May 2017 / 1

The Exceptional Times A publication for Exceptional Children’s personnel in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools

In This Issue

Pg. 1 Congratulations to BST / Promise Award Winners

Pg. 2 DHH / VI Field Day

Pg. 3 Transition / OCS

Pg. 4 BST Teacher Of The Month

Pg. 4 Case Manager Of The Month

Pg. 5 Living Out Core Value: Student Centered

Pg. 6 2018 Special Olympics

Pg. 7 Brain Teaser / We/come To EC / Admin Day

Pg. 8 EdPlan Reminders 2018

Congratula-

tions to Shan-

non Dobson,

Claire Bonin

and Camille

Lee-Hicks.

They were se-

lected to re-

ceive Forsyth

County Teach-

er grants from

The Winston-

Salem Founda-

tion. Grants

will be used to

attend a four-

day Restora-

tive Practices

training in

Nashville, TN.

EC Behavior Support Team / PBIS Congratulations to Kaela Lynn (Wiley MS) and Sydney Chrysson (Morgan ES) on receiving a Promise Award. The awards were presented on Monday night at the STAY Celebration at Old Town Baptist Church. STAY stands for Support-ing Teachers All Year. The program was established to help teachers during their first year so that they will have a positive experience and want to stay in the pro-fession. The Promise Award winners were chosen from 23 first-year teachers nominated by their princi-pals.

May 2017 / 2

DHH and VI Field Day 2018 was another huge success. The event took place on Friday, April 13th at Wake Forest Football Field. We had students from all across the state attend- 11 counties. This is an opportunity for Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Visually Impaired students alike to interact, socialize, and participate in games/activities. The activities in-cluded 50-yard relay, obstacle course, corn hole, and the three-legged race. This year they had a surprise visitor- The Demon Deacon, who walked around the field interacting with the students and taking photos with them. The weather was perfect, so the water balloon toss offered some relief. We had student volunteers from Mount Tabor HS Student Council and Reynolds HS ASL 2 class. This annual event is made possible by the support and collaboration with Industries for the Blind (IFB), Wake Forest Athletics Department, and the Deaf Education Department within WSFCS. Already looking forward to next year!

May 2017 / 3

Occupational Course of Study/2017 YMCA Volunteer Award

On Thursday, April 12th at 6pm, the Occupational Course of Study (OCS) Students from East Forsyth and Glenn High Schools were honored at the Annual YMCA Volunteer Awards Banquet held at the Benton Convention Center, Downtown, Winston Salem, NC. This recognition was presented to the students from Erin Craver of the Kernersville Family YMCA. Below are the kind words of appreciation for our students and the Community Based Vocational Training program (CBVT) for 2017. “It is an honor that I get to write you today to inform you that our Y Leadership Staff voted your WSFCS Community Based Vocational Training Program for our 2017 Youth Volunteer of the Year Award! Words cannot express how grateful we are for the work, service and leader-ship that your group exemplifies at our Y each time they come”. We are so proud of our OCS students on this esteemed recognition!

Transition:

The Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools Transition Department is excited to announce a summer internship with Frank L. Blum Construction for students with some level of masonry experience. The summer program will run between 6-8 weeks dur-ing the summer months from mid-June to early August. .

May 2017 / 4

 

Case Manager Spotlight: Carrie Phelps

This month’s Case Manager Spotlight is Carrie Phelps, EC Case Manager at Mineral Springs Middle School. Carrie has been at MSMS since March 2007, serving first as an EC Teacher. Then in 2008 she became Case Manager and has served in that role ever since. Carrie is a native of Winston-Salem; she was born here and grew up in Rural Hall, NC. She attended UNC Charlotte and graduated with a degree in Special Education. Her first teaching job was an EC teacher at South Park High School, now known as Carter High School. In the summer of 2000, she decided to move to Raleigh, NC where taught in a class for students with Autism at Green Hope High School. One of the things she enjoys most about working with special needs children in high school was helping them plan for their future through vocational training. She eventually took a position in the central office in Wake County and worked as a transition teacher helping children find employment through community-based training, as well as paid employment. While living in Raleigh, Carrie was reunited with a great friend from high school who swept her off her feet and became her partner in life in April 2004. Carrie and David have two beautiful children, Jack 12 and Abbey 7. They enjoy spending time with their kids, watching sporting events and listening to live music with friends.

 

BST Teacher Of The Month:

Michelle Chisom is a veteran teacher of nineteen years who still comes to

work each and every day with a smile on her face and a positive attitude.

Ms. Chisom received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1999 from Winston

Salem State University. She began her teaching career at Carter

Vocational High School where she taught students with special needs

until seven years ago when she began teaching in the OCS department at

Carver High School. Ms. Chisom loves what she does and it shows in her

relationships with both her students and her fellow staff members at

Carver HS. Ms. Chisom felt that the secret to her success could be

attributed to the fact that she likes to have fun and doesn’t take her

students too seriously. She also acknowledged that every day is different and prefers to start each

day as fresh new beginning. Ms. Chisom collaborates well with her coworkers and is good at

establishing relationships with students, parents, teachers, and everyone with whom she comes

into contact.

Thank you, Michelle Chisom, for all you do to make sure our students are successful!

May 2017 / 5

Making Sure Everyone Can Participate

Living our Core Value: Student Centered

By: Kristi Stanley, PTA

Every school year the Physical Therapy department receives requests from teachers who need help adapting their classrooms and

playgrounds to meet the needs of all their students.

This school year we had a teacher ask how we could help a student stand at the sink to wash his hands like his peers. She ex-

plained that she only needs to provide support from behind for this student to wash his hands independently. Kathy Fuerst, Physical

Therapist made the suggestion to build a step with a high back so that any student could step up to the sink and the one student

needing support would have it as well. She described her idea to Todd Corley, Rehab Tech, who built the high back stool, making

Kathy’s vision a reality. This step allows every student in the classroom access to the sink but especially the student who needs

additional support from behind to be independent. Success for all!!!

We are often asked, “How do we include students in wheelchairs in recess activities with their peers to allow side by side and par-

allel play.” EC Teacher Wendy Eppley, at Bolton Elementary, had a great idea for her pre-k class. She drilled holes in old pot lids of

different sizes and attached them to the fence as a music center. The students use wooden or plastic mixing spoons to “drum” on

the lids. Every one of her students can participate in this activity. Great ideas are born with just a walk around the Dollar Store and

an active imagination. Pans and burner covers with holes drilled through become drums. Spoons are drum sticks. Plastic cookie

cutters in multiple colors and shapes, whiffle balls, and jingle bell balls can be mounted on clothes line or coated wire and attached

to a section of fence to slide along. Plastic baskets that drain easily can be attached to the fence to hold fidget toys. Mardi Gras

beads can be looped through the fence for a manipulative and garden pin wheels in bright shiny colors for visual stimulation. Stu-

dents with good sitting balance can use a pool foam kick board or garden knee pad (both found at the dollar store) to sit on when

outside instead of a damp ground. In the toy aisle you can find larger sized plastic cars, plastic toy kitchen utensils for digging in the

mulch, balls with wrist straps and shovels and buckets for sitting activities. Bubble and sidewalk chalk are always a hit with students.

Please don’t hesitate to share your ideas with the Physical Therapy Depart-ment. We enjoy working

with our great teachers and staff who have wonderful ideas. Let’s not keep our

ideas to ourselves but share them with each other. We

love to problem solve to help our students access

their schools. So even if your idea seems a little crazy we will try to figure out how to

make the idea happen to benefit the students.

May 2017 / 6

2018

Special

Olympics

May 2017 / 7

EFMS Autism Awareness

Please Join Us in Welcoming Preston Boyles, DPT to the Physical Therapy Team Preston Boyles joined the team in April, jumping in with

both feet. Preston received her Doctorate of Physical Ther-apy from Winston Salem State University in 2016. Preston also has a BS degree in Sport Management from NC State, 2009. She has prior pediatric experience working for Car-ing Hands, Winston Salem and Kid Sense Therapy, Rolesville, NC. Preston is originally from Winston Salem and is glad to be back in her hometown. When not at work, Preston enjoys working out at the gym, volunteering and reading. We are so happy she has joined our team.

Thank you to all you responded to last months ques-

tion,. The correct answer is Peeps and 3 million.

1) The new 2 part Brain Teaser question is: Cinco de Mayo is really more of a Mexican-American holiday than a Mexican one. The first celebrations of Cinco de Mayo took place in _________ , in 1863 as a way to honor the brave Mexicans who fought so val-iantly against the French in the battle that day. A) Arizona B) Los Angeles C) Texas D) New York 2) Mexico is best well known for its: A) Tacos B) Tequilas C) Sombrero D) Chips & Salsa

*Antonio Sabio, EC TA* *Diane Brawner, SLP*

Thank you Hospitality Team for the Administrative Assistant luncheon.

Welcome to EC!

Brain Teaser Contest

May 2017 / 8

EdPlan Reminders & ECATS Update

All meetings must be held and finalized in EdPlan by June 8, 2018

Refer to the 4/25/18 EC Notice ‘WS/FCS Revised End of Year Instructions’ and the ‘WS/FCS End of Year/Transition Guiding Resource’

distributed in December.

Priority and outstanding meetings:

Annual Reviews due prior to October 12, 2018

Reevaluations due before October 12, 2018

Reevaluation Prep meetings for Reevaluations due before November 9, 2018

Meetings for Determination of ESY (refer to 2/27/18 EC Notice; ESY packets due in EC office by Wed, May 16)

Outstanding COS cases

Initial referrals

Summary of Performance meetings

Transition meetings (5th to 6th, and 8th to 9th)

EC Teachers and Therapists are responsible for comple ng and finalizing IEP Progress Reports in EdPlan by Friday, June 8:

4th quarter IEP progress reports should be completed a er May 25th and by June 8th 

Finalize progress reports a er all service providers have entered their informa on 

Print two copies:  send one to the parent/guardian and file one in the EC record 

EC staff are also responsible for comple ng the following by Friday, June 8:

Enter therapy notes and/or service documenta on in the Logging Wizard 

EC Teachers using Progress Track:  finalize a Progress Monitoring Summary Document for each student 

Upload suppor ng documenta on for eligibility mee ngs 

EasyFAX all DEC 5 signatures and mee ng minutes 

EasyFAX all Medicaid Billing Consent forms and send the original form to Carol Stuart at the EC Division 

No fy the EC Data/So ware team for assistance with dele ng duplicate documents and cleaning up compliance symbols/alerts 

If dra ing informa on in prepara on for a mee ng to be held during the blackout period or a er ECATS goes live, print dra s for your working folder.  This informa on will not migrate to ECATS and will need to be re‐entered when ECATS goes live. 

Keep an eye on your WS/FCS email for EC No ces containing more informa on regarding:

Using paper forms during the “blackout period”

ECATS/New EC forms trainings