School Garden Education for Diverse Children Experiencing Stress

Tonya DeCrose Speech-Language Pathologist Multnomah Education Service District

Joni Hamilton Tolon School Psychologist & Principal Burlingame Creek Schools & Multnomah Education Service District’s Arata Creek

Liana Harden Faculty Research Asst., GROW Healthy Kids & Communities Oregon State University Extension, Columbia County

Case Study

Psychology & Stress

Transitions

Dominant Paradigm

Communication

Engagement

Who is Our Audience at The Creeks (Arata and Burlingame Schools)?

• All students are identified as needing specially designed instruction for special education to meet his or her social, emotional, behavioral, and communication needs.

• Students on an IEP have until 21 years of age to graduate with either a standard, modified, or certificate of attendance.

• We service students K – 21 at our schools.

What do engaged students look like?

Write up to THREE descriptive words.

Diversity

noun: multiplicity of human expression and characteristics

Iowa State University http://www.extension.iastate.edu/NR/rdonlyres/710A5A22-AD2E-4710-A769-

9CC1B9332DF5/171477/ISUEODiversityPlan.pdf

Diversity & Stress Teen-aging Lack of

mental & physical safety

Diversity Actual &

perceived differences

Poverty Not a culture, but a chronic

condition affecting the mind, body &

soul

Stress Triggers

Diversity & Stress

Fight • hyper vigilant, angry, fearless

Flight • learned helplessness or “I quit”

Eric Jensen Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind:

Practical Strategies for Raising Achievement

Allostasis

Diversity & Stress

Stress Symptoms

• Poor working memory • Less effort put out in class • Either angry or detached • Greater impulsivity (blurts, talks back)

Eric Jensen Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind:

Practical Strategies for Raising Achievement

Transitions

Team-building Games to practice…

• Paradigm Shift • Building Relationships • Behavior Expectations

Ballantine, J. H., & Spade, J. Z. Getting started: Understanding education through

sociological theory.

Dominant Paradigm Forms of Capital

Economic • Money & material resources

Human • Knowledge • Skills

Social • Networks • Relationships

Cultural • “Embodied” ways of being • Interactive styles

Card-Dominoes

Start clue clue answer answer clue answer Finish

• Lower Stress • Equalize Capital • Build relationships

The Art of Effective Communication

Know Your Audience: How to Improve School Outcomes

with Visual and Sensory Audiences

Psychology

CHARACTERIZING AUDIENCE

FAPE = Free, Appropriate, Public Education in Least Restrictive Setting.

• Oregon’s Department of Education web-site for complete details on special education, IDEA. http://www.ode.state.or.us/home. • Quick summary of who is on the team for the IEP and how does a student qualify. • At MESD: Strengths and Weakness Model is used.

Venn Diagram Common Characteristics for our SPED student at

The Creeks CROPS School to Farm Work Program Visual Learners Sensory Needs, Kinesthetic

Learners Anxiety Concrete, Rigid,

Inflexible Thinkers Social Communication is

hard for them Poor Auditory Processing Poor Auditory Memory,

Stronger Visual Memory Weak Limbic System,

primitive system, which is part of our self-regulation system

Poor Executive Functioning weak pre-frontal, frontal lobe.

Difficulties with Attention, Alertness, Insight into

Weakness Difficulties with Initiation of Tasks

Difficulties with Sequencing and Organizing

Emotionally Immature

Psychology

Psychology

• We teach perspective talking skills • We use developmental milestones that are tied to Common Core

State Standards for content, form, and use to reach our goals.

Venn Diagram Common Characteristics for our SPED student at

The Creeks, CROPS School to Farm to Work Program

The Power of Story Telling

• We all learn language and how to communicate what we want, think, and feel through story telling…through sharing in a conversation…through sharing in a joint experience.

• Visual learners respond well to story telling that is done with symbols, cartooning, and photos.

Communication

Communication

Kansas State University http://www.he.k-state.edu/diversity/

Tools to support retention what worked Total Communication = Body language &

visual/sign language, and print literacy We keep re-enforcing the learning throughout the

learning steps, we use direct video modeling and technology for pre-teach, teach, and review stages.

Communication

A "5" Could Make Me Lose Control! An activity-based method for evaluating and supporting highly anxious students

1st Edition

1. I like to follow the school rules in public and at home, too. 2. I like to use my “listening” position. 3. I like to keep my hands to self. 4. I like to respect the bubble.

Positive Transitions School Rules & Community Rules

We Train Safety, Respect, and Responsibility Thinking & Doing Inside & Outside

Strategies for Communicating in a Crisis Assumptions: • They are visual learners • They often have sensory needs • Auditory channels are the weakest links for our students

on the spectrum • NEED MORE VISUAL TO SUPPORT the weaker auditory

weakness.

Psychology

Temple Grandin One of Our Heroes!

• “When I was a child and a teenager, I thought everybody thought in pictures.”

• “I had no idea that my thought processes were different.”

• “I credit my visualization abilities with helping me to understand the animals I work with.”

Psychology

Heroes with autism spectrum disorder that defy the paradigm…

Bill Gates Albert Einstein Temple Grandin James Earl Jones

Dominant Paradigm

“Auditory is Fleeting, but Visuals are Forever!” – Judy McClain, ASD Specialist in Private Practice

Communication

What Works in Our Gardens and Farm to Work Programs

Make a Plan Before You Go Into the Garden!

STICK TO THE SCHEDULE AND THE PLAN! Honor the start time and end time . Honor the mentor and volunteers and their time and schedules.

File a school plan with your administrators and RN.

Many of our students manage medications daily and you must coordinate the plan with the RN.

Determine adult to student ratio for safety and line of sight needs in the garden and farm programs.

Positive Transitions

What Works in Our Gardens and Farm to Work Programs • Pre-teach, teach, and review 5-scale safety rules • Right Now Safety Signs and walkie-talkie works. • Written checklists and i-Pad / video technology. • Review right now – safety commands: Stop Wait Sit Break Help Safe Work • Don’t get in a power struggle with the student who is in crisis. • Develop an effective communication system for crisis times, which includes a team decision that we do not try to ‘fix’ the problem in a crisis moment.

Positive Transitions

What Works in Our Gardens and Farm to Work Programs

• Students have scattered strengths and need project based learning.

• Use direct video modeling, especially in the CROPS program

• Use technology more in the classroom to support poor initiation of task, and to support improved attention, alertness, and task completion.

• Computers don’t ‘criticize.’ Technology is ‘hip, cool’ and fun!

• Technology builds the student’s self-esteem.

Positive Transitions

What Works to Connect Learning – STEAM

• Build in “Thinking ABOUT THINKING = Executive Function Steps” at all steps of learning

• Tie in Development AND Common Core State Standards’ LANGUAGE Structure

• Extension lessons: VISUAL, SENSORY, LANGUAGE extensions exercises.

• Targeted vocabulary forms. Put the picture first. Build on phonemic awareness through connecting music, arts, and language lessons.

• Use visuals like graphic organizers – VENN Diagram, spider webs.

Positive Transitions

What Works to Connect Learning – STEAM

• Always end a garden lesson with a review of WHAT YOU KNOW, WHAT YOU LEARNED, and WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN.

• End a garden lesson with the next lesson in mind.

• Use calendars to commit to next date and lesson plan.

• Visual, sensory, and cognitive-language extension exercises includes access to academic environment training with speech-to-text and text to-speech-technology. Gage loves to fix technology and loves all things related to technology!

• Use direct video modeling before and after structured learning activities to support retention and on-task behaviors.

Positive Transitions

The next step is?? What Comes After Arata Creek? Regular setting

More restrictive or ??

Most restrictive or ??

What if ???…

How we communicate as a system can help us break the returning cycle to more restrictive settings?

Positive Transitions Where Do I Go Now? What Do I Hope For My Future?

Let the next step be the least restrictive!

Wrap-up Case Study foundation of experts

Diversity & Stress brain responses

Transitions build trust & less restriction

Dominant Paradigm equalize capital

Communication support coping skills

Engagement

impact our expectation?

Partnerships for Expertise Ask yourself the

tough questions Educate yourself &

Ask for training

Continue this work!