Greetings!
Do you have spring fever yet? We do. So, while we wait for March to blow winter (mostly) away, here are valuable resources to use at home, in your community, and in schools nationwide. Many of these come from OSEP's TA&D Network, which is funded to support and improve services for children with disabilities, including infants and toddlers.
This month's enewsletter also connects you with versions of the procedural safeguards notice in other languages. As you may know, school districts must provide parents of children with disabilities with this notice in their native language, unless it's clearly not feasible to do so. We hope that the examples we've identified in the final section of this enewsletter will help families that speak languages other than English learn about the special education process through the comprehensive explanations that these procedural safeguards notices include. Agencies involved in providing these explanations may also find the materials useful in informing parents in their jurisdiction.
We hope you find this information useful and valuable. As always, your feedback is welcomed. Please feel free to contact us at nichcy@aed.org. Best wishes for March! Your friends at the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities |
| New from the National Dissemination Center! |
We've added a lot of new pages to our website. For your reading and sharing pleasure:
We learn from your feedback, so do let us know how useful these resources are to you. There's a "rate this page" gizmo just under each page's title. Just click on whichever star you'd give the page (there are 5) . Very fast, painless, and appreciated.
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| New for the National Dissemination Center... |
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Well, almost new, that is. We announced this last month, but wanted to repeat ourselves, for those of you who've just subscribed to our enewsletter.
 We're on Facebook!
With over 150 million users worldwide, Facebook is the world's largest social network and offers a safe and trusted environment for people and groups to interact online. This makes it an ideal place to connect and easily share information with like-minded others!
If you don't already have a free account, you'll need to create one, and once you're on board you can connect with a growing list of fans at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Dissemination-Center-for-
Children-with-Disabilities-NICHCY/34938844586
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...and Twitter!
Really? That's great. Um...what's Twitter?
Twitter's a free social messaging service for friends, family, and professionals to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick and frequent information blasts. If you find yourself counting the days between our monthly "News You Can Use" transmissions, following us on Twitter could be just what you're looking for to stay up to date! Like Facebook, you'll first need to create a free account which will then allow you to follow us at: http://twitter.com/DrNichcy
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| It All Starts in Families and Communities |
A Parent's Guide to Response to Intervention (RTI)
Buzz words with some actual zip behind them. This helpful publication provides important information for parents and families.
http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/rti.parent.guide.htm
SCHIP, health care for uninsured children, is reauthorized.
The bill includes a spending increase of $32.8 billion to cover an estimated additional 4 million uninsured children.
Finding help for children with mental health needs.
This guide to systems of care for families, from the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health provides information about how to seek care for children with mental health needs. The content and format were determined by families across the country.
http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/Ca-0029/default.asp
How's your news?
That's the title of a weekly news show brought to you by a team of reporters with disabilities. How's Your News airs every Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on MTV.
Obama's comprehensive plan for people with disabilities.
The new administration has a 4-part disability agenda: provide educational opportunities to Americans with disabilities; end discrimination and promote equal opportunity; increase the employment rate of workers with disabilities; and support independent, community-based living. The plan also has a statement on the Administration's vision for autism support. http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/disabilities/Disclosure: The why, when, what, and how in an academic setting after high school.
This fact sheet, the newest in a series for youth with disabilities, their families, and the professionals who work with them, is available on the website of the Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/wwwh.htm
College options for students with intellectual disabilities.
For students with intellectual disabilities considering college, a new website created by the Post-Secondary Education Research Center (PERC) project offers overviews and links to a number of programs.
http://transitiontocollege.net/
Who's funded by the feds to work in youth transition?
Ahhh, a resource directory with project descriptions so you'll know who's up to what.
http://psocenter.org/Docs/Resources/SecondaryTransition/TransitionResourceDirectoryfinal.pdf
Vaccines and autism? No, says a special federal court.
In the Omnibus Autism Proceeding, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has ruled that vaccines do not cause autism and that thousands of families with children who have autism are not entitled to compensation. If you're interested in this issue, perhaps these resources would also be of interest:
FriendsLikeMe.orgFriendsLikeMe.org is a new social networking site for people with disabilities interested in meeting others with similar life circumstances and sharing experiences, support, and friendship. |
The Little Ones: Early Intervention/Early Childhood
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State policies and initiatives that impact infants, toddlers and their families.
ZERO TO THREE has developed Baby Matters, a database that's searchable by state, keyword, and category. Each entry contains key information on the policy or initiative, as well links to additional related resources. It is available online at: http://policy.db.zerotothree.org/policyp/home.aspx
2009 NAEYC position statement on developmentally appropriate practice.
NAEYC is the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap.asp
Screening instruments for social emotional concerns.
This document, the first in the Roadmap to Effective Intervention Practices series, provides a brief overview of the use of screening and helps administrators and teachers choose appropriate instruments for implementing a screening program.
http://challengingbehavior.org/do/resources/roadmap.html
"On the Go" early literacy materials now available in Somali.
Washington Learning Systems has posted a Somali version of its free parent-child early literacy activities, which can be used outside the home (in the car, while walking, during bus rides) with children from birth through preschool. They were developed with support from OSEP and are appropriate for children with disabilities, as well as children who are developing typically.
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Want a discipline tool to go along with NICHCY's new pages on discipline?
The IDEA discipline compliance tool is designed for you, then. It's intended to help you understand how IDEA's discipline rules apply to specific situations. You provide the situation, and the tool tells you what rules apply and what must, may, and may not be done.
http://ideadiscipline.blogspot.com/
If you're trying to choose a beginning reading program...
Here's a program review from Best Evidence Encyclopedia that answers the question: Which one has been shown to help students in grades K-1 succeed?
http://www.bestevidence.org/reading/begin_read/begin_read.htm
Doing what works: How to encourage girls in math and science.
This workshop is part of the Doing What Works initiative that's dedicated to helping educators identify and make use of effective teaching practices.
https://www.t2tweb.us/doingwhatworks/home.asp
And here's another, called: Blackfeet Skies.
This Doing What Works workshop demonstrates ways to use Native culture and its stories to make the study of astronomy more memorable and inviting to students from all backgrounds.
https://www.t2tweb.us/NativeAmerican/home.asp
Assistive Technology Implementation in the Classroom.
For children with IEPs, assistive technology is often critical to accessing the curriculum. FCTD's latest newsletter examines the role of the AT professional in the selection and implementation of AT in the classroom.
http://www.fctd.info/resources/newsletters/displayNewsletter.php?newsletterID=10068
Special issue on applied behavior analysis and autism, yours for free.
To reach as many professionals as possible in the behavioral field, the Autism Society of America is making the December 2008 issue of its quarterly magazine available for free download. The issue, Applied Behavior Analysis: A Powerful Tool for Improving the Lives of People with ASD, is waiting for you at:
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=autismadvocate_aba
And speaking of behavior, have you seen the new PBIS site?
The Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) has a new and improved website we all can enjoy and utilize in addressing student behavior in ways that are positive, supportive, and effective.
http://www.pbis.org
RTI tiered instruction goes mainstream.
Three more useful RTI documents:
Teachers: When students have AD/HD.
The Department of Education offers two resources for teachers on important issues in the instruction of children with ADHD.
http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/adhd/index.html
Using students' primary language to help their English language development and content learning.
Dr. Wayne Wright tells you how in the newest blog series hosted by NIUSI- LeadScape. Dr. Wright also gives specific examples of which uses of students' primary languages are effective and which are not.
http://www.niusileadscape.org/bl/?p=41
The principal's reading walk-through, K-3.
Here's a suite of professional development materials designed for identifying research-based reading instruction in the classroom quickly and accurately. It includes a Participant's Guide, a Facilitator's Guide, a PowerPoint Presentation Module for Facilitators (with embedded video clips of classroom scenarios), and a Principal's Orientation PowerPoint Presentation with speaker notes, to be delivered by principals to introduce the PRWT to their staff.
http://www.centeroninstruction.org/resources.cfm?category=reading&subcategory=&grade_start=&grade_end=
National High School Center adds "Ask the Expert" on website.
Drop in on March's interactive topical discussion led by Todd Flaherty, Deputy in Residence for the Council of Chief State School Officers. The feature topic will be building capacity at the school, district, and state level for high school improvement. You can submit your questions via email and Dr. Flaherty will address them.
http://www.betterhighschools.org/expert/default.asp
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Evaluating the effectiveness of teacher professional development.
This document brings recommendations from experts to state leaders. It summarizes the proceedings of a CCSSO conference in which leaders in the fields of research and evaluation of teacher professional development discussed how to use findings from research to develop quality, effective professional development for teachers.
http://www.ccsso.org/content/pdfs/Current%20Models%20?for%20Eval%20Effect%20of %20Teacher%20PD%20summary%20Report.pdf
Employer views on hiring and employing people with disabilities.
ODEP, the Office of Disability Employment Policy, reports the results of its survey, where researchers interviewed executives from over 3,797 companies representing 12 industry sectors, including projected high growth industries. Hear what they had to say.
http://www.dol.gov/odep/categories/research/index.htm
Americans with disabilities, according to the Census Bureau.
About 1 in 5 U.S. residents (19%, or roughly 54.4 million Americans) reported some level of disability in 2005, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report. FInd out what type of disability they have, whether they are employed, and more.
http://www.census.gov/Press- Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/013041.html
Ethnic minorities and assistive technology (AT).
What barriers to AT exist for ethnic minorities? How do culturally or ethnically different views of AT or disability affect people's access to it? Here's what we now know.
http://www.cr4at.org/PositionPapers/Minorities.html
Reducing disproportionality in special education. The Regional Resource Center Program's Disproportionality Priority Team is hosting a series of webinars on the topic. Follow the link to find out the dates and topics for all five sessions, taking place February-May, and to pre-register to participate. http://spp-apr-calendar.rrfcnetwork.org/explorer/view/id/631
Need updated info on the ADA?
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 became effective January 1, 2009, although regulations haven't yet been written. To find out what the new ADA requires, visit the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) and download its publication on the subject.
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/bulletins/adaaa1.htm
Two resources on reading for TA providers working with state leaders.
The Center on Instruction offers two new suites of resources for professional development.
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| Special Focus: Procedural Safeguards Explained in Many Languages |
Schools are required to provide parents of children with disabilities with the procedural safeguards notice at specific times, so that parents are well informed of their rights under IDEA. The procedural safeguards notice provides parents with a comprehensive explanation of such special education rights as (but not limited to): independent educational evaluations; prior written notice; parental consent; IDEA's dispute resolution options (e.g., mediation, due process, State complaint); and children's placement during the duration of any due process complaint.
As such, the procedural safeguards notice can go a long way to acquainting parents with the special education process. School districts are required to provide the notice to parents in a language they can understand, including other languages (unless it is clearly not feasible to do so). For many schools, providing this notice in another language can be a real challenge. To help you meet that challenge, here are procedural safeguards notices we've found online in a wide variety of different languages. While we can't vouch for the accuracy of any of these translations and would remind you that many contain state-specific information, we hope that they offer a starting point for sharing this important information with families. In alphabetical order by language, then, here's what we found:
American Sign Language (using Windows Media Player):
Amharic:
Arabic:
Bosnian-Croation-Serbian:
Cambodian:
Cape Verdean:
Chinese:
Creole:
French:
German:
Haitian Creole:
Hindi:
Hmong:
Korean:
Pilipino (Tagalog):
Portuguese:
Romanian:
Ruandan:
Russian:
Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic:
Serbo-Croatian Latinic:
Somali:
Spanish:
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| Comments on our newsletter? Suggestions for future topics? Please feel free to contact us at nichcy@aed.org. We're here to help you help children with disabilities. |
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| Comments on our newsletter? Suggestions for future topics? Please feel free to contact us at nichcy@aed.org. We're here to help you help children with disabilities. | |
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| In This Issue: |
| New from the National Dissemination Center |
| It All Starts in Families and Communities |
The Little Ones: Early
Intervention/ Early Childhood |
| Schools, K-12 |
| State and System Tools |
| Special Focus: Procedural Safeguards Explained in Many Languages |
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