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The Foundations Project is asking parents of young children with disabilities about how they think about their children’s learning skills to help them become more independent in the future and able to speak for themselves as they grow older. We believe that young children who know how to calm themselves (called self-regulation), make and express their choices, and engage in activities with necessary help, are laying the foundations for later self-determination. Most young children develop these skills naturally as they grow. But sometimes children with disabilities need adults in their lives to help nourish those skills. It makes sense that children can learn these skills more rapidly when all the adults in their lives – parents and teachers – are working together. Please complete the survey that follows about your child’s strengths and challenges in self-regulation, choice-making, and engagement. We also ask you to share ideas and strategies that you use to encourage your child. Also, we want to hear your opinion about what it takes to make a successful partnership between home and school so that you and your child’s teacher can work together on these issues.

Whether you are a parent of a child with LD, an adult with LD, an educator, or an LD professional, there's a place for you in the world of LD advocacy. Now more than ever, it is imperative that the voices of children and adults with learning disabilities are heard in Washington, D.C. and at the state and local level.

What: This six session series on Discovery will equip educators, adult service personnel and family members with the critical information necessary to facilitate discovery for persons with significant disabilities. This alternative to comparative assessment addresses the essential question so often overlooked by evaluations and tests, "Who is this person?" The sessions offer a comprehensive overview to discovery, the relationship to employment and transition from school to adult work, relevance to curricular outcomes and development of visual and written profile documents that capture the information learned during discovery.  When: April 4, 11, 18, 25 and May 2, 9  1-2:30 p.m. Mountain More Details Download Registration Form Register Online

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

Autism on the Seas has been in collaboration with Royal Caribbean International since 2007 in developing cruise vacation services to accommodate adults and families living with children with Special Needs, including, but not limited to, Autism, Asperger Syndrome, Down Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and all Cognitive, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.  These services quickly expanded to other cruise lines.   We provide Cruises with our Staff (selected from regular cruises throughout the year) that assist adults and families in accommodating the typical cruise services, as well as providing specialized Respite and Private Activities/Sessions that allow our guests the use of the ships entertainment venues in an accommodated and assisted manner. Our professional Staff (educated, experienced, background checked and sanctioned by the cruise lines) accompanies you on your cruise to provide these amazing vacation and travel experiences onboard Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Disney and Carnival Cruise Lines. We also provide a "Cruise Assistance Package" (Cruises without our Staff) on all of the major Cruise Lines to help accommodate guests who wish to cruise on their own. 

Top Things to Know for Families with ChildrenYouTube embedded video: http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/7BSJmEggpnYInsurance companies can no longer impose lifetime dollar limits on essential coverage limitsJob-based health plans and new individual plans are no longer allowed to deny or exclude coverage for your children (under age 19) based on a pre-existing condition, including a disability. Starting in 2014, these same plans won't be allowed to deny or exclude anyone or charge more for a pre-existing condition including a disability.Parents have new options to cover their children. If your children are under age 26, you can generally insure them if your policy allows for dependent coverage. The only exception is if you have an existing job-based plan, and your children can get their own job-based coverage.An Affordable Insurance Exchange is a new marketplace where individuals and small businesses can buy affordable health benefit plans. Exchanges will offer you a choice of plans that meet certain benefits and cost standards. Starting in 2014, members of Congress will be getting their health care insurance through Exchanges, and you will be able buy your insurance through Exchanges, too.Pregnancy and newborn care, along with vision and dental coverage for children, will be covered in all Exchange plans and new plans sold to individuals and small businesses, starting in 2014.In 2014, if your income is less than the equivalent of about $88,000 for a family of four today, and your job doesn’t offer affordable coverage, you may get tax credits to help pay for insurance.

About the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network Mission Statement: The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement in the world of autism. Drawing on the principles of the cross-disability community on issues such as inclusive education, community living supports and others, ASAN seeks to organize the community of Autistic adults and youth to have our voices heard in the national conversation about us. In addition, ASAN seeks to advance the idea of neurological diversity, putting forward the concept that the goal of autism advocacy should not be a world without Autistic people. Instead, it should be a world in which Autistic people enjoy the same access, rights and opportunities as all other citizens. Working in fields such as public policy, media representation, research and systems change, ASAN hopes to empower Autistic people across the world to take control of their own lives and the future of our common community. Nothing About Us, Without Us!

With the best of intentions, we spend enormous amounts of time and energy to "help" children and adults with disabilities. But what about the unintended consequences of our well-intentioned acts? When my son, Benjamin, was very young, I had the best of intentions when I made sure he had massive doses of developmental therapies. But this had an unintended negative impact: all the hours spent on therapy left little time for him to have any kind of normal childhood. This awareness led our family to do things differently.

On November 9th MDSC will be hosting a Special Presentation of Mel Brooks’ The Producers at Missoula Children’s Theater. The director of the play is a New York Broadway producer; how exciting to have him in Missoula and for our performance! The evening will begin at 6pm with hors d’oeuvres and a hosted beer and wine bar. There is a wonderful silent and live auction ~ Mayor John Engen is our auctioneer.   MDSC just celebrated our 20th Anniversary of supporting adults with severe developmental disabilities. Services include residential, vocational, daily living skills training, medical, community integration, recreation, and transportation. Tickets are $50.00 for one or $90.00 for a pair. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Makeovers — for the body and the home — have become a staple of reality television shows. And now, for a handful of young adults in New York, they are becoming an actual reality. Blissful Bedrooms is a nonprofit organization committed to transforming the bedrooms of young people living with disabilities. They don't have an office, or paid staff, but they do have a website, a Facebook page, and a lengthy ad on Craigslist soliciting volunteers to help with bedroom makeovers.

We are looking for examples of young people, age 18-30, in Montana who have a developmental disability according to the Montana definition and have creatively organized their supports to: Live in the community (on their own or with family or  friends) and/or Work in the community (including owning their own business) and/or Access inclusive education (high school, college, trade school, community classes) and/or Participate in recreation and leisure activities that are inclusive (that is, alongside people without disabilities) We want examples of supports that have been creatively organized around the person, individualized to their interests and needs.  These supports can be organized and managed by a funded adult agency or family and friends.  We are also looking for examples of creative funding such as blended services and natural supports, use of Social Security Administration work incentives, privately funded services or traded or bartered supports. Selected leaders will have their stories featured on the Montana Transition Listserv and in the annual Emerging Leader Showcase. They will also receive a monetary stipend for their time. To nominate yourself or someone you know as an Emerging Leader, visit the Rural Institute Transition Projects Website for a brief nomination form and a consent form.

Click here to download the flyer (PDF) What: A coordinated system of accessible community-based respite care services for family caregivers of children or adults with special needs.  This includes but is not limited to individuals with developmental disabilities, other disabilities, mental health issues, aging, illness, and child abuse. Who should attend: Representatives from state agencies, statewide organizations, community groups, respite providers, and family caregivers When: March 9, 2011 9:30am - 4:30pm Where: Great Northern Best Western Helena, MT For more information, contact: Doug Blakley, Aging Services/DPHHS at (800) 332-2272 Vicki Clear/DEAP at (800) 224-6034 Register for the Summit at http://www.arch.memberlodge.org/StateSummit

Imagine you're a child or an adult with a developmental disability: You just want to live your life, like everyone else. But at some point in your young life—probably at the time of diagnosis—everything changed and people have treated you differently ever since. Most people pay attention to what you cannot do. Few make the effort to see what you can do. And some of what you can do looks different as compared to others, so it's still "wrong" or doesn't count. Throughout your life, you've been surrounded by people trying to "help" you: trying to get you to do things you cannot do—"normal" things—that must be important to them. Your feelings about these things, and your other wants, needs, hopes, and dreams, don't seem to matter much to anyone else. And for as long as you can remember, people have "placed" you in special settings, surrounded by others who also cannot do "normal" things. You're not allowed to have experiences like other people; your parents, teachers, service providers, etc. think you're not ready, not able, not competent. You're also not expected to do what others do, like learning the three Rs, being responsible for yourself, living on your own, having a real job, and more. They also work hard to protect you. So you learn not to expect too much out of life; you learn not to do too much; you learn not to try, because it doesn't make any difference; you learn to be helpless. You've never really had friends—not really, not like other people do—no one to call when you're lonely or when you want to share a secret. You'd like to fall in love and kiss and more, but that will probably never happen. You'd like to have the freedom to do what you want, when you want, how you want, and the freedom to say NO—but that seldom happens. There are so many things you want to do, so many places you want to go, so many people you'd like to know, and so much you want to feel—and you've wanted these things for days, and weeks, and months, and years. You've waited and waited and waited; it's so hard to keep waiting. You really feel angry and you also feel sad. You don't feel very important; you don't feel needed; and you haven't accomplished much in your life—but then no one expects these from you, so maybe you shouldn't expect these things for yourself. All the different people in your life exert a great deal of control over you, and they probably all have good intentions, but...

What: The 2011 National Transition Conference will provide a forum for the development of an action agenda, bring together critical partners in the transition community to exchange innovative ideas and approaches; demonstrate knowledge gained from policy implementation; transition practices; research findings; and promote and facilitate the development of networks and relationships. The 2011 National Transition Conference will bring together: Youth and young adults Family members/advocates/caregivers Educators Vocational rehabilitation professionals Employment and training professionals Researchers State and federal officials Leaders in the transition community When: November 7-9, 2011 More info: Registration will be available online in the summer. Check the conference website at www.transition2011.org for conference news and updates.

Click here to register for this webinar What: The Representational Portfolio was originally developed as a marketing tool for job developers to represent job seekers to employers. Portfolios are also used by youth to introduce themselves at their IEP meetings and to develop self-advocacy skills. During this webinar, you will learn how Portfolios can be an important piece of the health care transition for young adults. Through a Portfolio's concise text and photos, individuals with disabilities can describe the impact of their disability; list current medications and side effects they are experiencing; discuss seizures (what type, how often, etc.); introduce and explain medical equipment; share information about helpful accommodations and supports; and articulate what they want and need from their medical provider. Younger children can use Portfolios to learn to describe their own health care needs at an early age. Presenters will also share links to health care transition resources such as toolkits, web sites, and iPad apps that attendees may wish to explore. When: Tuesday, September 20. 2011 1:00pm - 2:30pm Mountain

The ability to self-advocate is important for kids to learn in order to be successful at all stages of their lives. In the past, self-advocacy was a term applied mostly to adults with disabilities, but recently more focus has been placed on teaching this skill to preteens and teenagers.

As a wave of kids with autism enter the transition stage, strikingly little is known about the best interventions for teens and young adults with the disorder, a new analysis finds.

Reserve your spot here!What:This webinar will focus on CDC's Life Course Model and public health approach for rare and complex disabling conditions, such as fragile X syndrome, muscular dystrophy and spina bifida.  Panelists will provide an overview of childhood-onset conditions, discuss current approaches to data collection, and describe how CDC incorporates a life course approach into its work.When: Tuesday, November 29, 20112:00 PM - 3:00 PM MT

Developed by a multi-disciplinary team of 15 curriculum experts across the United States and supported by a world-renowned faculty, this first-of-its-kind course provides best and evidence-based practices for those who support the daily-living needs of transition aged students, young adults and adults with autism and related disabilities, because it’s online, it’s flexible and can meet your needs.