WOSEP - Articles

Education Needs a Revolution

March 9, 2010
By: Lisa Johnson, MS

Times Have Changed So Why Haven’t We? March 6, 2010

Happy New Year

January 7, 2010
By: The Kelter Center

Happy New Year

Since 2009 has drawn to a close, we would like to say "Thank You" to all who have helped The Kelter Center through another successful year. Additionally, we would like to take this opportunity to update you on what is happening at The Kelter Center and share with you some of the changes that have transpired.

Sasha is in semi-retirement, enjoying real winters and a peaceful lifestyle in Ashland, Oregon.  She, Russ, and their new puppy, Sam, are hiking to the snow on occasion and finding friends and entertainment in the rich cultural environment.  On alternate weeks, Sasha returns to us here in Los Angeles to let Russ and Sam fend for themselves.  Where ever she is, Kelter Center continues to be the primary focus of her days.

 

Rebecca is the new Director of Educational Services.  She brings with her 14 years of administrative experience, years of educating students of all ages, and several years as a Kelter Center Educational Therapist.  Any of your questions or concerns can be brought to Rebecca in Sasha's absence, or even if she is here.

 Vanessa, the Office Manager, and Monica, the Administrative Assistant, complete the administrative team, doing a marvelous job with scheduling, communicating with our clients and professional ties and keeping us at The Kelter Center, all on the same page.

 

You may have already heard that we will not be contracting with Los Angeles Unified School District as a Non-Public Agency after December. We will continue to work with other districts, as well as charter and private schools. 

 

We have been busy expanding our abilities, and receiving training so that we are able to offer new and exciting programs to address a wider spectrum of student needs, from the Writing Clinic to mild Traumatic Brain Injury and children who survive cancer.  Of course, we continue to use research based interventions with highly trained Educational Therapists for cognitive enhancement and educational therapy for all our students, Our specialties include the reading and spelling of individual words, understanding what you read, expressing your ideas in writing and the facts, concepts and procedures in math.

 

We do not work with social skills nor behavior intervention - The Kelter Center provides instruction in basic skills.  Our 33 years of fabulous results are because of our infrastructure.  Our unique training nd mentoring  have proven to produce the excellent educational results parents and schools are looking for.

Look for our new branch office opening in the Sherman Oaks area in 2010!

  

Sasha     Rebecca     Vanessa     Monica

Easy Study Tips For Your Child

November 16, 2009
By: Jamie Altshule

Create an Organized Study Area at Home

Nicky’s World

October 9, 2009
By: Sharon Hensel-Cohen


Nicky’s World
Building a Community for Limited Communicators & Their Families
Communication is a basic human need & right

Mission: To provide the individual and their family with a place of their own where they can grow literacy, communication, friendships and a community to turn to and support them in order to improve their quality of life.

Every beginning is couched by the knowledge that the “Only constant is Change”. Nicky’s World is intent on supporting this community of limited and/or non-verbal individuals and their families to develop and move towards resolution of their needs, while supported by professionals and families whom are all experts in this area. The concept of Nicky’s World was built with the idea that a community without voice was isolated and had little hope to grow towards quality of life and change in all environments. Nicky’s World will have classes, parental and professional presentations and workshops, support groups, family outings, drum circle and much more! Membership will have tiers of involvement based upon class attendance, both without and/or with minimal charges.

Join us for our Open House for food, fun and information on November 1, 2009 form 3-6 pm at Nicky’s World to find out more about our goals and plans (18719 Calvert Street Tarzana, Ca. 91335) and RSVP to nickysworld.sharon@gmail.com with the number attending. This will be an ‘adult only’ open house. Family open house will follow in the spring. Looking forward to seeing you! Sharon Hensel-Cohen, Director.

ADHD 101: Medical treatment for ADHD and ADD

September 30, 2009
By: Dr. Kari Miller

In this edition of expert corner, Dr. Audrey Griesbach, Los Angeles developmental pediatrician, discusses medical treatments for ADHD.

On a behavioral level, what is ADHD?
When people think of ADHD, they often assume that the problem lies in the individual’s willingness to pay attention or listen. In fact, it is not a problem of ‘wanting’ to pay attention.

What we think of as ‘attention’ is actually a very complex processing function of the brain that operates continuously and allows us to engage in and demonstrate skills we refer to as attentive behavior. These skills include the ability to concentrate, seamlessly shift our focus from one thought to another, regulate alertness, maintain mental effort, organize our thinking, retrieve and access information efficiently, manage frustration, and self-regulate our emotions and actions...full article

This article is copyrighted © and should not be reprinted in its entirety without Dr. Miller’s permission. Please contact her at klmiller555@sbcglobal.net.

What is the Difference Between the ACT and SAT?

June 16, 2009
By: Jamie Altshule

Over the past decade, virtually all colleges and universities have moved to accepting either the SAT or ACT. So, with your No 2 pencil in hand, which test is right for you?
Here are a few basics: the ACT questions, especially in the math section, tend to mimic the type of substantive, content based questions most students confront in their daily academic life while the SAT tends to ask more logic and reasoning based questions, some of which are designed to lead students into incorrect answers. Some people describe the difference between the ACT and the SAT as the difference between knowledge and reasoning. The SAT tends to have a more "strategy" based assessment, while the ACT can be a little more straight-forward in its approach.

Finally, the biggest difference between the two tests may be stamina. The SAT is an hour longer, and for some students, the tank may run dry in that last hour. For other students, who can stay focused for longer periods, the SAT may offer an advantage.

Why Social Learning?

May 31, 2009
By: Lisa Johnson, MS

Overview- Why Social Learning?

Today, one in every 150 individuals is diagnosed with Autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. More specifically in the state of California 1 out of every 154 students are diagnosed with Autism according to Autism Prevalence Public School State Ranking 2006-2007.

As these children grow toward adulthood these difficulties continue to persist for the children and their caretakers. The age appropriate life skills that typical children established naturally are quite a challenge for the child with autism. Life skills such as: navigating and engaging the community, problem solving, playing team sports, expressing needs and desires with peers and adults and self-care are areas of need for young adults with autism. The communication of the world at large becomes difficult to navigate for autistic youth who struggle with communication and sensory deficits. The primary caretakers of these young adults can assist in paving new pathways of experience yet; the caretaker alone cannot fulfill the necessary social needs of their child. These young adults need a variety of age-appropriate, experiential, social, and learning developmental support. This learning developmental support should be delivered with a humanistic, systematic, individualized framework that supports and expands each youth as they explore and engage new learning environments.

Center for the Developing Mind: A State -of-the-Art Multidisciplinary Treatment Facility in West Los

May 14, 2009
By: Esther B. Hess, Ph.D.

Dr. Stanley Greenspan and his partner and colleague Dr. Serena Weider have spent years challenging the traditional view of how children learn and develop. They understood the critical connection between emotional and social interaction and how these elements impact on sensory and cognitive functioning. Drs. Greenspan and Weider used this information to enlarge the way that clinicians think about and assess and treat children, by having the professional consider the possibility that the functional disorganization often associated with developmental delays like autism, could be caused by the interconnection of impaired neurobiology, developmental delay and the relationship breakdown between parent and child.
My name is Dr. Esther Hess and I am a developmental psychologist, certified in DIR/Floor Time and specializing in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents impacted by developmental delays and/or regulatory disorders. Many years ago when I started the process of becoming certified in DIR/Floor Time, I was part of a group of clinicians from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines who had come together to learn about treating the whole child. In our group, there were mental health practitioners, physicians, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and educational specialists all brainstorming together under one roof.
I remember the last session of the last day of clinic. A speech pathologist got up to present her case and quite spontaneously asked me to join her on the podium to bring notice to the attachment concerns in the case that were so obviously glaring to me, but not necessarily noticed by the other clinicians. Similarly, the occupational therapist pointed out the child’s sensory seeking gestures and the physician in the group making us pay attention to the possibility of an underlying seizure disorder that was potentially responsible for the developmental delays that we were all witnessing in the case.
In psychological terms, I had my “ah ha” moment! I understood there and then the multidisciplinary message that our mentors had been emphasizing all along. To help a child with developmental and/or regulatory disorders, you have to approach treatment from a position that takes into consideration and focus your efforts on all of the different systems that make up that child’s concerns.
Children impacted by developmental challenges often need a variety of services when it comes to dealing with their overall problems. Over the course of my clinical career, I have met hundreds of families, where parents have expressed the need for one unified service center that approaches the healing of their child from a variety of disciplines, all working together as a team. From this need, Center for the Developing Mind was born
As founder and executive director, it is my pleasure to introduce to you Center for the Developing Mind a state of the art facility that addresses the specific needs that children have when they are struggling with challenges. Clinical interventions include mental health, social skills, genetic counseling, speech and language therapy, occupational and physical therapy, educational support and Individual Educational Planning, parent/sibling and grandparent support groups and community outreach. Therapists are available not only on an individual basis, but also collectively to conduct multidisciplinary assessment and diagnosis. Center for the Developing Mind additionally offers combined therapeutic treatments within individual sessions and the opportunity for parents to be part of complimentary case conferences to assure that everyone is working together as team to heal both the whole child and support the family.

I invite you to contact me at Drhess@centerforthedevelopingmind.com or call at (310) 652-7581 for any inquiries that you may have. We are conveniently located where the 405 and 10 freeways meet at 2990 South Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 308, Los Angeles, CA 90064.

Reframing Methodology Disputes

April 28, 2009
By: A2Z Educational Advocates

Methodology is a hot topic is cases, IEP meetings and discussions all across the country. With an plethora of programs available, emphasis on research, and an influx of stimulus package money intended to be used for programs and curriculum, the timing is ripe for more and more methodology disputes to emerge. Here’s what you need to know as advocates and parents:

Anticipate methodology disputes

Methodology disputes arise when the disagreement is in regards to two or more options that could each appropriately meet the child’s unique needs. The general rule in these cases is that school districts are given discretion to choose methodology, so long as the methods chose provide the student a FAPE. The key is to anticipate when these disputes will arise, and to reframe the issue as being about FAPE, rather than about a choice among methodologies.

Pay attention to possible procedural violations

Even though discretion is given to school districts in choices of methodology, that does not mean that the district doesn’t have to play by the rules! School districts are not permitted to predetermine methodology prior to the IEP or to have a blanket policy to refuse a specific methodology or program. Even if the issue is about methodology, school districts still have to meet the requirements of prior written notice, and must ensure that parents can meaningfully participate in the IEP process.

Focus on FAPE, not on one program vs. another

It is important to always stay focused on the principles of FAPE, so that the dispute doesn’t become a battle of the programs, in which the parents will lose. Focus the discussion on the unique needs of the child, and what is required to meet those needs. Don’t use the word “methodology,” but rather ask for appropriate research-based interventions. Make sure your child’s IEP goals are clearly measurable, and keep track of progress in case you need to demonstrate that the program offered is not appropriate for your child. Utilize experts to recommend specific programs, rather than the request originating from parents. And remember, parents should keep an open mind too!