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This Resource Guide was written to support service providers in their work with parents, caregivers, and their children to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. The guide includes information about protective factors that help reduce the risk of child maltreatment, strategies for changing how communities support families, and evidence-informed practices. It also offers suggestions for enhancing protective factors in families, tools to build awareness and develop community partnerships, information about child abuse and neglect, a directory of national organizations that work to strengthen families, and tip sheets in English and Spanish on specific parenting topics.

Today, the Department of Education announced new steps to help close the achievement gap for students with disabilities by moving away from a one-size-fits-all, compliance-focused approach to a more balanced system that looks at how well students are being educated in addition to continued efforts to protect their rights. While the Department has effectively ensured access to educational resources for students with disabilities, not enough attention has been paid to educational outcomes, which have not sufficiently improved. This is partly due to the fact that federal policy has focused more on procedural requirements and not enough on critical indicators like increasing academic performance or graduation rates for students with disabilities.

Today, the Department of Education announced new steps to help close the achievement gap for students with disabilities by moving away from a one-size-fits-all, compliance-focused approach to a more balanced system that looks at how well students are being educated in addition to continued efforts to protect their rights.

Since the current process of conducting on-site state compliance reviews has not focused enough on improving student outcomes, the Department will not be carrying out the visits scheduled for the 2012-13 school year to allow it time to develop a new and more effective system. However, the Department will continue to review annual performance reports as well as monitor state supervision systems.

Each year the Annie E. Casey Foundation funds a national survey of child well-being. The new report was recently released. Montana is again ranked 28th, same as last year.The data is analyzed in four different categories: education, economic well-being, family and community and health.Montana was above average in three of the four categories, but finished 50th in child health.The report shows that Montana improved in economic well-being, up to 15th from 20th last year. We held steady on education at 13th. We declined a bit on family and community, down to 14th from 13th.But it’s the child health numbers that seem to be the greatest cause for concern.If you dig into the health numbers, Montana did improve over last year’s report in having fewer uninsured kids — down to 12 percent — and fewer teens abusing alcohol and drugs — down to 10 percent. However, we have increased our percentage of children with low birth weights — 7.5 percent — and increased the number of child and teen deaths per 100,000 — 45.How do we make sense of this data? It’s hard because for many of us these kinds of statistics don’t mean a lot when you pull them apart. As a state, Montana’s 28th place ranking is the lowest in the region. North Dakota ranks sixth, Wyoming ranks 15th, South Dakota ranks 18th, and Idaho ranks 20th.What the report tells us about child health is we have more work to do. It may seem like 88 percent of children being covered by health insurance is pretty good, but we’re average for the region. Similar to Idaho and Wyoming, but lower than both Dakotas.For teen death rates, we’re highest in the region at 45 per 100,000. Idaho is at 28, Wyoming at 32, North Dakota at 34 and South Dakota 39.In general what this means is in Montana we can do a better job, in this areas, of improving the health of our kids. The good news is that health continues to be a priority of the Gov. Steve Bullock’s administration, which launched an initiative last week called “A Healthier Montana: A Plan to Improve the Health of Montanans.”Bullock’s plan focuses on six areas: Preventing, identifying and managing chronic diseases; promoting the health of mothers, infants and children; preventing, identifying and controlling communicable disease, preventing injuries and reducing exposure to environmental health hazards; improving mental health and reducing substance abuse; and, strengthening Montana’s public health and health care system.Reports like Kids Count, are one of many analyzing different aspects of health in Montana and around the country, said Jon Ebelt, spokesman for the Montana Department of Health and Human Services. Typically, those reports only tell part of the story. And though the state takes the Kids Count report seriously, it fit into the broader look of health in Montana now outlined in Bullock’s initiative.“We’ve done a lot of work the last year to set the priorities on where we can make the most difference,” Ebelt said.At Lewis and Clark County, county health officer Melanie Reynolds is also focused on local work.The county has been working for a number of months on their community health improvement plan and is looking to unveil soon.So while the news from Kids Count was mixed, we’re pleased the state and local governments are continuing their efforts to support better health for Montanans. We anticipate these efforts will show themselves with an improved report next year.

ATLANTA (AP) -- More than $1 billion has been spent over the past decade searching for the causes of autism. In some ways, the research looks like a long-running fishing expedition, with a focus on everything from genetics to the age of the father, the weight of the mother, and how close a child lives to a freeway. That perception may soon change. Some in the field say they are seeing the beginning of a wave of scientific reports that should strengthen some theories, jettison others and perhaps even herald new drugs.

Transitioning into adulthood can be awkward for nearly every young person. For transition-age youth with disabilities, issues surrounding managing Personal Assistance Services (PAS) can be intensified by normal developmental concerns such as striking out on your own and navigating the road into adulthood.  Accessing and maintaining long-term supports, such as PAS, has often been a significant barrier to employment youth and adults with disabilities. This new guide assists youth in strengthening some of the most fundamental skills essential for successfully managing their own PAS: effective communication, time-management, working with others, and establishing professional relationships.  Such skills are key to not only enhancing independence, but also thriving in the workplace and growing professionally. 

About S’cool Moves: S’Cool Moves is a research-based program developed by a reading specialist and an occupational therapist. S’Cool Moves brings together the best practices in educational theory, brain integration, developmental movement, and self-regulation techniques. The activities strengthen visual, auditory, sensory, and postural systems of the body. These systems need to be fully functioning for focus control and academic success. An important S’cool Moves concept requires children to assume responsibility for their behavior. When children monitor their own behavior, teachers have more time to teach and children have more time to learn. These activities flow seamlessly into the school day. Simply add sensory-based techniques to what you already use in your daily routines. Rather than TELLING children to focus, teach them HOW to focus.

Click Here to Participate in the Survey As the federal Statewide Family Network Agency under the Child, Adolescent and Services Systems Program (CASSP), Family Support Network’s mission is to establish a child and family focus in all programs serving children and adolescents with mental health issues in Montana. Our goal is to strengthen families through advocacy and education by partnering with local agencies and the federal Center for Mental Health Services. With this mission in mind, we want to alert you on a survey developed to help assess mental health systems development.

Telling stories by building comic strips is a way to strengthen struggling students' emerging English-language skills and make the difficult job of language learning a much more enjoyable experience. Comic strips are a perfect vehicle for learning a language. Each strip's three or four panels provide a finite, accessible world in which funny or compelling characters live and go about their lives. And readers with limited reading skills are not as overwhelmed in dealing with the size of a comic strip as they can be with a book of many pages.

This knowledge path about Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) services in Medicaid has been compiled by the Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources about providing and strengthening EPSDT services. The path includes guidelines for the frequency, timing, and content of health-promotion and disease-prevention services for infants, children, and adolescents. Separate sections present resources for professionals (health professionals, program administrators, policymakers, and researchers) and for families. A special topics area lists resources about oral health services as part of the EPSDT benefit. The knowledge path will be updated periodically.

President Obama believes in the capacity of young people to move America forward. He is committed to providing young leaders from across the nation an opportunity to develop their leadership skills and fostering a continued commitment to public service through the White House Internship Program. This hands-on program is designed to mentor and cultivate today’s young leaders, strengthen their understanding of the Executive Office of the President and prepare them for future roles in public service. To learn more about the program, please visit whitehouse.gov/internships. How To Apply: Go to www.whitehouse.gov/internships  A completed application includes: Two essays  Three letters of recommendation Resume The deadline for the Summer 2011 White House Internship Program is January 9, 2011.

Groundbreaking Transition Legislation for Youth with Significant Disabilities Introduced in House A trio of federal bills, called the Transitioning towards Excellence in Achievement and Mobility (TEAM) legislation , designed to improve transition outcomes of youth with significant disabilities was introduced in Congress in mid-February.  The TEAM legislation--which consists of the TEAM-Education Act (H.R. 602), the TEAM-Empowerment Act (H.R. 603), and the TEAM-Employment Act (H.R. 604)--focus on realigning  and strengthening federally funded programs to more successfully move youth with significant disabilities toward further education, integrated employment, and community living.

Caregivers of those with disabilities in half a dozen states may soon have an easier time accessing respite care services, thanks to $1.1 million in grants designed to strengthen such programs. The grants are part of the federal Lifespan Respite Care Program, which provides money to states to coordinate, improve and establish community-based respite care initiatives. Already 24 states are part of the program that was established by Congress in 2006 to help family caregivers of those with special needs. Now, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia will be added.