Teamwork Continues to Improve Life of Ogden Boy with Hearing Loss

Tori Carsrud does an activity with Noah Hasty as she serves on his team of AEA staff who provide services to him because of his hearing loss.

You often hear the expression, “it takes a village to raise a child.” In the case of 3-year-old Noah Hasty of Ogden, that phrase rings true. Noah was diagnosed as profoundly deaf at two weeks of age, and with the support of his family, the Ogden Community Schools and his Heartland AEA team, he is making great strides in life and learning.

As there was no family history of significant hearing loss, Noah’s diagnosis was a new experience for the Hasty family. Upon receiving the news, Noah’s mother, Heather Hasty, immediately sought out resources that would help her son.

“The audiologist at the hospital gave us a list of all our options,” Heather said. “I spoke with the AEA and they started coming out. I wanted to give him every option available to make it easier for him.”

Heartland AEA staff began working with Noah when he was 3 months old. Noah’s parents and AEA staff discussed Noah’s condition and what his parents hoped he would achieve by working with the AEA. It was important to Heather that Noah develop sign language as well as spoken language.

“He is deaf and part of the Deaf community, but I wanted him to learn both outlets to enhance communication both ways,” Heather said.

Tori Carsrud, Heartland AEA itinerant hearing teacher, started working with Noah early on to help him learn both forms of communication. She visited the family’s home every week and used toys to help Noah learn more words and expand his knowledge base. Later Noah worked with Gail Kenkel and Emily Merrell, Heartland AEA speech-language pathologists, to work on his articulation and length of sentences.

Not only did the Heartland AEA staff work with Noah, they provided resources for his family and answered questions about his disability and treatment. Noah’s parents also learned some methods and strategies to practice with him at home to help his learning.

“Tori is always finding more that I could use to help Noah progress with his speech skills,” Heather said. “We found benefit in the AEA because it gave us the option to educate him ourselves. It educates us so that we can best educate Noah. The AEA is family-oriented and gave us tools to implement at home.”

Noah continues to work with his Heartland AEA hearing teacher and speech-language pathologist to enhance his communication skills as he attends preschool in Howe Elementary in Ogden. However, his personalized AEA services don’t stop there. Through early monitoring, it was found that Noah was a candidate to receive cochlear implants. Cochlear implants (CI) are devices that take the auditory stimuli in a person’s ear and covert it to electrical stimuli so that patients can hear. Heartland AEA audiologist, Cindy Moses, was assigned on the team of AEA professionals and University of Iowa medical audiologists that helped Noah transition into a modified hearing world.

“A child who gets cochlear implants has no point of reference to what sound is,” Moses said. “It takes a lot of training and stimulation to help the child make the connection that what they are hearing is sound. It takes some time to get used to it.”

When a child goes to school, the AEA takes a more active role in helping the school establish educational strategies and modifications to help the child succeed. Moses meets regularly with the Ogden school team to help create a supportive acoustic environment for Noah so that background noise is minimized, and he can focus on listening to his teacher.

“It’s really a team effort of the AEA staff, medical staff from Iowa City, Ogden staff and especially, Noah’s parents,” Moses said. “We all have worked collaboratively to get him where he is today.”

Carsrud also attributes Noah’s success to teamwork: “Noah has made leaps and bounds since his initial referral. He is now using three- and four-word sentences, has a large vocabulary bank that we can no longer keep tabs on and enjoys engaging in conversation with his peers at preschool. Noah’s progress is a direct reflection of his supportive family, strong service providers (Jessica Hanson, Cindy Moses, Gail Kenkel, Emily Merrell and myself) and the open dialogue between family and school.”

Meet the People Who Make a Difference: Speech-Language Pathologists

All of Iowa’s nine AEAs employ staff members that provide consultation and therapy for children who have significant problems with language, voice, articulation, and stuttering. Click on the picture below to meet Nancy Almasi, a speech-language pathologist for Grant Wood AEA, who talks about her work in the schools and how she is making an impact in children’s lives.

If you are from eastern Iowa, you may have seen Nancy on KGAN-TV earlier this month explaining how she uses iPads to enhance services to the students she works with. See that story on the KGAN-TV CBS website.

Northwest Iowa Boys Transition Smoothly to New Family

Reprinted from page 5 of “Early ACCESS: Governor’s Report January 2013,” highlighting the story of two boys and their family who received services from Northwest AEA’s Early ACCESS team, including Sara Klingensmith, early childhood special education teacher/consultant, and Julie Tucker, early childhood special education school social worker.

Early ACCESS Services Impacts Iowa Children – Stories of Success

Chad* started receiving Early ACCESS services from Northwest AEA when he and his brother were put in foster care.

Hi! My name is Chad*. I’m two-years-old and I have a smile that can melt anyone’s heart. Along with my charisma, I have the same desire that every child has in life…to be in a safe and loving home and to be able to be “me” with all of my typical developmental expectations…even those that can be challenging at times.

I became involved with Early ACCESS in January 2011, when my older brother and I were placed into a foster home. Although my biological mother loved us, she was making some choices that kept us from being safe when we were with her.

The Early ACCESS providers met with our biological mom on our visits with her and would meet with our foster parents, too. They worked with the adults in my life to help me with my social/emotional needs. I was really going through a lot of transitions, and it was hard on me.

Now I would like to share the wonderful part of my story. My brother and I were adopted into a loving home. We have a wonderful Mom and Dad that love us so much and tell us this daily. We have a home that is filled with adventure and fun.

Even though I went through some difficult times, I’m thankful for all of the many people in my life that took steps to make sure I had the opportunity to be safe and know that I am loved. I’m even going to preschool now and have so many friends there. I can’t wait to go. After school I go home to my new Mom and Dad. We talk and play together, eat supper together, and they tuck me into bed and read a story to me. The last thing we say every night is “Good night. I love you.” I am happy!

Well…thanks for listening to my story and thanks for caring about kids.

*Names have been changed

Milestones Meaningful to This Mom

Reise Regennitter

Reise Regennitter is a five-year-old boy who is in a typical peer classroom at Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn. He is speaking in sentences; he has friends; and he is now at the verbal level of a three-and-half-year-old child. He plays with toys the same way any child his age would. He is able to cut with scissors, color and function physically at the level of his peers.

You might ask why these milestones are important? You might only be able to truly appreciate his progress if you place yourself in the shoes of his mother, Alecia Regennitter.

At the age of two, Reise was not meeting the milestones that a typical toddler his age would be acquiring; so, it was requested through a previous daycare provider that the family meet with a Northwest Area Education Agency (AEA) representative to have Reise assessed.

He was evaluated by a Northwest AEA team; and within days, his therapy started. It was not officially known what was wrong with Reise, but it was agreed that there was some level of delayed cognitive growth.

His therapy started with home visits that included occupational therapy with AEA employees, Krista Harpenau; speech therapy with Trish Tisthammer of the AEA; and Anna Schmadeke, an AEA early childhood special education teacher/consultant.

“These three women are responsible for giving him the jump-start in education and therapy that he was in desperate need of,” said Alecia.

It was at this time in his life that Reise was only able to make the open mouth “ah” sound and the closed mouth “m” sound. A normal peer of this age is able to say many words and sounds. He also did not have what was considered “typical play” with toys. He would sit and manipulate toys with his hands, but did not understand even the simple things, such as putting buttons into a container or pushing a toy car along the floor.

He was diagnosed with severe Apraxia after an MRI revealed several brain abnormalities. Apraxia is a fancy way of saying that Reise has the words in his head, but his mouth cannot make them come out. He is also diagnosed as being “globally delayed,” which means that he is delayed in several other areas of development.

According to Alecia, the Northwest AEA team involved in Reise’s care provided outstanding services. They not only taught Reise but also provided Alecia with the tools to continue his teaching at home during the in-between times of visits. When Reise entered into the schooling system at the age of three, Amanda Bengtson, an AEA speech-language pathologist, also entered into his therapy. He received, and continues to receive, hours of therapy per month during his school days.

“This means so much to us as parents,” explained Alecia. “The service provided is free-of-charge and has done wonders for his development.”

Reise is still involved heavily with AEA during his school days. He still has hurdles to overcome in the years ahead of him, and Alecia says they are relying on the continued aid of Northwest AEA to help him just as they have always done. In addition to the already mentioned AEA personnel, Reise is also helped by AEA employees Jill Chalstrom, special education strategist, and Alicia Moos, speech-language pathologist.

“My son deserves the same chance in life that everyone is entitled to,” said Alecia. “Going from making only two basic sounds as a toddler to being able to speak in sentences now is an amazing feat for a child with severe Apraxia.”

It is only until one understands where a child has started from and what he has overcome that one can truly appreciate the “little things” that have been accomplished!

Success for LuCasey: A Family’s Journey

Communication received by Great Prairie AEA from Melanie Patton, Parent, ourspecialkidsiowa@gmail.com.

LuCasey, now 15, in high school and very successful

Our family moved to SE Iowa in late 2008. Our previous school experiences in another state had been little more than “glorified babysitting” for our daughter who suffered with frequent seizures. Due to the seizure disorder and medical difficulties, she had many learning disabilities and delays. It was difficult getting to know the area and the services available for our 11 year old special needs daughter, LuCasey. We didn’t even know what an AEA was. We looked around at a variety of schools and decided on Mt. Pleasant, where LuCasey finished her school year at Harlan Elementary. It was then recommended that she move on to the Middle School.

The teacher at the Middle School, Tiffany Menke, was phenomenal and she and the AEA staff were very helpful in assessing LuCasey’s needs and providing appropriate services. For the first time in LuCasey’s school life, we felt that she was receiving an appropriate education and support services to help her grow into the child she was supposed to be, even with the disabilities that she faced. Not only did we find support for our daughter’s education, we also found the school and AEA supportive of our family and LuCasey’s behavior challenges.

During this time, I met the PEC Coordinator for our area, Kelly Wallace. Because of the difficulties we initially had in finding out about services, both in and out of school, I had a desire to help other parents. Many times, valuable information I received came from other parents. Kelly encouraged and assisted me and last spring I started a Support Group for Parents with Special Needs Children called Our Special Kids – Southeast Iowa. This group is open to all parents and families dealing with any type of special needs. The group’s mission is to share information, and provide support and encouragement to one another. We meet regularly and also stay in contact via email and our FaceBook Page (Our Special Kids Southeast Iowa). Kelly and the AEA have been an invaluable support to our family and I wouldn’t have gotten this group going without their help.

Our daughter is now 15, in High School and very successful under another amazing teacher, Kathy Holtkamp. The teachers, paraprofessionals and the AEA Staff in Southeast Iowa are amazing! Outside of the regular school day, they have taken her to afterschool functions, including middle school dances and this year, the High School Homecoming Dance and activities. Recently the staff accompanied LuCasey and her whole class to the movies on a Saturday night so that they could all feel like their “typical” peers. We have been so blessed that everyone that has been involved in our daughter’s education has been supportive and willing to contribute to her success. We have also been treated with respect and dignity and as a part of the team, since parents are the “Specialist” for their child. Having come from another state where the services weren’t meeting our needs, we are grateful to the Mt. Pleasant School District and the Great Prairie AEA for all they have done to ensure that our daughter is successful and grows into her full potential.

North Union Learners Benefit from Prairie Lakes AEA Transition Grant

Students (left to right) Brandy Bendickson, Derrick Hagedorn, Trey Busch, Triston Teachout

On November 27th, four excited students, two para educators, and one special education teacher took a fieldtrip to Opportunity Village in Clear Lake and to Exceptional Treasures in Algona. Teacher Mary Gelhaus of North Union High School had five objectives in mind for her level 3 student’s learning. She wanted to broaden the students’ perceptions of future career options and opportunities for meaningful employment, to broaden her knowledge of diversity of services within and outside of our area, increase her knowledge base of activities to incorporate into her classroom, especially pre-vocational training and life skills, to increase the students’ awareness of possibilities beyond their homes and communities in which they now live, and to have the students practice money skills, functional reading of signs and menus, and social skills.

To make this happen, Mary worked with Transition Coordinator, Diane Nelsen, of Prairie Lakes AEA to obtain a mini-grant. The money supporting these “mini transition grants” is part of the larger Prairie Lakes AEA Transition SPDG from the Department of Ed. The transition coordinators of PLAEA wanted to be innovative in providing school districts and classrooms with opportunities to expand their transition knowledge through an interactive opportunity for students and teachers. This is how the opportunity came to be given to all high school special education teachers/districts in Prairie Lakes AEA. The opportunity for funding was communicated at the beginning of this school year and made available through the course of this year. This is a one-year opportunity.

To prepare her students for the trip, Mary worked on functional signs with and without a visual cue. For example, “women’s restroom.” The students learned to read/recognize the word “women” and learned to recognize the picture (stick figure in a dress) that would typically be on the women’s restroom door and handicap figure that may be on the sign. They were introduced to many of these signs before their trip, and they continue to learn more of them. The grant made it possible for the students to put their knowledge into action as many of these signs are not found in their small hometown communities.

At Opportunity Village, they toured the on-campus facilities including day services, greenhouse, work activities center, therapeutic activities, lunchroom, computer center, and pool. Off-campus they toured the Village General Store to observe another work experience—shelving items, pricing, washing, dusting, packing, etc. At the end of the tour, they were given promotional DVD of Opportunity Village. After the tour, the group ate at Culver’s in Clear Lake. At Culver’s, students had a chance to practice their skills of reading a menu and money (ordering, paying, and getting change) beyond a classroom setting. Eating out also gave them a chance to practice table manners. After lunch they traveled to Algona for a tour of the Exceptional Treasures store. This gave the students a chance to compare work opportunities between two stores and to observe a work opportunity near their current home communities. All four students are Kossuth County residents and some of them have shopped at Exceptional Treasures. This tour gave them a different perspective of the store. Now they were not shoppers, but rather they saw how the store was run and saw a possible employment opportunity for them in the future.

Prior to the trip, Mary obtained a menu from Culver’s for the students to practice ordering. The menu had words as well as pictures of every item. Mary deliberately chose Culver’s because it was an unfamiliar restaurant for most of the students and not near their hometowns. Having prior knowledge of menu items gave the students independence in ordering and choices rather than always eating the same thing, because that is what was ordered for them or that is all they knew to order.

The class has also been working on money skills. Not only did they practice ordering from a menu, they also practiced paying for their order and receiving change. Mary told each of students that they had a certain amount of money to spend, so they also practiced ordering and figuring on money calculator to see if they had enough money to order what they wished. Sometimes they had to reorder many times (in practice situations) before they were within their budget and that meant some tough choices!

As a follow up to the trip they reviewed everything from the signs they had seen to their thoughts of Culver’s experience to comparing the career opportunities. The students and adults had a great learning experience.

“I think that I achieved all 5 goals that I had set prior to going on this trip. The students were excited to go, tired by the end of the day, but they came the next day and were able to discuss the many positive things they had experienced” said Gelhaus. “I want to thank the AEA transition team for making this trip possible. Would I have done these skills (functional signs, menu reading, etc) if I did not receive the grant? Yes, but the grant made it possible to put learning into practice. My students had a chance to practice their skills beyond the classroom, and they saw opportunities for themselves after high school.”

People Who Make A Difference: Hearing Teachers

All of Iowa’s AEAs employ staff members who provide supplementary support and assistance to students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Click on the picture below to meet Laura McGraw, Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and hear her touching story about how she has seen one of her students grow in communication skills over the years.