The La Grange Area Department of Special Education (LADSE) is a special education cooperative providing programs and services to fifteen (15) suburban member districts in DuPage and Cook Counties just west of Chicago. LADSE brings a vision and primary value of inclusive education to the consortium. As one of the oldest special education cooperatives in the state, LADSE was the first special education cooperative in Illinois—founded in 1957. A primary goal at LADSE is the inclusion of children with disabilities into the community from preschool through adulthood.
Interns will experience collaboration with highly qualified professionals in the disciplines of psychology, speech/language therapy and occupational/physical therapy. Cooperating with other professionals toward the common goal of including students with a variety of needs (e.g., early childhood, emotional, communication, autism and multi-needs) will expand the interns’ knowledge, skills and practice in these highly specialized areas. Interns will also generalize these practice skills to provide assessment, consultation, and implement intervention in a variety of general and special education settings. As doctoral interns, interns will have the unique experience of providing intervention in a variety of settings while analyzing the effects of interventions on students, programs, or systems of education. Becoming aware of the Illinois and LADSE Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) vision and goals, as well as working toward systems implementation of these ideals will be a unique focus of the internship.
LADSE provides numerous support services to member districts including consultation/coaching support related to Problem-Solving/Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for both academics and behavior. The Early Childhood Education (ECE) program (MAJOR ROTATION) serves students age 3-5 in both special education and inclusion settings throughout these districts. The LADSE intern spends 2 days a week in one of the programs mentioned below (MINOR ROTATIONS) and the remainder of time includes activities within the ECE programs. Interns collaborate with their supervision team to develop their internship activities based on goals and needs of the intern and the school districts. Interns dialogue with their supervision team to develop internship activities based on the interns’ goals and the district’s needs. There are opportunities for meaningful exposure to 3-21-year-olds in both general and special education. Regardless of the grade level, the intern supports teams of educators to problem solve and meet the needs of all the students.
Approximately 3 days per week the intern focuses on services to early childhood. Within the Early Childhood Education program students with a variety of disabilities and Developmental Delays receive initial diagnostic psycho-educational evaluation through play-based assessments and authentic assessments. Students gain access to appropriate educational environments through a continuum of educational services. The ECE program includes 20 preschool special education classrooms, 24 blended/Preschool for All, 10 Tuition Based/Preschool for All, 1-2 pre-kindergarten, 3 bilingual, and speech and language services. In addition, LADSE and the districts collaborate with local community preschools to support students in these programs.
LADSE and the member districts also have classrooms for children on the autism spectrum at the preschool through 8th grade levels. LADSE and member districts work collaboratively to serve the students within their programs using research based practices in the area of autism.
Additionally, interns have opportunities to engage in system level activities at the district and school levels through the (coaching/consultation programs led by the Psychology Program Administrator, LADSE. Also, all interns are actively engaged in the individual student problem solving processes at any of the grade levels they serve.
MINOR ROTATIONS
Autism: LADSE offers a range of options for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
• Communication Development Classrooms: The CD classrooms provide intensive educational and therapeutic supports within a clinical model for students three to fourteen years of age. A student is enrolled for a portion of the school day in a CD program site where staff focus on the development of communication, social skills, and positive behavior.
• District Autism Supports: LADSE offers consultative support to teams working with ASD. The consultant assists in the design and structuring of environments, strategies, and supports that best accommodate the needs of students with autism in the natural setting.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing: LADSE is the administrative agent for the regional Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program which provides services to students with hearing disabilities ages birth to twenty-one. The range of services includes diagnostics and evaluation, placement, instruction, student and parent support services, technical assistance to local schools, transition, and outreach to the community.
Emotional Disability: The ED program provides a continuum of support options for students with social, emotional, and behavior disorders. A positive, strength-based, wraparound team approach provides three levels of support to students including self-contained, supported inclusion, and prevention.
Extended School Year (Summer): LADSE provides an extended school year program which is housed in a LADSE school district building. LADSE develops the program, recruits and supervises staff, and coordinates transportation services. Recommendation for an extended school year program is made by the Student Support Team at a multi-disciplinary conference and is part of the student’s individualized educational program. Eligibility is based upon several factors including the student’s need for continuous programming to prevent significant regression in critical life skills.
Multi-Needs: The students in the Multi-Needs Program are elementary through junior-high age students with significant physical, mental, and sensory impairments. These students meet daily challenges of multiple disabilities with extraordinary heart and spirit.
Phonological: The Phonological Program was developed for a specific group of children, ages 3 to 6 years, to remediate severe to profound speech disorders. The children who are eligible for this program have a good understanding of language, no significant oral motor delays, and can form sentences, but their speech is very difficult to understand.
Interns receive daily and weekly supervision from the licensed clinical and licensed school psychologist. Training is focused on helping interns learn to develop meaningful relationships with educators, parents, and students as the foundation for implementation of best practice assessment, intervention and consultation.
The intern receives at least two hours a week of individual supervision consistent with a developmental model of supervision from the licensed clinical psychologist in the early childhood program. In addition, other school psychologists support and provide additional supervision for the intern to develop effective intervention, assessment and consultation plans. Each year there are opportunities for research regarding the effectiveness of interventions and student progress within the program. Interns also have many opportunities for professional development through the district, Illinois Starnet (www.thecenterweb.org/starnet), and the LADSE cooperative.
Intern stipend is $20,000.00 plus benefits and travel reimbursement for ISPIC trainings and travel between program sites. The Intern’s hours are the same as the LADSE programs where they work, typically 8:00-3:30 with some variation. The intern follows the LADSE/District calendars and individualizes their calendar to meet intern and district needs. The intern spends their summers engaged in assessment and intervention in ECE or one of the programs mentioned. The intern’s office is located at LADSE or one of the district buildings. Interns have access to computers and phones as needed through LADSE.
A typical week for the ISPIC intern at LADSE includes 2 hours direct supervision with licensed psychologist, 1-2 hours formal and informal supervision with the site-based psychologist supervising the intern’s program, 12 hours direct service (e.g., individual/group assessments/therapy, individual/group intervention within classrooms), and 12 hours indirect service (e.g., individual/systems level consultation, meetings). The weekly schedule will also likely include 4 hours of report writing and other paperwork responsibilities, 3 hours of professional development activities, and 3 hours of preparation time (e.g., intervention planning, research, case notes).
SUPERVISOR
Melissa Brown Hanke, Ph.D., received her doctorate from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (2004). She has been a School Psychologist since 1993. She recently returned to the Lagrange Area Department of Special Education (LADSE) as ECP Coordinator and School Psychologist Supervisor in August, 2014 and was at LADSE prior to receiving her doctorate in the role of K-8 and ECE School Psychologist. Melissa was formerly employed by Glenview School District 34 as a certified school psychologist starting in 2004 and as a licensed Clinical Psychologist from 2006 to 2014. Prior to working in Glenview, she worked as a School Psychologist and Intern/Extern with NSSED Early Childhood Program, at North Shore Academy (both High School and Elementary School) and at Indian Trail Elementary School, Highland Park, IL. She has a CAGS in School Psychology from Tufts University, Medford, MA. Her interests include Conjoint Behavioral Consultation with preschool age children, Parent and Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy, and Implementation of Multi Tiered Systems of Support within the Early Childhood setting. In addition Dr. Hanke is a member of NASP, and DEC and has been invited to speak nationally and locally on the topic of Multi Tiered Services and Early Childhood programs.
