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Description: A Life 4 Me is a an online resource to help people with disabilities establish community connections, including social, employment, and volunteer opportunities. It was developed by youth with disabilities, in partnership with the Partnership for People with Disabilities and Virginia Department of Education. Video Tours Include: Go To College Get Services in the Community Live in the Community Work in the Community Friendship Support Entrepreneurship Economic/Personal Finance Mental Health...
Description: (Applies To: Excel for Microsoft 365, Word for Microsoft 365,PowerPoint for Microsoft 365, Excel 2019, Word 2019, PowerPoint 2019, Excel 2016, Word 2016 PowerPoint, 2016 Excel 2013, & More) To help ensure that your Office files are accessible, use the Accessibility Checker, a free tool available in Word, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, and PowerPoint on Windows, Office Online, or Mac, and Visio on Windows. It finds most accessibility issues and explains why each might be a potential...
Description: Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible (Microsoft) - This topic gives you step-by-step instructions and best practices for making your PowerPoint presentations accessible and unlock your content to everyone, including people with disabilities. PowerPoint has many features built-in that help people with different abilities to read and author presentations. In this topic, you learn, for example, how to work with the Accessibility Checker to tackle accessibility issues...
Description: Make your Excel spreadsheets accessible - This topic gives you step-by-step instructions and best practices for making your Excel spreadsheets accessible and unlock your content to everyone, including people with disabilities. You learn, for example, how to work with the Accessibility Checker to tackle accessibility issues while you're creating your spreadsheet. You'll also learn how to add alt texts to images so that people using screen readers are able to listen to what the...
Description: Make your Word Documents accessible (Microsoft) - This topic gives you step-by-step instructions and best practices on how to make your Word documents accessible and unlock your content to everyone, including people with disabilities. You learn, for example, how to work with the Accessibility Checker to tackle accessibility issues while you're writing your document. You'll also learn how to add alt texts to images so that people using screen readers are able to listen to what the...
Description: Helping Young Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: Policies and Strategies for Early Care and Education - In almost every early care and education (ECE) program across the country, there are children who have experienced trauma or who will, during their early childhood, experience traumatic events. Trauma in early childhood takes many forms, including abuse or neglect, witnessing violence, and having prolonged separation from or loss of a parent. An extensive body of research has documented the...
Description: Virginia Family Special Education Connection provides a one-stop-shop for parents, families and caregivers of children with special needs to: Access local school system contacts and disability services in your community Explore an abundance of resources, including assistive technology and behavioral supports to help your child succeed. Learn about and plan your child's educational program Understand your legal rights and responsibilities POWER (Parent Organizer with Educational...
Description: Smartphones and tablets have only become ubiquitous in the last decade — but now, most of us can’t imagine life without them. Mobile devices have changed the way we communicate, access information, and learn. The possibilities they’ve opened up have also changed the way we interact with and think about subjects many people have trouble with, like math. Happily, there are a now multitude of mobile apps and computer programs that make numbers fun for all ages, and provide the...
Description: What you do and say matters! Explore and practice everyday strategies to develop Positive Goal-Oriented Relationships with a family. These relationships are key to our work with children and families, including the journey toward school readiness. Simulation 1 allows you to practice building bonds with families, beginning with an intake visit. Simulation 2 explores the process of developing and implementing goals with families. Simulation 3 explores using strengths-based attitudes to partner...
Description: Talks on Tuesdays are free, live webinars held from noon to 1pm EST on the first Tuesday of each month. These webinars focus on important topics that are relevant for EI practitioners and are chosen based on feedback from practitioners about what they need to know more about!
Description: Do you have a child with special needs? Precious Time is a pediatric respite care program that provides the families of children with special needs an opportunity to take a break from the demands of caregiving. JMU nursing students provide respite care as part of a student learning experience. Precious Time serves families who live within a one hour radius of Harrisonburg, VA. Claude Moore Precious Time (Precious Time) matches JMU Nursing and Health and Human Service students...
Description: Teachers across the United States are now able to access a new, free online tool, designed by and for teachers, to find highly targeted instructional math resources to support their kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms. With Watson's teacher-specific search and recommendation tool, you can now find relevant lessons, activities, standards information, and strategies faster than ever—all from a corpus of proven-effective materials recommended by educators. Free, easy-to-use lesson...
Description: Training and Workshops through PEATC - PEATC workshops are made possible through Federal funding from the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs and private donations. Our Federal grants designate PEATC as the Statewide Parent Training and Information Center and Region B1 RSA-Parent Training and Information Center. In order for PEATC to comply with our grant funding, we must ensure that at least 10 parents are registered to participate in each workshop so our program...
Description: College Steps was founded by a clinical psychologist and a special educator with a simple mission: To empower students living with learning and social challenges through structured post-secondary support. Working closely with high schools, colleges and families, we emphasize peer-to-peer services that build confidence and success. College Steps provides personalized college support for students with learning and social challenges. Our student-centered support utilizes peer mentoring and...
Description: Just like anyone else, individuals with I/DD come into contact with the criminal justice system as suspects, defendants, incarcerated persons, victims, and/or witnesses. People with disabilities are more likely to experience victimization, be arrested, be charged with a crime, and serve longer prison sentences once convicted, than those without disabilities. Individuals with I/DD with other marginalized identities (e.g., people of color, members of indigenous communities, and those who identify...
Description: Autism Speaks provides a sampling of the large range products and services our community often inquires about relating to safety, from seat belt harnesses, to wearable identification items, and smart technology. This list is not intended to be all inclusive and they do not endorse any individual product. Alert Me Bands AMBER Alert GPS Angel Guard AngelSense Autism ID Card Autism Safety Initiative AWAARE: Autism Wandering Awareness Alerts Response and Education Collaboration BE SAFE The...
Description: This section provides information on assessment and eligibility determination guidelines to special education professionals who work with English Learners. These guidelines can be used where traditional evaluation procedures may not be appropriate and are based on specific aspects of diversity such as race, culture, the acculturation process, high mobility among families and poverty rates.
Description: Read to Them programs show schools and families the wide array of benefits that come from reading aloud together. A child’s positive relationship with literacy provides the basis for a lifetime of learning. Our school-wide reading programs support reading together at home and learning together at school by providing schools with the necessary tools, resources, and guidance to create a culture of literacy in their community.
Description: The SpectrumWise story (Barbara Simeroth is the founder): a parent’s love and a teacher’s expertise come together to solve a problem that shouldn’t exist. As the parent of a child who didn’t fit in, my goal was no different than the parent of a neuro-typical: to raise a mature, happy, independently functioning adult who can make a real contribution to the workplace and the world. Today, thanks to the right support and a very courageous transformation, that child is a...
Description: These standards offer a framework for how families, schools, and communities should work together to support student success. Family Engagement (Virginia PTA) When families and schools work together, students succeed. Engaging families in order to create a collaborative partnership between families and schools is at the core of our PTA work, it's even in the name of our association! Through family events, programs, advocacy and community outreach efforts, PTAs across the country are...
Description: Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children - The Department of Defense, in collaboration with the National Center for Interstate Compacts and the Council of State Governments has developed an interstate compact that addresses the educational transition issues of children of military families. Currently all 50 States and the District of Columbia participate in the interstate compact that provide a uniform policy platform for resolving the challenges experienced by...
Description: Being a parent is the most wonderful—and hardest—job in the world. If you have a child with special needs, your job is no less wonderful, but it can be more complicated. Your child’s education is most likely an area of great interest to you. As a child with a disability, he or she may be eligible for special education services in school. If so, then it will be important for you to learn: more about special education; how special education services can support your child; and...
Description: How can you make the most of parent-teacher conferences? Planning ahead can help you walk into your next meeting with confidence. Start by exploring these tips, conversation starters, and worksheets.
Description: The VA EI eLearning Center is designed to provide practitioners with high quality, interactive professional development on early intervention topics. Each module is available as a free resource and results in a certificate of completion. We invite you to explore the site to find modules that meet your certification or ongoing professional development needs. Virginia Early Intervention Certification Courses and Ongoing Professional Development Courses are available.
Description: The National Child Traumatic Stress Network - Terrorism and Violence Families and children may be profoundly affected by mass violence, acts of terrorism, or community trauma in the form of shootings, bombings, or other types of attacks. The impact will vary depending on the nature of the event and on the experiences of children and families during and afterwards. . American Academy of Pediatrics - Talking to Children About Tragedies & Other News Events The American Academy of...
Description: NAEYC culled excerpts and articles from their publications and online content about anti-bias approraches, strategies to counter bullying, ways to guide children's behavior, build positive classroom communitites, and support the range of diverse children and families in EC programs. Resources are listed below Anti-Bias Education: Now online you can read the first chapter of the book Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves and find self-reflection exercises for...
Description: More and more students are seeking support for mental health disabilities at colleges, but colleges have been unable to meet that demand. Some have argued that the nation has reached a “campus mental health crisis.” This National Council on Disability (NCD) report examines and assesses the status of college mental health services and policies in the United States, and provides recommendations for Congress, federal agencies, and colleges to improve college mental health services...
Description: The DEA and Discovery Education have joined forces to combat a growing epidemic of prescription opioid misuse and heroin use nationwide. Operation Prevention's mission is to educate students about the true impacts of opioids and kick-start lifesaving conversations in the home and classroom. Operation Prevention's School Resources include: Opioid And Prescription Drugs Multi-Drug Exploratory Virtual Field Trips Webinar Student Videos Parent Toolkit: Parents can join the conversation with this...
Description: This is a post by Kimberlee Rutan McCafferty, mother to two sons on the autism spectrum and an Autism Family Partner at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Summer vacation is ending all too fast, and before we know it those bright yellow school busses will be darting through our neighborhoods and a new school year will commence. Moving to a different classroom, grade, or school can be stressful for any child; for those on the autism spectrum, handling anxiety about the...
Description: The Guide to Individualized Education Programs provides parents and caregivers with the advocacy tools needed to make sure their child is receiving the best possible education tailored to their unique strengths and challenges. The guide includes a video series featuring a renowned attorney, school psychologist and speech pathologist answering your frequently asked questions. The experts share advice on how to be the strongest advocate for your child at school. The format is...
Description: Fourteen invaluable tools — checklists, charts, worksheets, letters, parent-teacher conversation starters, and more — to help you and your child team up with teachers for a successful school year. Dear Teacher, Please Meet My Child: A Sample Letter for Parents What I Wish My Teachers Knew About Me: A Free Template for Kids What Every Teacher Should Know About ADHD: A Free Handout Help Your Child’s Peers ‘Get’ ADHD: A Free Guide for Parents 7 Parent-Teacher...
Description: Make & Play Quiz (Google Play) is a free app that allows teachers to design their own unique board game or "quiz", where students can learn or strengthen their skills by playing a game. Each square can have a Question (Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blank or True/False) or an Event (Stop-skip turns, Go forward, Go Back or Get Points). One to four players can play at a time and the games can be shared with others.
Description: This book has an emphasis on assessment in mathematics and encouraging children to construct knowledge. Developmentally appropriate activities, suggestions to teach mathematics, and ways to encourage children to explore and play with numbers, measurements, and operations are included.
Description: This page contains a variety of information and resources for teachers of grades 4-8 to use in the classroom and help students make healthier lifestyle choices (Nutrition, Physical Education, Health Conditions and Diseases, Disabilities and Birth Defects, Mental Health and Child Development, Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, and E-cigarettes and Alcohol).
Description: AAIDD, is the publisher, copyright holder, and sole owner of the SIS, SIS-A. SIS-C, SIS-A Annual Review Protocol, and Person-Centered Planning With the Supports Intensity Scale-Adult Version™: A Guide for Planning Teams (2017). The suite of SIS tools also includes all associated interview scoring forms, user’s guides, training manuals and materials, and associated electronic software platforms, most notably SISOnline and SISVenture. The SIS-A is a standardized assessment tool...
Description: The road to adulthood for youth with disabilities is filled with opportunity, and parents play a key role. PACER’s National Parent Center on Transition and Employment is ready with the information families want, presented in a way families can use. Founded in 2014, PACER’s National Parent Center on Transition and Employment builds on PACER’s decades of experience providing high quality assistance and support to parents, youth, and professionals on transition topics. This...
Description: Many collaborative strategies, sample interagency agreements, planning tools, and funding sources exist to assist states and communities in providing inclusive preschool special education services. Included within the Preschool Inclusion Finance Toolkit 2018 are the following: Early Childhood Programs Comparison Worksheet Determining Costs Inclusive Worksheet Braiding Funds: How Districts Can Create Inclusive Placement Opportunities for Young Children with Disabilities
Description: The Center for Safe Schools and the Highmark Foundation partnered to develop this new Pennsylvania Bullying Prevention Toolkit website that provides centralized, authoritative, easy-to-use information, tools and best practices to help families, schools and communities recognize, understand and prevent bullying. For parents, this toolkit ensures that they have a fast track to assessing and meeting needs when bullying occurs. Along with tips for parents whose children are bullied and advice for...
Description: This document was developed to clarify the relationship between Specially Designed Instruction, Core Instruction and Interventions within a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) for educators developing, improving and maintaining systems of support for all students.The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004 made it clear that students with disabilities are to be considered first and foremost as general education students. This distinction, along with...
Description: A few resources for identifying SDI and incorporating SDI into the co-taught classroom. (From Marilyn Friend's presentation materials, Virginia's Co-Teaching Summer Institute, July 2017.)
Description: This CEELO blog post refers to the early childhood provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that enable districts to improve early learning for all children, including young children with disabilities.
Description: For over 30 years, the Autism Society Central Virginia (ASCV) has been proud to serve as one of the region’s premier sources of education, advocacy, services, and support for individuals with autism, their families and friends, and professionals. Our mission is to improve the lives of all affected by autism by maximizing the self-sufficiency, independence, and quality of life for all living with autism. We are committed to meaningful participation and self-determination in all aspects of...
Description: Here are a few things to know about American Sign Language from five people who use it every day. “One thing is, daily, we see that hearing people think that ASL isn’t a language,” D.T. Bruno said in an interview for this video,” but the brain doesn’t discriminate against ASL as a language. ASL has all of the features of any other language in the world.”This video was filmed at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and was published on April 14, 2017.
Description: Child-adult relationships that are responsive and attentive—with lots of back and forth interactions—build a strong foundation in a child’s brain for all future learning and development. This is called “serve and return,” and it takes two to play! Follow these 5 steps to practice serve and return with your child.
Description: Aligning and Integrating Family Engagement in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Concepts and Strategies for Families and Schools in Key Contexts includes the following chapters: Enhancing Progress for Meaningful Family Engagement in all Aspects of Positive BehavioralInterventions and Supports (PBIS) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Family Engagement Foundations: Supporting Children and Families Engaging Families Through School-Wide Positive Behavior Support: Building...
Description: Several referral services can direct you to a lawyer who fits your needs. Your match may be just one a phone call away. State your legal problem and you can be given the name of an attorney in that area of the law right in your community. Referral services charge a small fee that covers your initial consultation with the lawyer. The Virginia Bar Association does not offer attorney referrals. There are, however, a number of referral services in the state.
Description: Community-based Skills Assessment Tool Kit - The transition out of school-based services for students with autism can be difficult. There is no "one size fits all" plan for the path to adulthood. The most important factor in creating a plan is to focus on the individual. His or her strengths, needs, challenges and preferences will be vital to a successful transition process. The CSA helps parents and professionals assess the current skill levels and abilities of students with...
Description: The Topics covered in this Webinar (presented on May 25, 2017): What is Web Accessibility? What are Some Common Accessibility Errors? What is WCAG 2.0? How does it differ from 1.0? How can I Evaluate and Correct Accessibility Errors on my Website? How can I Create Accessible Content for new Webpages?
Description: This web app provides online resources to help famililies raising children and youth in foster care and kinship care, where children and youth are brought up by non-birth parent relatives. The following topics are covered: Trying to Enroll a Child in School? Concerned about Learning or School? Concerned about Mental Health or Behaviors? Need Public Benefits? Concerned about Transitions Through School and After? Concerned about Disabilities and Special Health Care Needs? Involved in the Court...
Description: This research brief describes current approaches and highlights findings from recent studies with preschool children (ages 3-5) that document both the promise and challenge of effectively engaging families and children at risk for poor school readiness. We focus in particular on effective parent engagement models that improve school readiness outcomes in well-controlled studies. Systematic approaches and next generation research are recommended to improve the impact of parent engagement programs...