General Meeting Minutes
2023-2024 School Year
| September 26, 2023 | Welcome Back to School! You have questions. We have Answers. Navigating the school system when you have questions can be a time-consuming process. The Department of Special Education and The Family Support Center would like to provide information to streamline that process for you. Join us as we answer questions related to transportation, student health, and safety. We will have representatives from the Transportation Department, Health Services, and the Family Support Center. They will join us to share tips on how to get the information that you are seeking.
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| October 24, 2023 | The IEP Process: How to Navigate the Process and Where to Go When You Have Questions Join us for this opportunity to learn from The Parents Place of Maryland about the IEP process and how to navigate the process for your child. Also, find out where you can go to get support when needed through the Department of Special Education Family Support Team.
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| November 28, 2023 | Respect for All: Preventing and Addressing Bullying, Harassment, and Intimidation in our Schools Students with disabilities can be at an increased risk for bullying, harassment & intimidation in today’s environment in school, in the home community, and on social media. Unfortunately, these experiences can have an enormous impact on students. That’s why it’s particularly important for both parents and educators to take a proactive role in promoting healthy social relationships and positive social media use. Bullying, harassment and intimidation have no place in Prince George’s County Public Schools. Come learn about what Prince George’s County Public Schools is doing regarding bullying, harassment, and intimidation prevention as well as Social Emotional health and wellness for our students.
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| December | NO MEETING |
| January 23, 2024 | Planning for Successful Transitions Across Grade Levels!
During our January meeting, participants will gain a deeper understanding of what children with disabilities might experience as a part of a transition from preschool through post-secondary from the school perspective and the parent/guardian perspective, to include strategies for supporting your children that promote positive outcomes for families and for children. We know that transitions can be hard, but our experts have a lot of knowledge to share about how to facilitate effective transitions.
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| February 27, 2024 | Executive Functioning Skills-What are They and How Do You Help Develop them in Your Child?
According to the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. During our February meeting, we hope that participants will gain a deeper understanding of what executive functioning skills are as well as strategies for supporting our children with executive functioning skill development. We are pleased to have Evan Weinberger as our guest speaker. Evan is the CEO of Illuminos LLC, an academic coaching and tutoring company he co-founded with his cousin Wendy in 2016 after a decade of success growing the sister company he founded in Texas in 2006 called Staying Ahead of the Game LLC. The focus of his award-winning and research-driven program is helping kids build the executive functioning skills they need to be successful in the classroom and beyond. The core components include helping students with organization, time management, and influencing the perceptions of others. Evan will offer helpful tips to parents about how to encourage the ongoing development of essential executive functioning skills for kids, including those struggling with learning differences. Evan will offer actionable and specific strategies parents can use at home to help their children form better school habits and routines, as well as maintain focus, a growth mindset, cognitive flexibility, and more. All participants will leave with creative new ideas directly from Illuminos’ proprietary and research-driven program they can implement immediately.
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| March 19, 2024 |
Join us at our 12th Annual Parent Empowerment Conference! In lieu of March’s SECAC meeting, we encourage you to attend the Virtual PGCPS Family Support Center’s 13th Annual Parent Empowerment Conference, March 19 – April 18th.
Collaborations: Putting the Pieces Together for Student Success
The conference will bring you sessions on behavior, academics, transition, and specific disabilities (including dyslexia and autism). These sessions include:
To see the complete schedule, and register for the individual talks, visit this link: http://tinyurl.com/
The SECAC was delighted to co-host Dr. Kristen Eccleston, who spoke during our regular meeting time about “Empowering Neurodivergent Success: Collaborative Strategies for Seamless Transitions.”
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| April 16, 2024 |
It’s Autism Awareness Month! At our April meeting we will have special guests Noor Pervez from the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, and Betty Adkins who will be talking about the Relationship-based Dynamic Intelligence (RDI) curriculum that PGCPS offers to all parents with autistic children up to age 21.
Please join us at the
Second Annual
Department of Special Education’s
Autism Parent Summit!
WHEN: April 20, 2024, 8:45AM – 3:00PM
WHERE: John Carroll Administration Building, 1400 Nalley Terrace, Landover, MD 20785
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| May 28, 2024 |
Panel on Preparing Your Students for Employment Panelists:
Moderator:
We will also discuss how to best partner with the Department of Special Education to discuss challenges, successes, and resources for enhancing our children’s educational journey. Come ready to share your ideas for topics for next year’s meetings. |