Year: 2019

The Haring Center has long been a fulcrum of Washington’s inclusive education community through its role as a leader in classroom learning, research and professional development. That impact will multiply across the state in the coming years with the launch of a new partnership with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

Currently in Washington state, “only 56% of students with disabilities are included in general education settings for 80-100% of the school day,” reports OSPI.

To change this, the Haring Center will partner with school districts statewide to create 16 demonstration sites that highlight inclusive education best practices as part of OSPI’s Inclusionary Practices Professional Development Project. Over the next two years, Haring Center inclusion specialists will work closely with selected schools to facilitate continuous growth in inclusionary practices. Ultimately, the project seeks to foster statewide collaboration, innovation and sustainability for inclusionary practices that drive student success.

“Outcomes of inclusion are vast. We want these schools to really see the benefits of transformational learning,” says Katy Bateman (PhD ‘17), senior inclusion specialist for the project. “We are excited to partner with schools across the state and work toward the common goal of increased positive outcomes for all students, teachers, and administration.”

The Haring Center, with its extensive professional development offerings, groundbreaking research and continuous application of best practices in the Experimental Education Unit (EEU), is well-poised to guide these new demonstration sites said Cassie Martin (PhD ‘10), demonstration sites project lead.

“We have the capacity and history to show that inclusion benefits everyone,” Martin said. “Other school districts have used the EEU as an exemplar for inclusionary practices for decades.”

Martin says that when we include students with disabilities in our classrooms, communities, and learning, everyone benefits. “Students who receive special education services, who spend 80-100% of their time in the regular classroom, develop better working habits, improved self-esteem, are more attentive, have improved social competencies, and have more diverse friendship networks,” reports OSPI. “Students who do not have an identified disability…also see improved academic outcomes…and improved social outcomes as they learn to see beyond people’s disabilities and develop a greater appreciation for diversity.”

Haring Center Director Ilene Schwartz will join Bateman and Martin as a senior inclusion specialist, in addition to acting as the faculty director, on this project. The Haring Center plans to divide the 16 sites into two cohorts, the first of which will begin work in the new year. Inclusion specialists will provide school staff with one-on-one advisement focused on improving inclusionary practices, designing an effective visitor engagement strategy and developing key takeaways to share with peer-learning communities.

Martin said the potential impact of this project is significant.

“We aim to build a community around Washington state committed to inclusive education,” says Martin. “Students both with and without disabilities at the demonstration sites will experience better outcomes by learning together.”

While Martin said current research on the benefits of inclusive education typically focuses on younger learners, Washington’s demonstration sites project presents the exciting opportunity to show beneficial outcomes in older students, from kindergarten all the way through high school.

At each demonstration site, the entire school will be involved, not just one or two classrooms. Across all the sites, thousands of Washington students will be impacted.

The selected schools themselves will benefit from the professional development on high-leverage teaching techniques, adult learning and more, along with opportunities for collaboration with other demonstration sites. The Haring Center will assist in the development of a knowledge-sharing system among the demonstration sites, which will enable the schools to continuously improve their inclusionary practices.

As demonstration sites become hubs for inclusive education, Martin said, they will also welcome visitors of all sorts—teachers, school leaders, families, community members and more—driving additional impact throughout Washington.

“When schools have the opportunity to work together, are part of an innovative professional development community, and can focus on what is working to put students first, they can generate powerful ideas and make each other stronger,” Martin said. Her ultimate goal is “to provide educators across the state with a transformational learning experience that results in a shared vision that inclusion benefits everyone.”

The two-year timeline of this project is short, Bateman said, but the capacity and collaboration it creates will sustain indefinitely.

“We’re supporting a constantly growing community that can champion and share inclusive education best practices and benefits around Washington,” Bateman said. “It’s a beautiful vision, and with some hard work ahead, we look forward to it becoming reality.”

Go to this project website for more information

Apply now through December 20, 2019 at the link below!!

Wednesday, November 6, 2019
The Haring Center Auditorium, CD 150, 2:00-3:00 p.m.

Mealtime challenges are common for parents, caregivers, and staff working with young children. We will discuss the current status of intervention for mealtime challenges and highlight the gaps in current intervention methods and research. We will present ideas for intervention that can be embedded into natural settings such as home and school, where mealtimes are already taking place. We will highlight two projects: Lunch Bunch, a parent training program, and Food Explorers, an embedded school-wide mealtime curriculum.

Participants will develop ideas about how to embed mealtime intervention strategies in their existing routines or practice, and understand the importance of embedded intervention in natural mealtime settings.

TO RSVP OR FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Visit haringcenter.org/ or contact Phoebe Yeung at pcyeung@uw.edu

LIVE STREAM AVAILABLE
Find us on Facebook (Haring Center for Inclusive Education) for a live stream of this event.

Presenter: Yev Veverka, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Yev Veverka is a Teaching Associate and researcher at the University of Washington. She has been conducting research on embedded feeding and mealtime intervention into home and school settings.

Presenter: Susan Ramage, R.N, M.N.
Susan Ramage is the school nurse at the Experimental Education Unit at the Haring Center. She is dedicated to bringing nutrition education to the school and helping children and families explore fun ways to eat healthy foods.

In Washington state, half of children with developmental disabilities will never be in a classroom alongside their typically developing peers, despite research showing that inclusive education is beneficial to all children.

A recent gift to the University of Washington’s Haring Center for Inclusive Education will support an effort to improve academic and life outcomes for children with developmental disabilities by strengthening high-quality professional development for educators and administrators across the state. The $800,000 gift from Bill and Alyssa Sunderland will strengthen the Haring Center’s Professional Development Unit, which helps schools adopt curricula and teaching methods that support the growth and success of children with and without disabilities in inclusive environments.

“The root cause of children with disabilities being denied access to inclusive classrooms is tragically simple,” said Ilene Schwartz, director of the Haring Center. “Teachers and administrators do not receive the training and support they need to implement inclusive education at scale.

“This generous gift builds on the Haring Center’s 50-year history of leadership in the field of inclusive education to respond to the urgent and unmet needs of young people and families.”

The Sunderlands, whose son Gareth was enrolled in the Haring Center’s preschool and kindergarten program after being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, noted their desire for other Washington families to have access to the same high quality care.

“There are a lot of kids and families who would benefit from having teachers who are prepared to use best practices in inclusive education,” Bill Sunderland said. “Strengthening our state’s education workforce is absolutely essential to delivering on the promise of inclusion.”

The Sunderland’s gift will bolster the Haring Center’s professional development staff so it can expand its training programs for practicing educators. During the 2018-19 school year, the Haring Center delivered training to more than 3,100 educators and administrators across the United States and internationally. Yet the regional demand for training programs far outstrips current capacity.

“With this gift, Haring Center staff will be in more schools and community organizations to coach teachers to increase their capacity to meet the needs of all children,” Schwartz said. “This is a tremendous opportunity to ensure more students receiving special education services graduate with the skills needed to live their best lives.”

Contact

Dustin Wunderlich, Director of Marketing and Communications
206-543-1035, dwunder@uw.eduTags: Teaching Quality, Special Education, General News, Community Partnerships

Dr. Norris Haring, a pioneering researcher and advocate for children and adults with disabilities, passed away on June 27, 2019, at age 95. 

Through his research, Haring’s development of cutting-edge instructional and behavioral strategies established the University of Washington College of Education as an international leader in advancing inclusive education. Many of the inclusive practices developed by Haring continue to be widely used in the field of special education. 

A member of UW’s faculty for nearly 40 years, Haring was founding director of the Experimental Education Center on Human Development and Disability, which would later grow into the Haring Center for Applied Research and Training in Inclusive Education. 

Ilene Schwartz, the Haring Center’s current director, said Haring helped create the first pathways for children with disabilities to become self-sufficient and successful. In the early 1980s, children with Down syndrome who participated in an early intervention program developed by UW researchers became the first students to enter an inclusive program with typically developing students in Seattle Public Schools. 

“Dr. Haring is internationally recognized for drawing attention to educational development and offering some of the first proof that education directly affects behavior,” Schwartz said. “He was a visionary. He saw that we can create a world where children of all abilities live, work and play together.”

Born in a small town in Nebraska, Haring earned his master’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and his doctorate from Syracuse University. He taught at the University of Kansas before joining the UW faculty in 1965. 

Shortly after arriving at UW, Haring helped launch a pilot school to aid children with neurological injuries whose families couldn’t find appropriate services in the community. Staffed by UW faculty, the pilot program focused on education, rehabilitation and family advocacy and would later be renamed the Experimental Education Unit.

Under Haring’s leadership, the EEU was one of the first programs in the country that worked to meet the needs of children with learning and severe disabilities. It demonstrated that preschool children with Down syndrome could learn to read and that inclusive educational environments benefit all students. 

A gift from Haring and his wife, Dorothy, enabled the EEU to expand and become the Haring Center in 2009. The world-class center for applied research, service and professional training focuses on answering the most important questions in the field of special education and disseminating best practices in inclusive education throughout the state of Washington and beyond.  

Haring served as the founding president of TASH, the first international organization devoted to addressing the needs of people with severe disabilities, and was the founding president and first editor of the Journal of the American Association for the Education of the Severely and Profoundly Handicapped.

“One of the most inspiring and lasting lessons that we have learned from Dr. Haring is the importance of treating every person with respect,” Schwartz said. “That means that every student, teacher, family member and community member must have access to the services and supports that they need to be their best selves.  He always assumed that students would learn and be successful, we just needed to discover the best ways to teach them. “

In addition to helping create the Haring Center, the Dr. and Mrs. Haring endowed two fellowships to support graduate students in special education who work at  the Haring Center. 

Unique student project provides valuable experience for future teachers

Providing family-centered care, when educators intentionally develop meaningful, reciprocal partnerships with caregivers with the goal of strengthening family functioning, is a critical practice in high-quality early learning programs. Yet, preparing future educators to effectively collaborate with families, especially those who have backgrounds that are different from their own, remains a challenge for many university teacher education programs. The UW College of Education special education program has developed a unique project for its students that is aimed at providing future educators with the opportunity to develop these important skills before they begin their teaching careers.

The Families as Mentors Program (FMP) is a required part of the coursework for all students who are earning a special education graduate degree from the College of Education. The goal of the FMP is to provide students with an authentic opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge about the daily lives of families who have a child who is neurodiverse – to learn about family rituals and activities, family strengths and challenges, and to understand the unique experiences of families who have children with diverse needs and abilities. The UW is the only teacher preparation program in the country with an experiential family-centered project like this as a graduation requirement.

The FMP not only addresses core competencies for future educators, but supports an important mission of the College of Education, says Dr. Ariane Gauvreau, special education field director and instructor. “For a long time, the College of Education and the special education degree programs have prioritized equity in education. A huge part of this is centering the perspectives and lived experiences of families from diverse backgrounds, including neurodiverse families. The Families as Mentors Program is a systematic way to prepare family-centered educators, by exposing them to the daily lives of families. This gives students the chance to learn about family strengths and priorities, as well as the reality of the everyday lives of families. In particular, we think this experience is critical to help educators acknowledge and truly understand the balance required when parenting a neurodiverse child.”

The FMP, which has been a program requirement for early childhood special education (ECSE) graduate students for over 20 years and is now a requirement for all students in the special education teacher preparation programs, is a project that positions families as partners in teacher preparation programs, and considers them just as essential as the professors, field supervisors, and mentor teachers that students work with during their studies.

Over 9-month period, students are expected to join families in at least 5 different activities or experiences, such as doctor visits, therapy appointments, playground outings, or school meetings. An important aspect of the project is that it is family-driven, with families determining what they feel is most important for the student to learn and experience as part of their daily life. As a result, the experience for each student is highly individualized, based on the strengths, challenges, values, and beliefs of the family they partner with.

Gauvreau, as the director of the project, makes it a priority to partner with families who represent the diversity of our region. She works with local organizations such as the ARC of King County, parent support groups, and parent-teacher-student associations from school districts across King County to recruit families, and has received an incredible response. “Families are eager to participate in this project because they know the value of working with a teacher who has strong family-centered beliefs. Many of our mentor families tell us how they wish their child’s current teacher would have had the opportunity to do a project like this before they became a teacher We have been so fortunate to partner with a range of families, who have graciously opened their homes and communities to our students.”

As a result of her outreach and the strong reputation of the UW Families as Mentors Program, families from all over the area who represent diversity in family makeup, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background, and child’s disability participate in the program. Many families volunteer as mentors year after year, with several families on their 7^th consecutive year in the project.

Graduate students also recognize the value of this experience. Haley Fidler, a recent graduate of the Early Childhood Special Education master’s program, said “The Families as Mentors project was my favorite part of the entire two-year program. I got into this field because of how much I enjoy working with families, but it’s been several years since I had the opportunity to get to know a family outside the walls of a school on this level. This project was so meaningful and important, and I know I’ll use the perspective I gained from my partner family when I have my own classroom.”

At the culmination of the project, students submit a paper with a log that describes the different family activities they joined, as well as a summary of the important lessons they learned through their experiences with families. Gauvreau says that students consistently comment on the level of advocacy that neurodiverse families engage in. “We know that our families are constantly advocating for their kids, from advocating for an appropriate school placement or classroom support, to advocating for their child to be able to join a community class or lesson that their sibling can go to but they can’t. Our students have told us that they didn’t realize just how much families must advocate for their children on a regular basis. Entering the teaching workforce understanding this important aspect of parenting a neurodiverse child is crucial for special educators.”

Another common insight from the project is the student’s realization of the amount of balance required for families of neurodiverse children. Fidler notes that this was a main takeaway from her FMP experience, as well. “I knew that, as a student, I had a busy schedule. But, I quickly realized that my mentor family had multiple priorities and schedules to balance, and that really helped me understand where families are coming from. I immediately started to think about how I might adapt my future teaching to accommodate the needs of families, and make our classroom experiences meaningful to them and not just another box that they had to check off”.

Gauvreau says this is an important goal of the FMP experience. “We want to help future educators learn that it is their job to be part of the solution when providing support to families, not add to the endless list of responsibilities and tasks that parents are juggling.”

Providing family-centered care, when educators intentionally develop meaningful, reciprocal partnerships with caregivers with the goal of strengthening family functioning, is a critical practice in high-quality early learning programs. Yet, preparing future educators to effectively collaborate with families, especially those who have backgrounds that are different from their own, remains a challenge for many university teacher education programs. The UW College of Education special education program has developed a unique project for its students that is aimed at providing future educators with the opportunity to develop these important skills before they begin their teaching careers.

The Families as Mentors Program (FMP) is a required part of the coursework for all students who are earning a special education graduate degree from the College of Education. The goal of the FMP is to provide students with an authentic opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge about the daily lives of families who have a child who is neurodiverse – to learn about family rituals and activities, family strengths and challenges, and to understand the unique experiences of families who have children with diverse needs and abilities. The UW is the only teacher preparation program in the country with an experiential family-centered project like this as a graduation requirement.

The FMP not only addresses core competencies for future educators, but supports an important mission of the College of Education, says Dr. Ariane Gauvreau, special education field director and instructor. “For a long time, the College of Education and the special education degree programs have prioritized equity in education. A huge part of this is centering the perspectives and lived experiences of families from diverse backgrounds, including neurodiverse families. The Families as Mentors Program is a systematic way to prepare family-centered educators, by exposing them to the daily lives of families. This gives students the chance to learn about family strengths and priorities, as well as the reality of the everyday lives of families. In particular, we think this experience is critical to help educators acknowledge and truly understand the balance required when parenting a neurodiverse child.”

The FMP, which has been a program requirement for early childhood special education (ECSE) graduate students for over 20 years and is now a requirement for all special education degree programs, is a project that positions families as partners in teacher preparation programs, and considers them just as essential as the professors, field supervisors, and mentor teachers that students work with during their studies.

Over a nine-month period, students are expected to join families in at least 5 different activities or experiences, such as doctor visits, therapy appointments, playground outings, or school meetings. An important aspect of the project is that it is family-driven, with families determining what they feel is most important for the student to learn and experience as part of their daily life. As a result, the experience for each student is highly individualized, based on the strengths, challenges, values, and beliefs of the family they partner with.

Gauvreau, as the director of the project, makes it a priority to partner with families who represent the diversity of our region. She works with local organizations such as the ARC of King County, parent support groups, and parent-teacher-student associations from school districts across King County to recruit families, and has received an incredible response. “Families are eager to participate in this project because they know the value of working with a teacher who has strong family-centered beliefs. Many of our partner families tell us how they wish their child’s current teacher would have had the opportunity to do a project like this before they became a teacher.”

As a result of her outreach and the strong reputation of the UW Families as Mentors Program, families from all over the area who represent diversity in family makeup, ethnicity, cultural and linguistic background, and child’s disability participate in the program. Many families volunteer as mentors year after year, with several families on their 7^th consecutive year in the project.

Graduate students also recognize the value of this experience. Haley Fidler, a recent graduate of the ECSE master’s program, said “The Families as Mentors project was my favorite part of the entire two-year program. I got into this field because of how much I enjoy working with families, but it’s been several years since I had the opportunity to get to know a family outside the walls of a school on this level. This project was so meaningful and important, and I know I’ll use the perspective I gained from my partner family when I have my own classroom.”

At the culmination of the project, students submit a paper with a log that describes the different family activities they joined, as well as a summary of the important lessons they learned through their experiences with families. Gauvreau says that students consistently comment on the level of advocacy that neurodiverse families engage in. “We know that our families are constantly advocating for their kids, from advocating for an appropriate school placement or classroom support, to advocating for their child to be able to join a community class or lesson that their sibling can go to but they can’t. Our students have told us that they didn’t realize just how much families advocate for their children on a regular basis.”

Another common insight from the project is the student’s realization of the amount of balance required for families of neurodiverse children. Fidler notes that this was a main takeaway from her FMP experience, as well. “I knew that, as a student, I had a busy schedule. But, I quickly realized that my partner family had multiple priorities and schedules to balance, and that really helped me understand where families are coming from. I immediately started to think about how I might adapt my future teaching to accommodate the needs of families, and make our classroom experiences meaningful to them and not just another box that they had to check off.”

Gauvreau says this is an important goal of the FMP experience. “We want to help future educators learn that it is their job to be part of the solution when providing support to families, not add to their burden.”

For more information on the Families as Mentors Program, contact Dr. Ariane Gauvreau.

Applied Behavior Analysis graduate students learn critical skills through unique projects

On June 11, 2019, the UW College of Education awarded degrees to 40 students from the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) master’s program, including students from both the on campus and online degree programs. Students who earn their master’s degree in ABA are prepared to take the national exam to become a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA), then work to create and oversee educational programs for individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities in a variety of home, clinical, and school settings.

The UW’s ABA program is nationally-recognized for the quality of its coursework and student experience. Program faculty strive to prepare students who are ethical, inclusive, and able to work well with others, and who use their skills to improve the lives of people with developmental disabilities and their families. The UW ABA degree program posts a high pass rate for the national certification exam: 81% of 2018 graduates passed the test on their first attempt, compared to a national average pass rate of 65%.

In addition to coursework and student teaching experiences, an important component of the ABA program is the student Capstone project. The purpose of this project is to provide students with a hands-on opportunity to integrate many principles of ABA in a real-world context. Students identify a child who demonstrates a behavior that negatively impacts their learning, participation, or quality of life, then design a project where they plan, implement, and study the effectiveness of an intervention designed to change the behavior of the child in a positive way. These are critical skills that ABA program faculty hope program graduates will readily use in daily practice in their future careers.

“The capstone experience provides our ABA students with a unique opportunity to develop, implement, and monitor an evidence-based intervention for a child that will result in meaningful behavior change,” said Dr. Shane Miramontez, ABA program lead practicum supervisor.

ABA students complete their Capstone projects across the school year with support from their faculty advisor. All students present the results of their project to their colleagues and other professionals at an annual Student Capstone Project Conference. During the 2019 Conference in June, students presented the results of studies that utilized a wide range of instructional strategies such as video modeling, functional communication training, self-monitoring, and social stories to reduce challenging behaviors such as peer aggression, food aversion, and lack of play skills.

Collaborating with colleagues and families to choose teaching strategies that are not only effective, but will also have a positive impact on the child’s daily life is an important competency for all behavior analysts says Miramontez. “Our graduate students learn to select contextually and culturally relevant interventions that meet the needs of the individuals they work with – and their families – and use ongoing data-based decision making to determine the best instructional practices for individual learners. I think this process teaches our students a valuable lesson about the fluidity of working in schools and homes as well as the need for flexibility and, often times, creativity.”

Graduate students who complete the Capstone project clearly see the value of the experience in preparing them for their future careers. Student Anna Parks, who presented her study Decreasing Levels of Peer-Related Aggression in a Preschooler with Autism in June 2019, said “Before this project, I’d never had the opportunity to develop an intervention and train someone else to use the strategies, so I was worried.”

Parks selected a child for her study who often used physical aggression with his peers, a behavior that made it difficult for him to make friends, even though he was interested in other children. The intervention Parks designed used an intervention of social stories and a token system of reinforcement to teach the child to use new social behaviors such as greetings, giving compliments, expressing their emotions, and asking for help when needed. Parks says the impact of the intervention was profound, and that seeing the child make the connection and begin using the new skills almost immediately after the intervention was introduced was exciting for both her and the student. The child even began to recognize when they were using a target skill without being told by a teacher, and would seek out feedback from teachers saying “Safe hands!”

The entire Capstone process was empowering, says Parks. “The support I received from my supervisor was so valuable, and allowed me to not only complete the project successfully, but also to design an intervention and use data to refine it so that the child learned new, important skills!.”

For more information about the UW Applied Behavior Analysis program or the student Capstone projects, contact Dr. Shane Miramontez.