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MPACT ENews
July 16, 2012
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Greetings!
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Did you miss an issue of the MPACT ENews? Delete it by mistake? Wish you could find a past article? Well you can! To view current and past issues of the MPACT ENews visit our website at http://ptimpact.org/News.aspx |
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Online Trainings offered through MPACT
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MPACT has just added another online training to our resources, Extended School Year is now available along with:
- Special Education: What I Need to Know
- IDEA Transition Requirements
- Transition to Post Secondary Experiences (Part 1 & 2)
- Connecting Goals to Coordinated Activities and Services for Transition
- Transition Resources - Disability Disclosure
- Soft Skills
You can access them by going to our Training page and clicking on Online Training, or CLICK HERE .
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MPACT Parent Mentor Program
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MPACT Parent Mentors are available to offer support and guidance to parents of children with disabilities throughout the IEP process. Parent Mentors are volunteers who receive 24 hours of initial training, ongoing monthly training, and technical assistance from MPACT staff with regard to special education law, the IEP process, conflict resolution, and effective communication. Their goal is to help parents build a collaborative partnership with the school district so their child may receive an appropriate education. To view the list of current MPACT Parent Mentors, go to http://ptimpact.org/Volunteer/MentorList.aspx.
If your school district has had a MPACT Parent Mentor in attendance at an IEP meeting, please take a moment to complete a brief online survey located at http://ptimpact.org/Surveys.aspx if you have not already done so. A separate survey should be completed for each mentor who has provided services to parents in your district. These surveys assist MPACT and DESE with identifying and addressing areas of success and improvement with the Parent Mentor Program.
For more information about MPACT or if you have questions regarding the status of a Parent Mentor, please contact MPACT by telephone at (800) 743-7634 or by e-mail at info@ptimpact.org. You can also view the MPACT website at http://www.ptimpact.org.
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Check out What's New!
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Save the Date! 4th Annual MPACT Transition Summit
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October 9, 2012 at the Truman Office Building in Jefferson City, MO.
Registration will begin at 9am, Session and Keynote Speaker 10am-4pm. Lunch will be provided.
The Summit is a one-day learning experience designed for students who have disabilities, special education transition personnel and student teams, family members, case managers, VR counselors, and Centers for Independent Living personnel. Summit sessions are focused on the preparation of youth for transition to post-secondary education, employment, independent living and community experiences.
Cost:
- School teams of educator and student (each educator must be accompanied by at least one student) - FREE
- Family member with student - FREE
- Family member without student - $25.00 (limited to first 50 registered
- Professional only - $50.00 (limited to first 50 registered)
- Exhibitors - $75.00 (display table, lunch on your own or available for additional $10.00)
- Sponsorship: $125.00 (includes logo on t-shirt given to students, display table, and lunch)
- Organization logo on t-shirt: $75.00
Sessions presented will cover: Career soft skills development, self-determination, youth leadership, planning for college, as well as information about VR and CIL services, understanding ADA, Social Security and more...
Detailed agenda and registration information will be posted to our website soon.
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Missouri Special Education Advisory Panel Annual Report Letter
| The Missouri Special Education Advisory Panel's Annual Report letter for 2011-12 has been posted on the Office of Special Education's website at http://dese.mo.gov/se/seap/94142reports.html. The letter contains an overview of the responsibilities and activities of the Special Education Advisory Panel during the 2011-12 school year.
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State Performance Plan & OSEP's Evaluation of Missouri Part B Program
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Missouri received notification recently that the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has completed its evaluation of Missouri's performance and has identified Missouri in the determination category of "Meets Requirements." For an explanation of the Determinations process, you should review the information on page 33 of the Program Monitoring Manual at the following web address:
http://dese.mo.gov/se/documents/SpeEdMonManual.pdf.
To view the Determination letter to Missouri, Response Table, and Explanation of Determination go to http://dese.mo.gov/se/SPPpage.html (under the Response and Determinations Section).
Missouri's State Performance Plan (SPP), required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), provided measurable and rigorous targets for Missouri in the area of 20 required indicators identified by OSEP. On January 27, 2012, Missouri filed our Annual Performance Report (APR) with OSEP; this reported the state's performance on the indicators and targets. Go to our website to view:
http://dese.mo.gov/se/SPPpage.html.
I encourage you to be familiar with these documents as the SPP drives our monitoring focus and reflects the connection between compliance and performance.
Later today a letter will be sent electronically to the superintendent of each responsible public agency in the state, with a copy to the special education contact, informing them of their agency's Determination. The letter includes a determination category for each agency evaluating the agency's progress on some of the State Performance Plan (SPP) targets. An explanation of the indicators evaluated and the agency's performance on each one is also included with the letter.
Please note that information regarding Missouri's Part C Program may also be found at the above links.
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OSEP Guidance on Expedited Due Process Hearings
| The U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has issued an informal guidance on the timing of expedited due process hearings. Letter to Cox dated June 22, 2012, provides that the timeline for conducting expedited due process hearings is based on school days, not calendar days. School day is defined as any day, including a partial day, that children are in attendance for instructional purpose. A day when a district only provides Extended School Year (ESY) services to children with disabilities and does not operate a summer school program for all children cannot be counted as a school day.
A complete copy of the letter can be found at http://dese.mo.gov/se/documents/se-admin-ltr-cox-2012-vdoe.pdf.
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DESE History and Awareness: A Resource Guide for Missouri
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Last year, the Missouri legislature passed House Bill 555, which authorized school boards to require the provision of disability history and awareness instruction in public schools during the month of October of each year. It further required the month of October to be designated "Disability History and Awareness Month."
The statute (162.946) provides that the department may identify and adopt preliminary guidelines for each district school board to use to develop curriculum that incorporates goals for disability history and awareness instruction. The Missouri Council of Administrators of Special Education (MOCASE) developed a resource guide to provide curricular materials and districts can choose to use it in whole or in part if their board requires disability awareness instruction.
The Disability History and Awareness: A Resource Guide for Missouri has been revised and is available to help districts implement activities in October for Disability History and Awareness Month. The Guide is available at http://dese.mo.gov/se/documents/se-admin-modishistresguide.pdf.
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Supporting New Career Paths for People with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities
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A new Issue of IMPACT, a publication of the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration (UCEDD) and Research and Training Center on Community Living focuses on supporting new career paths for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Written primarily for vocational service providers, employers, secondary and postsecondary educators, and families of individuals with disabilities, this issue explores some of the innovative thinking and resources that are providing expanded employment options for people with disabilities, including employment in some of the promising areas for job growth nationally.
Topics include: Social Networking to Build Careers, Customizing Job Development: Un-Occupying the Workshop, One Person at a Time, Supported Self-Employment as a Career Option for Individuals with Disabilities, Exploring Jobs in Renewable Energy, Preparing Young Adults with Disabilities for STEM Careers, Inclusive Conservation Corps Crews, and more!
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LRE Must Be Considered in the Work Place Too
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A letter from the U.S. Department of Education to his organization last month about this issue emphasizes that the tenets of IDEA do apply to transition.
Melody Musgrove, director of the Office for Special Education Programs, said that if a school district decides that gaining work experience is the logical next step for a particular student, the least-restrictive-environment tenets of the IDEA apply. They don't preclude a segregated work setting-some students with disabilities are taught in segregated settings, away from students without disabilities, Musgrove wrote. But deciding on that placement should be discussed beforehand.
To read the full article CLICK HERE. |
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Free MPACT Trainings
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MPACT trainings are provided free of charge to parents of children with disabilities. To sign up for an upcoming training, follow the links below, then click on the 'SIGNUP' button located next to the training name. Fill in your name, email address, phone number, the name ofthe training you wish to attend and the date it is being offered.
While registering for a training is not mandatory it does ensure that the trainer has an adequate amount of handouts. This also allows MPACT to contact you should a training need to be cancelled or rescheduled. To view a comprehensive list of all trainings provided by MPACT go to http://ptimpact.org/Training/Training.aspx.
Please be sure to double check the website training pages for any updates or changes to trainings offered.
Understanding the IEP Process for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
08/03/12 Joplin
Special Education Law
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Question? Comments? Suggestions? Send them to info@ptimpact.org or
contact the MPACT State Office at 1-800-743-7634. |
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