<![CDATA[DAWN WARBURTON - Advocacy Journal]]>Sat, 21 Oct 2023 17:14:06 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Specific Learning Disability]]>Mon, 13 Jul 2020 21:22:35 GMThttps://www.dawnwarburton.com/journal/specific-learning-disabilitySec. 300.8 (c) (10)
If I asked you to go to the store to buy me a specific loaf of bread, what would you buy? My guess is you'd probably ask me what bread I wanted. If I said specific, I likely have a brand in mind.

I thought about all the times a school or team members, says they can't write dyslexia in an IEP (Individual Education Plan) because it is not allowed, all that is allowed are the words "specific learning disability" (SLD). But if it's a specific one, why can't we add it in?

Did you know it is listed in the Individuals With Disabilities Act under Sec? 300.8 (c) (10). Don't be afraid to push forward and ask questions. Ask the team to put in writing, they are forbidden from using the word dyslexia in and IEP. See how fast they add it in or try to change the narrative

Here is it, in case you have some school friends you want to share with :)

Statute/Regs Main » Regulations » Part B » Subpart A » Section 300.8 » c » 1(10) Specific learning disability—

(i) General. Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

(ii) Disorders not included. Specific learning disability does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disability, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

​Last modified on May 25, 2018
]]><![CDATA[Are You Worried? 5 Steps to Peace of Mind]]>Sun, 10 May 2020 17:33:04 GMThttps://www.dawnwarburton.com/journal/are-you-worried-5-steps-to-peace-of-mindPictureAre you worried? Learn 5 Steps to Peace of Mind.
A friend has this quotation on his office wall: "I know worry works because nothing I worry about ever happens."

I think I must believe that, because I worry a lot -- and about the most insignificant things. I worry about the big things, of course, like health, relationships, and finances. But I'm also liable to fret about anything and everything that finds its way into my consciousness. It is easy to worry with all of the talk surrounding COVID-19.

Because I spend so much time on worry, I've decided to embrace it with a personal research project. Maybe you'd like to join me.
Here are two avenues I'm exploring:

1) Practice Makes Perfect
I practice catching myself at it. "Hey, I'm worrying again." During a morning swim, I caught myself worrying 10 times during one lap! I'm not kidding. On rare days when I don't have anything to worry about, I find something. What I've learned is that worry is a mental habit. I can change habits; I've done it before. There's hope.

2) Be In The Moment
My second approach is to practice presence. By this I mean stopping my thoughts. In my workshops, I ring a bell to help participants practice centering. The quieter we are, the longer we hear the bell. There's a lovely moment when we all listen . . . until the ring is barely audible . . . then just a memory. I relish that moment of quiet before my thoughts re-engage. There is no future or past, just Now. No worrying thoughts -- no thoughts at all. It's a peaceful place, which is why I stretch the moment. I want to strengthen the connection to something greater than my worries.

3) Make A Plan
When I told my good friend about my worry project, she told me about her approach, which is to do one of three things: decide to address the issue right then; if you can't do anything about it at the moment, give yourself a time to address it later; or decide that it is not important and let it go. In other words, act on it, file it or throw it away.

4) Sing, Sing, Sing
Finally, an unusual worry stoppers (and mine) is to sing. Connect with yourself, your creativity, and the place where everything really is okay.

Awareness and acknowledgment are the keys to changing our habits. Morihei Ueshiba, who founded aikido and spoke of it as the Art of Peace, said we must "always practice the Art of Peace in a vibrant and joyful manner." Perhaps my research project on worry will help me to lighten up, smile, and live each day in such a way.

Are you worrying? 

Stop your thoughts for a moment. 

Listen to the sounds around you, pay attention, and be present to this key moment. And smile . . . for no reason. You may find that's the best reason of all.

5. No More News
Take a break from the news. It is overwhelmingly negative and can add to your worry. Anything that is major that happens, you'll know about without having to catch your favorite anchor person. 


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]]><![CDATA[A Quick Note: All Gloves on Deck]]>Mon, 29 Jul 2019 14:00:00 GMThttps://www.dawnwarburton.com/journal/a-quick-note-all-gloves-on-deckPicture
Last night, we stopped at an ice cream shop after an event. One of the team members specializes in health inspection for food service business. They are astutely aware of when the property health and safety requirements are being ignored. It's a frustrating part of knowing the rules and seeing them broken in front of your very eyes. 

Here is your quick bit of info:
Did you know that any food considered ready to eat,
​must be prepared using gloves?

Now you are probably asking, "Isn't every food, ready to eat? It is food after all!" For clarification purposes, ready to eat means straight from the package to your mouth. In this case, an ice cream cone, banana for a sundae, is going from the servers ungloved hand, to your mouth. However, say you order chicken fingers, a cook can touch the frozen chicken fingers with their bare hands, because they are being fried in oil, and then to your mouth. That is the difference. 

Board of Health rules may vary, check with your local BOH to determine if these rules apply to your area (hint: they probably do.)

]]><![CDATA[Please Stop Talking.]]>Tue, 23 Jul 2019 16:59:23 GMThttps://www.dawnwarburton.com/journal/please-stop-talkingToday, we had to call an internet business regarding an issue with a product we purchased. The product ended up being the wrong size, wrong design, and because of the error we were not able to complete a job. We rang through to customer service and were pleasantly surprised to not have to go through an extensive series of prompts to connect with a staff person. 

Furthermore, the staff person quickly identified themselves and asked how they could help. That is end of what we hoped was going to be a pleasant customer service experience. The representative immediately began talking and never stopped. Here is a synopsis of how the interaction went. Sadly, it is difficult to capture the speed and veracity at which the staff person spoke to us including the constant interruptions while we were speaking. 
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1. "Here is what we ordered, but here is what we received". 
The staff person immediately tried to explain how to properly verify we had the wrong item, but in the process insulted our abilities and those of our staff. When we stated that our staff person has been in the industry for 25+ years, they talked right over us, as if we'd said nothing. 

2. "By sending the wrong item, you've held up a job that we now cannot finished, which the customer has been waiting six (6) weeks to have finished."
This time the staff person ignored we'd said anything at all. They were still rambling on about measurements. We finally interrupted to what was being said, which seemed to put an end to the continued tirade that had been going on forever. 

3. "The staff opened the box and we now do not have anyway to ship these back."
We guarantee the staff person was so busy trying to formulate a response, they did not hear what we said because they responded with, "So, do you want to ship them back" Let's get this straight you shipped the wrong product, the wrong style, and now you aren't going to do anything to accommodate your mistake? Yikes, this just went from bad to worse. At this point, we actually put the phone down until we heard the representative stop speaking. This took a solid 60 seconds. 

4. What size should we have ordered?
This was our final attempt to create a resolution. We asked for assistance with their product. We didn't get any. We got more fast talking, blaming, and interruption. During the briefest of pauses, which we think was actually the one time the rep. stopped to breath, we said, "Thank you, we will call back."

Let's get this straight you shipped the wrong product, the wrong style,
​and now you aren't going to do anything to accommodate your mistake? 

This is an example of how to frustrate a customer and not have to deal with their problem. It was just as easy for him to not talk, let us go through all of issues with receiving the wrong product and then work with us to come up with a solution. Additionally, what made the issue worse, is when the crew returned with the product, it wasn't even the right model. When we went to their website, we can't even find a model to match what they sent. We have no idea where it came from but everything about the product was wrong; it sort of matched our phone interaction.  
Update:
We reached out to the management team regarding our issues. Sadly, there was zero compassion, understanding, or apologetic tone in the response from the CEO. The response was an overview of the products and how the entire process of receiving an unusable product was our fault. 

Stop. Listen. Correct.

We quickly realized this staff member had no active listening skills. Here is a quick note about skills they could have used:

  • Established a rapport to help us ease back from the edge of the cliff. 
  • Demonstrating concern and paraphrase what we were to saying to help show us they were listening.
  • Used affirmations including “I see,” “I know,” “Sure,” “Thank you,” or “I understand”
  • Asked open-ended questions
  • Asked specific questions to seek clarification
  • Not disclose their opinion, in this case, insulting a builder of 25+ years by suggesting they did not know how to use a tape measure. 
  • Talk about how they planned to rectify the situation

It does take work to become an active listener, but it can be done and is not terribly difficult. By developing active listening skills, you will leave otherwise jilted customers, happy, and eager to provide return business.
]]><![CDATA[Customer Service on the Decline.]]>Thu, 18 Jul 2019 15:01:41 GMThttps://www.dawnwarburton.com/journal/customer-service-on-the-declineWhen you frequent an establishment, you expect that someone, anyone, will remember something about you. Maybe they don't remember your name, but they remember that you've been in before. In this case, the owner has a great memory for names and details and is able to make his customers feel valued and welcomed. Not all establishments have this style of customer service. For example, every morning we stop at the same Dunkin' (Donuts). We order the same coffee, medium, hot, decaf, regular cream, and 1/2 pump of caramel swirl. ​
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This order, was apparently so complicated for the staff, that we repeatedly were sending emails to corporate customer service center and the CEO. We never received more than an email back and now, we don't even get a response. Finally, we called direct to the store and asked the manager, "How should we place this order so your staff properly crafts this beverage?" The way we order is how we were instructed to order.  Can you guess how many days out of the 5-6 we order, this is done correctly? We will say that one time it is correct. Also, we thought maybe it was this particular location, but yesterday we stopped at a location directly across the street. We ordered face-to-face, we said the words out loud, "1/2 pump of caramel swirl". We watched the girl walk to the flavor containers, and insert two pumps into the cup. 

What is important to note, what was going inside cup was written on the outside and I just 30 seconds before indicated, out  loud, what we wanted the coffee to included. This is an on-going problem within Dunkin'. They seem to lack any belief that the customer should always receive the exact same coffee. Now, we've heard the argument that human error creates the possibility that the coffee will be slightly different each time you order. However, we can drive about 2 minutes to the next parking lot and order at another well known corporate coffee and food store. We receive the same exact product, every single time we order. In fact, we were headed out of town two days ago and stopped at a completely different location, order through their app for pick up, and received the exact same product we'd received previously had from a completely different location earlier in the week. 

How Can We Correct a Continued Decline in Customer Service?

Retrain the Staff
In our opinion, there needs to be boots on the ground at many of the Dunkin' locations. Corporate staff needs a complete overhaul in how the staff, looks, acts, and behaves when working. Making coffee incorrectly are only one of the problems we've witnessed at their location, statewide. 
​
For example, when you are handling food products, would you not want the staff persons fingernails to be clean, free from chipped nail polish, and generally appealing? We aren't suggested that every staff be forced to have manicured hands, but we are suggesting they remove the remnants of nail polish and remove the dirt, or whatever it may be, from under their fingernails before they hand you food products. 
​
What are some of your experiences with less than stellar customer service?

Share them below in the comments

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