SB 210 Committee Minutes for May 8-9, 2017

SB 210 Committee Meeting
May 8, 2017

NorCal Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
4708 Roseville Road, Suite #11
North Highlands, CA 95660

Present: Sheri Farinha, Ronda Rufsvold, Jane Freutel, Ann Dexheimer, Georgette Visco, Tony Ronco, Michele Tompkins, Ross Adams, Licia King, Michele Berke, Elizabeth Foronda, Marla Hatrak.

Absent: Kristi Panek

Visitors: Julie Rems-Smario, Laura Covello

Staff: Nancy Grosz Sager, Dwight Smiley

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 by Chair Sheri Farinha

Welcome and housekeeping

The agenda for the next two days was reviewed by Sheri Farinha.

Minutes of March 7- Licia King’s name was omitted from last meeting and will be added.

Michelle Tompkins moved (Tony Ronco 2nd) to approve minutes of March 7, 2017 meeting, as corrected. Motion approved.

Between now and June 30th all milestones will be finalized, and by July 2018 Senate Bill 210 will be fully implemented.

Sheri broke the group into small workgroups to finalize examples in the Language Milestones.

11:30 a.m. Presentation by Julie Rems-Smario on suggested “Your Deaf Child’s Early Language Acquisition Milestones” - Design similar to the game “Candyland” – followed by discussion from committee members with various ideas on how the document can be implemented. Design will be available on the CDE website for teachers/parents to access and bring to child IEP/IFSP.

12:00 p.m. – Lunch break - Workgroups worked during lunch to finalize Language Milestones.

1:00 p.m. – Desired Results Developmental Profile [DRDP] presentation from Sheila Self, Consultant, CDE Special Education, Patty Salcedo and Steve Lohrer, DRDP Consultants (Power Point on this web site).

2:30–4:30 p.m. – Presentations by Early Start Specialists on the four tools the SB 210 Committee had agreed to consider. Those four tools included 1) the SKI HI Language Development Scale, 2) the Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP), 3) the Cottage Acquisition Scales for Listening, Language, & Speech (CASLLS), and 4) the Visual Communication and Language Scale (VCSL).

2:30 p.m. – Heather Boyd, Early Intervention, San Juan USD, gave presentation on the SKI-HI Language Development Scale.

3:00 p.m. – Heather Morehouse Jack, Sacramento COE, gave presentation on “Hawaii Early Learning Program” [HELP].

3:30 p.m. – Ronda Rufsvold, SB210 committee member, gave presentation on Cottage Acquisition Scales for Listening, Language & Speech [CASLLS].

4:00 p.m. – Michele Tompkins and Michele Berke, SB210 committee members, gave presentation on Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist [VCSL].

Meeting was adjourned for the day at 4:45.

SB 210 Committee
May 9, 2017

NorCal Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
4708 Roseville Road, Suite #11
North Highlands, CA 95660

Present: Ronda Rufsvold, Jane Freutel, Tony Ronco, Michele Tompkins, Licia King, Michele Berke, Marla Hatrak, Sheri Farinha

Excused: Ross Adams, Elizabeth Foronda, Georgette Visco, Ann Dexheimer

Absent: Kristi Panek

Visitors: Julie Rems Smario, Esperanza Ross

Staff: Nancy Grosz Sager, Dwight Smiley

The meeting was called to order at 10:10 a.m. by Chair, Sheri Farinha.

10:10 - Sheri opened up, welcoming committee members and discussing agenda for the morning.

10:20 - A few members were not in attendance, so the committee worked as a whole to discuss assessments presented at yesterday’s meeting.

Ross Adams was ill, and was not able to attend; however, he sent an e-mail to all members discussing his ideas and recommendations. E-mail was posted on screen and read aloud to members.

Discussion was held amongst committee members regarding assessment tools.

Each member gave their recommendation on which assessment tool works best. Some members were still undecided but expressed the would support the majority decision. A majority of committee members preferred the SKI HI Language Development Scale.

Members broke into groups to review and discuss language milestones.

12:00 p.m. – Lunch break

1:00 p.m.– Small work groups convened to rate the four assessment tools using a rubric that rated each assessment tool from 1 (low) to 4 (high) based on 1) how well the tool matches the SB 210 committee’s Language Milestones, 2) user friendliness for the assessor, and 3) parent friendliness.

1:30 p.m. – Individuals reported their rubric scores and they were recorded on the white board. The SKI HI Language Development Scale received the highest ratings.

2:00 p.m. – Members broke into groups for 30 minutes to discuss Language Milestones.

2:30 p.m. – Members came back to the table to discuss recommendations for assessments. The committee agreed that the SKI HI Language Development Scale was the most appropriate tool for the State; however, concerns were expressed that the SKI HI does not rate grammar and syntax to the appropriate depth (in either English or American Sign Language) at the 4-5 year age level. Nancy agreed to call the developers of the SKI HI to ask if they are willing to work with our State to ensure the SKI HI includes all of California’s Language Milestones. Nancy will share the results of the SB 210 Committee work with her superiors at the California Department of Education.

3:30 p.m. – Sheri thanked all the SB 210 committee members for their service and certificates were handed out.

4:00 p.m. – Final meeting adjourned.