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Click here for Registration and more information! What and When: Adolescent and Young Adult Health Institutue Saturday, Feb. 11, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Interested in learning more about how your maternal and child health program can better serve adolescents? How well do you understand adolescent development? We know that adolescence is a time of biological, psychological and social changes – but we often view adolescence as a monolithic stage of development and design adolescent health programs accordingly. However, the reality is that there are several stages of development within adolescence – each with its own unique biological, psychological and social changes. If you’re interested in learning more about the different stages, needs and risk factors of adolescence and considering how these differences can impact your program design and implementation, join us for a two-part, day-long Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Institute. Special Events Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant Training-Current Initiatives and Updates Saturday, Feb. 11, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. This session will provide an update on Title V MCH Block Grant activities. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and hear about the latest enhancements to the Title V Information System (TVIS); changes to the FY 2013 Title V MCH Block Grant Application/FY 2011 Annual Report submission process; revisions to the MCH Block Grant Application/Annual Report Guidance; new Women’s Health Profiles available on TVIS; State Priorities from 2000 to 2010, as reported in the 5-year Needs Assessments; and an update on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. Sunday, February 12, 2012 1:00-3:30 p.m. Networking Reception and John C. MacQueen Memorial Lecture (TBD) Be an Influencer: How You Can Create Change for Healthy Tomorrows Monday, February 13, 2012 Do you experience resistant and persistent personal, team, or organizational problems? Do you feel that you have the skills you need to motivate those you work with and exert your influence in your personal and professional lives? How can we improve MCH outcomes if we are not agents of change and influence in our organizations? Join us for a discussion of proven strategies you can use to uproot entrenched habits and create change initiatives for your team and your entire organization in this real-life, solution focused session. Want more after the session? Our presenter, Candace Bertotti, will convene a workshop for interested participants who want to know more about the Influencer model immediately following the general session. Where: Washington, D.C. Contact: AMCHP Help Desk Phone: (202) 775-0436

Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning, a group of skills that helps us to focus on multiple streams of information at the same time, and revise plans as necessary.

Click here to apply for MYLF!What:MYLF (pronounced “my life”) is a unique career and leadership training program for high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors with disabilities. By serving as delegates from their communities, youth with disabilities will cultivate leadership, citizenship, and social skills.Delegates gain access to vital resources related to assistive technology, community support, and self-advocacy. Successful men and women with disabilities serve as role models in helping youth realize their abilities and obligations to pursue meaningful employment and contribute to society. This educational and motivational forum involves an intense schedule. Throughout the training, small "working groups" explore personal leadership and career plans.When:July 16-20, 2012Where:Helena, MontanaContact:June Hermanson Phone: (406)442-2576 mylfjuneh@bresnan.net

Click here to view the flyer for this webinar (PDF) What: This session will begin with an overview the importance of social competence for individuals on the spectrum. Strategies to teach social competence to individuals on the spectrum as well as means of assessing skills cquisition will also be provided. The emphasis will be on practical information that can be applied across settings When: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 12:30pm - 1:30pm Mountain Who Should Attend? This training is appropriate for: educators; families; human service professionals, including: front line supervisors, nurses, social workers, program coordinators, case managers, QMRPs, direct support professionals and other individuals involved in efforts to improve learning outcomes and quality of life or people with disabilities. Hosting: The Montana Autism Education Project will pay for a number of sites in each CSPD region. The webinar would need to be held in a meeting or classroom with adequate seating for staff from surrounding districts to attend and with the necessary audio equipment for everyone to hear the webinar. Contact: If you are interested in hosting a location, please contact Doug Doty at ddoty@mt.gov by February 15th.  Include information about the proposed location (seating, address, contact person) with your email. Participating sites need a speaker phone with a mute button and a computer with access to the Internet.

SNApps4Kids is a community of parents, therapists, doctors, and teachers who share information on how we are using the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices with children who have special needs.  We have found these mobile devices to provide accessibility for children who may have been previously disengaged from the world because of challenging language, motor, or other developmental delays.  Given the rising number of apps on the market and the diverse skills of children with special needs, parents have found each other to be one of the best resources for choosing apps to enhance everyday life for our children.  While our group is primarily parent-driven, our efforts are naturally collaborative with the people who help our children develop particular skills — therapists and educators.

The iPad is a device that many lust after as a shiny new toy, but many people with disabilities can benefit from what it has to offer as a functional tool. Students with learning disabilities can enhance and develop their communication skills, learn how to adapt to situations, and develop social skills. Check out this collection of iPad apps that can make a difference in the life of a learning disabled child.

Click here to register for this event What: Several parents will share their experiences about planning for their child's transition from high school to a full, rich life as an adult. How do they support a transition to employment? Inclusive recreation and leisure opportunities? How do they recommend other parents begin transition planning? When: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Mountain System Requirements: PC-based attendees - Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server Mac-based attendees - Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

What can teachers, family members, friends and employers do to prepare students for success in the adult world? Identifying students’ strengths and preferences is crucial to developing their skills. Cultivating support at school, on the job and in the community while increasing students’ social competence is also vital.

Carter and Hughes describe inclusive methods that treat people with disabilities as competent and increase their independence and self-determination in tandem with social support and acceptance among the general population. Students learn to make their own choices, set goals, speak up for themselves and carry out their own plans, a shift from now-disfavored programs that isolated adolescents and young adults with disabilities.

Over 90% of service dog handlers say that their animals improve their quality of life by assisting with life skills and increasing physical activity and community involvement.  Each service dog is matched to an handler’s unique needs after extensive training to perform specific tasks while maintaining a calm temperament.  Before going home, the new handler also receives instruction for the animal’s care and handling.

Students with disabilities face several longstanding challenges accessing services that may assist them as they transition from high school into postsecondary education or the workforce—services such as tutoring, vocational training, and assistive technology. Eligible students with disabilities are entitled to transition planning services during high school, but after leaving high school, to receive services that facilitate their transition they must apply as adults and establish eligibility for programs administered by multiple federal agencies. Students with disabilities may face delays in service and end up on waitlists if these programs are full. In addition, while all five states GAO contacted have taken steps to coordinate their transition services and assist families with the transition process, officials said that it is still difficult for students and their parents to navigate and for providers to coordinate services across different programs. Officials and parents GAO spoke with also noted a lack of sufficient information or awareness of the full range of service options available after high school on the part of students with disabilities, parents, and service providers. In addition, state and local officials said students with disabilities may not be adequately prepared to successfully transition to life after high school. This may be due, in part, to limited opportunities to engage in vocational and life skills training or obtain work experience while in school.

The third annual Transitions Conference was created for students in Springfield Public Schools' Business Associated Student Education program. BASE helps high school special education students gain employable skills by, among other things, job shadowing employees.

Click here to register for this webinar What: This free webinar will feature information on the speech language pathologist's role, materials and resources. Social skills will be addressed 1 hour OPI credit When: February 23rd, 2011 3:30 - 4:30 pm Presenters: The Florence Carlton School District Transition Team

McKenzie Tavary is on a mission to prove to the world that people with disabilities are smart. Although she doesn’t speak, “Mokn,” which she calls herself, communicates by typing on a computer and once wrote, “God put me on this Earth to be an Angel to show people how smart I am and other people with disabilities.” The world may soon find out. Tavary, 19, has been working for the past year since graduating from Capital High School to learn life skills. This fall she is set to start college at University of Montana–Helena, where she’ll be the first nonverbal student with autism to attend the two-year school.

Although there are a variety of school-based services available for children with learning, emotional, and social disabilities, one critical need often goes unfulfilled: providing guidance and strategies that instill self-advocacy.       Most students have only a superficial notion of the reasons they receive these special accommodations, and many children are completely uninformed. Resource teachers and specialists do not generally have the authority to label and enlighten students about their disabilities, the foundation for building self-advocacy. If children are to learn how to become better consumers of educational resources, especially as they grow older, someone must take the lead.      Parents of children with disabilities can fill this role by doing the following: Introduce children’s diagnoses to them in elementary school so that they can make sense out of their struggles Use a matter-of-fact tone of voice when explaining to children that they learn/behave/relate differently from other students and, therefore, need extra help to ensure that they can succeed just like their classmates Don’t leave out the disability label—such as writing disability, ADHD, or Aspergers Syndrome—since labels are a reality of their educational life Emphasize that the teachers and special staff at school who help them will be aware of this label and prepared to help in certain ways to make school a fairer place for them to learn and grow      It’s important to review with children the ways in which their school must provide special help and services. Emphasize that these accommodations are rules the school must follow. “You have the responsibility to do your best job, and teachers must follow the learning/behavior/friendship helping rules that make things fair for you,” is one way to put it. Explain how extra time on assessments, decreased homework, or social skills groups are examples of the helping rules that schools must follow. Discuss how there is a written promise called the individualized education plan (IEP), which includes all the helping rules and makes all of this clear.      Find child-friendly resources—such as books, websites, and videos—that explain in detail their specific disability and the ways other children have learned to cope and achieve despite these limitations. Use these materials as a springboard for deeper discussion about past times when their disability created significant stress or barriers to success. Reassure them that this was before their problem was known and that there is so much that can be done to build a plan for success now that it has been identified.      Point out that one of their most important responsibilities is to be able to discuss their disability with teachers and ask for extra help and accommodation when struggles are too great. Make sure that these discussions take place before middle school, when developmental factors make it harder to get such discussions started. Ensure that they know what practical steps are in their IEP at each grade so that they can respectfully remind teaching staff if necessary.      Having a disability is like having to wear glasses; students with glasses have accepted this fact as necessary to seeing clearly.

In recent years there has been a growing interest in adolescent literacy, especially as Americans become more concerned about the economic and civic health of the nation. Literacy skills are necessary more than ever to succeed in college and work, as well as to manage the everyday life demands of an increasingly more complex society and world economy. The best example of this focus is the tagline “college and career ready” from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Children with disabilities—such as physical, developmental, intellectual, emotional, and sensory disabilities—are at an increased risk of being bullied. Any number of factors— physical vulnerability, social skill challenges, or intolerant environments—may increase the risk. Research suggests that some children with disabilities may bully others as well.Kids with special health needs, such as epilepsy or food allergies, also may be at higher risk of being bullied. Bullying can include making fun of kids because of their allergies or exposing them to the things they are allergic to. In these cases, bullying is not just serious, it can mean life or death.

In a recent speech, Secretary Duncan noted that parents understand better than anyone how important it is that schools prepare students for success in life—not just with academic knowledge, but with the skills needed to succeed in jobs and to be an active participant in society.

a4cwsn is committed to helping the families and carers of children with special needs and the wider community of educators and therapists who support them, by producing videos that demonstrate how products designed to educate children and build their life skills really work from a user perspective. Our aim is that these videos, along with relevant information and advice from an independent source you can trust, provides valuable insight into whether a product is suitable for its intended purpose or not, enabling sensible buying decisions to be made.