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In the past 20 years there has been an expansion of the diversity of service animals being utilized by persons with disabilities, with some confusion as to what truly is a “service animal”.  Effective March 15, 2011, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations define a service animal as “a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability” (USDJ, 2011). 

This school year, the 1.1 million-student New York City system launched a new text-subscription service that notifies parents in English or Spanish of school news and a series of webinars on topics of relevance to parents. The 640,000-student Los Angeles school district hired its first-ever director of social media this past spring, whose main charge is communicating and sharing district information with parents and students via tools such as YouTube, Twitter, and Tumblr.

In the 182,000-student Fairfax County school system in Virginia, 84,500 people have subscribed to the district's enhanced news and information email and text service, the district's Facebook page has 26,000 "likes," and its Twitter account has 8,100 followers

digital technologies to improve communication between the school and parents

Kids and animals are a natural combination. Pets are great companions, and they teach the value of responsibility to children. For children with disabilities, this companionship is particularly invaluable, as they may have trouble making friends with kids their own ages because of low self-esteem. Animals give children an opportunity to connect with another living being, which is extremely important to any child's development.