The Office of Enhancing Student Opportunities and the Oregon Association of Education Service Districts worked collaboratively to create a partnership where each Education Service District provides regional professional development and technical assistance to special education teachers, case managers, and directors through the support of a Regional Technical Assistance Provider (RTAP).

We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to support your professional growth and development. Should you have any inquiries or require assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Malory Turner at maturner@nwresd.k12.or.us or Laura Petschauer at laura.petschauer@ode.oregon.gov.

Training materials from 2023 - 2024 are located below: 

• Specially Designed Instruction - Slides/Summary Page

• Informal Removals - Slides/Summary Page

• Tiered Behavioral Responses within an Equity-Based MTSS Framework - Slides/Summary Page

• Prior Written Notice - Slides/Summary Page

• Secondary Transition - Slides/Summary Page

• Present Levels of Academic Achievement & Functional Performance - Slides/Summary Page

• Annual Goals & Progress Monitoring - Slides/Summary Page

• Least Restrictive Environment  & Placement Determinations - Slides/Summary Page

New RTAP training materials for 2024 - 2025 will be found on our Special Student Services Professional Learning Calendar. Those topics will include:

• Basics of IDEA and Special Education Process

• IEP Development 101

• Facilitating IEP Meetings

• Managing and Developing the Work of Instructional Assistants

• Accommodations, Modifications, and Accessibility Supports

• Strategies to Increase Parent Participation and Engagement

• Procedural Safeguards

• Specially Designed Instruction (Identify, Implement, and Track)

• Progress Monitoring Tools

• Evaluation Process

• Behavior Supports (FBA to BIP to Implementation to Tracking)

Our specialists engage in workgroups, action research, and attend professional learning events designed to ensure students receive the highest-quality services. The team actively gathers and shares resources with district teams to build capacity across our region.

Northwest Regional Education Service District (NWRESD) specialists partner with the technology industry to provide access to product-specific training and leverage free training for educators and families. In addition, our specialists collaboratively identify the training needs of educational teams and design learning opportunities to ensure access to tools and implementation of technology for all students.

Upon request, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Team members can provide professional development and training for teachers, instructional assistants, and/or parents on a variety of topics.

Examples include:

• Evidence-based teaching strategies:
  • Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA): Pivotal Response Training (PRT), Discrete Trial (DT), Functional Routines
  • Visual Strategies
  • Social Stories/Narratives
  • Video Modeling
  • Social Skills and Social-Cognitive Development
• ASD evaluation and assessment procedures and requirements
• Behavior management/self-regulation strategies
• Characteristics and learning styles of students with ASD
• Communication strategies (i.e. Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), Pivotal Response Training (PRT)
• Executive functioning and organizational skills
• General, in-class sensory strategies for student self-regulation
• Parent training and coaching for developing social and communication skills for young children with ASD
• Puberty and sexuality
• Transition planning, vocational preparedness, and self-advocacy

Coordinator: Tina Meier-Nowell

Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) Team

The Northwest Regional Education Service District (NWRESD) Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) Team supports professional learning and provides consultative services to educators throughout our region to help support students who are visually impaired in their districts or programs. NWRESD partners with the Commission for the Blind to support post-secondary transition.

Blind and Visually Impaired Student Fund (BVIS)

The BVIS fund supports professional learning for educators throughout our state by offering workshops, conferences, and technical assistance in the areas of Cortical Vision Impairment, Assistive Technology, and DeafBlindness. NWRESD BVIS also provides statewide events and activities for students who are visually impaired. In addition, BVIS has a mentorship program for new teachers of students who have visual impairments.

Coordinator: Stephanie Karpouzes

The Deaf/Hard of Hearing (D/HH) program at NWRESD offers 6-week sign language classes once or twice a year. These classes are available for free to district staff and family and community members. Additionally, teachers of the deaf/hard of hearing provide in-service training to school staff members on the specific hearing needs of individual students. Other professional development and training are available upon request.

Coordinator: Laurie Harrison

Nurses can provide topic-specific training to district staff as needed and requested.  Training topics can include:

• Medication administration
• Managing specific health conditions (seizure, asthma, diabetes, celiac disease, adrenal insufficiency, etc.)
• Managing food and other allergies, including the use of EpiPens

Coordinator: Damon Lorenz

Occupational Therapy:

In the context of their consultation work, occupational therapy staff provide ongoing student-specific and general professional development to classroom staff.  Occupational therapy practitioners are motivated by a commitment to role-release, building the capacity of those who work with students every day in their ability to incorporate the concepts and techniques of occupational therapy into their teaching.

Occupational therapists and assistants also provide topic-specific training to district staff as needed and requested.

Training topics can include:

• The service model: how to get the most benefit from your occupational therapist
• Early handwriting instruction: why it’s important and how to do it
• Fine motor skills needed for classroom participation in paper/pencil/scissor tasks
• Accommodations that may benefit a student’s access
• Adaptive methods for students to complete self-help and self-care tasks
• Guidance towards safe eating within school settings
• Assistive technology
• Systems-level supports/strategies to benefit all learners

Coordinator: Jessica Duffett

Physical Therapy:

Physical therapy staff provide ongoing student-specific and general professional development to classroom staff who work directly with students. Physical therapists are motivated by a commitment to role release, building the capacity of those who work with students every day in their ability to incorporate the concepts and techniques of physical therapy into their daily interactions and work. 

Physical therapists also provide topic-specific training to district staff as needed and requested.

Training topics can include:

• Understanding the service model: How to utilize your physical therapy team
• Transfer training and proper ergonomics for staff when working with students
• Training for specific pieces of equipment that a student uses during their school day

Coordinator: Jessica Duffett

Upon request, school psychologists can provide professional development to staff on a variety of topics relating to special education such as positive behavioral strategies, traumatic brain injury (TBI), suicide prevention/interventions, classroom accommodations and interventions, considerations for special education referral, data collection and analysis, etc.

Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) engage in workgroups, action research, and professional development events designed to ensure students receive the highest quality services. NWRESD provides a professional learning network for SLPs throughout our region and across the state.

Coordinator: Caitlan Freese

NWRESD sponsors Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) training throughout the year within our region while also collaborating with other regional programs and with the Center for Brain Injury Research and Training (CBIRT) at the University of Oregon to ensure access to professional learning throughout the state.

CBIRT- Upcoming Events and Training

Return to School - TBI Educator Resources

If you are an Oregon education professional who cares about students with TBI and concussion, please consider joining the TBI Team: Oregon TBI Educational Team - New Member Form

Coordinator: Malory Turner