I guess that's because you got chicken nuggets and and burned them just one.
When I first met Jordan. When I first looked at her I thought this young lady is she's broken. She wasn't interested in the teacher, the students the classroom. Her main mission was to run out of this building. And run back to her home school district.
She didn't trust anybody
the paperwork on Jordan it described a child who was extremely low functioning, unwilling to learn extremely aggressive. But I began to notice that every time she had an A ggressive episode, after the episode was over, it all came down to there was some type of breakdown in communication. When that would happen, Jordan started by banging your head on walls, running out of the building, until I eventually put up signs all over the building saying run to Mrs. LaPaglia office. I turn off the lights and I would just be quiet
she spent many hours underneath my desk. If I needed to speak to her I would write her a note. How can I help? She would write me one sentence back she would write yes or no thank you just minimal words. And it was really you know, five, six, maybe 10 times of her laying under my desk until I was able to get more and more information from her. Eventually I started just using the iPad. I would type out sentences I often start with I'm so sorry you're feeling this way. And when you're ready to tell me what happened. I can help you. She would sit up and she would read it. And then pretty soon she started typing me back. Exactly what happened exactly what made her upset.
This is one of our favorite board meetings of the year. We get to recognize a lot of our students, for academics for things they do inside the classroom, for extracurriculars, and for co curricular. So we're excited that you're all here. We're gonna start with tonight a presentation by Jordan Zimmerman. And Jordan is a student at cares Jordan
Jordan is escorted by Buster and this is LaPaglia.
Hi, my name is Jordan and I'm 20 years old. You may be wondering why I'm using an iPad to talk to you today. So I will tell you I can talk but when I speak with my mouth first I have to think of the word and figure out if I even know what that word means. And I have to figure out how to pronounce the word so everyone can understand me. Next I have to modulate my voice to the appropriate volume and tone so that it isn't too loud or too quiet. It is very frustrating. I know some of you are probably wondering if I really wrote this speech. When I'm finished. I want you to ask me questions. I want you to understand that these are my own thoughts and words. I write my speeches independently. I guarantee it wasn't someone with autism who told you this was impossible. I've always loved school, but my time in school has been very frustrating. Especially my middle school and high school years. I think this is partly because I started struggling more and partly because some educators lost hope for my future. And I've had many changes of placements. All of these transitions were very hard for me. Through all of this I was also very secluded. From my peers, which was very frustrating for me. I have internal fights with my body on a daily basis. I bite my fingers when my hands feel tense. I bang my head against the wall when my body is craving input. If I don't do these things, my whole body actually hurts. My brain always instructs me to do one thing, but for some reason my body does something else. If I could control these things, then I would I want to go to college and become a special education teacher. I want to assist kids who are very intelligent internally, but to have to be taught how to show their true potential. Although I know what I want to do in the past, my excitement has typically been replaced by feelings of sadness and so I have been told by some people not to aspire to be a teacher. I have had teachers telling me that I will never need a cover letter word RESUME. For many years special education was a place where teachers had very low expectations for my future success. I questioned this system telling me that I shouldn't or can't be successful. They have a challenge for you. I want to encourage you in all of the teachers and mentors to include and teach students who may seem unintelligent, but really to deserve the chance to learn. They all have dreams for their future too. Do you accept my challenge that the beginning of this year, I would have never thought I would be presenting to the Board of Education. I believe in creating a more inclusive society. So it really means a lot to me that you asked me to speak here tonight. Thank you for trying to get to know me not because I have a disability. But because just like every other student, I am unique. I can share a lot of things with you and I can also update you about cares. I want to thank all of you for inviting me and Buster to come here this evening. Well, maybe you didn't actually invite Buster, but he appreciates being allowed here too welcome.
I was 20 years old and I still want to learn alongside my non disabled peers. I wanted to have similar opportunities. The local school district however, still didn't see me capable of doing that. I think it was the severity of my behaviors that led educators to not see my potential. In the end, Disability Rights Ohio helped me to transfer to the high school and mentor not far from cares and this time I can effectively communicate. What's that noise Exactly.
When we ever saw freshly grilled
cheese everyone Wiscon from cares today. Why we're we're
including Buster he's always gone from cares. He's retired He's an old man now
how are you? Hi school. Good. I started a fire oh probably a problem in the dorm room
to tell the story, just program it into that talker. He could press a button was it the microwave? She was cooking chicken nuggets. And she put it she cooks five at a time should I cook one and put it in for the same amount of time as five so it started a fire. water on the fire. The police department and she had to go to the hospital for smoke inhalation. She did the right thing now right I tell her oh you're so smart
I like this office better. I got it. No I was the outside world got windows. Yeah Isn't that cool? I need a card. Join me all those penguins. How are you? We look great. I'm good. Doing fairly doing perfect things in the rest of us. Oh that's for sure. That's awesome. I started a fire oh god I remember when we first met as a team, the one thing that sticks in my mind.
We all the administrators at mentor High School and then we met with Christy from cares. And she brought us into a room to have this meeting and in the background. She had different noise going it wasn't very loud. It was very it was almost like a fan in the back of the room that's clicking. And I remember one of the administrators actually asked can you turn off that noise because it was loud and it was It wasn't loud. It was just annoying because we don't realize all the stimulation going on behind us. And that was what clicked for me with Jordan is if that's what she's experiencing every day and she's unable to turn that off. How can we help her how can we get to that next level? And I think in that meeting is where we came up with you know, let's try running. Every morning. About 45 minutes before school we would meet up and we'd go run a two mile loop around campus. We would talk about what was going on we would talk about you know really anything but we started seeing a decrease in the behaviors we were having in class. We started to see her being able to talk about what was going on as opposed to running out of the building
at this point, I'm going to turn it over to Jordan. She's gonna do more of an introduction than I am going to tell you that Jordan Zimmerman was a Hudson student came to cares last year and this year she'll be a student at mentor High School. So she's going to share some things with all of you so please give us a nice warm welcome to Jordan
tell you these stories but it isn't about me. It's about all of the students that are going to step into your school and classroom in two days. The kindergarteners that is scared to start school, the third grader that has difficulty reading the students that you've been warned about how are you going to put all of your doubts aside? There's much I wish many of my teachers would have known when working with me. So I want to share a few of those things with you. One, students can hear everything you say. I think many teachers talk in front of students inadvertently. Educators words have a lot of power though. They can tell us who we are and who we may become. To. No one likes to have bad days. When a student is struggling, ask them how you can help but don't try to mold them into someone else. Please don't get stuck in the mindset of fixing your students. They aren't broken. Everyone is simply different. Three have high expectations for all students. No one learns the same way. So expecting everyone to do the same thing all the time isn't fair and effective. Don't think of your students based on what you've heard or read about them from people in the past because if you do that you may be setting the expectations too low. If people get the sense that you are giving up on them, their natural response may be to not even try for always be kind get to know as many students as you can create a culture of acceptance in your classroom. Say hi to students in the hallways, even if you don't know them and even if they don't respond. You never know how those small gestures or lack thereof can impact a student. Trust me on this one, five. I remember my kindergarten teacher, each teacher after her every administrator, every related service provider, and I won't forget you. All of the students that each of you interacts with this year will remember you too. They will remember how you made them feel whether they felt loved and cared for by you. Hopefully they will remember you because you help prepare them for success. As we begin the new school year, I have a challenge for all of you. encourage your students to go after their dreams. Make sure you tell them you believe in them and pledged to make a difference I hope you all have a great year.
I graduated from high school at the age of 21 despite never having access to the general curriculum for years and despite educators low expectations of me.
After my graduation, I moved to college in Athens, Ohio. It's been four years now
that's a good idea. Like specific departments because like, like those professors from the ASL like those were ASL professors.
Senate do actual VR. Yeah, that was real.
I think that was a big part of why it wasn't just posting once or twice if I did on our Twitter that was RPR Yeah, but I mean like ahead of time like it didn't get that sorry for right because
there was a higher turnout.
You know,
outside.
When I came to college, I often felt like an outsider looking in. Everyone preached about diversity and inclusion, but not a lot of people really knew what inclusion was
no one else in the phone
All right. So in my freshman year, I started my own cheerleading team inclusive for students with or without disabilities.
Me the Way You Are no matter how your baby
baby and not a no Valley no River County no mana so I'll be there.
Hi. Yes
Where's Einstein?
I am writing my favorite still.
Average mother now obviously you FaceTime with
at least once a day
you like it?
I like school I just don't always like the people.
I think that she is unusual, but I think that the things that she's done, all kids that are nonverbal can can benefit from you know they can may not be able to do it at her level. They might be able to do it more than her. We just don't know because you don't know what people have in their heads and you don't know what their abilities are till you give them an opportunity. Matter. So, baby we got today.
Don't worry, your hips and your Keep your heads with your fingers where are you? Hey, I'm gonna baby 100
So I'm listening in a valley Valley a no river
Hi again everyone. This is Sarah butcher again and the co founder and director of roots of inclusion. I hope you all enjoy the opportunity to watch the film. We are now going to move to our panel discussion. I will begin with some introductions. And I'm going to ask that if you have questions from the film you can utilize the chat but you should see there on the right side of your screen. To ask Questions.
Thank you so much Jordan. And now I'd like to introduce grant Lascaux grant is a young adult non speaking autistic student who communicates using augmentative and alternative communication, also known as AAC. He lives in Mercer Island, Washington, where he currently attends Bellevue College. He's also a University of Washington do it scholar and an active member of cash has National Communication Access workgroup and he's the advisory council member of communication first. Grant is passionate about curriculum accessibility Universal Design for Learning and inclusive practices. He's motivated by the opportunity to stand stand up for the systemic change needed to improve the lives and educational access of disabled individuals, especially those impacted by autism and communication challenges. Grant communicates expressively by typing grant would you like to say hi to everyone?
Hi, everyone. My name is Grant Blasco and I am 20 years old. I communicate primarily with augmentative and alternative communication or AAC. I'm currently a student at Bellevue College finishing up my sophomore year in college with a plan to pursue a degree in social sciences. I am also a third year do scholar at the University of Washington and now an advisory council member of communication first.
Thank you grant.
Happy to meet here. Exclamation mark. So happy to be here.
Thank you, Grant. We're so glad you can be here with us. We also have Jennifer Carl's she's also a co founder and director at roots of inclusion. She is a parent of two young adult children. She's worked hard to understand how systems that intersect of the lives of her children, such as education, employment and health care perpetuate inequities and how the lack of communication access in those systems continue to isolate and cause harm to her child who is minimally speaking autistic. Jennifer, did you want to say hi?
Oh Jennifer, the sound might not be working. All right, we're just gonna let Jennifer wave Okay, and last but not least, the third part of our trio I roots of inclusion. We have Cynthia Glasgow. She's the proud parent of three children. Cindy has a surgical background as a physician assistant. And since 2012, she has been working with public school districts to support children who typed to communicate first in Montgomery County, Maryland and now in Bellevue, Washington. She's advocated trained, coached and collaborated with elementary, middle and high school staff. To support inclusion for students with complex communication needs. Cindy, did you want to say hi.
I'll just say hello, and thank you for that introduction. And we're excited to hear more from Jordan and grant. One other thing I will share is is just the way that we will incorporate Jordan and grant there. As Jordan stated in her introduction, there are often pauses where it takes her time to type grant chooses to use a different strategy where he uses an auditory feedback to listen to the words so when you hear the final punctuation Grants system will replay his when he's writing, but for his pre pre written responses, you'll hear the entire thing at once. So there's always a choice among AAC users and how they want to navigate their system. And then we do as much as we can to create space and a lot of support and noticing when there is a need for someone to step in or elaborate or, or respond to something that's happening in the in the webinar.
Thank you so much, Cindy. We're going to begin with our first question in Jordan. I'm going to start with you and then grant we'll move to you to give you an opportunity to answer so you're both involved on the boards of communication. First, a nonprofit that is dedicated to protecting the civil rights of people who cannot rely on speech alone to be heard and understood. Can you share a bit about why it matters that we talk about communication as a civil rights and social justice? Issue?
Yes, absolutely. Communication is important for every single thing we do as humans. Effective communication is really so important in all facets of life. I cannot understate this. It has been recognized as a fundamental human right, a basis for all other human rights. This means that effective communication is necessary for education, emotional well being access to medical care, citizenship and voting, social relationships, safety and due process, self determination and meaningful employment. We cannot talk about anything else without first ensuring access to effective and reliable communication. However, don't mistake my words. This does not mean effective communication is a prerequisite for the ideals I mentioned. Those are all human rights too.
Thank you for that Jordan. Grant. Did you want to share why it matters that we talk about communication as a civil rights and social justice issue? I
think I want to share something from my childhood and say that I was aware that things were unfair long before I had the education to make me aware of when like words discrimination and ableism meant, nonetheless, I felt the lasting impact of situations that were reenacted every day. I get asked all the time to come and talk to people about the most basic steps to negotiate better situations for a few users. And I've helped some people open their ideas about how to help. However, I will say that I don't feel safe most places yet and that is because communication is such a privilege that most people and almost all professionals still don't understand how different life is without it. They don't always appreciate how painful it is to enter every setting. I'm sure that anyone will decide to navigate the problems with me rather than judge me when I hit a wall while watching from the sidelines. Communication rights are critical to accessing every other human right because our humaneness is often judged by our ability to articulate our perspective. And that can't happen if we are deprived from strategies and technology to compensate for a disability that tends to alienate us from everyone we care about.
So the next question we're gonna ask is what is one thing that you believe is critical for people to know about students who do not speak and need access to AAC? Grant we can start with you on this one. And then we can move over to Jordan.
I want to share that we need support and communicate well and be heard and that doesn't mean we can't think for ourselves, but is a narrative created by people who have never faced the barriers we face. It is so important to know what true communication looks like when it is just starting and how long it takes to find the courage to try again after a long periods of misunderstanding and failure. Thank you grant. Jordan, what
is one thing that you believe is critical for people to know about students who do not speak and need access to AAC?
The idea of speech and language is so critical for people to understand. To give an example in the film, there was a report shown which documented professionals bleak view of my future based on the assumption that I was intellectually disabled. Of course, there is nothing wrong or shameful with being intellectually disabled. And that idea came about as a result of my lack of speech conflated with my lack of language. Speech and language are not the same thing. Speech is the motor process of expressing language. Language is a cognitive process that involves proceeding understanding and producing concepts. We don't know what people are capable of until they have the supports and services which work for them and which allow them to show what they know. However, when we conflate the two, then the assumptions made are used to deny services and supports and a robust education. This should not happen at all and goes back to the criticality of access to communication as a civil rights issue.
Absolutely, thank you, Jordan. I'm gonna move on to the next question. And then Cindy, if you want to pull one from the chat to have ready for us. So Jordan, at one point in the film, you show the pecs workbook, the film clearly illustrated how inadequate that was. But do you think you could have learned to use the iPad prior to the age of 18
I often wish I could start from scratch have the opportunity to erase so many memories of trauma and try using iPad earlier? I had been provided the textbook very inconsistently, but pictures and symbols for requesting were always used a lot throughout my various environments. However, if I would have been properly introduced to iPad or some other high tech robust communication prior to when I was at the age of 18, I believe I could have learned how to use it and how to engage in ways that allowed for so much more beyond requesting, especially items that I didn't even want. I had so much language and I had an intense human need to be with others. When I ultimately began using an iPad while I was resistant to it at first, my hesitancy was more about having to carry it. So if the creative solution such as a strap would have been used with another device, it could have worked well. Of course, I can't go back in time to say for certain, but I was beyond ready for a reliable method of communication when I did start using the iPad. I believe you cannot start providing opportunities and access to young but in terms of trauma, you can provide access to late
Thank you, Jordan. Cindy, did you have a question you wanted to pull from the chat for next one?
Yes, so I will highlight this question about trauma. How do you process the trauma of past school experiences? And how can we support current and past students with the same trauma? I mean, it ideally we would listen to the AAC users. Both Jordan and grant would comment on a question like that but it might take them some time. So I will start by saying that the area of the film where the teacher talked very explicitly about how she created this environment first the signs in the school where Jordan could go when she was dysregulated. And then the the way that she just very compassionately and quietly listened and created a safe space and and created a a mode of reciprocity that felt comfortable to Jordan. So by just writing on the iPad back and forth and waiting for an answer with a student who isn't yet literate, this might look different, that you might offer choices you might offer a variety of pictures or things like that, but what this teacher did was just create this completely respectful, back and forth interaction and allow Jordan the time to feel safe enough to start to engage again. And I think we see that with so many kits, where it just takes a little bit of time, more time than maybe people have time for in a school day sometimes, or even. Just depends. But I do think where where the advocates are so wonderful to have involved is that they are able to coach both parents and professionals about the kind of time that it takes.
Thank you, Cindy and I think
I want to
need to talk about
let that go. For now
trauma
communication disability with keep going alright, let that go. Finish it
okay, go back to your screen. Okay.
Next letter you have to s
students I think I want to ask that we need to talk about trauma of communication disability with students.
And Jordan, I see you typing is there something you wanted to add to this conversation? around trauma
I would also add that another example in the film was when my principal at a public high school have over 1000 students recognize that unless I had a strategy where I could begin to regulate my body which would then enable me to type more we wouldn't get past my trauma from years of segregation. That's where running came in. And it's something that I could do with anyone, but also required some reciprocal trust.
I appreciate that. So I know it's already come up about literacy skills. And so I wanted to ask you, Jordan, and then grant we can move to you as well. I'd love to hear your response on this too. Were you taught to read and or spell at school and Can you say more? About that? At all?
I was not explicitly taught how to read or spell. However, I don't believe we give our environment enough credit and the ability to naturally create a print rich space and teach literacy. There were words and conversations all around me that I was constantly looking at and listening to. This was huge, and I think it played a fundamental role in inadvertently providing me with various lessons that I otherwise would not have had. My Way discuss the major gaps in my skills from the non explicit instruction though while I can still convey messages and get different needs addressed, I know more words in my head than I can spell and some words that I have visually seen. I can spell but I don't necessarily know what they mean in every context. This is a challenge and while there are many tools to help it's definitely one reason why explicit literacy instruction is important.
Thank you, Jordan. Grant, did you want to add to that? Question.
I was in both a private school and a public school where I did get literacy instruction but I was falling farther and farther behind my peers by kindergarten because of my communication and sensory challenges. Through the fourth grade, I was not getting access to any grade level instruction when I started to tighten it was because I was learning outside of school. By the start of fifth grade. We had convinced administrators in Maryland that I needed to be learning what other kids my age were learning. Neither my parents nor I was sure I would be successful in general education. Classes at that point. But with communication support, I was able to slowly increase the time I was in classes with my peers. And a few months was the ones who won power educator and gender led teacher planning with the resource teacher. I could do English, math, social studies and science with my same age peers on grade level. I was exhausted at the end of the day, and I began parental help at home to get caught up with different skills. However, I think those experiences gave me the access to see what my peers were working on each day. And that set the bar for me to think differently about my education. At the same time. I spent more time with mentors, other autistic people who typed that they gave me the perspective I needed to know I was not alone. Both exposures were important for me to learn how I can best learn and manage my disability types.
Thank you grant. Cindy, is there another question or respond to or add?
There are many questions the literacy question and the inclusion question I'll take I'll take one that was the the difference between inclusion and sorry, let me get back to it
oh
sorry, I'm missing it, but it was a shoe talking about like how people are incorporated into inclusion. And what that looks like and the thing that I will comment on related to that is the importance of the accommodations which even at the elementary school level, are very important. So very early on, Grant started being exposed to digital texts and digital documents and accessible formats. And what we found was that almost every single year, we had to have all of those discussions again and again and again. Because it be because he was usually the only AAC user in a class. There just was not an an understanding that he needed more than just his iPad. And there was often a perception that as long as the speech pathologist gave him some vocabulary related to the lesson that that would be enough. And so a lot of the behaviors that we saw were a result of just complete frustration that he didn't have enough to to say and he didn't really have access to the curriculum. The accessibility was not there. And so that was something that it took a lot of a lot of collaboration and a lot of coaching to make sure that those things were more and more incorporated because it really did decrease frustration across the board. Hmm.
Grant, did you want to add anything to this question? I can come back to you as well.
Yeah, he's and Jordan is also typing. So it makes me
think I need to saying that I.
All right, try to let that go. Try to ignore that right now. And finish your sentence please.
Anxious.
person but do one thing please let let the other activity go. I come back to your screen
I do better I think I need to say that I'm an anxious person findify and prepare like you better. Yeah.
I think all people do better when they're right when they're provided what they need.
And I'll also say that a lot of times, especially in the beginning, teachers were happy that he could just stay in the room. And yet he didn't feel like a full fledged student. And so they would say things that they meant to be very helpful by like, Grant, I'm not going to hold you responsible for this. Or grant. Don't worry about doing this portion of the activity. And that was meant to be helpful, but it ended up othering him and he took it to heart
Jordan are you ready.
think the biggest thing is that inclusion isn't something we do. It's a mind. As you saw in the film, I was fully included for the first time when I was 20 years old. It was really hard. There were moments when I would say my head against the wall until it bled in moments when I was unable to regulate enough to be in the building. People had to anticipate my needs a lot. And yet I was still able to share space. We also want 1000 other students because the administration believed I belonged. So I believe that I belonged
Yeah, that mindset piece is so critical. Jordan, I wanted to ask you some people might watch this film and get the impression that because cares was a specialized school. So some students might need a specialized school. How would you respond to that?
Thanks for this question. Well, the film doesn't go into all the logistical aspects of my education, and each school I went to, it's important to note that while attending cares, I was also attending my local public high school for half the time. This looked like me attending cares for three half days and then being supported to attend a local public school for the remaining time. It's really difficult to know whether I would have made as much progress and gone on to pursue further education and all my aspirations if I only would have attended cares, especially given the segregated nature of cares. And I also want to say that the people who work at cares really supported me in the moment and I'm super grateful to them. However, when students are not successful in their public school district, or in the same spaces as their non disabled classmates, it's not on the disabled person. It's a failure of how the supports services and other tools were implemented. That's what happened with me, and it's what happens with so many students. When we implement supports correctly, students do not need to be segregated and should not be segregated as a matter of law.
Thank you for that Jordan. Grant or Cindy, did you want to add anything to that one?
For years guys, and talking about universal design for learning and what cultural accommodation looks like and I think there is a lot of confusion about what these terms mean, within schools. When I walk into certain settings, specifically settings that are used to disabled people as part of their culture, like attached content, or an Autistic Self Advocacy Network event, they are prepared for me to be there. That preparation is part of the broad culture and it is not an afterthought for one student with an IEP. So when I want to come to these settings, I feel at ease I feel considered and I feel a complete lack of stigma around my differences. The reason I am successful in those settings is a combination of the broad culture values and the skills that I've worked on over time. When I think about my experience in K 12 settings, even though I was included since fifth grade, my days were still filled with a threat associated with a culture that still is not used. To people with communication disabilities being there. I needed allies to understand the situation and they helped me navigate with it can be hard in schools where there's a chain of command and under established way of doing things.
And I'll add to that, I mean he had many good experiences with teachers who truly believed in him and administrators who paved the way for grant to be in those spaces. But it is along with efforts for inclusion you still have often a parent educator or somebody who is a support person who is assigned to support a student with complex needs and they may not have a lot of power in their role. So when they run into difficulties, sometimes there's a there there's a lot of fear around pushing back depending on who the person is that they're having an issue with. If it's a gen ed teacher and there isn't a great relationship between gen ed teacher and a special ed teacher or if it's, if it's in a class where there might be a feeling that these kids don't belong here. Like it's going to be a lot harder for an ally to help a student stay in that environment, because they fear for their own safety and security as well. And so I always bring that up because there are so many good intentions in schools and I see that every single day. But it's that willingness to learn and, and grow and not be afraid to say when something feels wrong
my mom always said the fish stinks from the head
we're not able to hear you.
Sorry, my apologies. I had myself muted. Cindy did you want to pull another question from the checkout? Is there one that jumped out at you?
There are so many good questions here. I do want to say that I have been seeing people ask about recording the chat and we we will be recording the chat and collecting these questions. So if we don't get to all of these questions during this, we will try to answer them after the fact and post them.
Yeah, yeah, we'll post that FAQ on our website with answers because there are so many great questions. Cindy, maybe while you continue to, I can ask Jordan first and then grant would love to hear what you think about this as well. What would you like people who've watched tonight to do differently as a result of seeing this film and being part of this discussion?
First and foremost. Believe in your students. See users show brilliance in classrooms every day. However, as someone who has a bachelor's and master's in education, I know the system is against us. I know the system doesn't want us to thrive and worse barely wants us to survive, push against systems that are harmful. We live with discomforts every single day. So I'm not asking you to speak up in ways which will get you fired, but I am asking you to speak up in ways which will make things a little better for more students. Thank you for that Jordan.
Grant. Is there something you wanted to add to that?
I am going to share a quote for my story I wrote over a year ago about this film as a non speaking person. This is the takeaway I care about most effects is that something as simple as the golden rule applies here. The best intervention and intentions can still be harmful if implemented without constant reflection about what it feels like to be on the receiving end of interaction. When supporting a student with communication challenges. The ultimate inclusionary trauma informed practice may be to remain curious, apologize often and never stop creating opportunities for safety and connection.
That safety and connection peace is so poor important, and I've heard that reference both in the film and here in your comments tonight.
Cindy, is there another question? There's so many great comments.
There's many great questions. I think one from Grace Bennett, do you think there's enough trauma informed PD for teachers currently? And I do think that's being talked about a lot more. But when we talk about trauma and grant specifically talks about the trauma of having a communication disability, it is a little bit different than the way that the training for trauma is happening in schools in in, in schools. It's they tend to think of it as the traditional idea of trauma, which is events and experiences and and not the chronic exposures. And Greg grant wrote a beautiful piece about this. I don't know about six months ago where he he identified just what is traumatic and retriggering about having a communication disability. And so when you think about it related to restraint and isolation and and the higher likelihood that non speaking students are exposed to these type of interventions. You look at the fact that these kids often don't look like they understand as much as going on around with them as as you might think. But what they are capable of is picking up on this situation feels the same as something I've been through before. So when those criteria start to build, and you have a response, it can often look like this behavior came from out of nowhere but what you don't realize is that that student has, has possibly been feeling that threat and that building threat, a series of sequence events that feel similar to what they have endured, possibly for years. And so when you see that, and then it goes on addressed, it looks like this explosive event, but it isn't it's chronic stress that has been right near the spillover point forever and it doesn't take much to tip it over. And then it looks like it was over nothing. And so I think that that's the training that we'd like to be a part of, and really kind of highlight what advocates are telling us about what their experiences are like day in and day out with the communication disability.
Okay, I'm here hear, sir, we can't hear you.
Sorry for all the technical issues. This one was human related. I was just stating that as I am thinking about the professional development piece and the training, you know, that we currently see around the trauma informed piece Cindy what you're talking about and what we've been hearing from Jordan and grant tonight the power in the importance of actually hearing from the students themselves and the AAC users themselves so that these connections can be made. Because otherwise I think the most well intentioned training, if we aren't talking to those most impacted by the issues we're trying to change are going to miss the mark. So thank you for that.
I wanted to pull another question Cindy was another one jumping out to you in the chat.
Like it take an easy one. I think in the beginning a few people were asking what what applications grant and Jordan are using and Jordan is a representative. I'll let her share it if she wants to but grant uses Proloquo for text and has for years.
They also use for local and for text though I really like your answer about people focusing on what app we use right away. Grant Yeah, I think we need to focus on
support and not
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oh no we we've had getting kicked off. You may have noticed that well, yes.
Sorry. I hope everybody out grants back I'll let him finish mantle Health
Impact dot. I think we need to focus on support and non dependence on communication disability puts us at risk for isolation and loneliness understands mental health impact.
Yes, yeah, it does. And I think it's interesting, right when you say that grant I think about how often I hear about the importance of independence, but not recognizing that actually, as humans, we all rely upon each other. And I would, you know, agree with what you're saying that support is even more important than that. And there's nothing wrong with supporting each other. Why no? Go ahead, Jennifer. Thank you.
I just wanted to jump in with a few logistics if I could. As we're reaching the end of our time here. Thank you all for your patience with our technical issues. This is a new platform for us. It's where the movie was available. So that's that's why we've used it but we are going to try to compensate for some of the pieces that we weren't able to provide. So if you provided your email through Kinema when you registered then we have that and we will share resources from the events including answering more of the questions that you've posed, and the recording of this panel discussion with a closed captioning and transcript. So if you if you did not have your email on Canada
