Name: Nicolas Cruz
Position: Special Services and Events Manager at SOAR Academy
 
What led you to your current position?
Well, I began at SOAR as a Student Support Counselor during the school’s opening year as a one to one support for a student. The student population was only 100 at the beginning so it was easy to get to know all the staff and students and I began helping to plan some student engagement events for the school to really insert Joy into the community. As the population grew, there were many student and staff needs around the school so I began supporting  helping new Seneca and SOAR staff understand and commit to Unconditional Education.
 
Fun Fact/Quote?
I just got into grad school at Seattle University!
 
What does your average day look like?
My average day is different every single day. It’s Spring now, so I spend most of my time getting ready for our big events such as our Dance Showcase, field trips, field day, and Multicultural Day. The thing that is consistent each day is working with our teachers and support staff when they need additional support and guidance when working with our students that have different needs.
 
Why do you do this work?
It’s a lot of fun! I love the team and the students here. I think all students deserve memorable experiences about school and I like getting to think of ways to have that joy in our school! It sounds corny, but my favorite memories working here for the past almost four years are the days where I see laughter and friendship between students. 

Based in New Orleans, the Special Education Leadership Fellowship (SELF) has the mission of “improv[ing] the quality of special education programming by developing highly skilled special education leaders in schools.”  They carry out this mission through an innovative two-year fellowship program where participants develop their core leadership and technical skills to implement best practices in the field of special education.  SELF Executive Director Aqua Stovall learned about UE and knew she wanted her fellows to get a grounding in the foundations of our approach . Since 2018, All-In! Leaders Amber Fretwell, Toshia Mears, and Darrell Burns have been traveling to New Orleans to deliver the UE TCB modules “Trauma Informed Education” and “Understanding & Responding to Challenging Behaviors” to every new cohort of SELF fellows.  Since we know that transformation of practices requires understanding and buy-in from all levels of school leadership, we’re grateful to have the opportunity to train and inspire future New Orleans SPED leaders in UE principles and practices, and we look forward to continuing and deepening this partnership in the future. ​

In the summer of 2017, the Founder/CEO of Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Southwest Family Guidance Center & Institute’s CEO Craig Pierce found the book  Unconditional Care by Seneca’s Clinical Director John Sprinson and CEO Ken Berrick. In a state that struggles greatly with child poverty and domestic violence, Southwest had developed a number of programs to support youth and families, including providing trainings to school staff on Trauma Informed practices. A next step in their mission was to deepen their collaboration and consultation with schools, so several of their organizational leaders came to Oakland in September 2017 and again in February 2019 for UE Train the Trainer series led by Sara Moses.  During their recent visit, they had a chance to meet with veteran UE Coaches Anna Sciano, Jenna Evans, and Keri Stewart for a panel discussion at Verde Elementary in Richmond. They were also able to tour our partnership at Horace Mann Elementary in Oakland. Between their visits to the Bay Area, Sara and I connect with Southwest’s leaders for monthly consultations where we focus on implementing new practices, aligning with school leaders, and effectively coordinating services for students and families.   

These UE TCB partnerships are exciting opportunities for us to share our UE practices and principles and to learn from other strong organizations whose missions connect with our own.  Looking forward to continuing our partnerships with SELF and Southwest and to fostering more nation-wide partnerships in the future. ​

Last month, our very own Brenda Gonzalez (Manager of Educational Operations) and Yoko Giron (Manager of Educational Services and Lead Speech-Language Pathologist Assistant) attended the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association (CSHA) annual convention in Pasadena, CA. They got a chance to talk to many Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) and Speech-Language Pathologist Assistants (SLPAs) and provide information on our programs so they can join our team! Thank you Brenda and Yoko for attending and spreading the word about our program!

Name: Mollie Roark
Position: Occupational Therapist with the Seneca All-In Partnership.

What led you to your current position? After graduating as an OT, I was looking for a pediatric or mental health OT position. I was excited to come across the OT opportunity at Seneca, that incorporates both!  I was drawn to Seneca's unconditional care (and unconditional education) philosophy and wanted to work collaboratively with others who believed in and worked towards that.
 
Fun Fact/Quote? OTs work in many settings (hospitals, schools, clinics, in the community, shelters, home health, nursing homes) and with any population (newborn through older adult/end of life, physical medicine, mental health, and a combination)! OTs strive to support a person, and their community to do what they need and want to do (occupations) through the  therapeutic use of every day activities.
 
What does your average day look like? Each day of the week I travel to a different school(s) and provide direct treatment, consultation services, conduct observations and evaluations, attend IEP meetings, and do documentation. Students on my caseload have challenges in the areas of fine motor, gross motor, bilateral coordination, visual motor and perception, and/or sensory processing skills, to the extent that it impacts their success and participation at school. We play games and do activities that target these areas in a fun way (that's the hope!), that relates to the students interests. An area that requires a lot of these skills is handwriting, so I work to target the underling components that are impacting legibility, strengthen them in sessions and provide adaptive resources to teachers. My day also includes tons of animal walks, infinity breathing, hand and body compressions, and obstacle courses to help get my kiddos regulating input to support their attention and well-being. Also as a new practitioner, I spend time researching questions I have, different treatment ideas, and doing case consultations with more experienced OTs (shout out Marika Minczeski).
 
Why do you do this work? I believe everyone should have the right to accessing what they need and want to do in life, and I believe in advocating for that right and finding creative solutions to making it happen. 

Inclusion of students with disabilities into the school of their choice is a civil right and should be thought of in that way. Students with disabilities may do things differently that may be apparent in the way they talk, dance, learn, smile, etc…. however they aren’t deficiencies. In fact, as human beings the one thing we have in common is that we are all different. Unfortunately, it is our society that has developed a hierarchical structure defining our differences with some differences being labeled positively and others as deficient. This is an antiquated paradigm plagued by prejudice. This prejudice has stratified our society and socialized us into only knowing how to connect with individuals with commonalities and excluding individuals that are different.

What makes this even more challenging is that most people don’t recognize this prejudice and often disguise it by compassion or pity. For example, people may be better able to recognize their racial or cultural bias but are less likely to recognize their prejudice against people with disabilities. The simple fact that as a society we continue to engage in a practice of segregating students and individuals with disabilities into “special” placements, facilities, and homes suggests adherence to this prejudice. This way of thinking needs to change and be added to other civil rights initiatives fighting for equal rights and justice.

One of the most basic and easy change to make is simply the presumption of competence. In other words, the belief that individuals are capable unless there is absolute evidence to thwart that belief. Instead, a mindset shift and belief that assumptions about individuals and their abilities should be rooted as, Anne Donnellan mentioned in her book, Movement Differences and Diversity in Autism-Mental Retardation: Appreciations and Accommodations People with Communications and Behavior Challenges (1994) in a concept referred to as “Least Dangerous Assumption.” Anne Donnellan writes, “Least Dangerous assumption states that in the absences of absolute evidence it is essential to make the assumption that, if proven false, would be least dangerous to the individual.” It is always safest and most respectful to make the “least dangerous assumption.”

Consider how this relates to student school placement for a student with a disability. Imagine there is a child with limited verbal language and difficulty moving due to the impacts of cerebral palsy. Teachers have worked with her for months and have not seen any evidence of what she understands. In fact, the teachers are beginning to wonder if the child has any understanding at all. These teachers can make two assumptions: “what you see is what you get” or “I bet this student knows a lot and doesn’t have an appropriate way of expressing ideas”. The first assumption is limiting and focused only on the students deficits, whereas the second assumptions presumes competence and a belief in the possibilities. The second assumption leaves room for high expectations, creative problem-solving and hopefully to the idea that with a use of a communication device this students voice and ability to self-express will blossom. 

But consider what happens when as educators and school communities we rely on the old antiquated paradigm focused on deficiencies. Consider the outcome for students and individuals with disabilities. What if the teachers gave up and chose to believe the first assumption? What harm is caused by this assumption? What is lost for the student and individuals with disabilities?

We all have strengths and weaknesses and more importantly differences. We all have a desire for acceptance and inclusion. It is up to all of us to examine our own core beliefs and spread the word around inclusion of individuals with disabilities, as well as, the “Least Dangerous Assumption.” We can no longer allow the paradigm of prejudice and exclusion to exist for individuals with disabilities as this is what is truly dangerous. ​

The project began with an awareness of her limitations as a single provider at the school.  Using our Social Emotional Screener tool,  Marianne gathered emotional and behavioral data on every student at Achieve and was able to see trends and needs across grades, classrooms, and individual students.  But how could Marianne find the time in her week to provide the myriad of group services the students there would most benefit from? Her answer: she couldn’t do it on her own.  Marianne realized she needed more adults to provide groups and that she could share her expertise with them as a coach and mentor.  She put together a presentation on the basics of running a group, and solicited interest from her school administration and staff community.
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She then met with a group of interested EFC staff which included PE teachers, assistant principals, and other staff on site to provide them with a training on the basics of running a social skills group.  Sitting down with each adult individually, Marianne was able to learn more about what types of issues, students and age groups they were most excited to work with. She was intentional around supporting them to feel more connected to the work by getting to know what their values were and what they were most interested in.

Next, Marianne revisited the data from her Social Emotional Screeners.  She made sure to assign facilitators to grade levels and group topics that would resonate for them.  Tailoring activities to the topics of the groups was another way that Marianne supported the adults with their new initiative. And they were off!!  

Midway through the first group cycle, Marianne brought her team of adults together to provide problem-solving, consultation and connection.  She also started getting input from the team on what they’d like to do for their next cycle in order to keep the momentum going on their new tier 2 initiative.