KY SPIN’s presents Charting the LifeCourse Roles Relationships Part 3 of 5 Webinar

Stella: Well, good morning everyone. And thank you so much for joining us today for part three of our five part series on Charting the LifeCourse. Today, we’re actually going to be talking about roles and relationships. So I’m very excited to share this with you all today.

[00:00:17] My name is Stella, I just almost forgot my name. How funny is that? Stella Beard, I am the Assistant Director for Kentucky SPIN. And just to go over a little housekeeping things for you, first of all, I am working from home, I do have dogs. So they may bark and I hope they won’t, but we never know. And so I wanted to give you that little warning.

[00:00:38] But also on your dashboard, on the right hand side, you will see, a couple of little dropdown boxes. One is the question box, if you have any questions throughout the presentation, please feel free to type those in there and I will try to answer those for you as we go along. If I don’t get to them during the webinar today, we will reach out to you privately. So don’t feel like we’re ignoring you, but hopefully we will have plenty of time that we can answer everyone’s questions.

[00:01:08] Also you will see a drop down box that says handouts. We have the PowerPoint included and then three additional handouts from today’s presentation that you’re free to download right now. Or you can wait until this afternoon and we will be sending you the links in a follow-up email to the PowerPoint and all of the handouts for today’s presentation. So if you don’t feel like you want to download those right now, you do not have to.

[00:01:39] So, I’m going to do a poll real quick. So I’m going to throw this poll up and if you would just answer that poll, as you see it. It should launch here shortly. And the question says, are you familiar with the LifeCourse tools? So if you’ll just take a few minutes and answer that poll for me, that would really help me kind of know our audience and know what we’re doing today.

[00:02:06] Okay. It looks like 60% of you all say no. And 40% say somewhat, or now we’re a little bit at 60, so that’s good. So some of you all may not have been on part one or part two of our webinars series that we’ve been doing. The good news is you can go back, and see past webinars that are up on our Kentucky SPIN webpage.

[00:02:35] So we have wonderful video series there, but we will be posting parts one and part two. I’m not sure if they’re available yet, but they will be soon. And you’re more than welcome to look at those and find out more information to kind of know the LifeCourse tools a little bit better.

[00:02:55] I want to tell you all a little bit about Kentucky SPIN. We are, Kentucky SPIN is the Special Parent Involvement Network. We are the parent training and information center for the State of Kentucky. And I’m happy to say we just received our notice and funding for an additional five years. So we’re super excited that we are still going to get to serve families in Kentucky.

[00:03:17] We’re actually funded through the U.S. Department of Education and we’re actually mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. And we’ve been the parent training and information center since 1988. So we’ve been around a long time. And we, what we do is we provide training, like we’re doing today, either an in person when we can, or virtually through a webinar, right now through COVID-19. And we will probably continue to do our webinars, even when we can do face-to-face.

[00:03:48] But we work with families and children and youth with all types of disabilities birth through age 26. So I love the work that I do for Kentucky SPIN. The wonderful thing is we do not act as attorney, so we’re not going to give you legal advice. We are going to empower you and help you effectively advocate for your children or if you’re a professional, we’re going to give you tools and resources to work with those families that you work with. And more importantly, though, we provide peer support to help families access that needed information and resources.

[00:04:22] All of our staff here at Kentucky SPIN are either parents of a child or a young adult, like myself, I have a 24 year old with an intellectual disability. And so we’re either parents, family members, we either have a sibling, or we might have a disability ourselves. And a love that we are all like that in our staff, all bring that to the folks that we work with.

[00:04:47] So we are in part three of our five part series on Charting the LifeCourse. Now, something really exciting about these tools is I was part of a pilot program here in Kentucky, about four years ago, three or four years ago on the LifeCourse tools. And we brought these tools to Kentucky and so I’ve been familiar with these tools for quite a while now. And I’m so excited to see that we’re really starting to utilize them and, you know, really start to dive in deeper into what all these tools offer and the resources they provide families.

[00:05:26] I wanted to share just a really quick, but it’s about three minute video on, a young man named Ben. And you’re going to see the importance of people in his life and what that meant to Ben. And how going outside of the family to bring those relationships are so valuable and important. And then, so just, we’re just going to watch this just really quick.

[00:05:51] External video: [music] So Ben, do you remember the day at the fire station?

[00:06:11] No.

[00:06:11] No? Okay let’s remember it. We all sat in a big room, in a big square. And your dad was there.

[00:06:19] Matt was there.

[00:06:20] Your brother, your twin brother was there. I think your older brother, was there.

[00:06:28] Zach was there.

[00:06:29] Yes he was there. And a whole bunch of other people. Who are all those other guys? Did they work at the fire station, too?

[00:06:34] Yes.

[00:06:34] So they are firefighters. Some of them were brand new, they’d been there a couple of weeks. Some of them had been there for a long time, right.

[00:06:43] Right.

[00:06:43] And we sat and we talked about who? We talked about you.

[00:06:54] Me!

[00:06:55] Yup and what was awesome about this day was each of the guys went around the room and everyone told why Ben was important to the fire station. And it literally sent chills down my spine and I’m sure it did for mom and dad and family.

[00:07:10] And the reason why it was so amazing, I remember, other people had been friends with him, they thought he was cool to hang out with, they liked to play basketball with him. But the one firefighter that got me to the core, was a brand new firefighter, a young guy.

[00:07:26] And he said, I’ll tell you what. We see some horrific things, every single day. And he said, we go out and we just see horrible accidents and fires. And he said when we come back to this fire station, Ben is here with a smile on his face and he kind of takes it all away.

[00:07:48] And it was then that it was like, wow, this reciprocal role concept is real. It was overwhelming for me. I mean, I had never heard anybody talk about Ben in that kind of a value base. And I know, I couldn’t even look at Tom, because he had tears in his eyes. And I knew if I looked at him I’d be crying. And I think Zach, his older brother, left the room several times because I think he just got really emotional and it was just cool seeing these big, burly firefighters.

[00:08:23] Stella: I love that little video because I really believe it shows, the importance of family, you know, folks coming into your life, outside of your family.

[00:08:34] So just a little question. Did you know that all individuals exist within the context of a family? I think we all know that that’s true. I am a mom, I am a sister, I am a wife. And we all, I exist within the context of my family.

[00:08:55] But family is defined by the person. It can include all of these areas. So biological parents, you know, we get, are we tall or are we short from them? Did we inherit a tendency for certain illnesses? Certain talents?, you know, socially, social connections that we have and the impact. A reputation on the family, whether it’s good or bad. And then environmentally, like the neighborhoods we grew up in. And our family’s education level, financial status.

[00:09:27] All this determines who we become as an individual. Like, you know, what are the house rules and expectations? It’s so funny, you know, I hear myself now as I’m a mom, you know, hearing things that my mom used to say when I was growing up, that at the time drove me crazy, but it’s because that’s what I knew. And so that’s how I was taught.

[00:09:47] And then culture, what our family does on holidays, birthdays, traditions, and other things that are important to us as a family. And so each of these parts and each of these areas impact both ourself as an individual and how our families shape their beliefs and values. And it also makes us, you know, the person that we are today based on that.

[00:10:13] So within the family, people exist and we all have reciprocal roles within a family system, that’s defined by the individual. And roles adjust as members of the family system change and age. And I’m sure all of us can attest to that. And the entire family, individually and as a whole, needs to support to ensure that we’re all able to successfully live that good life.

[00:10:40] And one thing you have to remember is that, especially myself as a mom, not only in my son’s role who has an intellectual disability, but all my kids, it’s their life, not yours. And so that sometimes is really hard as a parent to allow our young adults to become adults themselves.

[00:11:02] So, what this image looks like here is how we support individuals and families across the life stages. So how I like to look at this picture is, you know, we have a child and then as we get older sometimes, and we’ve raised that child, we nurture them, we take care of them. And then they grow up. And then sometimes those roles reverse. Sometimes we end up having to care for maybe our, you know, aging parents.

[00:11:35] Both of my parents have passed away and my mom died a couple of years ago and my role switched that last year and I became a caregiver to her. She wasn’t able to do a lot on her own anymore. So those roles switched. So I had to support her in her life stage there as like she supported me, all through my life.

[00:11:55] So things you think about or who cares for and about the person? So who does the person care for? And each of us have people on our lives that really, truly make a difference. And this could be family members, friends, or people that are just like family. Each person fulfills that different role in our life. And in order for us to truly understand a person and the supports they might need, it’s important to know who the people in their lives are and the different roles that they play.

[00:12:31] So with families, you know, age and grow these reciprocal roles that we’re talking about need to evolve, to meet the changing needs of family members. Just like I said, my role as a daughter changed as my mom aged and was not able to care for herself. But we have to consider the individual stage of life but also where that stage that other family members are in their lives.

[00:13:00] And what happens in early or at any stage affects the stages to come. So I want you to think about that as we move along here.

[00:13:11] So, what does it look like to care about someone. Now that word about is very important. Cause we’re going to use it in a different, we’re going to use a different word in another context on the next slide.

[00:13:24] So when you care about someone, you share love, affection and trust. And you know, you truly trust people, that you may not spend a lot of time with that when you care and love about each other you began to have that trust for them. There are people such as immediate or extended family, close friends or significant others. That’s a person that really you share love, affection, and trust with.

[00:13:53] So the next one is, when you care about somebody, you spend time and you create memories together. This could include like friends and acquaintances that you spend time with and are important to you. And you have shared experiences and memories that bring you both joy and laughter.

[00:14:11] And I love that because I think that’s real important to know that that’s what spending time and creating memories together is all about. It doesn’t mean you have to spend money or anything to do that. You just spend time with that person and create those memories together.

[00:14:26] Another thing to look at when you care about someone is you know about personal interests, traditions, and cultures. So people you trust to explain to others what’s important to you and such as like what makes you happy or sad. Who’s important to you and your likes and dislikes. These people also know about your habits, important family, culture and celebrations.

[00:14:49] So when I think about the people in my life that care about me, I think of my husband and my children and, you know, my immediate family and some of my extended family. Some really good friends that I have that I feel like, I invest my time in. And so I think those are people in my life.

[00:15:09] And so if you are a parent of a child with a disability, I want you to think about that role for a second, when it, when it’s coming, you know, when you’re thinking about your child. This is my son Clayton here in this picture. And this picture is really cool because this is his really good friend Preston who went with him, so that Clayton, and assisted him so that Clayton could go to a CPR class. So that he could learn about CPR. And so I love that because it was someone who was spending time with him and just wanting to be with him, a good friend that wasn’t paid, but just went to be with Clayton on that day. And I think that’s a real important thing.

[00:15:51] So now we’re going to look at the words for. So what does it look like to care for someone? Now we’re not talking about caring about someone, we’re talking about caring for someone. So that person, might support the day to day needs. So these types of people that provide or make sure that self-care needs are taken care of. They support your safety, health, and welfare and your quality of life. They might help with a meal, dressing, medications and daily activities. And this could be a parent, family, caregivers, or could also be a paid staff person.

[00:16:32] So the second area that we look at when we care for someone is they insure material and financial needs are met. So in that regard, these are people that help you manage things such as your finances, housing, healthcare, transportation, or technology needs. And this could be a family member or someone else in more of a  formal role, you know, like we have a CPA who handles some of our financial needs. So that could be someone who helps take care of an issue in my life.

[00:17:03] So also that person, when they care for someone, they connect them to meaningful relationships and roles. So these are people that help you stay connected or develop new friendships. They may help you find and participate in hobbies, recreational, or spiritual activities. And this could be friends, family, community members, maybe a pastor, and also could include some paid staff.

[00:17:27] And then the last one that we want to talk about is when you care for someone could be an advocate and they help you support life decisions. So these type of people, they help you stay connected and they also maybe help develop new friendships. And they could you help find and participate in hobbies, recreational, or spiritual activities. And this could be friends, family, community members, you know, also a pastor or paid staff.

[00:17:53] So I think it’s really important to think about the difference when you care about someone, what are some of the things you do? Or when you care for someone? And so I think as parents, sometimes those roles get blurred. Because we possibly could be caring for someone and caring about someone at the same time. So think about that as we move along.

[00:18:20] I’m going to pause just one second. We also have Michaela Evans on the phone with us from Kentucky SPIN, and she’s going to be helping me monitor some questions today. So like I said, if you have questions, you can type those in the question box, but I just want to check in with Michaela to see if we have any questions before we move along.

[00:18:39] Michaela: We don’t have any questions at this time.

[00:18:42] Stella: Okay. Great. Thank you.

[00:18:44] Folks, just remember if you do have a question, just type that in the question box, and then we’ll try to pause periodically throughout the webinar so that we can get those answered for you. Because I know it’s real important when you have a question and it’s burning inside of you. You want to get it answered right away.

[00:19:03] So this slide here says mapping relationships and reciprocal roles. You have this in one of your handouts. And like I said, it will also be sent to you in a follow-up email. But each one of us, we have people in our lives that truly make a difference. And it could be a family member, as we’ve talked about, a dear friend that you know, is kind of like family. They could live in your house with you down the street, or even miles away. But it could be your childhood best friend, a cousin, or maybe someone that you work with and that you see on a regular basis.

[00:19:40] But each person fulfills a different role in your life. And this principle highlights the importance of understanding who these people are and the impact they have on you. And the impact that you have on them. So to truly understand a person and the supports they might need, it’s important to know who the people in their life are and the different roles they play.

[00:20:01] So when I’m thinking of my son, Clayton, I want to know who are the people around him that can help map those relationships out and can be there for him and identify their roles and how they play in his life. So the mapping relationships tool that you see here on the screen is really going to help you identify important people, that might be in your child’s life or someone you supports life.

[00:20:29] So these tools can be used by anyone, at any age, to develop a plan on supporting a person needs to change or the caregiver’s needs change. So I think that’s really, really good. And it really makes you think. So like on the first box up there, when we’re mapping those relationships, again we’re talking about the caring about, and the caring for. And so I think those two slides prior to this were so important to go over so that you can understand the difference and who those people are.

[00:21:01] So, my role right now, for my son, is both. I care about him obviously, but I also care for him. So I handle some of those immediate needs in his life that he may have at the time because he is here in the house with me. So those are things that I need to do. Now we are working on a plan for him to live independently with help as needed. And so things are changing and roles might be changing within the, in the next few months. And so I love looking at this handout because I think it’s so important to just think about those different roles, that you play.

[00:21:43] This next slide you’re also gonna have in your packet. It’s called mapping relationships too. And this one, though, again, we are still continuing to talk about caring about and caring for. So the mapping relationships tool will help you identify the different people and ways that people support you.

[00:22:02] So some of the people in your life might fulfill a lot of different roles, while others might have only one significant role. So for example, when I use that CPA in my life, I don’t go out to eat with my CPA. I don’t hang out with him. I talk to him probably a couple of months out of the year and that’s it. But he fulfills a role in my life that is needed. So you think about that, about the people that are around you or around your loved one.

[00:22:30] But it can help you have conversations about the future and who may fill those roles when others are no longer available. And you know, those roles changed too, as we age and as we move forward in our lives, sometimes those roles change.

[00:22:47] So we’re going to talk just a minute about reciprocal roles and what that means. This tool though will help you identify the people in your life and how they always support you. It also helps you explore ways that you support other people and roles you play in their lives. And it can identify gaps as well as the potential for building even stronger relationships. So I love this.

[00:23:11] So let’s just look at the first one. The caring about, so that person shares love, affection, and trust. So if I was filling this out for my son, and I put who serves in this role now., I would say myself, his father, his siblings, all of that.

[00:23:26] And so who are you doing this for? We would put Clayton’s name there.

[00:23:31] And so what are the next steps in that? Well, we’re always going to be there to share love and affection and trust. We’re always going to do that.

[00:23:39] So, but when you move on down the bottom one, the caring for. So right now who supports those day to day needs. Well, right now I would have to say myself in that role. So not only do I share love and affection and trust, but I also support a lot of his day to day needs right now.

[00:23:57] But in the future, I want to look in that next steps box, and I want to think about, you know, when he does move independently on his own, who’s going to have that role? So this is just such a great planning tool for you to begin to brainstorm and think ahead and have stuff on paper, which I think is so very, very important.

[00:24:18] So I want to do another poll real quick. And this poll says, do you think these tools that we just went over are user friendly? So I’m going to launch that poll, real quick. And you all go ahead and fill that out if you think they are user-friendly or not. I’m just kind of curious to know, what you all think.

[00:24:46] So far, a hundred percent of you all are saying yes, they are user-friendly and I love that because, but I want you to be honest. If you don’t think they’re user-friendly say, Nope, I don’t think they are.

[00:24:57] What has helped me in this process with using these LifeCourse tools is being consistent because, what I ended up doing, thank you all for participating in that poll. What I ended up doing is I have a notebook. And in that notebook, I have some of these tools and guess what? You don’t have to use all of them. Even in the parts that we’re doing here, these five parts that we’ve started doing in our webinars, if there’s tools that are too overwhelming for you to use, you don’t have to use them, but pick the ones that work for you and begin to utilize the tools because I think that’s really, really important that you just make a step.

[00:25:35] So here’s some things that I wanted to just bring up. Things that have always helped myself with working with my son who is now 24 and keeping him involved. So how do you expand their, your son or daughter’s circle? Because what happens is, our kids when they’re younger, they’re in school, they’re around their peers, they’re around people with and without disabilities. And then guess what, when they exit high school life seems to stop for them. And I can attest to you and say that that has been an issue in our lives.

[00:26:11] We’ve got a couple of things, that we struggle with. And one of them is we live very rural, we live in a way out in the country. And so we do not have public transportation. We do not have a lot of things just at our fingertips as if we lived in a bigger city. So, what we’ve had to do is we’ve really had to think outside of the box and to get my son Clayton involved.

[00:26:36] And so one of the things, one of these little things that we talked, we wanted to talk about today about expanding their circle is to get them involved in activities outside of the family concept. So for example, get them doing things without you. Get them going places without you.

[00:26:53] I’m gonna give you two examples of what we’ve done in our son’s life. This is my son down here in that bottom picture with the little radio Liberty sign microphone in front of him. He did a little, stand at our local radio station and did the weather online. But the two things I want to tell you about that we’ve done for him as he has a dear friend that lives in Glasgow, which is about 45 minutes from us. And a couple of times a year Clayton goes there and spends a week with him.

[00:27:19] Now, his friend lives independently. He does have down syndrome, but he has his own home and he lives independently. So guess what? Clayton goes, he spends the week there with him and stays with him, just him. They do have staff that come during the day and help them, but it allows Clayton to be independent. To learn that concept of living on his own without mom being there. And then one of the rules that we have is that he can only call me one time a day or if he has something that he desperately needs to talk to me about. But other than that, he stays pretty independent that week.

[00:27:57] The other thing that we have done to give him that independence, now we’d like to let you know, my son has a cognitive intellectual disability. So, he does struggle with a lot of different things, but of course we have given him some freedoms to allow him to explore and find what he is good at and so that he is able to do things more independently, on his own.

[00:28:20] The other thing that he does a couple of times a year, is that his girlfriend lives in Florida and he flies, on his own, to go to her house. And so we just booked his November trip. He will be gone for five days to Florida. He flies by himself. I take him to the airport. He goes through security, we have worked on this for a long time now. He goes through security, he can handle it all and does really, really well. Now we have a very small airport, so it’s not like he’s in a  big airport. But he’s able to do that on his own. And then they meet him at the airport, his girlfriend’s mom and her. And then he stays with her for five days and he flies home.

[00:29:00] So those are just things that we have done, that are outside of the family concept. And allowing them choices and their decisions that don’t always involve family, this is a key thing too. Allow them even to fail if needed, allow them to make those decisions that maybe you don’t agree with as long as they’re not in harm’s way, it’s okay to make those choices and decisions on their own.

[00:29:24] Employment offers open doors to meet new people and create those new circles. Letting them work outside. Clayton has had a job since he was 16 and it has offered so many opportunities for him to meet new people and, you know, use those natural supports at his job so that he’s able to do things on his own.

[00:29:46] Volunteer in the community, let them help and be involved with different things going on throughout their community. Church involvement, extracurricular activities at school and in the community, because if they’re not involved with their typical peers, while they’re in school, they’re not going to be involved with them outside of school. So always remember that.

[00:30:07] Travel with friends and their family, just like I was sharing. Let them do things independently, as best as possible. And then live independently, if this is an option. I love this picture of my friend Grant, right there. Grant has his own home and that’s him in front of it. And I just loved that. The picture at the top is of my dear friend, Danny, who is now passed away, but he went on trips with, I mean all the time with his friends and staff and experienced all kinds of wonderful things. And then the picture at the bottom just shows, you know, young people together doing things outside of just their family, with typical peers. And I think that that is so valuable and so very, very important.

[00:30:52] So just as a reminder, these are the life stages and domains that we have been talking about, in the LifeCourse framework.

[00:31:01] And they are the infancy, which we know what that stage is. Early childhood, and that is the time in a child’s life before they begin school full time. And how important that stage is. The school age years. And that’s from kindergarten through middle school. Then when they began to transition to adulthood and that’s the period of time after transition from school years to the time they begin entering those golden years. And then of course the adulthood. And then aging and that’s those golden years, which I feel like that’s what I’m in right now. We began to slow down and experience those many age related changes. And I think that is so very important.

[00:31:42] And then we’ve got the life domains that we’ve been discussing. Which is the daily life and employment. And that’s what a person does as part of the everyday life. Like school, employment, volunteering, communication. Those routines and life skills. And then we talked about community living where and how someone lives, housing and living options. Community access, transportation, home adaptations and modifications.

[00:32:09] Then healthy living, which is managing and accessing health care and staying well, medical, mental health, behavior health, developmental wellness, and nutrition. And this is something that we’re really dealing with now in my son’s life. Just the eating habits and how important they are and how as he is getting older, as we all know our bodies change. And so we’re experiencing that right now. So making sure that his medications are correct and that he is making healthy choices, when at all possible and staying active. I think that is really, really important.

[00:32:44] And then of course, safety and security, and some of those things like staying safe and secure, emergencies wellbeing, we’ve talked about the guardianship options and legal rights and issues, one of the things we’re looking into, as I said, we live very rural so we’re going to get one of those ring doorbells so that when Clayton is here by himself and he’s maybe, you know, we we’ve told him, you know, not to let anyone in. So he can access the door and look at it through an app on his phone. He can see whose standing outside of the door. And I think that’s going to be a real important safety and security feature that we’re going to add.

[00:33:18] And then that social and spirituality. Building those friendships and relationships. Leisure activities, you know, having those personal networks and a great faith community, I think is very, very important for not only ourselves, but for our young adult, with an intellectual developmental disability.

[00:33:35] Advocacy and engagement, building those valued roles, making choices, setting goals, and assuming responsibility. And determining how one’s own life is lived and what that good life could possibly look like for them.

[00:33:52] So, I want to ask Michaela if we have any questions and then I want to do another poll.

[00:33:59] We did have one question, and it was about often families with disabilities are very isolated. Do you have a good place to start when trying to make new relationships?

[00:34:13] Yeah, I think that’s a great question Michaela, and, you know like I said, some of the things that we have done is we have always made sure that Clayton has been engaged. And the key thing to that is making sure that they’re engaged just outside of your family, with other peers. And it could be, like you said, if having a job is not something that you really want to pursue, which I highly recommend that, then, you know, just volunteering and getting out in their community and doing some things as best as possible.

[00:34:45] Right now through the pandemic and through COVID-19, one of the things that we have made sure that has happened with Clayton is that he has stayed involved with his peers, it just looks differently. So we have, he has been involved in lots of zoom calls, with other folks with disabilities and people without. And so that has really helped him. FaceTime has been wonderful for him to reach out to maybe his grandparents that he can’t see right now or something like that. His brother lives an hour and a half away and so they FaceTime very frequently in order to stay connected. And with some of his friends, you know, getting involved with messenger, which I know some families have issues with stuff like that, but it just really helped keep him connected right now through COVID-19 so that we’re still able to engage him in activities when he’s not even able to get out and do things.

[00:35:37] And then finding those things, you know, like I said, via zoom that are available. In his network, he has a disability called Williams Syndrome, they have a wonderful community. And so they meet weekly, via zoom, and they have scavengers’ hunts and different things like that throughout their house. We’ll look, we’re, you know, they may be told to go look for something blue or go to the kitchen and find something you cook with. So they’ve been doing these scavenger hunts and different things like that, which has kept them connected, even when they can’t really be connected.

[00:36:12] And he was off work for many months due to COVID, but now he’s back at work and that has helped so much to get him back with those peers that he enjoy seeing at work every week. So I hope that answered that question.

[00:36:30] I want to do another poll. And this one says, do you see yourself using these tools after this presentation? So I’ve enabled the poll, so if you could just shoot your answer there. So I’ll kind of know what you all think about those tools. And if these are things that you think that you will be using after this presentation, great.

[00:36:55] And I’ve got some that are saying 83% say yes and 70% say maybe. So that’s good because you know, it’s okay to say, you know, these are just not really something that I would want to use, but I would at least, like for you to try it and at least have those conversations about them.

[00:37:13] These are all the references and handouts that you will also be receiving in your, let me close this poll so my screen will show. There we go.. these are the references and handouts that you’ll be getting in a follow-up email, but you will also, you also can download them, they’re in the handouts, or you can just wait for the email.

[00:37:35] We’ve got the majority of the information today from the LifeCourse website. That you have that link to. Some of this also comes from our Kentucky SPIN website. So I think that’s really important to use all of these tools and resources and handouts that will really help you all, create the wonderful information that’s provided here.

[00:37:58] I want to tell you just real quick about our Tuesday Tips. We are having webinars every Tuesday at 11:00 AM. And they’re on various topics. And then also every Thursday we are having additional webinars and that’s where these webinars have been coming in, on the LifeCourse tools. And I will let you know that this coming Tuesday, our Tuesday Tips will be on executive functioning and we have a special guest speaker, Sarah Bays. She is with the Kentucky Autism Training Center.

[00:38:28] She will be our speaker next Tuesday at 11 AM, and you can go on our website and register for that. And I think that will be a wonderful webinar on executive functioning and how that relates to our folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

[00:38:43] And then we also next, let me see, Thursday, November the fifth. No, I’m sorry, excuse me. Let me go back. On October 29th we will have part four of Charting the LifeCourse, and we’re going to be talking about creating the student snapshot and the student profile, which will be excellent way to, where you can list someone’s strengths and weaknesses. And I think it’s just a really good way to showcase them.

[00:39:13] So please visit also our website, which we have a wonderful webpage on COVID-19 that has all of the education resources that we have been receiving that I think you’ll really enjoy. And then if you have not signed up for our new e-news, I highly encourage you to do that. We have a wonderful resources that we send out weekly. That we provide to families and professionals. And it’s just a great place to get all of the current things that are going on, not only with COVID-19, but with other things going on in the special education world.

[00:39:48] So I know we’re ending a little bit early today, so I want to open it up, just real quick. Michaela, are there any more questions before we take off today?

[00:40:01] Michaela: I don’t see any other questions right now.

[00:40:04] Stella: Okay. Great. Well, thank you all so much for joining us and when you’re done, when you log off, you will be prompted to do an evaluation. I would really appreciate you doing that for us.

[00:40:16] Also, when you receive your follow-up email, you will have all those links, like I said, but you’ll also have a certificate of completion, just shows that you were on this webinar today.

[00:40:25] So thank you all again. So much for joining us. We really appreciate it. And I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[00:40:32] Thank you.