Hello and thank you for joining us for learning and harmony.

A presentation of the Los Angeles Unified's division of Special Education.

I'm your host, Harvey, Senior Director of Instructional Television at KLCS Public Media.

Today's program is intended to help you, our viewers, gain a better understanding of the programs, services and supports available for students who are identified as being on the autism spectrum.

We will be joined by an LA Unified Special Education teacher administrator from the Division of Special Education and a parent of an autistic student in the District.

First, it's my pleasure to welcome Mr. Tony Aguilar, the Chief of Special Education, Equity and Specialized Programs.

Tony, thank you for joining us today.

Thank you.

Always a pleasure.

Great to have you here.

So, Tony, before we get too deep into the conversation, can you help us gain some context when we say special education?

What does that mean within the L.A. Unified School District?

Great question.

Special education is really a program.

So we and L.A. Unified want to educate all of our students.

However, there are some students that require additional supports and services, and it's within those students that are identified with disabilities that we offer a program that's known as special education program.

Special Education Program, that offers opportunities to tap into services, to be able to access to curriculum, to be able to be successfully a successful student in L.A. Unified.

What type of staffing is required to service this type of student population?

We're definitely special.

Education teachers is a must.

On top of that, we have related services providers, speech and language therapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, adaptive P.E.

teachers.

So above and beyond of what a junior teacher or Z program offers, it's that plus whatever additional supports are needed to access the curriculum.

So help us understand how the the governance, the rules for for providing special education students access to the curriculum work.

I know we are a self-contained district, but even then we have regulations and guidelines.

How is that structured?

So what?

We are known as a single SELPA And so what that means is we in L.A. Unified are able to offer a really comprehensive or an expansive portfolio to be able to provide the continuum of services for students with disabilities.

So whether a student requires just a setting of being in a classroom with some simple supports, we also also offer programs that where students have self-contained classrooms or require additional services to be able to access again the curriculum.

Smaller districts don't have that expansive program, so they would have to branch together to be able to offer that continuum.

But we're fortunate in the district being so large to be able to offer that comprehensive portfolio.

So that's one thing I wanted to dig a little deeper into, because being self-contained, as you said, I believe that that allows us the opportunity to provide more resources and services.

Could you maybe highlight a couple of the programs that are available through L.A. Unified because of the fact that we're self-contained?

Absolutely.

So when you look at what we offer, there's when you get into deaf and hard of hearing classes, for example, we're able to offer that alternate curriculums, programs for our students who have also become are within the age range of 18 to 22.

As I kind of rewind a little bit on statistics, our program goes from ages 3 to 22.

So we offer programs for students to be able to access and become career ready when they leave us at the age of 22, such as career transitional centers.

So we're able to offer more and more really refined programs, really identified by the need of a student in an IEP.

Let me ask this, because the purpose of today's program is to try to get a better understanding and awareness of the autism spectrum.

How then, within the context of what you just laid out, are autism students identified and provided into the programs and services that they need?

That's a really great question.

Oftentimes times we have families that are well plugged in with their pediatrician and or regional centers that are early on informed that their students might fall under the spectrum of having autism.

As a result of that, they usually reach out for additional services.

And then when they become school age ready.

So for a student at that age range, at about age three, they start connecting with the district.

The district then would be able to do what's called an evaluation of the student with disabilities, looking at an assessment of autism.

We're not looking at to address it and identify autism, but rather we're looking to identify the impact of the disability to be able to access a curriculum, because at that point, we want to be able to do an assessment.

Have all the team in together with the parent to identify what services this child might need to be able to access to the curriculum to learn.

So that was one question that that I was kind of wrestling with, because unlike a lot of other diagnoses, autism is something that seems to be continuing to develop in terms of what we're learning and how to diagnose that and identify it.

How does the district stay relevant and up to date and then pass that information along to the classrooms in order to better service the students?

So it's probably a multiple tracks, right?

So first and foremost, when we look at how we're offering credit credentialing for our teachers, we want to make sure that our teachers were getting with that mild to moderate credential or able to identify different characteristics to be able to offer support.

So many of our students also have impacts with language that they have language barriers or social skills, or how do we are we able to address that so that during the school day they'll be able to access still the general curriculum?

We also have to be well informed with our school psychologists who are conducting assessments to be able to really identify where this might actually end up in the the continuum of autism itself, as well as as far as the spectrum goes.

We have some students who are on the autism spectrum that are very high functioning, that need very minimal supports.

However, we have some students who really have some significant struggles that require additional supports or scaffolds, if you will, to be able to ensure that they're going to access the curriculum.

So let me ask you this sort of wrap it up with such a broad and diverse range of student needs.

What then is the core that drives the the services that you provide for the student population?

So immediately when after conducting an assessment for a student with disabilities, we go into what's called an IEP team meeting in that IEP team meeting, all the assessors, all the practitioners, teachers are in the room as well as the parent.

They are known as an IEP team.

At that point, assessments are reviewed, scores are reviewed, and a team makes a determination of what supports are needed.

That's when you might identify, well, the student is having some difficulty with some fine motor skills and that might trigger an occupational therapy assessment or an occupational therapy goal.

So it's really, really driven down by what identify needs are developed and supported by the IEP team.

So Tony, we've got just a minute here left.

Is there any parting words in terms of what you'd like our viewers to understand about what L.A. Unified provides in terms of support and resources for students on the autism spectrum?

Absolutely.

It really is.

First and foremost, I think for our viewers, we want our parents to know that they are part of the team.

They are the ones that we want to listen to.

They are they are the first ones who we are able to address our child and student needs when they see it at home.

We have an opportunity to take that knowledge base, be able to how do we inform ourselves to really impact the access to curriculum.

So more than anything, our parents understand that they are our partners and we want them to be as involved in the decision making that we as we want them to be.

Tony, thank you again for making the time to join us today and for helping us to begin to understand the complex dimensions of what is meant when we say special education and in particular, helping us gain some understanding of the population of students identified as being on the autism spectrum.

We're going to take a brief break, but don't go away.

When we return, we will be joined by Miss Lela Rondeau, administrative coordinator instruction in the Division of Special Education, and Christina Veyna, a parent of a now unified student identified as autistic.

Please stay tuned.

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Welcome back to Learning in Harmony.

Joining me now are Miss Lela Rondeau, administrative coordinator with the Division of Special Education, and Ms.. Christina Veyna, whose son has been identified as being on the autism spectrum and is a student at an L.A. Unified School.

Ms.. Rondeau, thank you for joining us.

Thanks for having.

Me.

I'd like to pick up where we left with with Tony Aguilar.

And he mentioned that he wants us to see parents as partners in their student's education.

Can you tell us what some of the services or programs that L.A. Unified makes available for parents and caretakers of students with autism?

Absolutely.

So it really starts at the IEP meeting, the the individualized education plan meeting.

And we look at each individual student in terms of what they need, what they what they would benefit from, what supports would be beneficial.

And the team comes to a decision in terms of what those supports look like.

Additionally, we do provide professional development for parents in terms of what is autism.

What are some things you can do at home to better support your son or daughter?

Whether that's having visual supports around the house or whether there's certain games that you could play to help students reinforce skills, etc.. And Mr. Bennett, tell us about your experience.

You.

You mentioned earlier your son was diagnosed at age three.

What has been your experience in receiving services for yourself and for him through L.A. Unified?

They've been great.

We got diagnosed and they right away started him with an IEP individual education plan and they told us this is what he needs to do in order to succeed.

And we've been following that plan and it's going pretty good for him.

He was in a core in an alternate curriculum program, which is for students who will get a certificate, you know, after high school.

Now he's in a core program, which is the goal, to get a high school diploma after high school.

So we've we're very happy with the district.

There's workshops that we attend and they help us understand that IEP meeting their support groups.

And we've been very happy and, you know, lucky to be with this district.

Can you help us understand a little bit without having to go to too much into detail, but how does your son engage with the mainstream curriculum and the social dimensions of being in a classroom?

I don't you know, I know that it varies for for autism spectrum, obviously, and it varies.

But in your case, how has your son adapted to being in this in this curriculum?

And now, like you said, it sounds obviously like he's making progress.

How was that at the at the beginning?

So first, they start with like a small group of students.

It's like five or six of them, depending on their severe illness.

And he started with a small group of five students.

Now he's in a classroom with 15 students, and they're all autistic, but not as severe as before.

But the other students that my son was into and he's doing great, he's very he learned how to be a little bit more like he can go up to somebody and, you know, offer something and he's doing great.

Yeah.

So, Miranda, let me ask I know that this is one model.

What other models would we see if we went out to the district and looked at classrooms that were servicing students on the autism spectrum?

What would they look like?

And how would we even identify that this is a classroom that has autism students in it.

It's a very big range.

So we could definitely we have students with autism who are in every single type of class in the district, whether that is an honors English class, whether that's a separate special education classroom, whether it's students who are at one of our career and transition centers who are learning some skills for adult living.

It's a very wide range.

Sometimes students with autism are grouped with other students with autism, and sometimes they're grouped with a variety of different abilities.

And just depends kind of what the IEP team finds at the student needs.

Earlier, Ms. Rondeau had mentioned at the the helping, you know, helping parents in terms of teaching them how to work with their students at home, what type of of tools or resources have you been able to implement to support what is going on in the school side at your home?

Well, they give us a computer, so if we have questions, we can get in touch with the teachers.

And I've made like friends with some of his teachers now and they've shared their cell phones.

So if I have questions, they're able to help me.

There's online websites that we can go to and they explain step by step, like, try this, try that, you know, to help your your child.

And it has worked for us using all those tools so my son can succeed.

And his run.

Is that something that would be expected across the board or obviously, you know, different teachers know the different needs of students?

What would a parent coming into the district, what kind of expectations should they have about what would be available for for them and their student?

Yeah, it's a great question and it's very individualized like we were talking about before.

It really depends what the IEP team feels that a student needs.

So there's a variety of services that students may benefit from.

And if that student has an academic need there, that's where we would provide those supports.

I want to go back to your experience, because it sounds like so far it's been a good experience for yourself and for your student, for your child.

I believe you mentioned he's he' What is something that you wish you had known then that you know now that that you think would have been beneficial starting this whole journey with your son?

The fact that you can choose a plan for your child like what school you want him to go to, because we thought, oh man, he can only go to this school, this school, this school.

No.

Like you're able to send them wherever you want.

You know, that's what's very helpful.

Rhonda, let me come back to you and ask for a little context on what Melvina just said.

When we talk about having those options, what is available and how is that determined?

Yeah, and it really is individualized.

So our parents are definitely our partners.

We have them at the IEP team meeting.

Everybody is going to be discussing what is it that the student needs, what are the strengths of the student has as well, and where they need to be educated at the next phase to move on and move forward in their education.

So we have a range of options and it's really just an individualized IEP team decision.

Well, as we mentioned at the top of the show, this is was no way going to be a super in-depth conversation.

There's so much that that we could get into.

But I do want to thank you both for your time, for your expertize and for your perspective.

Appreciate you being here today.

We're taking a brief break.

And when we return, we'll be joined by Mr. James Coons, coordinator, moderate and severe.

And Larry, programs in the Division of Special Education.

And Shawn Bush, a special education teacher at Leo Politi Elementary School.

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Welcome back to Learning and Harmony.

Joining me now are Dr. James Kuntz, coordinator, moderate, severe and Larry programs with the Division of Special Education and Mr. Shawn Bush, a special education teacher at Leo Politi Elementary.

Mr. Bush, I'd like to start with you.

Can you please give us a little overview of the students you teach and the program, the curriculum, as well as some of the special education services you provide in your class?

Sure.

Thank you for having me.

So I work at Leo Politi Elementary and I work with students presenting autism and other co-morbid disorders.

So my students are on the general education curriculum.

And so my goal is to take a look at their present levels of performance, see how their eligibility is impacting their performance to meet those standard goals and give them scaffolds and supports to be able to do that.

So from an outsider's perspective, you hear a lot of information, possibly not all accurate about the challenges and how it does or does not work.

When you have this this mixed population.

What have you found in your firsthand experience to be the case?

And can you share some of the successes you've had by having this mixed population of students?

So my room is an enclosed classroom.

We do personal services where we take our class and we go to other classrooms and we work with them and the students are able to have inclusion opportunities.

And so I like to do that in all areas.

Isla math and science, science in particular, because it gives them something to dig into with their thoughts and be able to make models of their thinking and have those shared conversation around those experiences.

And then they're able to make mental constructs of what they're talking about.

So you're able to tap into math and you're able to tap into language.

So it's different every year.

It's different with each child.

And so it's a little bit of navigating.

So I might have one group that will break off and do one activity with one class in particular, and I may take another group to another class.

It just really depends on the topic and the individual needs of the children and how they're grouped.

Dr. Kunst, does this sound to you like what you see in other classrooms and and what would be typical of of this integrated program where you have both special education and general education, population students?

Yes, we have a full range of options for our students with autism.

And most of them do get the opportunity and do participate in the general setting for some portion of their school day.

And in fact, that's our goal, that they get closer and closer to that general setting as much as possible, because the real world that they all inhabit after they leave our schools, after they graduate from our schools, is not specific to a group of people with disabilities.

It is everyone working together in a community.

And we want our students to have that experience, to be able to gain those social skills, those academic skills especially, but those social skills that will help them to thrive when they do graduate from our schools.

So one of the one of the main focus that we're having in our program today is really trying to understand the needs of autism, students or students on the autism spectrum.

Can you share a little more about, you know, an example of how you would you would take, let's say, science or as an example and how you would take these students and how what aspect of that curriculum would they be able to access.

And if they aren't able to access the entire part of the group, how do you focus and make sure that they're at least getting certain skills that are transferable to the next grade or the next level?

Yeah, those are great questions and it's a very broad overview question because each child is individual.

And so you really do have to look at what their individual impacts are.

So you're guided by the standard, what is the take away?

What is it?

What is it that I need this child to learn in this lesson?

And how does that fit in with the context of the previous lesson and the next lesson?

So it's a continuum.

Where have we been?

Where are we now and where do we want them to be?

And this is in all of our content areas.

So English, language, arts, math, science, history, social studies, art, all the things that we teach in the classroom.

So it's a very broad question and it's a little difficult to answer because of those dynamics.

But I can tell you that some of the common scaffolds that you would see would be repeated practice sentence frames, for example, to help them model their thinking and be able to pick up key phrases that they're going to be used in oral conversations as well as in their writing making models, which I mentioned earlier, the opportunity to really construct something that allows them to consolidate their ideas and their understanding of what we're talking about, and then to be able to share those conversations with their peers to enhance that conversation when they can share their thinking with somebody else, it really helps them condense and consolidate their ideas and their ability in that language that we need them to build.

Doug, let me ask you to balance what Mr. Bush just said with perhaps the experience beyond just his classroom.

Is this something that you see is coming from his experience of having been a teacher for a while?

Or is this something that the district purposefully does in terms of training and providing support to teachers to know how to create the scaffolding and the structure and these learning goals that are applicable to the student population?

Yes, we do provide training related to what what Mr. Bush described are also some of them are known as evidence based practices or IB in the autism community, and those trainings are hosted by the district.

We do provide support related to structuring the learning environment because there are some very well known and documented ways to make it so that students with autism are more successful in the school environment and those same strategies can be helpful in the home as well.

When they're shared with families to things like visual supports, about prompting, how to how you prepare a student for something, preparation for transitions and video modeling.

Those are all pretty well documented evidence based practices that do support and are part of the things that Mr. Bush did share about.

You mentioned that connection to the home, and that was my next question to you.

I have to imagine that, I mean, with all students, but maybe particularly with this population, there has to be a tremendous amount of communication and coordination.

How do you work?

What relationship do you have with with the parents of autistic students, ensuring that both they are a partner, but also understanding what the goals are and what you're aiming to to help these students achieve?

Mm hmm.

I think it's a great question.

I think the key it was in your question, it's a relationship.

So it's really listening, actively listening to what the children are saying to you, because they will tell you what's going on with them.

They will share their thoughts with you or they will communicate them if they're nonverbal.

So it's a matter of paying attention and actively looking for those, as well as talking and listening to the parents and giving them that space to share with you, because they're going through a process where their child is in a moment right now, where they're being asked to meet certain goals.

They will achieve those goals and then there will be a new set of goals.

So there's always sort of this challenge that's continuing with them.

And you have to be very aware of that.

And so that needs to really frame, I think, any interaction you're having.

But it goes back to having a relationship that's built on trust.

Once you have that, you can learn.

So it sounds to me like, you know, based on what I'm hearing, what I'm seeing, you've got a good structure and you've got this down.

So I have to ask you, was this always the case or was there a learning curve?

And can you share perhaps what it took to get to this this confidence and control that you currently exude?

Well, thank you for that.

It is always every day a challenge.

No, two days are the same, which is why I love the work so much.

And I don't think you ever feel like you actually have it down.

I will lean back on what was said by Dr. Coons and that it is evidence based practices really leaning into those and shaping all of our interactions around those kind of practices.

So that is the scaffolding that I rely on as a teacher that my students rely on to learn.

And I should say those scaffolds have to be faded.

As Dr. Coons mentioned, we really want our students to develop independence.

So to get there, you have to be aware of all of the sports they're getting and not allow it to become common practice, the ideas to fade, the supports to build their independence.

So that actually leads me right into into what I think will be our closing question.

We've been talking about elementary students today and we've had an elementary parent.

What happens next?

How do we transition students from that elementary into that middle school and then into into that high school?

And how do we ensure that those same supports and and those goals continue to be evaluated and so that they follow the student with their progress?

So I was a middle school teacher myself of students with autism.

So I have experience with receiving students from elementary and helping them transition to high school.

What IEP teams do to prepare students for a transition is to make sure they update all of their goals they make sure they have the right services and supports as they're leaving one level of school to move into the next one.

Other things that schools do, they support that transition by connecting teachers together, by connecting students to that next school, and making sure that the student knows simple things that might seem rudimentary to share.

But things like the bells schedule, what the bells will sound like, what the expectations are when you show up at school and changing from a model of elementary where it's one class per day, you have one teacher to a class or a schedule where you have four, maybe six teachers in a day and teaching students to prepare to transition between classes, helping them prepare in any way possible for what that middle school experience brings is.

Or that high school experience, which may be similar to middle school, but helping them prepare for that transition by practicing, by looking ahead and by actively and explicitly sharing about what the experience will be like, is one of the best things we can do for students.

Well, gentlemen, we actually have run out of time, but I want to thank you for joining us here today.

It's obvious that there's a lot more on this topic that we could discuss.

And Kelsey, as public media plans to bring you additional programs in the future that will allow us to better understand how Los Angeles Unified is serving students and the families of students who are on the autism spectrum.

I'd like to thank both of you for your time and for sharing your expertise as we strive to gain an understanding and awareness of what is clearly a complicated topic.

I would also like to thank Ms.. Lela Rondeau, Ms.. Christina Veyna and Mr. Tony Aguilar for their contribution to our program.

I believe we've all started to gain more awareness about the complex challenges that you all face in your efforts to help students reach their maximum potential.

But more importantly, I think we have a better understanding of the passion that drives all of you to be advocates for this very special population of students.

To learn more about the Division of Special Education and the related resources we've discussed in today's program, please visit achieve dot, LAUSD, dot, net forward slash sped or you can contact the school family support services at 2132416701.

Thank you for joining us.