Episode 316: Fairfax County Public Schools AT Team: Celebrating the Life of AAC Specialist Jeff Powers
This week, we present Chris’s interview with some of the Fairfax County Public Schools AT Team: Jeff Sisk, Meaghan Tracy, Jennifer Carr, Ashley Kiley, and Colleen Kalamajka! They gather to share about the life of AAC/AT Specialist Jeff Powers, who passed away in 2023. They celebrate some of the many things he brought to his work with AAC, including helping people feel OK even if they don’t know everything, early support for the Specific Language System First Approach, his work sharing AAC on platforms like Youtube, and more!
Before the interview, Chris and Rachel discuss the recent addition of automatic transcripts to Apple Podcasts, and some of the previous “behind the scenes” work that was done to provide transcripts for TWT episodes.
Key Ideas this Week:
🔑 If you are interested in watching Jeff share about AAC, they have some of his videos up at the Fairfax County Public Schools AAC Page: https://www.fcps.edu/academics/academic-overview/special-education-instruction/assistive-technology-services-ats-5
🔑 AAC can become more of a tier 1 or 2 support. The most accommodations related to AT are typically visual supports and audio supports, and AAC provides both of those things. Providing AAC to more people also gives us an opportunity to teach a wider group of the community to be communication partners.
🔑 Fairfax County Public Schools recently had an “AAC Integration Workshop” with teachers that was all about how to use descriptive teaching to teach about more concepts, with a focus on breaking down academic language into easier language.
Links from this week's Episode:
Thing Explainer: https://www.amazon.com/Thing-Explainer-Complicated-Stuff-Simple/dp/0544668251
Transcript of the Episode
Please Note: This transcript was generated using speech recognition & AI tools; it may contain some grammatical and/or spelling errors.
00:00:08 Rachel Madel
Welcome to Talking with Tech. I'm your host, Rachel Madel, joined as always by Chris Bugaj. Hey, Chris.
00:00:13 Chris Bugaj
Hey, Rachel. What's going on?
00:00:15 Rachel Madel
Not much. We have an update. Like a tech update. That was really big news. I sent you a text message. As soon as I updated my iPhone, I was like, oh, my goodness. And that news is Apple is now doing transcripts for all podcasts. And so I immediately was like, oh, my gosh, Chris, is it true?
00:00:39 Chris Bugaj
And then I immediately said, oh, okay, let me go back to the first, very first episode and pull it up and see does it work for all the episodes? And sure enough, the very first episode back with Ajit, you think way back then it had a transcript for it. It's like, oh, awesome. So obviously, well, I guess it's not obvious, but I have not gone back and tested all 300 plus episodes. But if the first one and the most recent one, then we're hoping all the ones in between also have transcripts through Apple podcasts?
00:01:14 Rachel Madel
Yes. And we actually just recently got an email about transcripts and we have some, like, I guess some behind the scenes to talk about with our podcast and transcripts. We have not always had transcripts for our podcast episodes. In recent months, we have kind of started making that part of our workflow, and it's been kind of complex navigating the system. It's like we talked at one point as a team about what do we do? How do we do this? There's going to be errors. And I feel like I just did a speaking event, Chris and I was showcasing Google Slides and how you can do live transcripts as the PSA that we typically do when we just pull up our slide deck, we're like, hey, guess what. Guess what this can do. And someone in the chat was like, oh, but like, is it really accurate? And I'm like, well, you know, it's not super accurate necessarily, but it's accurate enough and it's better than nothing. And so we kind of landed on that with our podcast and then have tried to figure out what tool we're going to use. And there's lots of transcriptor tools out there and, you know, they cost money. And so we've had to try to navigate this space. And we recognize as a podcast that's all about assistive technology that we need transcripts. Like, it's like we're not, like we're talking the talk, but we're not walking the walk if we don't have transcripts. So exciting news across the board. We had already started doing this, and we were backlogging episodes, and now, I don't know. Now it's available. Now everyone has access.
00:02:51 Chris Bugaj
Yeah. I want to give some even deeper details there, if that's okay, Rachel, because I think there might be some techno files out there being like, well, what. What exactly did you investigate? So, first thing, the Google Slides. I agree that it is pretty accurate, I think. And occasionally, if your distance and background noise and proper nouns like my name, you know, it doesn't always. Or your last name, it might be M A Y D E l l. You know, depending on how it's said, there's all sorts of little nuances that it might not pick up on. And actually, Google Slides doesn't provide a transcript. What I mean is it provides captions that are live captions, but there's no way to download those and then share them in some sort of text file where some other softwares do that. So, for instance, I think, and I'm sure Microsoft Teams does that, where we could be in a video conference. I think Zoom has that ability. And just going through our history, though, we knew a long time ago that we wanted to add transcripts. And the immediate way we would tell people to do that is we could send it. So if people don't know, this is another thing a lot of people probably don't know, is that our podcast, thanks to Luke, Luke figured out an automation that the podcast, when it airs, also gets pushed to YouTube. So there is a YouTube version of all the podcast episodes, get the automatic subtitles that YouTube does. But that has the same problem that you were referencing earlier. And it's really why that was something that was holding us back from doing transcripts. And Luke was, I think, paramount in this discussion, saying, I'm afraid of putting out transcripts and there being inaccuracies, like you said. And certainly you see that. I think there's jokes all over YouTube about, like, you know, the subtitles are wrong, you know, and. And he didn't want to offend anybody by accident or have something be an expletive, for instance, or something like that to show up. But this is like years ago, we were having that discussion, and then one thing, other thing that we discussed, and we even thought we would kind of arm wrestle our way through it was Microsoft office. Specifically, Microsoft Word has a transcription feature where you can take an audio file, an MP3 file, and you can load it into Microsoft Word and it will transcribe for you. And I was like, well, okay, we have that. I could do that. And that will be how I spend my weekends. I will, you know, every Saturday, I'll do ten episodes or whatever, and eventually we'll get them all. But that same concern, you know, was, was, but is it going to be accurate? And what happens if we spend all that time doing that? And, of course, we expected, and it's true, I think it's happened, that the technology has improved, so the accuracy is improved. Now, do we have old transcripts and how do we go. Go back and do them again? So it's not something that we were just like, yeah, yeah, someday we'll do transcripts. It's something we've been wrestling with on this podcast and spent many, many hours trying to figure out what's the most accurate, best way to do it. And. And Apple seems to have really come through for us here.
00:06:11 Rachel Madel
Yeah, no, it's. It's true. And I feel like, you know, we've had situations, too, where we've made accidental errors in spelling of someone's name. And, you know, there's things that, like, kind of fall through the cracks sometimes that, like, we don't ever want to offend people. We don't ever want, you know, to have inaccurate information. And, like, we have been notified and there have been some situations on, you know, the podcast where something was an error and it was, you know, not well received. And so I feel like it's just like we want to try our best to be as accurate as we can, and we know that, you know, it's not always going to be spot on, but ultimately, you know, trying to do the best we can here with what we got.
00:06:59 Chris Bugaj
Yeah. And we're very conscious. I mean, clearly people who may have a disability related to their hearing. Well, we did have YouTube with the captions and said, well, at least there's something there, even if you. It didn't bother you that there be inaccuracies or if you did, because now we're wrestling with accessibility versus inaccuracies, and it's like, well, okay, which one? Because we say we don't want to offend anybody accidentally, but we also don't want to leave anybody out because then you can't listen to the podcast at all. So at least we did have this avenue through YouTube, but now there's even more avenues. And that's what we're excited about because that's an increase in inclusivity and accessibility.
00:07:42 Rachel Madel
Yeah. And just generally speaking, it's been really cool over the last couple years to see. See those features start to pop up everywhere. I feel like I remember back in Instagram days a few years ago where you wouldn't always have the opportunity to add captions. And now it's a part of what everybody does. And I think partially that's because when people are kind of scrolling, sometimes people don't want to listen or they're somewhere where they can't listen, they want to read instead. But it's been really cool to kind of see, see these tools expand and expand in a way that makes things more accessible. And so I love the direction that we're heading here as far as just like universal design and being more inclusive.
00:08:29 Chris Bugaj
And let's keep going with that. Let's level that up because, yes, and like Microsoft Teams and of course, Zoom with, I think you might have to pay extra for it, but those transcription features, then you can, the next step is to take it into copilot or chat GPT or some other generative AI tool and say, hey, can you summarize this for us? Can you provide this in the top ten takeaways from this? How would you write the title for this discussion? There's all sorts of things generative AI can do so that it can level up the experience so it's not just bam, here's the text. Here's some things you can do with that text.
00:09:07 Rachel Madel
Totally. I mean, we are using so much AI in my online business. I'm like, is there a course out there that can teach me how to train chat? GPT for my marketing and my team does an amazing job of utilizing that. So even when we're not using the video, Chris, like, meaning we're sending an email or, you know, I feel like now on social media, the trend is like very short video clips. So it's kind of just like a teaser, and then it's like, read the caption for more. Like, all of that. Like, our process is I just record a video and my team grabs the transcript. Like, if I'm trying to, like, you know, share a story about a case and it's gonna go out to our email list or anything at all, I'm recording video and I'm just like, and then they're pulling the transcript and then they're, you know, using AI to kind of like, summarize, figure out titles like all the things. And so it's just like, it's really cool what this technology can do. And, you know, I have to go in and make sure that it sounds like my voice and there's no, you know, inaccuracies. And my team kind of does that too, first, before they send it to me for review. But it's just like saving so much time. Like, it's just like, it's crazy how just so much time is being saved with generative AI.
00:10:26 Chris Bugaj
And once again, it's an example where technology built for people with disabilities, you know, taking audio and turning it into text so people who can't hear that audio can have a different modality for it to experience. That same content is now some that is being used by the masses and. And expanding everybody's productivity. There's just that trend continues to exist over the last 30 years and maybe even longer. Something else, Rachel, is a great place where you said short videos and generative AI, you were talking about those two concepts. That reminds me of our Patreon because we often share short videos that we've recorded or that we find over on Patreon. And certainly generative AI tools and how to use them have been kind of a constant theme over there recently. What are your thoughts about Patreon?
00:11:17 Rachel Madel
I mean, I love our Patreon. I love when we're at a conference and someone comes up, everyone always says, I'm a Patreon member. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, thank you. It's just so much gratitude, and I just really appreciate everyone who's in our Patreon. You make this podcast possible, and without your support, we truly wouldn't be able to do it. And so we're just so grateful for you guys. And we try to add lots of content in there so you can get some extra resources, strategies, kind of behind the scenes types of things. And so thank you. Thank you. Thank you to our Patreon. We just had a new Patreon member, Chris. Alyssa just joined, so thank you, Alyssa. If you are interested in checking out our Patreon, you can go to patreon.com talkingwithtech, and that way you can kind of see what we're doing in there. There's so much content. I feel like if I join our Patreon at this point, I'd have a lot of posts to kind of scroll through. And, yeah, there's tons of great stuff in there.
00:12:21 Chris Bugaj
So, speaking about accessibility, some people who are really passionate about accessibility are people in the interview today. Let me explain a little bit about what this is, because it's a little bit different from our typical interviews. So this is an interview with some of my colleagues in Fairfax county public schools. They also work in assistive technology, and on the assistive technology, they call it ATS. And Fairfax is a county that neighbors the county I work in. And so we're often collaborating in the northern Virginia area, come across each other all the time, you know, constantly texting each other and those sorts of things. Well, over the years, one of the people that works for Fairfax was a gentleman named Jeff Powers. And I didn't get to know Jeff very well, but he and I had crossed paths, and he was very influential in some of my. My work, certainly. And he was a great champion in our neck of the woods for kind of understanding how, in order for AAC to take a greater stage in the idea of the world, bring it forward in people's mind, then it needed to be something that we used and amplified through different media sources. So he was like, on television talking about AAC and things like that in our local area. So recently, Jeff Powers passed away, and I thought a great way to celebrate his work would be to invite his colleagues on and talk, you know, have a reflect about his work and tell some stories and share how influential Jeff Powers, who may be listening on this podcast. You haven't heard of Jeff Powers? I don't know that he was a name in the field that people would recognize, but he was certainly influential in our neck of the woods. That really pushed the needle forward for AAC and so many users that I think actually had a ripple effect across the country. And so, without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to my friends and colleagues over at Fairfax county public Schools to celebrate the life and work of Jeff Powers.
00:14:44 Rachel Madel
Do you love this podcast? We would love for you to take a second and leave us a review on iTunes. That way, more people can find this podcast and learn how to support individuals using AAC. We also love hearing from our listeners. It reminds us that all of the hard work we put into this podcast really matters. And don't forget to subscribe, so you always know when we release new podcasts. Now let's head back into the episode.
00:15:15 Chris Bugaj
Welcome to the talking with tech podcast. My name is Chris Bugaj, and I have the great pleasure of interviewing 5 of my closest colleagues. And when I say closest colleagues, I mean geographically close. They're in our neighboring school district, but also have had the great pleasure of working with for many, many years in a collaborative space. It's always been so great to get together and just talk about, oh, has this worked for you? What's working for you? Are you noticing that? And so I'm sure we'll dig into that. Also, under the greater umbrella of celebrating one of our beloved colleagues who passed away recently, and we just want to celebrate his work. So who am I talking about? I'm talking about a number of members of the Fairfax county public schools assistive technology team. So let's go around the horn here. The way to do this, this is, um. I will maybe, Jeff, I'll start with you, do a quick introduction, and at the end, you choose the next person. And the next person. Choose the next person. And this way we'll go through everybody. Cool.
00:16:19 Jeff Sisk
Sounds great. So, yeah, so you just. I guess that means you just. You just seated to me and I'm on.
00:16:24 Chris Bugaj
So, yeah, sounds good.
00:16:26 Jeff Sisk
So, yeah. So I will say, chris, I'm going to start by complimenting you even before I introduce myself. I absolutely agree. Like, I can't compliment you enough on the collaboration that we've had between our two districts. I think that we both districts and all of our kids. So it's not just kids in Fairfax county public schools, but Loudoun county public schools. We've all grown because we've had these types of conversations. So kudos to you. And I don't know, Chris, how long have I known you? I mean, at least 15 years. At least.
00:16:53 Chris Bugaj
At least 15 years. If I mean, for. For people that go way back. Jeff, you were on the at Tips cast. We did a live recording, talking about podcasting, and that might be the first time we ever met. And right away, I just like, hey, we're going to record this and put it on the epstein. You're like, yeah, let's do it. And we had this whole conversation about podcasts.
00:17:11 Jeff Sisk
I remember that now. I totally forgot about that. So wholly full circle. Like, we're coming back around and doing it, you know, what, 1520 years later.
00:17:19 Chris Bugaj
Yes, yes, yes. And let's keep going.
00:17:21 Jeff Sisk
Let's keep going. So, yeah, so there we go. Introductions. So, I'm Jeff Siskin. I manage the assistive technology program here in Fairfax county public schools. And just not change only myself, but the district. So we're a large district sitting below Washington, DC, very similar to Loudoun county. We have approximately 185,000 students in our district. 29,000 of those students are identified as having ieps, or five four plans within special education. And then our assistive technology work, we have 3000 of those students who receive at accommodations through our program and through ieps and 504 plans. And of those 3000, 1500 of those are identified as augmentative communication users, which we'll talk about, you know, today, too. But I would not say that those are the only ones, but certainly there's most of them within our district. So it is a large population of students that I feel that, you know, that the work that we're going to discuss today directly impacts. So that's my introduction. With that, I'll move to Jennifer Carr, who can introduce herself next.
00:18:25 Colleen Kalamajka
Jennifer.
00:18:25 Jennifer Carr
Thank you. So I'm Jennifer Carr. I have been an at coach for many years, and within the last five years, I took on an educational specialist role, which means that I really just, I support and supervise the coaches who are out in the schools, and I try to do everything I can to make sure that their work is supported and they know that they're appreciated and just be part of the team for the work that we're all doing for kids. And I'll hand off to Megan.
00:18:59 Meaghan Tracy
I knew that was coming. So I'm Megan Tracy. My title is assistive technology integration specialist. I have the longest title of the three of us. My role is a little bit different than Jeff and Jennifer. I'm actually in a position that Jeff used to be in, but my role is a lot more of the technical side, setting up equipment, iPads, computer, and dealing with kind of it on different issues, things like software approval and that type of thing. I've also been around for a while. I was an at coach for ten years, and then I decided to move to the other side. And I went to a middle school, and I was what we call a school based technology specialist or an SBIT. And it was really enlightening to me to be able to work in that capacity. And then I had the opportunity to come back to AP's and work in gestural. So it's been exciting, it's been a ride.
00:19:59 Chris Bugaj
And, Megan, before you introduce the next person, I just got to tell you a quick Megan story, because I don't know if you know this story.
00:20:07 Meaghan Tracy
No, but I'm nervous.
00:20:08 Chris Bugaj
Maybe you'll remember it again. Many, many years ago, I had the great opportunity to write a book called the Practical and Fun Guide to assistive technology. And that was with Sally Norton Darr. And so we had written the book and it was being published by Istanbul. And Isti had put out like a little flyer saying, hey, this book is coming. And you and I met at maybe one of your conferences, maybe the rate conference, I don't know, Fairfax puts on a conference called rate. Maybe we'll get into it. I've been there before, but somewhere you and I came across and you said, chris, I have this book. I don't have the book yet, but I have it. I printed it out, this flyer. I've got it up in my cubicle or wherever it was in my workstation, and I look at it every day. I can't wait for it to come out. And I was like, oh, that's so awesome. Like, walking away going, oh, my gosh, someone's actually going to read this book. Like, that's the one. That's the one person. But it gave me great confidence, you know, they're like, okay, maybe this is needed, you know, because you don't really know. And. And so just that moment has stuck with me all these years that I don't know that I would have the confidence to continue writing, to continue to have these sorts of podcast experiences if it wasn't for maybe one of those moments where you bolstered me to say, yeah, yeah, that what? That. I'm looking forward to that. So, thank you.
00:21:30 Meaghan Tracy
I think that started from the calendar. Did the calendar come first?
00:21:34 Chris Bugaj
The calendar did come first.
00:21:36 Meaghan Tracy
I loved that calendar. Like, every day I had it on my desk and every day I tore it off. So I think that's what sparked it. So you sparked me, too. I would use your tip everywhere I could.
00:21:46 Chris Bugaj
Awesome. Awesome.
00:21:48 Meaghan Tracy
Yes. So I am now going to throw it to Pauline. Colleen, you're up.
00:21:54 Colleen Kalamajka
Okay. And I'm Colleen Kalamyka, and I think we're all going to say we've been with assistive technology services for a very long time. I came into Fairfax county straight out of grad school and worked as a speech language pathologist before I came and put on my ATs hat when it was its. So that was a good long while ago. So I serve as a technology coach here in Fairfax county, and Ashley will talk probably a bit more about that, too. But we get to go out into schools and work with children, assess what they might need to access the curriculum. We get to work with teachers and support staff and related service providers to get them trained up on any kind of technology tools they might need in the classroom. And then we also get to help work with other school teams to bring in the inclusive tools to the classroom. So that's the fun part we get to do as well. And I'll tell you that your name comes to mind all the time with me because when we do assistive technology trainings for AAC, we show your video.
00:23:05 Chris Bugaj
On aided language simulation.
00:23:07 Colleen Kalamajka
Aided language simulation, yes. And we show that video at all of our trainings, and it's at the end and it brings everything together. So thank you for showing that video.
00:23:16 Chris Bugaj
All right, thanks. Colleen, who's next.
00:23:18 Colleen Kalamajka
Ashley.
00:23:19 Ashley Kiley
Kylie? That's me. Yeah. So, my name is Ashley Kiley. My story is very similar to Colleen's. I was hired from the speech department right out of grad school. I was a speech therapist for a few years before Jeff Powers actually pulled me in and, you know, convinced me to apply for ATS. And so I've been with ATS ever since. So I think I'm rounding on year 15. Maybe I'm halfway to retirement. Not that I'm counting, but, yes, it's been the best move I've made. My story is very similar to Colleen's, but I do serve as an at coach. We're supporting students across the Cat A and cabby populations, you know, really working with school teams, bringing them up to capacity and using those tools on site with their students across the board. And we. We also have the privilege of being members of the AAC team within the ATS department. So we really get to focus on in house trainings for our staff, as well as coordinating those trainings for families and students and caregivers. So it's really an exciting role to have.
00:24:12 Chris Bugaj
Awesome. Awesome. Well, I'm excited to have this conversation with you, with all of you, because we've had such a great relationship over the years, and now we get to share it with the wider. With the wider world. So one of the things that brought us together to record today was a celebration of the life of one of your colleagues, Jeff Powers, who I didn't know very well, but I certainly met at many conferences, and I do have some very poignant stories to share. Well, one in particular about Jeff, but he was a champion for AAC in our local area. And I just feel like that is an important thing for people to recognize because I don't know that, you know, speech therapists listening today, teachers listening today, would recognize the name Jeff Powers. But he had such an impact, at least on my career in our neck of the woods, that I feel like it's a shining example of that our work really matters, so I won't go into it. You guys know Jeff way more. So tell us a little bit about, you know, how you first met Jeff and what your initial impressions were and what stood out about this. This man's work, both personally and professionally.
00:25:26 Meaghan Tracy
I'll start if that's okay. I met Jeff, of course, back when I was an at coach. He came into the department and was also working as an at coach. We weren't working very closely. He was probably. He was located in a different satellite office, and we kind of worked in a different region of the, of the county, but we would get together, you know, at staff meetings and, and that sort of thing. So I would say I didn't know him that well at the time I left Ats, but when I came back, he was a life changer. He was in a whole new role. He actually had kind of what we called an AAC. He really was an AAC specialist. He didn't get that title through Fairfax county, but he definitely was a specialist. And so we worked very closely together, like setting up the iPads for the communication devices, working on, like, things he could use in technology to promote his training. He just was amazing at what he did, and it was really great. We had a really good working relationship for those last few years. When I came back into this role, I won't go on too long, so go ahead.
00:26:34 Jeff Sisk
I was going to say, like, I don't remember the first time I met Jeff. And I think that that's probably, like, kind of like, aligns with Megan's story. And that's, that is really kind of his, to me, describes his personality and his impact at the same time, his growth, you know, professionally and personally, you know, because he just became that more and more over time. He was, you know, just, he kind of crept into your world, you know, both personally and professionally. So I begin, I have, I have long memories with Jeff, both personally and professionally, of doing things with him. But, like, Megan's description, you asked me earlier today, Chris, like, what if, you know, in ideal circumstances, what type of roles and resources would I have in our at program? And Megan hit that nail on the head. I think there is a need for somebody like an at AAC specialist in any program that's out there. And we didn't know that when Jeff was first hired. We didn't have that when Jeff was first hired. And we were moving towards that, and Jeff became that to us in a certain degree without actually knowing it or intending for it to happen. But because of his expertise and because of his personality, the combination of the both that formed over time and then, as Megan said, it became invaluable. And that's where Ashley and Colleen are today. They're really left with trying to fulfill that and because that need, we recognize the impact of that, and that needs still being there. So I think that that's my experience with him and the impact of that personality and professional approach still today.
00:28:09 Jennifer Carr
So to piggyback on that, also, I was trying to remember the exact moment that I met Jeff Powers. And again, like Megan pointed out, he was kind of at a different site a lot of the time, and I think I was coming and going, like, having kids, and so lots of things were fuzzy for me, and I was a little like, oh, gosh, how am I going to respond to this, like, thinking about this? But it is. I felt I thinking about it, I feel like I've never not known Jeff Powers. Right? It wasn't like, uh oh, when did I meet him? And let's share that story. I feel like more of the story is. Is going forward and just how he was able to, like, kind of enter into any situation and, you know, just have this wonderful approach and ability to kind of share of himself, but also want to hear about you. You know, it wasn't all one sided. He just had this really great way about him that, you know, we are all blessed to know.
00:29:10 Ashley Kiley
I can kind of share a little similar experience to that because I first met Jeff when I came right out of grad school, and I worked at an esy site first year out. So I had very complex needs. The kids were much older. I was in a secondary site. I was normally with my Pac students and preschool kids, and I was just staring at headlights, like, what do I do? No one's talking to me. Where do I get started? And so the wonderful thing about Jeff is that he really had this ability to meet you where you are, you know, so you feel like you can still do the job at hand and took it in those small steps, so you felt comfortable, confident, and kind of moved on. And I think that his ability to do that, that resonated with me personally and professionally, you know? And I think that that's my most memorable meeting of him the first time. And then how our relationship went from teaching me how to use board maker six to now we are, like, geeking out and texting each other. Like, did you see this new eye gaze product? Like, you know, and really kind of building that excitement and being able to kind of bounce ideas off of each other and how all of that evolved over the years is pretty special.
00:30:11 Colleen Kalamajka
I guess I'll share, because I actually knew Jeff before he was Ats. I was at that site where he worked, and he actually was the speech language pathologist at Puli center, which is career instruction. And he also worked at West Potomac High School. And so he worked in both those areas as speech and language pathologist. And it's really neat because he actually met his wife at one of those schools as well. So both he and his wife Melissa, have been in the county since the very, very beginning. So it's really nice to hear about. About a family who, they started off working together, and then they still both work in special education and serve students and families together. But I got to meet him. They were taking, I think, one of my after school classes that we had to come and learn some of the sister technology. And they both came to class together, and he was the speech pathologist over in our low incidence population. And I just remember he just had that natural knack with people. I remember him sitting down and chatting with the students and working on communicating devices, and it just was really natural for him connecting with the. With the kids and connecting with the teachers. And he just had a really great knack of connecting with people. So. And that's also one of the reasons why, you know, we kind of drew him in to assistive technology because he knew how to work with people, he knew how to work with kids, how to connect. And everybody felt valued and wanted to be on, on team Jeff.
00:31:46 Chris Bugaj
So, Colleen, that word connect really resonates with me because that's one of the ways I felt like I connected with Jeff, is that he understood that in order for the change to happen, having more AAC devices, kids learning language using AAC inclusionary practices, it had to get the word out to a larger audience. It wasn't just about a handful of people in our neck of the woods. We have to spread the awareness of this far and wide. And that certainly stood out because he did some things with that were, I certainly noticed, through general media, like on television, on websites, and he wrote some articles. I think there was news reports about some of the work, and I can remember him with a banner underneath and like, oh, my gosh, this guy's talking about AC, right? Like, yes, go, Jeff. Right? Do you remember some of those stories where he connected with a larger general media audience and sharing with those. Anything, anything around those. That's those stories.
00:32:59 Jeff Sisk
I will say that I'm a media glutton, so I really think that I can't value that enough just because we can tell the story right. And that all is well and good. But when you actually see the story and hear other people engaged in the story, then so many people connect with it in different ways, and it's just so much more valuable. So the one that stands out to me because he's in a lot of our public videos. So if you're watching, you haven't been to the Fairfax County Public Schools Assistive technology website. Do that search assistive technology, Fairfax county public schools. You'll jump into our website. And of course, with Jeff, it's specific to AAC. Probably we're going to find most of his content. So we have a content card that's there for augmentative and alternative communication. And there's a litany of videos, you know, in that section, and Jeff will be in most of them. But the one that I remember specifically, because I was on the back end of it was at Great Falls elementary school. And another assistive technology coach was hosting an AAC awareness fair that day. So there were a couple students that were new to receiving AAC devices, and the school was new to receiving students who were using AAC. So it was really kind of a new experience for everyone. And this coach decided to build a fair around AAC awareness so that general education students could see augmentative communication devices, what they looked like, how students communicate through them. And we're going from classroom to classroom to participate in this fair. And there was other fair events going on that day, too. But the principal, to really kind of advertise what was happening at her school, at Great Falls elementary, also then called out our FCPS media just by chance. And then by chance, I also happened to be observing everything that was happening at the school that day. And in that video, you never see this at coach that I'm talking about, about you only see Jeff. And Jeff was there to help, but he is him. So with his knowledge base and his gentle, you know, demeanor and approach, and he was camera friendly, he just wound up being interviewed more and more and more to the point. When I saw the final product, Jeff was the one that was speaking, and I know who that at coach was. But because I was there, I know that. But if you watch the video, you're really not going to find her, which is really kind of that what you're speaking to Chris, like, how he very, and like I said, I never remember the first time that I met Jeff, but I certainly remember Jeff, how he kind of crept into everything that was happening, you know, and he had the professional knowledge to do it and the person ability to do it. And I think a lot of these videos are evidence of that.
00:35:33 Meaghan Tracy
Yeah, he definitely was a superstar, like our own Ashley Kiley, as he mentioned earlier. But one of the things, too, that, that he did a lot of, and this is with the help of Ashley and Colleen as well, and the AAC team is he did a lot of training and he recorded them, or, you know, like he had the notion to record them and share them out you know, that way with the public or with our own staff or, you know, within FCPS. So that's not necessarily media relief. But I think he was a great trainer. And Colleen and Ashley can agree with me, I think he was. But he was also, like, insightful enough to know, hey, we should record these and make some training videos so that this word can spread. And that was back, you know, that was years ago, probably right. But it's really, it's made a huge impact, I think, on our county as a whole to have, you know, those materials that he had the insight of creating.
00:36:32 Chris Bugaj
Yeah, let me. I just want to comment on that real quick. Jeff, can you think about how many years ago that was, that. That story you were just saying that.
00:36:40 Jeff Sisk
Wasn'T too long ago. I want to say that it was. I mean, it was before the pandemic.
00:36:44 Meaghan Tracy
So 2018. Yeah, I was going to say when I first started.
00:36:47 Jeff Sisk
Okay, yeah, so 2018.
00:36:49 Chris Bugaj
So, so that plus the story, Megan, you were just saying about having the forethought to think, I'm going to start recording things and we need to duplicate ourselves so people can. Can listen to stuff and watch stuff when we're actually working with other people. Right. To propagate that. I really just think that's forward thinking. Like, back in 2018, I don't know how many people were going into general ed classrooms with AAC doing full scale interventions. Like you said, jeff, complimenting the other coach, but that's really, like, now we're still actually a lot of people listening. Be like, Chris, we're still not doing that. It's like. Right. They were doing it. So I just, I just think that's awesome that he was there to support, support it, but then also that forethought to replicate and duplicate yourself and maybe set a trend for that. So thank you for that. Megan, any other stories?
00:37:45 Jennifer Carr
Well, I was just going to say something about how the AAC team and Jeff, and they did put together all of these trainings, right. That you could view on your own time and wherever you needed it, it was there for you. We've had asks of people much higher than us of, oh, can you put this, can you have training available at any time? And can, you know, can it be put into, like, our, our larger county wide training system called my PDE? And we were like, yeah, actually we can, you know, that's not going to be. It's going to be a little bit of a zig and a zag. But that's not a start from the beginning and figure out what we're going to say and what message we need to have, we just might need to tweak it. And so because of the work with, of Jeff and Ashley and Colleen and the AAC team, we were ready before the ask came, which was, you know, speaks again to everything that he kind of thought forward about.
00:38:44 Meaghan Tracy
And also, this just reminded me the other thing, you know, before it got into the professional platform that it's in now through our MyPDe or professional learning system, just he, bless his heart, he did everything he could to learn Ed puzzle. And so the AAC team and deaf created, you know, their trainings and put them all in edpuzzle. And then they would send out the link to Edpuzzle. They'd have questions to make sure people were watching. They didn't. You probably allowed for rewind. I don't remember guys, but. And then they, then they had to go and add all those names into the Mypde so the teachers would get credit for it. But he was like, you know, hell bent on getting those videos out there so that people could view them, them from, you know, a spot more comfortable for them. That was another thing. Do you remember that, Ashley?
00:39:34 Ashley Kiley
Oh, yeah. And to add on to that, when we were first getting into Google classroom, we would create these Google courses. And so we create multiple videos and we had modular one section one, and we had like all the way up to 13. And it all had that same structure that he valued so much of. Let's talk about language development. Let's talk about the operational of, you know, uses of the device. And now let's talk about implementation. And so if you go to the website and look at that communication card that Jeff had mentioned earlier, a lot of those videos are him stressing the importance of training about the children being communication partners. As you, as the facilitator at home, how can you model? How can you comment? You know, even the little tricks of post it notes on a book he's modeling of how can you expand upon language and still use the device. So he really valued trainings and all the new ways of which to get the message out in ways that are available to most.
00:40:19 Meaghan Tracy
And didn't he say actually in one of his videos he was actually modeling, but he was using his own children, his daughter.
00:40:27 Ashley Kiley
Yeah. So two of the videos are of his own kids, which they were troopers and excellent AAC users, I must say.
00:40:33 Colleen Kalamajka
They are on our Fairfax county webpage, too. If you go down to the very bottom, you'll see them as he's reading and modeling it's so fun. I have to say that he also knew his audience because when I was out on maternity leave, like, eight or nine years ago, before we started doing a lot of the. These posting videos professionally in the county, Ashley and Jeff dabbled in reaching our own personal ATS community by putting together some very entertaining videos that had bantering back and forth. And so we got to see them. Ashley and I got to laugh at them a few months ago, but he knew how to reach who he needed to reach, and he was okay being the silly guy or the fun guy. He could fall into whatever he needed to be to be that guy that helped everybody. And I have to tell you, I love watching those videos. Those are in house and so much fun.
00:41:31 Jeff Sisk
That was the Jimmy Fallon hashtag video, right?
00:41:34 Meaghan Tracy
Yes, hashtag video. Going back and forth.
00:41:37 Colleen Kalamajka
We did.
00:41:38 Ashley Kiley
We definitely were very excited about getting our staff excited to learn the latest and greatest about core language and the use of that on devices. And so we actually wrote out the script for the Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake hashtag skit. And we had our parts and we're taping it. And, you know, we sent that out to staff and, like, come after the staff meeting, we'll teach you all about it. And we even had another public service announcement where he was like, does AC have you down? And I can't do it justice. He's much funnier and much better at this than I am, but he always had a good time. And he definitely used humor to kind of connect with people, too, being like, it's not that bad. Like, let's come. Let's come talk about it. You know, let's talk through strategies. So it was a lot of fun working on trainings with him.
00:42:17 Chris Bugaj
That sounds awesome. Now I'm sad that I didn't get to make a video with him. All right, let's talk about even broader contributions to the field. I'm going to start. I want to tell you my Jeff power story, because I don't know that any of you know it. Do you remember, Jeff? I know. I think you were there. Maybe, Jennifer, you were there. Maybe around 2016, there was a conference at George Mason University about accessible educational materials. Do you remember? Yes, I do. Yeah. I had a little bit of a hand in helping make it with doing an ed camp style, putting it together. So one of the sessions was, and I don't remember what the title of the session was because it was edcamp. Like people said, we want to talk about AAC. And so Jeff and I found ourselves in the same room together with about, I don't know, 15 to 20 other people and sit in a big circle talking about AAC stuff. This was one of the first times where I said, okay, here's something I think that I would like to share with everybody and people's feedback on. I'm thinking maybe we could change the model where if we have a number of kids using the same sort of thing, what if that was, that became the thing and it's not the thing that everyone would use, but what if it was? We made adjustments, then say, okay, well, that this maybe would be like our tier one or tier two support. And then, and then for kids that we know that wouldn't work for this would become. Or later on, maybe they proves that it didn't work for. We could use a more, you know, specialized, figure out what they need sort of approach. And everyone in the room was like, no, that's not how we do. Chris, what are you talking. That's not how we do it. We do feature matching. We look at one kid at a time. There's. You can't group them like that. And I was like, okay, okay, okay. And the room ends, and I just kind of sit quietly, and Jeff turns to me. He's like, that makes a lot of sense. He's like, that makes total sense. He's like, why are we spending so much time? I can't get to implementation because we're figuring out what the kids need, and then the kids tend to need the same sort of things. So, yeah, Chris, do that. Do that. And you guys probably know Mike Murata, right? So years ago, Mike Murata showed me a video, a TEDx video called the power of the first follower, right? Where if there's somebody might have this idea, but if nobody comes along and says, yeah, I'm going to dance with you, or I'm going to. I think that's a good idea. The idea dies, right? And Jeff was there again, Megan, in the same sort of way about the book in a parallel story. Chris, keep going. Like, keep going. It's like, okay, okay. If you. If you think Jeff, if you think this is a good idea and you're this media rock star, then I think maybe there's something here to something to this. And I think that's grown over the years, thanks to Jeff. Because again, I don't know that I'd have the confidence to go out and say, well, that person believed that that was a good idea. So let me go see if there's some other people that will believe the power of the first follower. There was Jeff whispering in my ear. So thank you, Jeff, because I think that has rippled effects with a lot of people that have implemented that approach now. So that's my answer to one of his big contributions to the field. What are some other things that you can, can think of?
00:45:32 Jennifer Carr
So I'm going to share a story that one of our other coaches said shared with me shortly after Jeff passed. And it was in that he was like a consensus builder. Right. Her background wasn't in AAC. She supported kids with AAC. She enjoyed it, but it was not her natural go to. And so she asked Jeff to come out on a number of occasions to partner with her. Said whenever Jeff was with me or talking with me about a specific student, he always made me feel like I had something to contribute. It wasn't. I'm the one with the speech background and learning language and that kind of thing, and let me tell you what you need to do. He brought her into the process, and she always felt valued, and she always felt that there was a place at the table for her. And I think that that is kind of just jeff in a nutshell. Like, he always brought people in and gave them a seat at the table and listened to their voice.
00:46:41 Meaghan Tracy
And I think, like, as I said earlier, like, met people where they were at, so never, you know, never made anyone feel like they didn't know what they need, needed to know. But, you know, I think. I think everyone on their staff would echo that. He definitely built capacity. I mean, he and the AAC team, which his led, he built capacity around AAC, at ATs. I mean, you know, it was difficult for myself even coming in. I was an LD teacher. I didn't know anything about AAC. So having a role model or resource like him in our department was really pretty great. I mean, and again, back to what Jeff said, if we could just get a, you know, get the county to recognize that there's, there's true specialists out there that really, you know, really are. We need them, you know, we need them to be in that professional role.
00:47:30 Ashley Kiley
I think the genuine way of which he approached people really showed, and I think it saw you as a person, it saw you as a professional. And I think the way that he was able to talk to parents and to teachers and to kids made you feel secure, you know, and that you were seen and then you were able to take those next steps forwards because being the gentle giant that I always teased him to be, you know, he was able to be in those really tough meetings. And then everyone requested him thereafter because he was able to keep calm. He was able to kind of hear the frustrations, not take it on, but really kind of help guide conversations. A very gentle way of, like, I hear what you're saying, and I hear what you're saying. Let's kind of piece all those pieces together and make those steps forward so it's still in the best interest of the student. So that's just a really amazing skill that he had.
00:48:14 Colleen Kalamajka
All of these things are absolutely true. And I was just thinking, too, about how Jeff was absolutely brilliant in what he did. He was a huge, big thinker. He was always listening to a podcast or reading up on something, and sometimes it was AAC related, but sometimes it was like, really geeking out on other things or big picture ideas. But when it came to AAC, he did have those big ideas and wanted to learn more and more. He knew what a big responsibility he had, and he really was like, this is the best job ever, and it is a huge honor. He absolutely loved it. But one of the things he did really well is he took all these big things and he gave it to you in the bite size you needed. If you had a parent who came in just starting out, it was like, let's just keep it really where, where we need it, right? When it came to assessments, it was the same thing. When it came to training, the same sort of idea. And so he was really good at knowing what people needed and could either, and just really could connect with people on that piece. And I thought that was really great for him because people always left thinking, you know what? I got something I can do, and I can do this. And it was not just in AAC, it was in life. People would come in to talk about AAC, and the next thing you know, he knew. I mean, he knows about the people's kids, about what's going on, because he people. Because he cared. You know, that's the one thing everybody was like. He was everybody's best friend. Like he was. Yeah. And he remembered. So. And that's how his approach was just so unique. He always had time for people, but he still did the research. He still did the investigation. He was still really, really knowledgeable.
00:50:11 Jennifer Carr
Hey, Colleen, I was wondering if you could share the story of the t shirts, because you were really instrumental in creating those.
00:50:22 Colleen Kalamajka
Sure. So when we were, I don't know, maybe you guys know this story or not, but when we were in the hospital and we kind of, we were there with Melissa and some of the other really close friends. And we had found out that he wasn't going to survive. All sitting around outside kind of making. Trying to help with what we could. And we were talking about him. And I remember Melissa came out and everybody throughout, every who comes in was saying, gosh, we just love Jeff. We just love Jeff. He was the, you know, the best guy. I mean, he was just. And, you know, people would come in and talk to his parents, and his dad was just in awe. Like, I had no idea the impact that people had, right? And when they did, he donated his organs. And so when they did this walk, you know, this hero walk going down, they had this. The entire hallway was filled. They had over 200 people come in. When they went through security, they were like, just go. Because there were so many people. And the family was just so overwhelmed. They had no idea that he was that famous, like, really and truly. And we were sitting here, and at one point, Melissa, his wife, was just like, you know, she said, you know, damn it. Everybody just. I know. Every time I say, I'm Melissa, I'm Jeff Powers wife, they're like, oh, we love Jeff. We love Jeff. She's like, I know. Everybody loves Jeff Powers. Okay, everybody loves him. And so I'll have to grab the shirt. And so, and so then we were talking about what we're gonna do for them, for the celebration of life. And they were like, we don't want it to be, like, so sad. We wanna share all these things. And everybody's talking about this. And so we were like, let's just throw out t shirts. We'll throw out shirts and what are you gonna put on them? Everybody loves Jeff Powers. So that's how these shirts came up. And so at the service, we, you know, ats came together and pulled together. And one of the departments, one of the groups down there loves to cricket. So they, you know, we designed the shirts and made the shirts. And so, and so at the end, you know, here, his wife and some of the people were just tossing out shirts. So it just. It just really embodies, you know, who he is. So we. Now, you go around the county, or you see people, and we now have these really fun, simple shirts in blue that says, everybody loves Jeff Powers. And she made it curve up, because it's. Everybody loves Jeff Bowers. And they do. I mean, you go into a school, and when they heard about this, every school I went into, they. Everybody. Somebody came up to me and said something because his hand, those devices that go out, they. Everybody, you would never even know everybody knew him, especially if you were in special education.
00:53:23 Ashley Kiley
So there was no bad thing you could say about Jeff. And even the toughest advocates would ask for Jeff, you know, because of the way that he supported the teams.
00:53:31 Chris Bugaj
Yeah, that's an awesome story. Are there other memorable stories? We've heard a few. Is there any others that's going to stand out your mind?
00:53:40 Jeff Sisk
I will go with this one. So we've talked about this one in staff, and we, I think we still, like, hold on to it as one of our endearing stories with him. So one time somebody was either had some type of celebration, a birthday or a wedding celebration, you know, something like an inter office celebration. And of course, you have a cake, you know, to celebrate it. And this, to me, speaks to how well loved he is. Kind of piggybacking on. On what Ashley and Colleen were describing. This is very, to me, uncharacteristic. I don't know what Jeff was, where he was when he saw this cake, but this cake was in another room from where the actual celebration was taking place. So Jeff not only went to go to cut a piece of the cake before the celebration was over, but he cut the centerpiece out of the cake. So he literally cut a hole in the middle of the cake because that was the piece that he preferred. And he then manages to walk into the room where everybody is celebrating and is the only guy, and I think the only even male, like, holding this piece of cake to a now shocked audience. But instead of, like, coming back at Jeff, it was laughed off and appreciated and endeared so quickly. There was no backlash to this move whatsoever. He's the only guy I know that could pull off something like that. And now to this day, we celebrate Jeff whenever we have a cake by cutting out the middle of the cake that remains his piece.
00:55:02 Colleen Kalamajka
Yeah. I have to say it was for my first baby. Congratulations, Colleen. And they cut out the sea without the sea and Colleen. But I have this new understanding of this because everybody was on his case, because he came in late to the party and, you know, and here he does. He came in and everybody thought he was clueless. But after he passed and we started talking more and more about it, I realized he actually was very calculated because he was the guy that looked straight laced, but he was a huge cut up, and that was actually very much planned out. And I did not know until ten years later that he totally did it on purpose. And I was like, I bet you he totally did this on purpose. And he kept it quiet and people talked about it for years, and he never said a word. But the joke, he was laughing at everybody else being like, you fools, I got your number. I know it.
00:55:56 Meaghan Tracy
The other thing about him that you would never know is he was a black belt. He just recently. I know, like, this year, right, this school year, for sure, he received his. His black belt. And to me, that was always so amazing. But I think it kind of goes back to what you're saying, Colleen. He's very calculated. You know, he really. He thinks in a way where, you know, like, I feel like a karate move would be coming, you know? And then Jennifer has a good story that also relates back to something Colleen said about him being such a good researcher, and he always wanted to learn and learn more. So I'm gonna let Jennifer share that story.
00:56:34 Jennifer Carr
Yes, he did. He was very detail oriented. I'm sure that C was cut out with precision, Colleen, in that cake. Uh huh. So there was a number of us that were having lunch together, and he was talking about the show Ozark, which was popular, right. And it was. A lot was going on in the show. And at the beginning of the show would have, like, an o. And the O was cut into quarters. Right? Divided, and in each quadrant was a picture. And that picture was somehow represented within that episode. I noticed the pictures. I watched the show. It was good. But, like, I just kind of, like, passed over me, right. He would take notes on paper. He would write down, you know, alligator, raindrop, whatever it was. And then he would wait until he found it in that episode. Episode and relate it back to the picture. And I was like, good Lord. Like, I figure television shows, if I don't catch something, they're gonna come back by and, like, give me more information, because, you know, I'm not paying that much attention. But he got it all, so he was not gonna let one thing. And I was like, I have never heard of anyone taking notes to watch a show like, that's next level.
00:57:52 Chris Bugaj
That's such an AAC specialist move. Right, to look at the iconic symbols and go, okay, what's that?
00:58:00 Jennifer Carr
You're absolutely right.
00:58:03 Chris Bugaj
All right, any other stories before we.
00:58:05 Colleen Kalamajka
Move on, I just want to say one more thing. Whenever we did training, he would always have everything set up. He would send us an email of, like, you know, thanks, guys. Thanks, pals, for doing the training tomorrow. Just letting you know I'll have everything ready to go. You're going to rock it. And then we always got, like, a text message or something afterwards being, like, nailed it, or, you know, you're the bomb.com. you're the bomb.com. or, you know.
00:58:33 Ashley Kiley
He was always so encouraging, you know, of everyone, and that's crazy that he and I keep going back to it, but he was so genuine and such a wealth of knowledge. And it wasn't just about AC. It was about tv shows or music or restaurants for the right price, you know, like, he had the best places in town to go to, you know? So, I mean, he, he was just a well rounded guy in a lot of areas, you know.
00:58:56 Chris Bugaj
How do you think his work will continue to influence you into the future?
00:59:02 Ashley Kiley
Personally, I think I would like to be more like Jeff in a sense of becoming as knowledgeable as him, meeting people where they are, as him. Even the smallest successes are still a success, and bringing it back to basics for those that need it, just really being that flexible mindset and really that the end goal was just to have the kids, kids use it, use the device, communicate with us. You know, it doesn't have to be this grandiose thing. In one meeting, you're going to sell it to the team and they're going to say, oh, that's it. That's what we want to do, you know, and that orchestrating it and moving along and that slow, steady path, you know, is something that he did phenomenally well that I think really made a difference across a lot of schools and a lot of different situations that for me, personally and professionally, I would like to be more like that and model his contribution, contribution to what he's done.
00:59:50 Jeff Sisk
He was definitely good at taking research and making it happen, and that's not an easy thing to do. I think a lot of times we can dive into research and think that we should be doing that, and then we do our best to attempt to do it, and then it just doesn't plan out or play out the way that we would like it to. And I think that Jeff was just one of the best that I've seen making new research ideas come into play, and I think that's something that I think that we're all continuing to strive for.
01:00:21 Jennifer Carr
I was just going to say that, you know, we talked about, you know, Jeff having, being able to hear everyone and take in everyone's, you know, thoughts and, and the directions that they're coming from. And I know that I've actually thought in my head, kind of like, what would Jeff Howers do if I've been in difficult conversations, you know, because everyone really just wants to be heard. Everyone really wants to contribute. And so if you take a step back from, like, what you want or your position and just being able to hear everyone, you get some really great ideas that come out of it that you never thought about, but you also get a chance for others to hear kind of what you want to say. So you do build more of that consensus and kind of bring in everyone as partners and stakeholders. And that's one thing that, like, when I'm having, you know, a challenging situation that I do really think about Jeff, and I really do try to chant him.
01:01:15 Colleen Kalamajka
For me, on a personal note, it's, I think that there's a lot that needs to be done, like, right in the job that we do. We have lots of kids and families to teachers to work with. And so I can sometimes get tunnel vision of the things I have to do. And so what this is reminding me is to Colleen, take a step back and enjoy the people you're around, like, whether it's at home, but also in work, in your situation. So. So the email will get there. Something will get there. When you ask, how are you doing, listen to how the person is really doing and engage, and there'll be time for the other stuff. So it's one of those, don't get overwhelmed, listen to the people and take a moment to breathe and engage more.
01:02:08 Meaghan Tracy
And I appreciated, someone said it earlier how detail oriented you as. And that's something that obviously, I think I could improve in my life. But, like, he used to set up calendar meetings. Like, you know, and then if I didn't, if I didn't accept the calendar meeting, he'd come in and he'd be like, Megan, you didn't accept my calendar meeting. I'm like, jeff, you're right down the hall. We don't need a calendar meeting. But it was helpful, like, it was an organization, and it's his way of doing things. And I definitely appreciate it. And I think I would strive more to be like that. Like that power.
01:02:39 Chris Bugaj
There's the hashtag right there. Be like, Jeff, really, it's a, for the people listening to this episode right now, especially the younger therapists, younger teachers, but really, anybody like, this is what you strive for as a, I think, professionally and personally, right. For people have such reverence for your work, to have people understand the ripple effect of your work and how many families are better because of your work. And that's certainly Jeff, right? So hash, be like, Jeff, all right. I think one of the things that I heard you say is that Jeff loves learning. And Jeff Sisk, you had said, like, it's not easy to learn about research and then put it into practice. Right. And he seemed to be really good at that. I know that I'm a little jealous I didn't get to go to the recent CEC conference council counsel for exceptional children. I got that. Right. Right. But some of you went. So with that in mind, what are some of your takeaways from that conference? Share for everyone else who didn't get.
01:03:49 Jeff Sisk
To go see, the first thing that comes to mind is that I think that there was, you always see your community in these settings, and it's not just even the at community, but the special education community. And I think that what I took away from that was a lot of good conversations about the easiest possible ways of implementing any new program, an instructional program. But for me, selfishly, I'm looking at, at, and to dive into Jeff's work, AAC. So, and I know, Chris, you're a big proponent of this, too. Like, how could we build more inclusive practices? How could we, you know, provide additional accessibility? And I know that, you know, sometimes people want to me at least take something like an AAC device, because it's a different device. Right. And it might be removed from what would look like the regular computer that a student would normally use. But it really, it's all not really much different. It's just a matter of exposure to that type of communication. And any ways that we can to make that simpler and easier are going to be better and more inclusive. And we talked about it earlier today. Right. Like bringing those tier three practices into tier one and tier two practices. And I definitely see ways that AAC is starting to fit into that more, more. And so we saw conversations surrounding that with other professionals at CEC, and that was at least affirming and positive for me coming out of that conference.
01:05:16 Chris Bugaj
Jeff, just to comment on that real quick, the number of accommodations that have audio supports, like read aloud, text to speech. Right. I bet you that's probably your most frequently used accommodation. That's certainly in our neck of the woods. Right. And our second most frequent visual supports. Right. So here, if, what if we provided audio supports and video visual supports in a structured manner, what is that? That's AAC. Right. So it certainly makes sense how many more kids could, again, moving it down to being more of a tier one support. And I think we see this. That's sort of what your example was with the elementary school is, yeah, let's get more general ed students understanding. Let's put more AAC, even low tech AAC paper based AAC, around the school and teach people how to use it. And because it's such a, it's such a universal thing that we could do. So it totally resonates with me. I'm so glad that was a takeaway and people were talking about it at CEC.
01:06:18 Jeff Sisk
Sure. And we also, we had a lot of interaction with lesson picks because there is a vendor expo area and so. And we're. We use that, you know, in our district quite a bit. So, like, what you're speaking to in terms of visual supports, of course, know that vendor, of course, is going to appreciate that, but, you know, but that is a direction that they're interested in also. Right. Like, it is just. It's more about than just creating, you know, instructional visuals for worksheets. And I hate to use that word, but, you know, whatever, you know, there's old traditional materials that we don't like so much and that's just even with the vendors, not even, you know, with other, some other of our colleagues, we were having those types of conversations, too.
01:06:57 Meaghan Tracy
So one of the vendors, speaking of vendors that I was very impressed with, and you might have heard of her, her name was Del, and I don't. I can't pronounce her last name or I don't know her last name, but she is the CEO of a company called AI Learning. Have you heard of that? So it's kind of funny. I was talking to two of my colleagues this morning and they saw her at closing the gap, so they knew exactly who she was and what her product was. But she's 21 years old. She went to Cornell and now she's at Stanford. She was just amazing and she was so inquisitive of us and, like, our system and how things work. And I was like, do you have sign on with Google? Like, and she's like, wait, what's that? But I'm not getting paid by her, by the way. But she was really, she was really impressive and her product was very similar to like a choose it maker kind of product. She creates these. She has mostly math materials, which we're always looking for. I don't know about you guys, Chris over there, but she really, she creates all these materials. They're switch accessible, eye gaze accessible. Like everything down the list that we would look for. She's made it and done it and it was really, really impressive, actually. The lesson picks owner introduced us to her, but she was great. And it's really encouraging to see such a young, smart woman trying to create her own business and really getting out there and doing it. And I was really happy to hear she was at closing the gap as well because that's perfect.
01:08:37 Chris Bugaj
She's really getting out there and prioritizing universal design, making sure that the product can work for everybody at the inception phase rather than. Oh, right, I was supposed to add that feature. Okay, how are we going to develop that into it, right. If you built it in the first place? So it sounds like she really understands that. And how awesome is that? It's definitely one to go look at.
01:08:59 Meaghan Tracy
Yeah. AI learning.
01:09:02 Chris Bugaj
Any other takeaways?
01:09:04 Jennifer Carr
I think another takeaway is that it was kind of affirming to us, right, that we were on the right path. We're doing so things that people were talking about we're either thinking about doing or already doing in a lot of instances. So it was nice to hear similar messaging. And there was a speaker who was talking about the recently that came out, the myths from oseps at the national level. And so it was good to hear that there was buzz around that in the conversation. And one of the questions is, do you need an at assessment to have at. Right. And it was like, no. So that was really great to see also being kind of promoted.
01:09:52 Chris Bugaj
All right, last question to kind of wrap us up here is to think about what are you curious about? What's got you excited? What are you questing after in the world of inclusive design, in the world of assistive technology, in AAC of it? What's got you sort of like, you know, tingling with excitement? And let's do the same way that we started this, pick somebody, Jeff, we'll start with you and then the same thing. Pick somebody and we'll roll on. How does that sound, Jeff?
01:10:22 Jeff Sisk
So I'm really kind of centered around just maybe a broader concept of inclusive practices and really kind of driving not only just what we consider as our high incidence accommodations, because you mentioned those with text to speak and we were talking about read and write earlier today, but also, of course, with AAC. And I think that we've really had some discussion, like good discussion just recently, Ashley and Colleen, specifically around really kind of identifying speech generating devices versus what you're describing, Chris, as visual symbols in AAC. Because as we're delivering that message of, and I feel like we're delivering this message more and more, I feel like I want to be branding this next, next year at is everywhere. I feel like that's coming down the pike for us is the Fairfax message because it really is. And AAC really is everywhere. And I think in the past we've almost segmented it to being a speech generating device, but it's certainly not. It never has been. But I think we've gotten better at talking about it and in terms of, like, best practice research and implementing that best practice research in the spirit of Jeff. Right. Like, something that he would do is to look at, like, be specific about that verbiage, be intentional about where we're finding at and identifying that with school teams so that, you know, if they're feeling like they're not having access to it, they actually do. And I think that we're getting better at delivering that message, and that's exciting to me.
01:11:52 Chris Bugaj
Awesome. Jeff, who's next?
01:11:54 Jeff Sisk
Oh, I didn't identify the next. Oh, I'm going to go with Kyle. Colleen, sorry. Colleen, I'm sorry about that.
01:12:01 Colleen Kalamajka
That's all right. I know you're going to call on me. So one of the things that I think we're. There are a couple things that we're working on in the AAC world, and one of them is that we were excited about is really starting to work a lot more over the last decade. We really have worked with getting together with the speech and language department to support AAC, and we also have an ABA coach who is an at coach as well, and he's been able to get his foot in the door working with ABA coaches. And so we are actually, like, voltang has been asked to come and present to the AbA folks on AC. So I think that that's a huge gain because, you know, trying to have everybody work collectively as a group to support our kids who have complex learning, complex communication. We need all hands on deck. And so I think we really are going to learn from our friends at Aba in the Aba world. You know, we've had a history of working to connect with the speech language pathologists over years, but that is also growing. So we're kind of really excited about what we can learn together to support our kids. So that's one of our big things. I think we're excited to see where that's going to go. You know, I think it's really great because we do have a lot to learn, and I think being able to see the, if you look at the AaC language or the communication language and the Aba language, if you actually open your eyes and look through it at a different lens, it actually can really connect. And I think that that's something that I know I'm learning. And we have to continue to learn so we can grow and we can do better.
01:13:49 Chris Bugaj
Yeah. Well, Colleen, just to comment on that real quick fighting about it's not going to help. So finding some sort of common ground and move together definitely seems like the right move to me. Ashley, did you want to add something?
01:14:02 Ashley Kiley
Well, I was just going to share the excitement that Colleen and I and the rest of the AC team were able to host AAC integration workshop with some teachers. And we really got to dive into some more descriptive teaching concepts, you know, and really be able to brainstorm. You know, everyone's kind of focused on that academic language. How can we break this down in easier ways of using all devices? We had teachers come in, slps come in, kind of sharing the successes that they've had at their schools and just kind of had a think tank afternoon, being able to kind of swap those ideas and successes. So, you know, diving more into that as we end up this year and next school year, it's going to be really exciting. And then the also, the perk, too, is that Jeff really loved the things explainer book. So we were able to kind of also order those and dive into that as well. So we're bringing him along with us, you know, as we dive into that more.
01:14:44 Chris Bugaj
Wait, tell us more. What's that? What's that?
01:14:47 Ashley Kiley
It's kind of a very simple resource of like, if you have this very complex term, what are some simple ways of which you can describe it? So all of the things that we talk about it, it's not really a focused, it's just taking complex terms and breaking it down into simple ways, which is exactly what descriptive teaching is really focused on.
01:15:05 Chris Bugaj
So real quick, let me comment on that. And Megan and Jennifer, I don't want to steal your thunder in case this was going to be your thing, but recently I just had somebody email me about like, hey, could we take all of this academic vocabulary, ask AI to create pages of it so kids could then go navigate it? And I was like, let me tell you about descriptive teaching. Go learn about that. Because that's the thing. This is the better way to use AI. Take the academic language, put it in there and say, hey, AI, how would you describe this? Using the 150 most frequently used words. So for anything that's not in that book, now you have AI that can help you use it to learn about it. All right, so with that, Jennifer or Megan, who wants to go next?
01:15:51 Meaghan Tracy
I can go. I was just thinking about our county has a huge, huge push starting this year surrounding UDL. So obviously we in special ed have known about it for forever, but they're really pushing it in instructional services. And I think it's helping to bridge, to make a bridge, I guess, between is and DSS. And we're really excited to be, or I'm really excited so about you guys, but I'm really excited to be kind of helping push that along along and showing them some of the tools that we have, like Jeff said, that are the all inclusive tools that should be available for everyone. And this, you know, so I'm really excited about that. And it's something that in my world of at I've always wanted and this is more I can't even speak specifically to like the cat a population because it's always so frustrating to me to walk into a room where I placed one code and no one's using it because it's the one co writer, right. Or the one office smart or whatever. So, you know, that's always been very discouraging. And if we can bring these tools to everyone and everyone starts using them, I think that, you know, we're going to do such a service to the students.
01:17:07 Chris Bugaj
So, Megan, let me comment on that for a second. So people, I get asked sometimes from people that are trying to start AAC programs or inclusive design programs or something like, how do I my administrator on board and we run through a litany of things. But one of those strategy is, what are the, like, um, what are your neighbors doing? Like, like, uh, I heard one video once where someone said we were trying to get recycling up in our neighborhood and it was like, well, it'll save you money. Or maybe with solar panels on your roof, it'll save you money. Um, it, uh, it looks cool. Um, it is good for the environment. Nope, nope, nope. All your neighbors are doing it. Oh, wait, wait. Everyone else is doing it. Okay. Yeah. Well, how much? When can I get it signed up? And so that's a strategy that I often share with the, with people that ask me is like, look around to your neighbors and see what they're doing because. Because that might be really motivating to other administrators. And that's a strategy I've used my entire career with you guys. It's like, we'll take a look at, like, Fairfax is talking about UDL. Are you. Did you. Their instructional design team's talking about UDL. Are we talking about it over here? Like, it's such a great strategy.
01:18:18 Meaghan Tracy
So I don't think there's anyone in NIS at this point that doesn't know that Lohabin county has a read and write for everything.
01:18:28 Chris Bugaj
Yeah, I'm glad it goes both ways. That's great.
01:18:31 Meaghan Tracy
Definitely.
01:18:32 Chris Bugaj
Jennifer.
01:18:34 Meaghan Tracy
Yeah.
01:18:35 Jennifer Carr
So to piggyback on what Megan was saying about UDL, like, I attended a two day training that had people from. It wasn't just at folks, right? There was only me in the room as an at person. Everyone else was across the board. Is it. There were people in senior leadership. Leadership. And so it was really exciting to be in the room. And again, it was kind of like, okay, finally, like, you know, we have been talking about this. I ran across, like, a presentation I did in 2010, and I was talking about UDL. Right. So we're here. We're going to take it like they're there now, and we're going to run with it. But I think one important point that Megan brought up is that she's going to bring back Alpha Smarts. Did you hear that? I think you talk to everyone at Loudoun, Chris, and make sure you get Alpha smarts in everyone's hands.
01:19:29 Jeff Sisk
Chris, in all real. So, like, realistically, do you get requests for Alpha Smarts ever?
01:19:34 Chris Bugaj
No, not anymore. We're one to one chromebooks, so. But you still get. You. You guys are that way too, right?
01:19:41 Jeff Sisk
One to one. We get an occasional, I would say one to two requests a year for an alpha smart.
01:19:47 Jennifer Carr
Well, we've upgraded. It's the Neo.
01:19:51 Chris Bugaj
Yeah, upgraded from 15 years ago. Oh, that's too funny.
01:19:59 Jeff Sisk
Centered around, like, Internet access. So they're trying to limit that and just have it focused on the word processing.
01:20:06 Chris Bugaj
Gotcha. Well, you know the answer again, this is why we're such good friends around. This is like, let's teach them how to use the Internet effectively, not lock them out. Let's lead with education, not with restriction. Oh, guys, this was so wonderful. Thank you for taking your time today to celebrate the work of Jeff and to share your knowledge and experiences and his. Everybody listening right now. Please go over to the Fairfax website, check out that card that Jeff is saying. We'll have it on our LinkedIn, our show notes, so you can find it. Even if you can't do a search, it'll be there. And see Jeff, see his actions, and see all the great work that Fairfax county public schools is doing.
01:20:45 Jeff Sisk
Jeff Powers. Jeff Powers.
01:20:47 Chris Bugaj
Yes. Jeff Powers. Yes. And go see all the awesome work they're doing to spread inclusive design, universal design, assistive technology, and AAC to the wider audience. Thanks, guys.
01:21:01 Meaghan Tracy
Thank you, Chris.
01:21:02 Jeff Sisk
Thank you, Chris.
01:21:03 Jennifer Carr
Thanks, Chris.
01:21:04 Jeff Sisk
Always good.