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Students with Complex Needs

Texas Complex Access Network Logo

ESC 5 provides professional development, technical assistance, and resources that support programs serving students with significant cognitive disabilities, medically fragile and/or Deafblindness.  Programming for these disabilities focuses on curriculum design and implementation of instructional strategies.

 

Teacher Resources

  • https://txcan.tea.texas.gov/courses

    • STAAR Alternate 2: Before During and After the Assessment
    • Coaching and Team Meeting Basics for Inclusive Education
    • Fundamentals of Inclusive education
    • Presuming Competence
    • Transitioning a Student from Self-Contained to a General Education Classroom
    • Supports for Participation
    • Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
    • Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) for Students with Complex Access Needs
    • Creating and Sustaining Peer Networks
    • A Step Toward IEP Quality and Rigor
    • Building a Foundation for Supporting Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities
    • Evidence Based Practices for the Education of Students with Down Syndrome
    • The 3 C’s of Behavior Management: Connection, Communication and Choices
    • Beyond Time and Money: Teaching Mathematics
    • Building an Authentic Academic Response
    • Teaching Literacy to Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities
  • https://txcan.tea.texas.gov/research

    Keeping abreast of the literature in the field of educating students with complex access needs is a professional responsibility for administrators, teachers, and related service providers. Parents may also find it useful to be aware of the latest recommendations from the professional literature in order to be effective partners in the development and implementation of their children’s educational programs. 

    This annotated bibliography summarizes classical and recent publications related to effective and promising educational practices for students with complex access needs. Its purpose is to provide a brief summary of the findings and recommendations of the authors and to inspire educators and parents to learn more by reading the whole article and other sources cited within it. Each summary is taken directly from the article’s abstract or quoted directly from the article.

  • https://txcan.tea.texas.gov/assessment-instructional-resources

    This collection of assessments and instructional resources is intended as a guide for teachers and administrators of students with significant disabilities. To find the right resource for your student, use the filter options in the Filter Assessment and Instructional Resources section.

  • Professional Learning Lab for Universal Structured Envoironments and Supports

     

  • Center for Literacy and Disabilities Studies: https://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/clds/

    Literacy for All: https://literacyforallinstruction.ca/

  • https://esc13.net/resources/life-skills-radio

    Life Skills Radio explores the world of Life Skills education in our schools, communities, and daily lives.

    We’ll meet with experts in their field, real teachers, both old and new, and all sorts of other specialists you’ll meet throughout your education journey. They’ll share their stories, strategies, and experience related to all sorts of educational topics as we journey through this amazing world we call life skills.

    Episodes:

    - Welcome to Life Skills Radio

    - First Year Adventures in Teaching

    - Evidence Based Practices

    - Transition Planning

    - Teacher burnout and self-care

    - Challening Behavior

  • Writing for Students with Significant Disabilities

    Janet Sturm is a professor of speech-language pathology at Central Michigan University. Her specialty is teaching students with disabilities that are significant, writing instruction, classroom communication, writing software, augmentative and alternative communication, implementation science.

    In this Youtube series, Dr. Strum explores writing for students with significant disabilities by talking about:

    - building emergent writers through a team approach

    - the power of developmental writing scales

    - creating effective accommodations in writing

    - old assumptions and new perspectives on writing

    - advice on writing instruction for new writing teachers

    - teaching students with disabilities to write independently

  • http://www.aamr.org/

    Mission


    AAIDD promotes progressive policies, sound research, effective practices, and universal human rights for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
     

    Goals

    AAIDD's goals are to: 

    1. Enhance the capacity of professionals who work with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
    2. Promote the development of a society that fully includes individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  
    3. Sustain an effective, responsive, well managed, and responsibly-governed organization.
  • Active Learning Space is designed to provide an introduction to Active Learning, which is an educational approach developed by Dr. Lilli Nielsen.  This is a collaborative project of Penrickton Center for Blind Children, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Perkins School for the Blind.  It is intended to provide an overview of the principles of Active Learning, as well as resources to implement this approach.  We invite you to explore the materials here to deepen your understanding of this approach, and to share it with others.

    https://activelearningspace.org/

     

Administrator Resources

    

Texas Medicaid Provider Procedures Manual Cover

 

Updated Texas Medicaid Provider Procedures Manual (Nov. 2021). Volume 2 Provider Handbook

 

SHARS Self-Monitoring Tool (Nov. 2021)

 

 

 

Team Members

Killey Hays

Program Coordinator

khays@esc5.net

409-951-1745

Special Education Quick Links