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When it comes to inclusive learning, Paula Kluth is a go-to expert in the education community. As a consultant, advocate, and author/co-author of over 15 books, Paula has a breadth of knowledge on how to provide inclusive opportunities for students with disabilities and how to create more engaging schooling experiences for all learners. We were fortunate enough to have Paula as one of our keynotes at the 2018 Milestones National Autism Conference where she shared key strategies to teachers and parents alike.
Learn more about Paula and hear how she thinks the classroom experience will change as our understanding of autism evolves.
First things first: What did you think of your experience at the Milestones Conference last month?
Paula: Very good! Really wonderful mix of folks at the conference. Parents, lot of paraprofessionals, therapists; that was a really nice departure from some conferences I’ve been to. Self-advocates, folks on the spectrum, families… just a really great blend of folks and I think it adds to the energy a lot.
Yes, Milestones works really hard to create a conference that serves professionals and parents simultaneously. What would you say are the benefits of that?
Paula: I think having a conference where you bring together a lot of different stakeholders is critical for on-the-job, if you will, development; in other words, you’re not just learning from the sessions but you’re learning as you’re attending and as you’re having a side conversation at lunch. We’re all providing each other, the professional development or the advocacy development or the social support for another parent or a parent to a teacher. I’m sure if you had these interviews with other attendees they would say, “the most important thing I learned was this other mom gave me an advocacy trick at lunch or at the coffee break.” When we have more stratification and separation in audiences, sometimes that’s necessary and appropriate. Unfortunately, you do miss those intersections, those happenstance moments and the “aha’s”. So it’s nice when you have these experiences where we are bringing together all those populations that we discussed. Self-advocates, folks on the spectrum, families, grandparents, doctors; it is really a way to learn incidentally and to learn alongside somebody else and maybe even start a community for yourself in a new way.
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As we approach the end of summer, it is time to start thinking about how to transition back to a school routine. Consider the following strategies when getting your kiddos ready for the new school year:
Resume old routines – Your child’s routines, especially their sleeping routine, may have changed quite a bit over the last couple months. Returning to a school sleep schedule can take several weeks or longer, depending on the child, so it is often best to begin transitioning towards the end of summer so your child is well-rested and used to an earlier bedtime during the first week of school.
-Incrementally move back to the desired bedtime – try putting your child to bed and waking them up 10 minutes earlier than the night before for a few days. Repeat until you ultimately reach your goal bedtime.
-Establish a soothing routine – running around outside, playing video games, and watching action movies right before bed can make it difficult to fall asleep. Instead, try reading a book, working on a puzzle, coloring a picture, or doing other relaxing activities. This could also provide a good opportunity to reintroduce a homework routine.
-Minimize meltdowns – meltdowns can happen more frequently when changing routines, especially routines related to sleep. If your child seems more fatigued throughout the day, adding a short nap, or changing from a high-intensity activity to a less demanding one, may help your child get through the day without an extra meltdown.
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Having spent the last 26 years in education, Jennifer Krumins, MEd, knows a thing or two about IEPs. This year, she traveled from Canada to share the importance of IEPs and some key takeaways for parents with children on the spectrum.
Jennifer, thank you so much for being a part of the conference again this year. Why are you so passionate about talking to parents about the power of IEPs?
Oh boy, what a question. Well I started my workshop by saying I’ve spent my career in education and have experience as a parent – I hate IEPs, I really do. I hate writing them! But yet, that being said, they are so incredibly important! They give direction to a person’s life. Without an IEP, time will pass, opportunities will pass, and we don’t have a sense of what we could be doing to capitalize on moments when a kid can learn. For me, an IEP keeps you focused and ready to teach at any given moment because you know where you want to go.
If you could pass one important point from your session on to someone who could not at the conference, what would it be?
A big message I wanted to give today is that parents play such an incredibly important role. It’s imperative parents take an active role in their child’s education, particularly if that child had special needs because it’s not up to the school; it is a joint responsibility. I have learned in my years as a parent and an educator that autism requires a village around a child. No one person has all the information about that child so when everyone comes together and shares their perspective, we get the whole picture. As far as a takeaway about the conference, I would want to say that coming to this conference gives you a chance to step away from the day-to-day and it is time so wisely invested. It energizes and refreshes you. Well you’ll always go home tired, but you come home ready to dive in with a renewed energy.
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Two years ago, Hickman and Lowder Co., L.P.A came to Milestones with a simple concept. They wanted to create a space at our annual conference for caregivers to relax and get some special treatment they don’t get in their everyday lives.
Milestones was sold. With so many parents and professionals taking some time out from life to attend the conference, we knew such an addition would be well-received and much needed. So a conversation turned into a plan, which then evolved into what we now all know to be the Caregiver Relaxation Room.
This year, caregivers of all kinds were encouraged to visit the space conveniently located between the exhibit hall and workshop rooms, where they could get a massage from a masseuse, make their own bath salts, and indulge in cucumber water while they enjoy a moment for themselve
“We’re all caregivers whether you have a child with autism or a professional, you’re a caregiver in some way,” said Jill Fowler of Hickman and Lowder. “It is important for our firm to be able to provide a place for conference goers of any kind to have some respite and take care of themselves a little bit. Usually you are the last person you care for so it was important for us to have a place for them to pamper themselves a bit.”
In addition to providing the Caregiver Relaxation Room, Hickman and Lowder was one of over 50 exhibitors at this year’s conference.
“It’s a fabulous mix of families and professionals and different tracks and topics,” said Fowler. “There is something for everyone here, it’s so valuable. Everyone you talk to they either know people or they meet new friends here and they can see each other again and again year after year. We are fortunate to have this in our community.”
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You did it, you made it through the conference! We hope you had an amazing time and left with new, practical strategies to support you in your everyday life. Now that you have all this new information and an arsenal of great ideas, you may now be struggling with how to even begin implementing it all. This is normal, don’t worry. The key is to take a short breather (very important, you deserve it), then dive in with the following five objectives:
Identify Key Takeaways
Hopefully you were able to attend all of the sessions you had hoped to. A lot of the information may have been new. While it is still fresh in your mind, write down a list of the top five most important things you learned at the conference. Maybe you learned that you can ask your child’s school to include a new type of goal on their IEP or perhaps you’re professional who learned about a technique you may wish to include in your practice – jot these new lessons down in one place so you can reflect upon them when needed.
Prioritize Your Goals
Out of all of the strategies you learned at the 2018 Milestones National Autism Conference, what should you use first? You may have a lot of different things that you wish to work on. For example, you may be a self-advocate who wants to get a date, a job, and to apply for certain benefits. How would you rank these in order of importance? Maybe you think a job is the most important to you right now so that you can afford to take a date out for coffee. Reflecting on your priorities and identifying one or two things to work on at a time can make things much more manageable.
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