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Play has crucial and wide-ranging benefits to children and the people around them. When children of all abilities play together, kids learn to appreciate the differences between people and respect the perspective of others. Playing together connects our community and creates fun, happy memories we call all share.  These programs are designed to allow people with and without disabilities to recreate together. Give us a call to discuss inclusiveness options in our other recreation programs.  Please contact Meg Rogosienski at 552-6271 or email Meg. McCormick Park is home to Silver Summit, a new, universally-accessible playground. The All-Abilities Playground Project continues to raise funds to expand the playground.  Learn more at The Playground Project. 

MISSOULA - A not so ordinary playground will be ready for students when they return to class at Jefferson School next week. Members of the Rotary Club of Missoula Sunrise spent Tuesday working on the new playground, which they've funded and built. Jefferson is the only Missoula school that serves pre-school age students and is a peer model school with both special needs and non-special needs students.

Accessibleplayground.net is the THE site for Accessible Playgrounds.  Here you will find great resources on how to develop an accessible playground from A to Z.  You will also find hundreds of examples of what other people have done.  In addition, if you are heading out on vacation and want to ensure you have an accessible place to play, the site can point you in the right direction.

Click here to Download the Event Flyer (pdf file) What:Come join us celebrate the beginning-of-the- school-year at the Dinosaur Playground located at the corner of Davis Ln.and Oak St. Everyone is invited! In case of rain, hail or snow please head over to the Fire Station next-door. For more information please call Joanna Dumas at 522-0851 When:Tuesday, September 20, 20115:30 - 7:30 pm (Mountain Time) Where:Dinosaur PlaygroundCorner of Davis Ln. and Oak St. 

Despite increased awareness of the various forms of bullying, and school-based programs to combat it, countless children continue to perpetuate intentional mean-spirited actions directed at peers and adults. Whether it takes place in the home, school bus, carpool, playground, or classroom, preying upon sensitivities of others and/or harsh rejecting efforts aimed to exclude others have become commonplace. Perhaps it’s time for parents and teachers to coach children in practicing socially inclusive behaviors that create conditions where bullying and exclusion are not reinforced by peers.

Howard said the area will give children a compact, accessible—it’s also accessible to people with disabilities—play space that can serve as a portal to the wider world of nature.

When: June 24, 2010 Where: Paxson Elementary 101 Evans Street Missoula, MT 59801 What: Come join us for our first weekly playgroup. The playground has nice new play equipment and is fenced (no gates though). This will be a great time for kids to get outside and move with friends. Siblings, family and friends are welcome! Contact MT CAAN at mtcaan@gmail.com with questions.

On Saturday September 11 the local non-profit group D.R.E.A.M. (Down syndrome research, education and advocacy in Montana) will hold its 1st annual Buddy Walk in Bozeman. The walk is a 1-mile loop around the Gallatin Regional  Park which is located off of Oak Street and right down the street from the Dinosaur Playground. The event is the main fundraiser for D.R.E.A.M. and a portion of the funds raised goes to the National Down syndrome Society.

Click here to download the SEPTA 2010-2011 Events Calendar Click here to download the full flyer for September's Event (PDF) When: Tuesday, September 14th at 6:00 PM Where: Dinosaur Playground  (Located just off the corner of Oak St and Davis Lane) Please join us for the first get together of the year and meet our special education teachers and other parents with similar needs and concerns as yours. FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL JOANNA DUMAS, PRESIDENT (406) 522-0851

This fall, a fancy new place opened in Vienna that will give him that level of care for $75 a night. Called Jill's House, it boasts a swimming pool, gym, music room, art center, suites with bejeweled ceilings that look like outer space and a playground so cool, I'd call it Seven Flags. There's a ceiling track that snakes from the bed to the bath, so that a guest can be carried, via sling, for bathing. There's the indoor-outdoor lock system, in case a guest bolts. Picture cards all over the place let the guests point to food, water or a toilet if they can't articulate a need. The indoor swimming pool, surrounded by Bahamian decor, has water-proof wheelchairs, a ramp, a sling and one lifeguard for every guest.

A first of its kind park offering rides, playgrounds and other amusement activities designed specifically for those with special needs is set to open this week in San Antonio, Texas. The $32 million facility called Morgan’s Wonderland is fully-accessible. One ride, for example, is an off-road adventure where park goers sit in vehicles designed to accommodate wheelchairs while traveling through the twists and turns of rocky terrain.

One of the hardest things about parenting older kids who are on the autism spectrum is recognizing that the issues they're dealing with as teens are very different from the ones they dealt with in elementary school. It's so much easier -- and more comfortable -- for us to think about birthday parties and playground friendships than it is to tackle the prom and dating, isn't it?

 "Suddenly, the question is not simply, 'How do I teach my child this or that?' but a much more complicated 'How do I teach my child not to need me to teach him anymore?'" writes Claire Scovell LaZebnik in Growing Up on the Spectrum: A Guide to Life, Love, and Learning for Teens and Young Adults with Autism and Asperger's.

Background: In a recent study, 77% of students said they had been bullied mentally, verbally, and physically. 32% of parents fear for their childs physical safety at school. 282,000 students in America are physically attacked each month. The effects of Bullying often have devastating effects on a childs life. Now we can stop Bullies and we can do it FAST. FAST Defense teaches Award Winning assertiveness and self protection skills to effectively protect our children from Bullies. Using simple and effective non-violent conflict resolution skills, FAST Defense playfully gives children ages 6-12 the tools to stop bullies in their tracks. And the confidence gained from the experience empowers them in all other facets of their lives. In a fun and safe environment, this dynamic one hour program effectively teaches our children how to skillfully deal with bullies: Avoiding common playground altercations How to handle name calling and teasing Protecting personal space and possessions Assessing appropriate defense and how NOT to start a fight Verbal skills to back off a Bully Team strategies to work together to stop Bullying Physical escapes from grabs or pushes Confidence and Assertiveness Training for all walks of life. What: A 1.5 hr Assertiveness and Confidence Training for Kids ages 9-14 Where: Billings Sportsplex 5000 Southgate Blvd. (406) 839-9080 When: Saturday, May 21, 2011 10:00am Mountain Cost: Free Contact: Keri or Jamie at (406) 839-9080 Brought to you by FAST Montana, Billings Chi-Tu Do, www.billingschitudo.com & the Billings Sportsplex, www.billingsplex.com

ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2009) — The vast majority of school-aged children can focus on the voice of a teacher amid the cacophony of the typical classroom thanks to a brain that automatically focuses on relevant, predictable and repeating auditory information, according to new research from Northwestern University.

But for children with developmental dyslexia, the teacher's voice may get lost in the background noise of banging lockers, whispering children, playground screams and scraping chairs, the researchers say.