Now Apple (APPL), which long ago took an interest in computing in the schools, is making a move in its App Store to reach out to students with special needs by aggregating the various tools.

The company has opened up a special section of its App Store "Special Education: Learning for Everyone." The store offers these apps for kids with learning problems and other students as well under the headings: Communication, Hearing, Language Development, Literacy & Learning, and Organization.

 

As a child, Megan McCormick of Lexington was told by her parents that her Down Syndrome meant she would "have to work much harder" than those without disabilities to achieve what she wanted.

Her parents, James and Malkanthie McCormick, both physicians, never treated her any differently than her five older brothers and sisters though, a fact she credits with helping her graduate high school in 2007 with a 3.75 grade point average, and give her the confidence to enroll in Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington. Continued HERE.
 

Standards Adoptions Buoy Long-running Efforts to Tie IEPs to Academic Benchmarks

By Christina A. Samuels

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.

Though such IEPs have been required for more than 10 years in federal law, "it's still a learning process," said Meredith Cathcart, a special education consultant for the California Department of Education's special education division. "It's a hard thing to make a shift for people." California is among the 43 states that have adopted common core academic standards for math and English/language arts, along with the District of Columbia. Developed this year through an initiative led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the standards are intended to replace the patchwork of state-based standards that have led to uneven academic expectations nationwide. Continued HERE.
 

SAVE the DATE: Friday, January 21, 2011
 

Register now for Session B of the
16th Annual Medical Issues and the Growing Child Conference:
A Game Plan for Becoming a Winning Coach in
Listening and Spoken Language Practice
 8th Floor Auditorium
Mailman Center for Child Development
1601 NW 12th Avenue
 

Our speaker for this important conference is Teresa Caraway, Ph.D., CCC-SLP. Dr. Caraway is the Co-Founder and the Executive Co-Director of Hearts for Hearing. A Certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, Dr. Caraway served as the founding President of the AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language. She has previously served as a Director of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Auditory-Verbal International (AVI). Dr. Caraway is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, an international consultant and skillful workshop presenter on Auditory-Verbal practice.

This highly interactive session will utilize videotape excerpts, role-playing and small group interactions to equip participants with strategies for coaching families. The focus will be to move "beyond the sidelines" by helping participants develop useful and practical coaching skills to expand the family's abilities to promote listening and spoken language.
 

Seven Continuing Education Units will be provided to speech language pathologists, social workers, psychologists and occupational and physical therapists who attend this conference. Six Continuing Education Units will be provided to nurses. Master Plan Points are offered as well. For additional information please contact Wanda Castro at 305-243-4466 or wcastro@med.miami.edu. The non-refundable registration cost for attending this session is $35.00 for professionals and $20.00 for students and parents. In order to register online please go to

http://medicalissuessessionb.eventbrite.com/

.

The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs together with Miami-Dade County Parks Disability Services, is creating an inclusive, socially-oriented arts program for children and youth with disabilities. To ensure this new program meets the needs of families of children with disabilities, we need your help!

Your participation in this survey will provide important information in helping to create a fun and educational program where kids can learn an art form in an inclusive out-of-school social setting, led by professional artists and disability experts. A FREE pilot program based on this survey data will be launched this coming Spring/Summer. After completing this survey, you will be added to the Youth Arts in the Parks e-mail list to keep you informed as the program is developed.

For more information, please contact Francine Andersen fran@miamidade.gov (305) 375-5024.

Click here to complete this simple 5-7 minute online survey:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEgzTGhCRHF1M1VzT1pIS1JaNmFtS3c6MQ
 

Thank You!
 

______________________________________________________________
 

El Departamento de Asuntos Culturales del Condado de Miami-Dade, conjuntamente con Servicios para Discapacitados de los Parques del Condado de Miami-Dade esta desarrollando un programa de arte inclusivo y con orientación social para niños y jóvenes con discapacidades. Para asegurar que este programa cumpla con las necesidades de familias con niños y jóvenes con discapacidades, necesitamos su ayuda.

Su participación en esta encuesta proporcionará información importante para ayudar a crear un programa divertido y educativo por el cual niños puedan aprender una modalidad artística en un entorno social inclusivo, en un ambiente fuera de la escuela, encabezado por artistas profesionales y expertos en discapacidad. Un programa gratis, basado en la información reunida por esta encuesta, será implementado en el año entrante. Después de llenar esta encuesta, su nombre será añadido a la base de datos de correo electrónico de "ARTES PARA LA JUVENTUD EN LOS PARQUES" para mantenerlo informado con los desarrollos de este programa.

Para obtener más información, sírvase contactarse con Francine Andersen fran@miamidade.gov (305) 375-4634.

Oprima aquí para llenar esta breve encuesta de 5 a 7 minutos:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEgzTGhCRHF1M1VzT1pIS1JaNmFtS3c6MQ
 

Gracias!

______________________________________________________________
 

Depatman Afè Kiltirèl Konte Miami-Dade ansanm ak Sèvis Pak Konte Miami-Dade pou Moun Andikape, ap devlope yon pwogram atistik konplè, sosyalman-oryante pou timoun yo ak jèn ki andikape yo. Nou bezwen patisipasyon w, pou nou ka rive adrese bezwen fanmi timoun ki andikape yo.

Patisipasyon w nan sondaj sa a va founi enfòmasyon enpòtan pou ede kreye yon pwogram amizan e edikatif kote timoun yo aprann yon disiplin atistik nan yon milye sosyal enklisiv ki pa eskolarize, dirije pa dè atis pwofesyonèl ak dè ekspè nan andikap. Yon pwogram GRATIS baze sou enfòmasyon nou resevwa nan sondaj sa a ap komense ane sa-a. Lè ou fin rempli sondaj la, nap ajoute adrès e-mail ou nan lis Leza pou Lajenès nan Pak pou nou ka enfòme w de devlopmen pwogram la.

Pou plis enfòmasyon, tanpri kontakte Francine Andersen fran@miamidade.gov (305) 375-4634.

Wap jwen rempli sondaj entènet la kap pran 5-7 minit La a:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEgzTGhCRHF1M1VzT1pIS1JaNmFtS3c6MQ

Mesi!

Celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the landmark legislation that paved the way for improved educational outcomes for individuals with disabilities.

Congress is currently going through the annual appropriations process. Tell your Representatives and Senators that IDEA needs to be fully funded and Special Education Research is essential and must be increased.

 

By Abby Goodnough
 

RAYNE NELSON, a 21-year-old sophomore at Landmark College in Putney, Vt., does not let her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder throw her off track.

Ms. Nelson is paying most of her own way at Landmark, a two-year college exclusively for students with learning disabilities and A.D.H.D. She wants to graduate on time this spring, and with tuition and fees alone at $48,000 a year - more than any other college in the nation - she cannot give in to distraction.

"I have a lot riding on this," says Ms. Nelson, who is also dyslexic. She wants to transfer to a four-year institution and get a bachelor's degree - a goal that would have been out of reach, she says, had she not found Landmark three years after graduating from high school. If Ms. Nelson gets her associate degree in May after four semesters, she will buck the trend at Landmark.

Only about 30 percent graduate within three years; many others drop out after a semester or two. The numbers suggest that even with all the special help and the ratio of one teacher for every five students, the transition is not easy. Continued HERE.
 

A bill to replace the terms "mental retardation" and "mentally retarded" with "intellectual disability" and "individual with an intellectual disability" throughout federal health, education and labor policy passed the Congress with bipartisan support. The bill, named after Rosa Marcellino, a Maryland girl who has Down syndrome, was signed into law by President Obama in early October.

 

Autism Speaks provided $5 million to expand and link two large-scale, multi-site studies of more than 2000 infant siblings of children with autism, who are at higher genetic risk for developing the disorder. This unprecedented research effort will investigate genetic and environmental risk factors for autism from pre-natal development through early childhood. Read more about the Infant Brain Imaging Study Network and the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation projects here.

"We are proud to be able to fund this research - and couldn't do that without every dollar raised through our Walk program, special events and donations. Thank you for your support. Participating in a local research program is another important way for you to help find the answers." 

Autism Speaks is assisting the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) Network in their examination of very early features that may be characteristic of infants at risk for autism. Their goal is to study the developing brain in infancy, before a possible diagnosis is determined. To do this, they are actively seeking to enroll families who have a child with an autism spectrum disorder and an infant sibling 6 months old or younger.

At the University of North Carolina, researchers are studying the brain development of children from 6 to 24 months of age. Developmental evaluations and MRI scans of your child's brain will be completed at 6, 12 and 24 months of age. These services are provided at no charge to your family. Compensation for participation and the arrangement of your travel to Chapel Hill will be provided.

 The data gathered in this study will provide important information regarding early brain development in autism, which may in turn provide clues that will eventually result in early interventions (e.g., early behavioral or medication treatments) to improve outcomes for children with autism.

To learn more about participating in this study, please contact the UNC IBIS Network site by email at ibisnetwork@gmail.com or by phone (800) 793-5715. Also, to learn more about this research project please visit www.ibis-network.org 
 

Positive Parenting Practices Workshops

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