structure helps students build vocabulary and semantic relationship skills across all content areas and is accessible to all students in the class.
As a result of their teamwork and vision, the IEP goals of, and progress made by, students with severe disabilities reflect a cohesive plan for building student independence. The result is increased independence and self-initiated use of AAC, and a stronger sense of a school community in which all students are adept at being effective communication partners.
Original source can be found here.
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