Speech & Language and Special Ed Networks - What You Do Matters!

Build Your Role in Providing Equitable Education in Special Ed

Presenter: Stephanie Woloshin, Mary S. Gerbig, and Jamie Syvrud

Description: This networking series will focus on providing equitable speech and language and special education services to all students in special education! We will focus on new criteria changes that impact not only speech and language identification, but also identification for specific learning disabilities and educational autism as well. In addition, this series will include legal and ethics updates with attorney-at-law, Mary Gerbig, as well as focus on disproportionality in identification and service provision in districts in Wisconsin. Participants will discuss culturally responsive and equitable evaluation and service provision for students who are labeled English Language Learners (ELL), Emotionally & Behaviorally Disabled (EBD), and Educationally Autistic (EA). Special consideration will be given to dynamic and culturally responsive assessment, measuring regression of skill level, and provision of additional vs. compensatory and/or related services.

Sessions will include provision of knowledge base followed by networking opportunities to refine practice. Based on feedback from our past participants, these sessions will be held for six half-days in a virtual format!

By attending this networking, you'll gain all this and more:

• Obtain legal updates for the state of Wisconsin/US in special education and related areas with a particular focus on disproportionality, supplemental services/compensatory time, culturally responsive and equitable practices in specialized populations
• Understand best practices for evaluations and interventions with new SL criteria and its impact on identification of other areas of disability qualification
• Understand best practices for evaluations and interventions with culturally responsive and equitable practice and its impact on disproportionality and overidentification in special education
• Understand best practices for use of dynamic assessment for evaluation and monitoring progress
• Understand how to collect data and evaluate student performance to determine need for additional services, related services, and for goal writing/progress monitoring
• Explore/share tools to increase culturally responsive and equitable provision of services
• Understand special factors to consider when evaluating and/or providing intervention for ELL/EBD/EA
• Recognizing the impact that anxiety has on accurate assessment of skill levels

About the Presenters:

Stephanie Cobbs Woloshin, M.S., CCC-SLP/Certified Autism Specialist. Stephanie is a practicing speech-language pathologist and certified autism specialist with 26 years of experience and national, state and DPI certifications. She is the coordinator at CESA 2 for the Itinerant Services Team and the CESA 2 Speech and Language Network. Stephanie works closely with speech-language pathologists in the CESA 2 region to keep them updated on current issues in the field and helps local districts coordinate service provision to students with disabilities in the following areas: Educational Audiology, Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, Visually Impaired, Orientation and Mobility, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech-Language Disability.

Mary S. Gerbig serves as counsel to numerous school districts throughout Wisconsin on general school law, special education, and labor and employment matters. The primary client base she serves includes school districts, Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESA) and other municipal employers. She has extensive experience with Wisconsin school districts and the correlating regulatory agencies. She has represented school districts in numerous student special education and discrimination hearings and mediations under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

Jamie Syvrud is the director of the JEDI Virtual School. Jamie has over 20 years of school district experience. Most recently, she served as Director of Learning & Student Services at Lake Mills Area School District. There, she ensured staff were using best practices in curriculum development and delivery. She also led the JEDI offerings at Lake Mills, which will give her a unique perspective as the new JEDI Director. Before Lake Mills, Jamie worked at Racine Unified School District, Gifford Elementary School, Yorkville Joint #2 School District, Milwaukee Public Schools, and E.L. Philipp Elementary School. Jamie earned her Bachelor of Music Education from Syracuse University and her Master of Science in Educational Leadership from Cardinal Stritch University.

Cancellation Policy: Registered participants will receive a refund if they cancel prior to 3 working days before an event, minus any material costs that have already been incurred. Cancellations must either be made on MyQuickReg or by emailing cancel@cesa2.org. Because of our commitment to the presenter and the food vendor, participants who cancel less than 3 working days prior to the event or who do not attend the event, will be billed the full fee. CESA 2 reserves the right to cancel any event. Registered participants will be notified via phone and email if a cancellation occurs and will receive a full refund. 

Inclement Weather Policy: Every effort will be made to hold an event. CESA 2 will notify participants via email as soon as possible if an event has been cancelled due to weather conditions.

Disclaimer: CESA 2 will do its best to accommodate general dietary requests; if your dietary need is very specific or severe, you may want to bring your own lunch to ensure your comfort and health. CESA 2 does not assume liability for adverse reactions to food consumed or items one may come into contact with while eating at a CESA 2 event. If you have a dietary need or food allergy, please go into your MyQuickReg profile and update the special accommodations section. Notice of a special dietary need must be made 2 weeks in advance of the event.

By registering for an event with CESA 2, participants agree to grant to CESA 2 and its authorized representatives permission to record digital photos and/or video, of their participation. Participants further agree that any or all of the material photographed may be used, in any form, as part of any future publications, brochure, or other printed materials used to promote CESA 2, and further that such use shall be without payment of fees, royalties, special credit or other compensation. If you do not wish to have your photo or image used, please contact us at info@cesa2.org.

In-Person Events: Restrictions on our in-person events due to COVID-19 have been lifted. We will be responsive to what's happening within our communities, and guidelines from the CDC and local health agencies for future offerings and will update guidelines when necessary.