isrc 2010 annual report summary

Annual Report Summary FY10

Services Impact Parent Stress Levels

While serving individual students, ISRC Home-School Teams identify strategies and interventions aimed at increasing

appropriate behaviors, reducing inappropriate behaviors, and reducing stress for parents, educators, and students. At

each on-site visit to schools and homes, the parents, educators, and students are each asked to assess their level of

stress related to the behavioral issue on a scale of one to ten (one is lowest stress, ten is highest stress). The percentage

change reported below was calculated by comparing the stress rating at the first visit in FY10 to the last visit.

Parents reported the greatest decrease in stress of the three groups. ISRC services are unique, and families receiving

individual student technical assistance may be experiencing that level of individualized behavior support for the first

time. Educators and students who receive individual support services from ISRC do have access to other resources

prior to and in addition to ISRC support.

ISRC ■■■■ 3444 W Dundee Road Northbrook IL 60062 ■■■■ 847-559-8195 ■■■■ www.isrc.us ■■■■ [email protected] ■■■■ FY10 Annual Report Summary

The Illinois Service Resource Center (ISRC) was initiated to serve as the initial point of contact for parents, professionals, school personnel and other service providers, for children in Illinois who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and who exhibit behavioral and/or mental health challenges. The ISRC serves the individual needs of each child by providing information, technical assistance and training. As a component of the Illinois Statewide Technical Assistance Center (ISTAC), ISRC serves the behavioral needs of students in Illinois who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing at all three tiers of the Response to Intervention continuum: Universal, Targeted, and Intensive. The Illinois Service Resource Center is funded with federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds that flow through the Illinois State Board of Education.

Number of Parents Included in Study = 55

Services Impact Student Behavior Systematic Information Management of Educational Outcomes (SIMEO) is a shared data collection platform utilized

by the various projects of the Illinois State Board of Education’s Statewide Technical Assistance Center. Data on in-

dividual student behavioral and emotional functioning at home and in school is collected quarterly. In FY10, SIMEO

data was collected on eighty-two of ISRC’s 147 Active Students.

ISRC has been collecting SIMEO data on students for three years, and is now able to look at longitudinal data on

students served from July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2010. The ISRC Longitudinal Study Sample includes seventy-four

students. The following graphs demonstrate student improvement during that time period.

Student Classroom Behavior


Overall Emotional Functioning Emotional Functioning at School

Emotional Functioning at Home

Overall, students demonstrated an increase in Emotional Functioning both at home and at school. At home, the most

significant increase reported was in student ability to handle disagreements. Improvements were also noted in student

ability of knowing how to ask for help and when to ask for help. At school, student ability to handle disagreements

also showed improvement, along with ability to control anger and respond like other youth to emotional situations.

In school, these students exhibited a reduction in the number of discipline referrals, along with a reduction in the

number of expulsions. The areas in which they demonstrated the greatest improvements are related to social skills,

particularly socially appropriate behavior with friends, socially appropriate behavior when unsupervised in the

classroom, and ability to make friends. These students also demonstrated a decrease in need for additional academic

and behavioral supports.

Interventions Support Positive Student Behavior Intervention Frequency

Teach, Model, Prompt, Reinforce 165

Reinforcement chart/earning rewards 142

Parenting skills 141

Provide choices 110

Visual strategies 105

Teach student to request to escape something in an appropriate way

94

Data collection coaching 70

Replacement behavior 67

Teach student to request /obtain something in an appropriate way

33

Social stories 21

Need for Additional Assistance in Classroom Number of Discipline Referrals

ISRC team members work with educators, families, and

Home-School Teams to develop individualized service

plans to support the behavior of students at the Intensive

Level need of intervention.

Over sixty specific interventions have been identified.

Most service plans include more than one intervention,

and include interventions in multiple environments includ-

ing home, school, and community.

After the initial meeting of the Home-School Team,

members meet again at regular intervals to review the im-

plementation of the interventions and to discuss outcomes.

In FY10, 147 active students received a total of 693 onsite

visits, resulting in 556 service plans or updates to service

plans. The most frequent interventions included Teach/

Model/Prompt/Reinforce, development of reinforcement

charts combined with earning rewards, parenting skills,

providing choices, and visual strategies.


FY10 Highlights In FY10 ISRC served the educational teams and families of individual students, while at the same time providing

services and resources to build capacity to serve these students at the local level. A total of 693 on-site visits were

provided to schools and homes for 147 individual students during FY10. Quarterly training was provided for twenty-

seven Deaf/Hard of Hearing Behavior Support Teams from across the state, and coaching support was provided for

the implementation of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) for seven educational programs serving

deaf/hard of hearing students.

■ In FY10, ISRC’s four behavior specialists visited homes and schools across the state of Illinois to provide 693

instances of individualized assistance for students. Examples of activities at these visits include facilitating Home-

School Team meetings, attending IEP meetings, data collection coaching, assisting in the development of behavior

support plans, and identifying strategies to coordinate behavior support plans at home and school.

■ ISRC provides a twenty-four hour helpline number available to deliver services to individuals who need assistance

in crisis situations, need to be connected to resources in the community, or are interested in receiving services

from ISRC. In FY10, ninety-nine helpline calls were received.

■ Four times each year, ISRC provides trainings to behavior teams from deaf and hard-of-hearing programs across

the state. Training topics include development of behavior plans, data collection, and coaching other staff

members. In FY10, twenty-seven behavior teams participated in these quarterly trainings.

■ ISRC provides support for Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing programs that are interested in implementing Positive Behavior

Interventions and Supports (PBIS). ISRC assists teams in attending trainings and provides follow-up support and

coaching. As of Fiscal Year 2010, seven D/HH programs are implementing PBIS with ISRC support.

■ In addition to quarterly behavior team trainings, ISRC provides series of trainings upon request for educators and

parent support groups. Trainings provided in FY10 included anger management, positive behavior interventions,

learning styles of deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and classroom management. Through these trainings, ISRC

was able to support 1,217 educators and 168 family members in FY10.

■ ISRC provides coaching support related to data collection methods, and can also record behavioral data in the

classroom at the same time as a teacher to compare for inter-rater reliability. A data graphing service provides

assistance in converting collected data into meaningful graphs and charts which can be used for data-based

decision making. In FY10, ISRC provided sixty-five instances of data collection coaching.

■ Classroom management mentoring is provided for first year educators of deaf and hard of hearing students, and

teachers with more experience upon request. The new educators follow a curriculum aimed at developing skills in

implementing positive behavior support systems within the classroom. In FY10, four educators participated in this

program.

■ ISRC has developed ten e-learning modules (four of which were added in FY10) that are available to families and

professionals. These modules cover topics such as classroom management, autism, development of behavior plans,

and bipolar disorder. Educators who complete these modules can receive free CPDU credits for their efforts.

■ ISRC’s Resource Library consists of an expanding collection of over 1000 items, including books, DVDs, test kits

and games related to deafness, deaf culture, sign language, mental health, behavior management, parenting and

administration. In FY10, 345 items from the general collection and twenty-six from the testing library were used.

ISRC Staff Cheri Sinnott, LCSW, Director Dr. Steve Vaupel, D/HH Behavior Specialist Dr. Daniel Friedman, D/HH Behavior Specialist Raven Stromek, D/HH Behavior Specialist Morgan Hansen, Librarian/Information Specialist Denesha Williams, Administrative Assistant

ISRC Consultants Barbara Sims, Illinois State Board of Education Todd Williams, Illinois State Board of Education Kelly L Hyde, PhD, Accountability Solutions LLC


isrc 2010 annual report summary

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