December 31, 2012 MPACT ENews

MPACT ENews

December 31, 2012

Greetings!

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

Online Trainings offered through MPACT

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 .

In This Issue

MPACT Online Trainings

Give the Gift of Knowledge

Parent Mentor Program

AT for Infants, Toddlers, and Young Children

National Transition Conference Materials Available

2013 STEP Applications Available

EEOC Resources - Employment Rights and Responsibilities

Upcoming Trainings

Quick Links

Volunteer

Fact Sheets

Surveys- Let us know how we're doing.
Contact Us!

Give the Gift of Knowledge - Donate to MPACT

MPACT welcomes donations in any amount and will acknowledge all donors in our Annual Report and on our MPACT Facebook page. Agency, organization and business donors making a contribution of $200.00 or more will be recognized by placing their name and logo in our monthly e-news letter and on our website's donation page. Individual donations of $50.00 or more will be added to our Friends of MPACT list which will appear in an edition of our monthly e-news letter and on our website. Donations may be made by credit card through PayPal on our website - http://ptimpact.org/Store/Donations/Donations.aspx; or by sending a check to the state office: MPACT, 8301 State Line Rd., Ste. 204, Kansas City MO, 64114. Every donation will receive a receipt for tax purposes.

Please help us to continue to provide the support that families of Missouri's children with disabilities are requesting by making a donation to MPACT. MPACT is a 501(c)3 organization. All donations are tax deductible.

2012 MPACT Donation Letter

MPACT Parent Mentor Program

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.

Assistive Technology for Infants, Toddlers and Young Children with Disabilities

Information for parents about the benefits of assistive technology for infants, toddlers and young children with disabilities. There are two types of assistive technology devices most commonly used by infants and toddlers-switches and augmentative communication devices.

To download the fact sheet CLICK HERE

National Transition Conference Materials Now Online

The National Transition Conference was held from May 30 to June 1 in Washington, DC. Attended by over 800 people, this event offered a diverse array of workshops and general sessions. An overview of the conference program; materials provided by presenters and captioned video of both the opening session and the keynote speaker, Ann Wilson Cramer of IBM are now available online. Breakout session materials have been organized by theme track. You can download the material or view it in your web browser. Conference materials are available at http://www.transition2012.org

2013 STEP Applications Available

STEP-St. Louis (Summer Transition Employment Program) 2013 applications are now available on our website! STEP - St. Louis is a 3 week residential, intensive, structured training program that provides specialized instruction to youth ages 14-21 with legal blindness. The program is designed to provide prevocational skills training by emphasizing independence, expectations related to transition, organizational skills and career exploration.

Program dates are June 9-29. Applications are due by March 1st.. It is necessary to complete and return all requested documents such as the IEP pages that are requested. Participants that are accepted into the program will be notified in March 2013.

For more information please go to: http://www.lhbindustries.com/Our-Outreach/Programs/STEP.aspx

To download the application please go to STEP 2013 Participant Application

EEOC Resources to Teach Youth About Employment Rights and Responsibilities

EEOC Resources to Teach Youth about their Employment Rights and Responsibilities

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released a video and classroom guides to educate working-age students about different types of workplace discrimination, including sexual harassment and disability discrimination. Available on the EEOC's Youth at Work Website.

Free MPACT Trainings

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 of the 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.