Blog Archives

ACADEMIC STRAND UPDATE: As We "Lift Off!" Toward Summer Break...

6/17/2016

We have reached the end of another school year. It is a busy, taxing, yet joyful time. It is a time of transition. As we sweat and cry and prepare our goodbyes, remember that we are privileged to be in a position to change not only the world, but the universe. And with that privilege comes tremendous responsibility. So here’s to a summer of relaxation and reflection! -- a time to recharge for the upcoming school year.

There are so many incredible and inspirational quotes from Donovan Livingston’s commencement speech to his fellow graduates of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It is a beautiful piece that I have watched and listened to at least 20 times over the past few days. Each time, a new line takes my breath away. But in this moment, thinking of you all and the work that you do on a daily basis, this stanza stands out:

To educate requires Galileo-like patience.
Today, when I look my students in the eyes,
all I see are constellations.
If you take the time to connect the dots,
You can plot the true shape of their genius --
Shining in their darkest hour.

Thank you all for the work you have done this year to “connect the dots.” Have a wonderful, rejuvenating summer!

Blog post written by:
Alli Guilfoil, Director of Academic Intervention

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CLINICAL STRAND UPDATE: Neuroscience, Self-Identity, and Therapeutic Interventions

6/17/2016

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Jennifer Simeone, ASW is currently a UE Coach and Clinical Intervention Specialist with our Rocketship partnership in San Jose. We invited her to contribute this month’s Clinical Strand blog entry after she attended a particularly exciting training with Trauma expert Bessel Van der Kolk.

This year’s 27th Annual Psychological Trauma Conference focused on a subject deeply aligned with our Trauma-Informed Education practices at All-In!: Neuroscience, Self-Identity, and Therapeutic Interventions. The conference explored how trauma, particularly relational trauma occurring during early childhood, impacts brain development and the incipient internal working model. I wanted to share one exciting treatment practice currently being used with youth and one example of how healing can occur via neuroplasticity.

Sensory Integration & Arousal Regulation in Child Complex Trauma Treatment

Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) is an approach to the treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD) developed by the Trauma Center at JRI in partnership with the late Dr. Jane Koomar
SMART synthesizes Attachment Theory and Treatment, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and Sensory Integration Occupational Therapy
SMART utilizes 8 tools of regulation, weaving together arousal regulation and embodied trauma processing with a focus on the development of self-identity
- Tactile input
- Proprioceptive input
- Vestibular input
- Sensory satiation
- Combining inputs
- Varying intensity, duration, frequency
- Rhythmicity
- Safe space
  - For example, vestibular input (see video below) supports with spatial orientation and adjustment to surroundings, which are essential to assessing safety. Some ways to use this tool include allowing a student to rock, spin, jump, balance, and roll. Rhythmicity engages children’s natural organization and regulates the nervous system. Some ways to use this tool include supporting a student in bouncing to a beat on a fitness ball or tossing a ball in a rhythm. Rhythmicity may also be used for attunement and can serve as an attachment intervention.
Be creative and use what you have in your environment – you can use things like swings or office chairs for vestibular input. Students can be swaddled in a blanket for tactile input, and I’ve used a pop-up tent as a safe space for students at Rocketship Mosaic Elementary
You can find out more about SMART by checking out “A Manual for Therapists Working with Children and Adolescents: A "Bottom Up" Approach to Treatment of Complex Trauma”, located in the All-in! training library

The Stages of Neuroplastic Healing: How Sensory Input Can Stimulate, Modulate and Prepare the Brain for Healing and New Learning

Dr. Norman Doidge, author of “The Brain That Changes Itself” and “The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity” presented on how injury and/or dysfunction in the nervous system can impact physical and mental functioning and ways in which neuroplasticity can be leveraged to make powerful change
Dr. Doidge indicates that unhealthy brain cells (neurons) misfire and emit “noise” that render healthy neurons ineffective. For example, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience heightened sound sensitivity, which may be a result of difficulties with something called “auditory zoom.” Auditory zoom enables us to focus in on human voices while filtering out other low frequency sounds. These background sounds can be experienced as threatening, resulting in continual activation of the fight or flight response and impacting social functioning. Listening Therapy, based on the work of Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis, utilizes changing frequencies in voice and music to “re-wire” the ear-to-brain connection. During his presentation, Dr. Doidge showed a video featuring the Listening Centre in Toronto and a young man named Jordan Rosen who received treatment there. After treatment, Jordan no longer met criteria for ASD.

You can read more here.

Blog post written by:
Jenn Simeone, UE Coach and Clinical Intervention Specialist

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APPLESAUCE OR APPLAUSE: AUDITORY PROCESSING DIFFICULTIES

6/17/2016

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In my work as a school psychologist, one of the most commonly referred areas of concern is reading difficulty and associated auditory processing deficits. Students with auditory processing difficulties are often struggling to recognize the subtle differences between sounds in words. It affects their ability to process what other people are saying.

Imagine for a minute that you are a student with an auditory processing difficulty and almost all of your direct whole group instruction is presented orally and verbally. In other words, the teacher is standing and delivering new instructional content, but as a student with an auditory processing challenge, your brain is struggling to process those subtle sounds in words and language and therefore a majority of the instruction is missed or misunderstood. I often compare the phenomena to the cartoon, Charlie Brown, and the scenes in the classroom where the teacher’s voice simply sounds like gibberish (waaaa whaaaa….waaaa whaaaa).

When working with a child that you know or suspect of having an auditory processing difficulty, keep in mind that they most likely have adequate and normal hearing. Instead, research suggests that something neurologically is impacting how the brain processes the sound. Typically the brains processes sounds immediately and most people can simultaneously interpret what they hear almost instantly. This is not the case with a student with auditory processing challenges. Their problem lies with challenges with actually understanding the sounds of language not the meaning.

When a child is referred for a psycho-educational assessment with a referral question related to auditory processing there are several assessment strategies that I used to determine or rule out difficulties in this area. The process includes a through record review to establish student history and baseline, interviews with pertinent stakeholders, observations, and formal assessment. Formal assessment often includes an assessment of these areas:

Auditory discrimination or Phonological Processing: refers to an individual’s awareness of and access to the sound structure of his oral language. Additionally, the ability to notice, compare and distinguish between distinct and separate sounds.
Auditory memory: the ability to recall what you’ve heard, either immediately (short-term memory and recall) or when you need it later (long-term memory and retrieval).
Rapid Naming: the ability to efficiently retrieve phonological information from long-term or permanent memory, and execute a sequence of operations quickly and repeatedly to efficiently retrieve phonological information from long-term or permanent memory, and execute a sequence of operations quickly and repeatedly.
Auditory Cohesion: assesses auditory comprehension and reasoning skills. This a is a high-order linguistic skill that requires the student to appreciate and hone in on thematic elements of oral language, including but not limited to making inferences, deductions and abstractions.

Once it’s determined that a student meets the eligibility criteria for a Specific Learning Disability in the area of auditory processing, these are often some of the recommendations I provide in order to best support the students’ progress:

Accommodations: such as changes in timing, formatting, setting or presentation of assignment, preferential seating away from distractions, closing doors and windows to minimize outside noise, checking for understanding or asking student to be an “echo” to repeat important information presented, quiet room for test taking or independent work;
Modifications: altering assignments to minimize the area of weakness;

Reading Instruction: your child could have one-on-one or group instruction in reading skills, targeting any areas of weakness;

Classroom visuals: the teacher uses images and gestures to reinforce the child’s understanding and memory.

It’s important to note that each of the recommended strategies will not work for every student. The process of determining which strategies work and which don’t may be a process of trial and error. The key is to try various strategies until a successful match is established.

Blog post written by:
Meka Tull, School Psychologist and Interim Director of School Partnerships

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ALL-IN! SNAPSHOT

6/3/2016

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Year One i3 Evaluation Results Are In!

6/3/2016

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HOT OFF THE PRESS! We have received our formal evaluation outcomes for the first year of our Investing in Innovations (i3) grant! The positive outcomes speak volumes of the high quality education that our school partners are providing our Bay Area youth, and all of YOUR support in ensuring that every student receives a truly Unconditional Education.

The study was conducted by SRI International. The lead evaluator, who has conducted over forty such evaluations during his career, said that these outcomes are some of the most compelling he has ever seen.

The formal evaluation questions for our i3 grant include:

After one, two, and three year(s) of implementation, compared to similar students in schools that did not participate in UE, did students who attended schools that participated in the UE program demonstrate:

While we had a positive impact on academic outcomes (particularly math) overall, some of the greatest areas of impact can be seen when looking at specific subgroups of students:

This is a particularly important subgroup because UE has an important focus on improving the academic achievement, inclusion, behavior, and social-emotional well-being of students with disabilities. In addition, the project was funded under the “Students with Disabilities” i3 priority. While the comparison design study did not find any statistically significant results in year one, students with disabilities did realize statistically significant growth in reading and comprehension skills as outlined in the supplemental evaluation below.

The results for African American students were mixed, resulting in negligible effects when looking at Oakland and SFUSD students combined. In Oakland, African American students experienced small to moderate positive effects in mathematics (.27).

The ability of the UE model to effectively serve Latino students is crucial, as nearly 80% of students receiving UE in Oakland schools are Latino. Overall, Latino students experienced positive effects in reading (.19) and mathematics (.23). When looking at Oakland students, specifically, Latino students experienced positive effects in reading (.22) and math (.29). The impact on ELA mathematics achievement of UE was found to be statistically significant for Latino Students within Oakland, and for the overall, combined set of Latino students.

Similarly, the ability of the UE model to effectively serve English Language Learners (ELLs) is crucial, as many schools participating in the project serve high percentages of ELLs (nearly 50% of students in Oakland). Overall, ELLs experienced positive effects in reading (.34) and mathematics (.34). When looking at Oakland students, specifically, ELLs experienced positive effects in ELA (.32) and math (.36). The impact on ELA and math achievement of UE was found to be statistically significant for English Language Learners within Oakland, and for the overall, combined set of ELL students.

SUPPLEMENTAL EVALUATION FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Data for this supplemental evaluation came from the direct assessment of students with disabilities in the five participating Oakland schools. The assessment tool from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS) contains research versions of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP), Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, the Student Self-Concept Scale, and the Attitudes Toward School Scale. The baseline (pre-) assessment was completed before the UE model was implemented, in the spring of 2014, and the post-assessment was implemented during the spring of 2015.

Students with disabilities showed improvement on 9 of the 13 outcomes, with four of these showing statically significant improvement
Within the Literacy measures, students showed statistically significant growth on word segmentation, passage comprehension, and two measures of oral reading fluency.
No outcome measures for school attitudes or self-concept showed statistically significant improvement, although the positive effect sizes associated with social (.17) and overall self-concept (.24) were sizably different from zero.

These outcomes qualify us to apply for a $12 million dollar Investing in Innovations (i3) Validation grant this summer. Keep your fingers crossed!

Blog post written by:
Jenny Ventura, Director of Model Implementation and Assessment

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Welcome

ACADEMIC STRAND UPDATE: As We "Lift Off!" Toward Summer Break...

CLINICAL STRAND UPDATE: Neuroscience, Self-Identity, and Therapeutic Interventions

APPLESAUCE OR APPLAUSE: AUDITORY PROCESSING DIFFICULTIES

ALL-IN! SNAPSHOT

Year One i3 Evaluation Results Are In!

Authors:

We're Hiring!

Categories:

Archives

Welcome

ACADEMIC STRAND UPDATE: As We "Lift Off!" Toward Summer Break...

CLINICAL STRAND UPDATE: Neuroscience, Self-Identity, and Therapeutic Interventions

APPLESAUCE OR APPLAUSE: AUDITORY PROCESSING DIFFICULTIES

ALL-IN! SNAPSHOT

Year One i3 Evaluation Results A﻿re In!

Authors:

We're Hiring!

Categories:

Archives

Year One i3 Evaluation Results Are In!