Group items tagged

Narrowing the Achievement Gap by Expanding Time in School: What Educators Need to Consider What: Expanding the school day or year is one strategy educators are employing to try to narrow the achievement gap. How schools use that time, experts say, should be tailored to meet the needs of individual schools. At the same time, though, there are proven policies and practices schools need to adopt to reach their goals. Finding that balance is tricky. Some schools have succeeded; others have failed. As more schools move toward expanded learning time using state or federal funding, what kinds of model designs should they choose, what tools are out there to help them, and what should their expectations be? Join us for a webinar that explores what educators should consider when implementing an expanded learning time model. When: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 11:30am - 12:30 pm Mountain Also available "on demand" any time 24 hours after the event Guests: Jennifer Davis, Co-Founder & President, National Center for Time and Learning. Emily McCann, president, Citizens Schools. Free registration is now open.

Click here to register for this event What: The successful use of devices for the school-aged child with special needs relies heavily upon collaboration of rehabilitation therapists in the private and school-based settings, as well as home. This course will explore assistive technology as a collaborative process and clarify roles of providers. Learner Outcomes Participants will identify devices designed to enhance the child's motivation, participation and quality of life. Participants will explore ideas for assistive technology funding and training across settings The participant will identify methods of collaboration for the family, private and school-based therapists to improve the child's successful use of devices. Session sign in begins at 15 minutes prior. This session requires you to call in to access the audio. When: Friday, July 22, 2011 10:00am Mountain

What: Non-competitive "fun" walk to raise awareness and funds for Autism. When: Saturday, September 10, 2011 Registration begins at 11am | Walk begins at noon Where: Gibson Park Great Falls, MT

President Barack Obama signed a three-year extension of the Combating Autism Act Friday, the very day the law — and many of the programs it established — was set to expire. The reauthorization Obama signed calls for $231 million annually through 2014 to fund everything from autism research to prevalence tracking, education, early identification and intervention programs.

Click here to register for this event What: For too long, autism has been under-served and under-heard. At Autism Speaks, our goal is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders. We are dedicated to funding global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and a cure for autism; to raising public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society; and to bringing hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder. As the nation's leading autism organization, we are excited to be coming to your community.  Please register today for the Montana Walk Now for Autism Speaks! If you are interested in being involved in Autism Speaks in your area: Please contact Susan Mauro at jaysusanseth@msn.com. We need the entire community to help in these efforts so please take a moment to contact us and discover how you can be a part of these efforts. When: Sunday, September 11, 2011 Registration: 1:00 pm Walk Starts: 2:00 pm Where: Thomson Park Laurel, MT

Beginning on January 26, 2009, through January 25, 2010, any student with a qualified learning or print disability in the U.S. can sign up for 12 months of free access to RFB&D's CV Starr Learning Through Listening® Library of more than 46,000 textbooks and literature, via Internet download. This special offer, in celebration of RFB&D's 60th anniversary, is made possible by the generous contributions of RFB&D's donors and major funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

Long-awaited legislation to replace three federal reading programs—Early Reading First, Reading First, and Striving Readers—was introduced Nov. 5 by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and would authorize $2.35 billion in funding to improve reading and writing in kindergarten to 12th grade.

NCRR awarded 18 grants to help determine outcome measures and increase the likelihood of success of future trials of treatments for children. The grants were awarded to 17 Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) institutions to support 18 studies of pharmaceutical treatments for children. The CTSA consortium is a national network of 46 medical research institutions working together to improve the way biomedical research is conducted across the country. The $8.5 million in funding — administered by NCRR and provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development — will support studies which focus on three areas critical to health: pediatric cardiology, neonatology and pediatric neurology.

Treatment that includes medication plus a structured training program for parents reduces serious behavioral problems in children with autism and related conditions, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The study, which was part of the NIMH Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology (RUPP) Autism Network, was published in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

So, you have a kid with autism and you know iPads can be awesome for kids with autism but your family budget isn't accommodating expensive right now, no matter how much of a difference an iPad could make for your child's ability to learn and play.

This post is part Seven of the Special Needs iPad & App Series. Almost from the day the iPad was launched there was an immediate buzz about the special needs apps that were available in the iPad app store. Apple quickly realized that the iPad was perfectly suited to enhancing the lives of individuals with special needs and created a special education section of the app store. Websites and blogs sprung up dedicated to reviewing apps for Assistive Communication, Social Skills, Life Skills,Scheduling and more. The need for the iPad is an obvious one for children with special needs. But what if you can’t afford one for your child, what do you do?

New York, NY — Eleigha Love, who describes her brain as a computer, and Jared Schmidt, a teenage sky diver, are the recipients of this year's $10,000 Anne Ford and Allegra Ford Scholarships given to two graduating high school seniors with documented learning disabilities (LD) who are pursuing undergraduate degrees. Anne Ford, Chairman Emerita of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), is a well-known philanthropist and author, who has been a long-time parent advocate for children with learning disabilities, starting with her own daughter, Allegra. The scholarship was created in 2001 by the NCLD board when Ms. Ford stepped down as chairman in honor of her service. In 2008, Allegra agreed to match the existing award, creating a second scholarship. Anne Ford and Today Show Host Al Roker presented the scholarships at this year's NCLD 34th Annual Benefit Dinner, emceed by Paula Zahn in New York City. Jared and Eleigha are two of more than 2.5 million students who are wrestling with learning disabilities. They are among the mere 64 percent of students with LD who graduate high school, and only 10 percent with LD that go on to a four-year college. "We received over 300 applications, and let me tell you everyone of them came from students deserving a scholarship," said Anne, handing out the awards to this year’s winners. “We hear so much about the challenges and struggles of students with LD, and it is so inspiring to see that so many are able to meet and surpass those challenges." "Our goal is to see every child with LD graduate from high school," said James Wendorf, Executive Director of NCLD. "We are still failing about 1 million children. We've seen graduation rates and classroom inclusion rise more than 15 percent over the past 10 years. But we need to continue to empower parents and teachers, reduce stigma among kids, and keep education funding on the top of the education agenda if we are going to see those numbers increase, not decrease." One of the biggest problems with learning disabilities is diagnosing them in time, before children get frustrated with the system. "To a child with learning disabilities, school can be a very isolating place, it can be a very frustrating place and frankly overwhelming," relayed CNN's Anderson Cooper at a recent NCLD lunch. "Too many kids with LD struggle to try and keep up with their peers and suffer from low confidence and self-esteem and lose their love of learning at a young age. It's hard to rekindle that once it's gone, which is why the work of this organization is so important."

Montana’s Annual Application for Funding Under the IDEA is available for public comment until May 8, 2011.  A copy of the application is available through the Special Education Division Web page at http://www.opi.mt.gov/pdf/SpecED/11MTPartB_App.pdf.   Please submit comments in writing to:  Tim Harris Division Administrator Special Education Division Office of Public Instruction PO Box 202501 Helena, MT 59620-2501

In the next 15 years, an estimated 500,000 autistic children like Dana will graduate out of school systems in the U.S. and into the unknown. Meaningful programs for them are scarce, and funding even scarcer. “We’re at the moment of truth to address the numbers of children aging into adulthood,” says autism activist Linda Walder Fiddle. “Their lives are hanging over a cliff, and we must not let them fall.”

There is an endless debate about why school kids in the Western world are falling behind everyone else. Some say it's a shameful lack of funding; others say kids these days are too lazy and too busy Twittering on their iPads about the Justin Biebers to learn calculus. But there are actually things you can do to help kids learn that cost next to nothing. For instance, studies show that kids do better if you ...

Four years after several of the state’s lowest performing schools agreed to take part in Schools of Promise — a state-driven initiative funded by a $11.4 million federal grant — the schools have seen some progress.

Most of the genetic risk for autism comes from versions of genes that are common in the population rather than from rare variants or spontaneous glitches, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have found. Heritability also outweighed other risk factors in this largest study of its kind to date. About 52 percent of the risk for autism was traced to common and rare inherited variation, with spontaneous mutations contributing a modest 2.6 percent of the total risk.

Developing effective, real-world-ready approaches to providing early diagnosis, treatment, and supportive services for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the goal of 12 research grants awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). These grants are part of a broad research effort to provide models for the delivery of needed services to children, youth, and adults with ASD, across different communities and care settings, appropriate to each age and individual. NIMH is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).