Our team at Butterflies for Change offer a variety of workshops and training programs for parents and educators. We have experience creating and participating in educational experiences for ALL learners. 

We can also create workshops to meet your needs, calling on additional resources if necessary.






WORKSHOPS

Honey, I Blew Up the Curriculum
Adaptations and Accommodations: The IDEAL Method of Adapting Curriculum

In this workshop participants will learn how to adapt curriculum to meet the needs of a diverse classroom. Parents will learn how to help their children at home and make easy adaptations that will help children access the general education curriculum and be a full participant in the educational process.

Participants will:

• Learn how to look at the learner, curriculum and environment
• Learn how to find the essential and enduring concepts of a lesson unit using the curriculum planning pyramid
• Learn how to all students can have access to the general education curriculum and the learning standards.
• Learn the 8 types of adaptations
• Learn how to authentically assess a student who has academic challenges.
• Learn simple easy to use tools and strategies that include: mini books, previewing, auto summarize, graphic webs, picture/photo stores and books, read please, using technology and how to adapt to maintain the integrity of the curriculum and reduce the density.
• Learn about the concepts of backward design and universal design.
• Learn how a student with a disability used all the adaptations to be successful in general education from pre-school – High School.
• Learn simple ideas and programs that help students support each other in collaborative groups.
• Learn about environmental structures that support all learners: co-teaching models, stations, and cooperative groups.
• Learn how to communicate effectively with general education teachers, special education teachers, and parents.
• Learn how to involve parents in the process

Person Centered Planning: Designing Positive and Possible Futures for Individuals with Disabilities

In this workshop participants will learn about Person Centered Planning. They will learn a variety of ways to use this process so that they can individualize it for their child.  In this process the student with a disability is the heart of the process.  Educators can use this tool to bring teams together (including families and students with disabilities) to plan for a full and inclusive life.
Families can use this process to learn how to be a leader in their child’s life. Students entering into their transition years can use this process to speak on behalf of themselves, learn self determination skills, learn how to set  goals , find their own voice, and present at their own IEP meetings.

Participants will:

• Learn the foundational concepts of Person Centered Planning
• Learn a Person Centered Planning process that is very successful.
• Learn how an individual with a disability can use this process to find their own voice and present at their own IEP meetings. (Bridget Brown will explain and demonstrate how she has presented at her own meetings and provide the participants with tools and strategies to help other students).
• Learn how parents and families can use this process to be a leader in their child’s life.
• Learn how the process works and have an opportunity to see the process in action and/or experience the process as a facilitator or participant.
• Leave with a firm understanding of person centered planning, a workbook, and ideas about how to implement this process so that individuals with disabilities can have full and productive lives.

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Dwell In the Possibilities – Keynote

Bridget Brown is a national public speaker, a lifelong learner and a young woman with Down Syndrome. She was the first person fully included in her school district and has had a remarkable educational experience. Bridget’s keynote is “DWELL IN THE POSSIBILITIES” because she believes she is successful because people always held hope for her and they made plans based on dreams and not on fears.

The Love of My Life – Keynote

Nancy Brown is Bridget’s mother. She is a strong advocate for her daughter and many people with disabilities. She is an inclusion consultant for ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) with Project CHOICES.  Nancy helps parents learn how to be a leader in their child’s life and how to navigate through uncharted territory. She encourages families to dream for their children and hold hope for them and for each other.

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• Working with teachers to help them understand the parents' point of view
• Helping teachers adapt the curriculum in specific ways
• One on one counseling to help students or teachers create their own plan