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FYI Newsletter August 23, 2010
Quick Scan:
- Indiana’s State Disability Plan Town Meeting
- When Actions Speak Louder than Words Workshop
- Scholarships Available/Mental Health and Aging Conference
- Survey for Parents of Students Receiving Special Education Services
- Library Corner
UPCOMING
INDIANA’S STATE DISABILITY PLAN TOWN MEETING: Be sure to register for the Indianapolis Town Meeting on Indiana’s State Disability Plan scheduled for Monday, August 30, 2010 at the American Red Cross from 6:30 8:30 p.m., 441 East 10th Street, Indianapolis.
Hosted by the Governor's Council for People with Disabilities, the purpose of these Town Meetings are to gather input from people with disabilities and their family members about the priorities that should be addressed in Indiana’s upcoming State Disability Plan. For those of you in Indianapolis and the surrounding areas, come and be part of this important process! The Council asks that people with disabilities and family members register for this Town Meeting by visiting www.cwlab.org.
Times and places of other Town Meetings will be announced in early September. They will be held in these areas: Fort Wayne on September 20th, Terre Haute on September 30th, Evansville on October 18th, Merrillville on October 25th, South Bend on October 26th, Richmond on November 8th, and Clarksville on November 15th.
If you are unable to attend a Town Meeting, there will be a State Plan Survey available for additional input. Stay tuned in September for more information about this way of participating in Indiana’s State Plan process! For further information, contact Christine Dahlberg at the Governor’s Planning Council at (317) 232-7770 or e-mail cdahlberg@gpcpd.org.
WHEN ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS WORKSHOP: The Institute’s Indiana Resource Center for Autism in collaboration with the Early Childhood Center, will host a one-day workshop focusing on building understanding of how different behaviors are communicative on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at the Indiana Institute.
Participants will be able to:
- Explain how behavior and communication are linked;
- Identify potential messages of behavior;
- Recognize how the “big picture” can assist in deciphering messages of behavior;
- Recognize potential hidden issues that impact behaviors;
- Describe disability issues that affect behavior and communication; and
- Plan positive behavior approaches to support childrens behavior.
Registration fee is $90.00 per person. Certificates of Attendance will be provided at no charge. CEUs (general education) will be available on-site for a fee of $15.00 per person. Visit the Indiana Resource Center for Autism’s website at www.iidc.indiana.edu/index.php?pageId=32 to download a registration form.
Contact the Indiana Governor’s Council for Consumer Investment funding at (317) 232-7770. For family members of individuals birth through age 5, funding is available through the Indiana Institute’s Family Involvement Fund. For information, call Cathy Beard at 1-800-825-4733, or e-mail fif@indiana.edu.
ACROSS THE STATE
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE/MENTAL HEALTH AND AGING CONFERENCE: Two weeks ago, we told you about the Indiana Mental Health and Aging Conference to be held on Friday, September 17, 2010, South Auditorium, Indiana Government Center, Indianapolis. We have come to learn that scholarships are available for consumers. If you are interested in obtaining a scholarship, contact Tiffany Peek at (317) 638-3501 or e-mail tpeek@mhai.net. Scholarships are provided through a grant from the Governors Council for People with Disabilities. For more information on the conference, contact Willard Mays at Willard.mays@fssa.in.gov or Tiffany Peek at tpeek@mhai.net.
SURVEY FOR PARENTS OF STUDENTS RECEIVING SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES: All parents of Indiana's 171,000 students receiving special education services should have received a survey sometime between the second week of August 2010 and the end of the week that school starts. This survey contains 31 questions designed to measure parent satisfaction with their experience in working with education staff at their children's school and the special education services their children received during the 2009-10 school year. Parents will receive a letter in a white business-sized envelope from their children's school containing information about how to complete the survey online. Parents without Internet access may complete the paper copy of the survey included in the envelope or call a designated toll-free number. Since only parents of students receiving special education services are eligible to complete the survey, each survey envelope will contain a unique survey identification code.
By August 6, each Special Education Planning District Director in Indiana received a shipment of survey letters to be distributed to parents by mail or in person from school personnel. Some survey letters may also be sent home with the children receiving special education services. If parents do not receive a survey by September 10, they should request one by contacting the person at their children's school responsible for overseeing the special education services their children receive.
The survey will take about five minutes to complete and all individual responses will be kept confidential. It is important for all parents to complete this survey so that the Indiana Department of Education and Indiana's School Districts can improve the quality of special education services provided to Hoosier children and their families. The results of this survey will be sent by the Indiana Department of Education to the U.S. Department of Education to fulfill federal legal requirements under Indicator 8 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
LIBRARY CORNER
NEW ITEMS: The following new materials may be borrowed by Indiana residents from the Center for Disability Information and Referral at the Institute. To check out materials, contact the library at 1-800-437-7924, send e-mail to cedir@indiana.edu, or visit us at 2853 East Tenth Street in Bloomington.
O'Meara, J. (2010). Beyond differentiated instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.Sher, B., & Butler, R. (2009). Early intervention games: Fun, joyful ways to develop social and motor skills in children with autism spectrum or sensory processing disorders. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Thoma, C. A., & Wehner, P. (2010). Getting the most out of IEPs: An educator's guide to the student-directed approach. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Pub. Co.
Treffert, D. A. (2010). Islands of genius: The bountiful mind of the autistic, acquired, and sudden savant. London: Jessica Kingsley.