Lives Worth Living - I so need to share this

While there are close to 50 million Americans living with disabilities, Lives Worth Living is the first television history of their decades-long struggle for equal rights. Produced and directed by Eric Neudel, Lives Worth Living is a window into a world inhabited by people with an unwavering determination to live their lives like everyone else, and a look back into a past when millions of Americans lived without access to schools, apartment buildings, and public transportation – a way of life unimaginable today. Lives Worth Living premieres on the Emmy® Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 10 PM (check local listings).

Check out the preview on youtube http://tinyurl.com/3sst3j9 Please try to look at it.

Pow! How Comics in the Classroom Can Combat Bullying

Any thing about preventing bullying I always feel compelled to share

Comics and Bullying? How Bitstrips for Schools is teaming up with the Cartoon Network to launch the comic challenge during Bullying Prevention Month.

Read more: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/bully-prevention-comic-strips-suzie-boss?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_content=blog&utm_campaign=comicsclassroom

Thanks edutopia for sharing this with me

Inclusion is the path to understanding

At the start of every school year, most everyone who blogs about kids with special needs blogs about inclusion.

I have been critical in the past at times of how inclusion is handled in the schools here. After reflection and thought, also having known almost the entire cohort of parents and kids with special needs since pre K. I learned how tough it really must be.

The parents feelings on this issue and what schools are doing are mixed at best.
Here is a site of some examples http://tinyurl.com/44bqea6 Thank you Teri Mauro for sharing this.

All kids need a circle of friends, and relationships this unlocks potential to help them reach their goals.

The case manager at our school manager has started a "first friends" club this year to help regular students and those with special needs get together. She credited it to my having brought that to her.

I thank her for crediting this to me. BUT she has all my thanks for going for it.

Special Olympics athlete and a restaurant owner!

Having had the privilege of being the part of the lives of many special olympics athletes

Meet Tim, a Special Olympics athlete and a restaurant owner! A unique restaurant that serves more than just food.

Every community should support endevors like this! Its the positive support that opens doors and provides opportunities for every one, not just those with special needs

The opening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm77r02yG2k

Much more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx5eb4Zd7zI

Making family gatherings good

I know this is a little late for the 4th but there are many holidays, and family get-togethers to come

"Family get-togethers are the worst. Too many people. Too much noise. Too much food. Too many opinions on the ways you're raising your children. Never mind the fact that kids with special needs often go crazy during big family events -- they're often not exactly a shining hour for us as parents, either. How can you make it through the meal without chewing someone out, putting your foot in your mouth, or eating your words? If a quiet dinner at McDonald's is out of the question, here are some ways to get through these gatherings without going crazy."

Make an escape plan is one of the ideas presented in this blog post from http://specialchildren.about.com. It's worth you taking your time to look at it http://tinyurl.com/3l3xxh5

Thank you Terri Mauro and your “ Guide to Children With Special Needs”

PS. Parents you need an escape plan sometimes too!

How to cut special-ed spending without sacrificing quality

As school districts grow accustomed to doing more with less, special-education programs are dealing with their own unique set of challenges—and one expert has proposed several solutions to rein in special-ed spending without reducing program quality. The recently published “Something Has Got to Change: Rethinking Special Education,” a primer from Nathan Levenson, a former superintendent of public schools in Arlington,

“Nothing in special education is easy, but it is possible to make things better for students, especially while managing the budget better as well,” Levenson said, identifying rising special-ed costs as a huge challenge facing schools.

Funding pools are shrinking, and costs are predicted to rise faster in coming years—and still, “achievement for students with special needs isn’t good enough,” he added.

Special-needs students fall into two categories: a smaller group of students who have more severe disabilities and require more intervention and higher per-pupil expenditures, and a larger group of students with mild to moderate needs. But the number of students with severe disabilities is growing larger and at a faster rate.

Read the paper: “Something Has Got to Change: Rethinking Special Education”

Read more/the article on this: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/06/15/how-to-cut-special-ed-spending-without-sacrificing-quality/

Yes, yes I know I just tweeted on this, but it's really important!

Thank you e-school news for sharing

Write a Letter Praising a Teacher (IA's too:)

Were you happy with your child's teacher this year? (we have had an IA, Spanish Teacher, and many more who have been amazing this year)Yes they did make a special effort to connect with our child and make learning fun and exciting? When this happens you need to thank them all-- send a letter to that teacher's boss singing those praises. A letter to the principal, superintendent, or director of special-education services not only adds something nice to their efile, it gets the word out that you are someone who will not just complain about the bad but appreciate the good.

Do the letter up right -- what's called for here is not a dashed-off e-mail or a hastily scrawled note but an honest-to-goodness typed business-style letter on nice paper in a business-size envelope with a stamp and everything. Give a copy of the letter to the teacher as part of your end-of-the-year gift.

Disability is a powerful pulse

"Disability" is a powerful pulse that affects the way others regard our children -- as trouble, as victims, as invisible. It can tweak people's perceptions of us as parents, making us look like noble martyrs or fools out of control. Most certainly, it changes the way we see those around us, as their reactions to our children's special needs help us sort out the good-hearted from the hard-hearted in ways that may surprise and shock us. This is so worth thinking about too is the way some chose to stay in town, where differences areimperceptible, rather than find a place in the world where others might react harshly to them. Do we sometimes fear so much what others will see when they look at our kids that we restrict their lives too tightly? There's a lot to be said for staying where you're accepted and loved, but keeping the world away has a high cost, too.

Best Buddies

I regularly hear from parents whose specail needs children are so socially isolated, which sometimes has lead them to undermine their own independence because of loneliness.

From this I've become a big fan of best buddies

Best Buddies was founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, nephew of John F. Kennedy and brother of Maria, in 1989. Since that time it has grown to include over 1,500 chapters in all 50 states and in over countries around the world. Best Buddies partners young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with people in the community, from middle school students to leaders in business and industry.

If you have students who would benefit from a social relationship, be sure to let them and their parents know about Best Buddies. It might be a life saver.

e-Buddies is an e-mail pen pal program that pairs persons with an intellectual disability in a one-to-one e-mail friendship with a peer volunteer who does not have an intellectual disability.

e-Buddies is a Best Buddies International program. Best Buddies is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

To learn more about e-Buddies, please click here.

"Certain Proof: A Question of Worth"

"What if you couldn't speak? Or use your hands? How would you prove that you're smart? That you have an opinion? That you matter?" Certain Proof: A Question of Worth", an hour-long documentary that focuses on three children with cerebral palsy and the battles their mothers have fought to get the public school system to respect their right to an appropriate education. This is a battle regardless of a child's special need, we all fight. Certain Proof was shown at the Vail Film Festival from, March 31 to April 3. On the film's website, http://www.certainproof.com/index.html you can view a film trailer. This is important for all parents to see

Every Parent of a child with a disability needs to read this

PLEASE READ THIS

What’s a Parent to Do? Micah’s College Dream by Janice Fialka

My father proudly graduated from the University of Michigan in 1948, the first in his family of 11 children. Little did he know he established a generational pattern for the important men in my life......

Read more: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150408095670531&id=38508765

Campaign Launched To ‘Disable Bullying’

With school bullying now a hotly debated national issue, a San Francisco-based organization is launching a nationwide campaign to address what it says is an epidemic of abuse in schools targeting children with disabilities.

Titled “Disable Bullying,” the campaign plans to involve parents, educators, activists and policymakers in combating behavior that organizers say is widespread but, until recently, has not been well documented in the United States. “Bullying is every parent’s fear,” said Cheryl Young of Community Gatepath, a nonprofit organization serving kids with disabilities and their families. Young said the campaign is needed to “raise the level of awareness about bullying and the devastating effects it can have.”

A report, Walk a Mile in Their Shoes, released in February by AbilityPath.org — an online community and resource created by Community Gatepath — documented widespread instance of bullying of children with disabilities, including social isolation, verbal abuse, cyberbullying and physical violence, in some cases leading to suicide.

For more information, go to www.abilitypath.org. Public service announcements and other information can also be found at the campaign’s YouTube channel.

ABC Show ‘What Would You Do?’ Tackles Disability

The ABC television show, What Would You Do? is designed to make viewers uncomfortable. Using actors, the show stages awkward situations in public places to see how bystanders react — to see if they try to help, or try to ignore. Scenarios in the show’s Feb. 22 episode included bullies tormenting a little person and a young man humiliating his girlfriend when she tells him that she’s pregnant.

Thanks to Amy Saffell of Franklin, Tenn., the episode also showed viewers how not to treat a wheelchair user.

“The show has featured very few disability-related scenarios in the past,” says Saffell, who has spina bifida. When the show announced that it was soliciting ideas from viewers, Saffell wrote in. To her surprise, the producers selected her proposed scenario — in which a young woman in a wheelchair is subjected to patronizing comments and overly aggressive “help” by a woman in a supermarket. “It focuses on disability awareness and attitudinal barriers,” says Saffell, who the producers flew to New York with her mother to see the episode filmed. “They were wonderful at making sure that the scene was filmed in an authentic and true-to-life way.”

Thank you ABC for doing this

Google makes ed-tech splash with apps marketplace

In response to a call I got yesterday, I started to evaluate a block of apps for education on the google market place. There are learning management system (LMS) software, web-based grade books, and other content that can be shared among an entire school district. And alot of it can be used with our special needs students. It is with a look by all of you... if you want to discuss the use of an application for your students, please email us.

Read more: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/01/25/google-makes-ed-tech-splash-with-apps-marketplace/

The Google apps market place: http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/search?categoryId=25&orderBy=RATING&maxReachedPage=3

Classmate Reader

Classmate reader is a portable and affordable digital audio book player helps individuals increase their reading speed, comprehension and vocabulary, wherever they go.

The ClassMate reads aloud and simultaneously displays and highlights text on its full color screen. Its simple, flexible interface can be configured to the user's specific needs.

It also includes helpful study tools to enhance learning such as bookmarks, voice recording, highlighting function and a speaking dictionary. With built-in text-to-speech, it works with e-text or NIMAS files.

Now we don't endorse products on this blog, but having been asked to evaluate this by parents, and having set it up for a number of students, we do think its worth a look.

Read more: http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/learning_disabilities/_details/id_107/classmate__reader.html

Inclusion Resources - National Service Inclusion Project

The NSIP website is a resource for information about the inclusion of people with disabilities as active participants in national service.
Inclusion: Creating an Inclusive Environment, a comprehensive handbook designed to assist service organizations fully include individuals with disabilities as active service members and volunteers.
http://serviceandinclusion.org/handbook/index.php

Read More: www.serviceandinclusion.org

Thanks for sharing: NSIP Inclusion Weekly

Athletes Of All Abilities Summit High school students share ideas about Unified Sports

When he heads to the lunchroom each day, Cheshire High School senior Greg Trifone sits with his friends, including athletes with intellectual disabilities who are members of the school's Unified Sports teams.

Trifone says his special needs friends are just that — friends. And by regularly sitting with them at lunch, walking to class or chatting in the halls, they become just another classmate or friend to the rest of the student body.

"The bond you make with a special athlete rubs off on your friends. You walk in the hallway and they become just another athlete," said Trifone.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-middletown-conference-1007-20110107,0,2257991.story

Thank you,
MELISSA PIONZIO,The Hartford Courant

Oregon District (Canby) says Ipod's fire up kids for reading

With a furrowed brow and a deep breath, 9-year-old Dallis Engel pressed down on the screen of her iPod touch.
Then, she began to read.
“My brother William is a fisherman,” she said, using a finger to trace words in Patricia MacLachlan’s book, Sarah, Plain and Tall.
The fourth-grader stumbled over pronunciations and skipped words as an application recorded her voice. When she finished the passage, she glanced over at her teacher, Kelly Turcotte, and explained her next step.
“I have to listen to it and make sure it’s perfect,” she said. “If you sound like a robot, you have to do it again.”

Read more: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/01/05/ore-district-says-ipods-fire-up-kids-for-reading/

Thank you: eschoolnews

Note to parents, there is a section in the itunes store now dedicated to special education apps...it is really worth a look

Can eBooks help bridge achievement gaps?

A massive study published last spring confirmed what many educators already know: having books in the home is as significant as socioeconomic status or parents’ educational level in determining the level of education children ultimately will attain.

Now, as more traditional book content goes digital and smart phones act as electronic readers, educators are left wondering whether technology will make achievement gaps even wider—or whether electronic books might act as a bridge for students traditionally hamstrung by family circumstances and other issues neither they nor their teachers control.

Read more: http://www.eclassroomnews.com/2011/01/04/can-ebooks-help-bridge-achievement-gaps/

Thank you, eclassroomnews

I hear from special educators, how ebooks and audio books help our students every day

Characters With Disabilities Scarce In Top Children’s Books

Having recently shared with parents and educators about 11-year-old that created a new character for ‘Arthur’: Lydia, a bespectacled wheelchair-bound, basketball-playin’, t-shirt-creating fox . A character who shows that having a unique ability, character trait, or disability ... is okay. To me this is a model of inclusiveness.

Then this was submitted to the blog
Kids with disabilities remain woefully underrepresented in the most acclaimed children’s literature, a new study finds.
In an analysis of 131 winners of the Newbery Medal and Honor — considered the top prizes for children’s books — researchers found that just 31 included a main or supporting character with a disability between 1975 and 2009.
Read more: http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2011/01/04/disabilities-childrens-books/11830/

Thank you Disabilityscoop

Parents, Educators, and students...this is something we can help with.

Special Educators Look to Tie IEPs to Common Core

The widespread adoption of common-core academic standards is expected to accelerate a growing movement among educators to link individualized education programs for students with disabilities directly to grade-level standards.
“Standards-based” IEPs allow individualized instruction in pursuit of a common goal: helping students with disabilities move toward meeting the same grade-level academic standards that general education students are supposed to meet.

Read more: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/12/27/15iep_ep.h30.html?tkn=OOVFVAYdVtPLfd8Oq5j9GPEd0gfO9Lf7QVpU&cmp=clp-edweek&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Hootsuite&utm_campaign=LDOnLine.org

Thank you, Education Week

Rich Get Most From Special Education In Nation’s Largest District (NY)

Children from wealthy families draw more money and receive better services from New York City public schools than their less affluent peers, data indicates.
The school system, which is the nation’s largest, spent $140 million last year to send over 3,000 students in special education to private schools. However, the majority of those obtaining private placements hailed from wealthy neighborhoods, while kids from poorer sections of the city were more likely to languish in underfunded public schools.
To read more click here.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/12/15/2010-12-15_class_system_in_the_citys_schools_specialed_help_goes_mostly_to_the_rich.html

Report from the New York Daily News, and Thank you Disability Scoop