[Kids Together email newsletter] May 2006
- From: "Kids Together" <staff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ktnewsletter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 10:14:59 -0400
Kids Together Email Newsletter
"promoting inclusive communities where all people belong"
MAY 2006 Newsletter
Please notify us to receive this newsletter in text only.
This list consists of over 3000 people (and growing!)
Suggestions for newsletter items are welcome!
Some say that my teaching is nonsense.
Others call it lofty but impractical.
But to those who have looked inside themselves,
this nonsense makes perfect sense.
And to those who put it into practice,
this loftiness has roots that go deep.
I have just three things to teach:
simplicity, patience, compassion.
Simple in actions and thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
You reconcile all being in the world.
~ Lao-Tzu, the Chinese scholar ~
FOCUS on Results
Michigan Department of Education
Study Explores How Children With Disabilities Make Friends:
How Can Parents and School Personnel Help?
http://www.cenmi.org/focus/downloads/march06/GATA06-01.pdf
(6 pages Adobe pdf file)
This FOCUS on Results document offers information for
parents and school personnel working to facilitate the friendship-making
process in children with disabilities. The document provides suggestions and
ideas to help children with disabilities become more socially integrated.
Key Ideas:
a.. Research shows a connection between social
integration and academic performance.
b.. Social isolation can contribute to a lower quality of
life for children with disabilities. On the other hand, friendship and social
integration can improve their quality of life.
c.. It is important for parents to be involved in the
socialization of their children.
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Text-to-Speech Software for Helping Struggling Readers
International Reading Association, Inc.
http://www.readingonline.org/articles/balajthy2/
(8 pages html)
For children and young people with reading difficulties,
text-to-speech (TTS) software offers some of the benefits of a personal reader.
The article provides an overview of the technology and its application, and
then summarizes the research on benefits of TTS for struggling readers. The
different kinds of TTS software available are described in three categories,
according to sophistication, and information is given concerning how teachers
can obtain electronic text materials for use with TTS. Finally, suggestions are
provided for implementing TTS in the classroom.
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Tots-N-Tech
Early Intervention AT surveys for providers and families
http://www.asu.edu/clas/tnt/
Two surveys about Assistive Technology (AT) practices are
provided on the Tots-N-Tech website -- one for providers and one for
parents/families. Each survey takes under 30 minutes to complete and is
completed electronically directly from the website.
The family survey is being conducted to learn more about
how Assistive Technology (AT) may have been helpful to parents and what kinds
of training and experience parents have had with AT. The survey is for parents
whose children are under the age of three years. The provider survey is to
learn more about how Assistive Technology (AT) may have been helpful to infants
and toddlers. The survey is for multidisciplinary providers who work in early
intervention at least one day per week, on average.
The Tots 'n Tech Research Institute (TnT) is an
inter-university collaboration between Thomas Jefferson University (TJU),
Philadelphia and Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe. TnT conducts a national
research program about use of assistive technology (AT) to enhance the
development of infants and toddlers with disabilities. A major component of the
TnT's mission is to produce new knowledge and information about AT use and
practices and, specifically, about the ways in which AT may optimize children's
development and learning.
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In Pennsylvania
PA School Watch
http://www.paschoolwatch.org
Teacher convicted of assault... Bus driver charged with
rape.... School security guard arrested.... Thought it couldn't happen in your
child's school? Wrong. Think everyone goes through an extensive background
check before they can work with your children? Wrong!
If someone is convicted of a crime, they can't work in my
kid's school, can they? Wrong!! In Pennsylvania a person is ONLY checked when
the are hired and ONLY in Pennsylvania, Once they're hired they are never
checked again.
If a person is convicted of a crime, even a crime against a
child and it's been a mere 5 years since they were convicted, they are once
again welcome to work in your child's school. Stop this, help protect
Pennsylvania's children before a crime happens. Check out PA School Watch
http://www.paschoolwatch.org for ways you can make schools safer all across
Pennsylvania. Help us help the children of Pennsylvania. Their education is
their right, it's their future let's give them a safe way to get there.
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In Pennsylvania
Updates on Teacher Preparation Program
Education Law Center
http://www.elc-pa.org/disabilities/disabilities.html
The Chapter 49 Committee of the Pennsylvania State Board of
Education is scheduled to meet in June to consider new rules to prepare
teachers to work with children with disabilities and English language learners.
Click here for an update and more information, and here for ELC's
recommendations. To join the statewide Teacher Quality Coalition, contact
Baruch Kintisch. Consider writing a letter or making a call to support the
requirement of all teachers taking classes about teaching students with
disabilities and English language learners at all stages of their careers.
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In Pennsylvania
"Ashley's Law" HB 1618
Student with Disabilities have right to attend graduation
ceremonies!
House Bill 1618 was signed into law on May 1, 2006 by
Governor Ed Rendell. The law takes effect immediately; therefore, school
districts will need to implement the law for graduation ceremonies this year
and in the future.
General Assembly notes regarding House Bill 1618, now Act
31 of 2006: "Each year, schools throughout the Commonwealth celebrate their
students' accomplishments through graduation ceremonies at which high school
diplomas are bestowed upon students who have completed their high school
requirements. The opportunity for classmates with disabilities to celebrate
their accomplishments together occurs only once, and the opportunity to
celebrate the receipt of a diploma several years after one's classmates have
graduated diminishes the experience for students whose age peers have left high
school several years earlier."
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2005&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=1618
(the full bill)
http://www.dailyitem.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/NEWS/605020309
article
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In Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Education
Office for Dispute Resolution (ODR)
Electronic survey on communications with stakeholders
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=126811880706
The Pennsylvania Department of Education's Office for
Dispute Resolution (ODR) is assessing communications with stakeholders. They
would like to know how people receive information regarding the free services
available to families with children in special education programs. The results
of the electronic survey will be used to focus the types and lines of
communications they should provide for families and educators in the future.
All participants in the survey will remain confidential. Answers will be used
only by ODR.
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The Parent Side (tm)
T-shirts, cards, magnets mugs, stickers & more!
It's a campaign for inclusion and against exclusion!
http://www.theparentside.com
Get your stuff in time for IEP season! Gifts for everyone,
children, adults, advocates, self-advocates, professionals and families. Give a
unique gift to the advocate who supported you or reward yourself and make a
statement! Tote bags, mugs, t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, mousepads, buttons,
magnets, posters and more! Designs that speak! New bumpers stickers! New
designs!
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Resources are listed for general information purposes only
Kids Together does not endorse products, services, or
provide any legal advice
Kids Together, Inc. is an all-volunteer non-profit 501(c)3
organization
We support the belief that children with disabilities, like
all children,
have the need to be welcomed, cherished and embraced in our
communities.
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