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Increased awareness of learning challenges such as dyslexia and attention-deficit disorder, together with improved diagnosis and treatment, has helped millions of students improve their academic performance. But, as they enter their senior year of high school and begin the college admissions process, they face a whole new set of challenges. Now is the time to begin preparing to meet them.

A school and community that do not address bullying cannot ensure that each student is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Bullying influences each critical dimension of a whole child approach to education because it compromises students’ physical and emotional health and safety; affects their relationships with peers and adults in the school; creates barriers that prevent them from engaging in learning and connecting to the school and broader community; and affects their academic performance. When bullying goes unaddressed, it can create a negative school culture and organizational patterns that shape students’ learning and development.

Teachers at one of Denver's poorest schools have discovered a key to improving student achievement that's as easy as stepping out the door. High-performing schools in affluent neighborhoods are usually buzzing with parents — moms and dads volunteering, chauffeuring or helping out in classrooms. But at schools in high-poverty neighborhoods, the opposite tends to occur — many of them have little to no parental engagement. Indeed, teachers rarely see a parent in the building unless a kid is in trouble. That's why Fairview Elementary teachers are going to the families. Every year, educators try to visit the homes of every child in the school — getting to know the families and discovering more about their students.

As the parent of a school-age child with learning disabilities (LD), you know that basic patterns of thought such as controlling impulses, flexibility, planning, and organizing must steadily develop and improve as a child advances in school. If they don’t, children fail in small ways and larger ones. Each assignment not completed — or completed but not turned in — each lost notebook and late, hurried project, takes a toll on a child’s self-esteem (and a parent’s patience). Performance anxiety becomes more and more exhausting. The stress of feeling overwhelmed leads some children to misbehave, others to withdraw. Some children decide it’s less scary not to try than it is to try and fail.These brain-based habits of thought are crucial to all learning. They are called executive skills.

Research overwhelmingly shows that parental involvement in a child's education improves academic performance. But there are a lot of reasons why parents keep their distance -- including cultural and class divisions. Guests discuss strategies to get parents more involved in their kids' schooling.

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.

VSA, renowned artist Simon Mckeown, and 17 countries around the world are celebrating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities with screenings of the groundbreaking video installation Motion Disabled to raise awareness of disability rights. Mckeown uses motion capture, a technique used in feature films and video games, and 3D animation to explore digitally the movements of 15 people with disabilities performing activities from kickboxing to riding a bicycle. This mesmerizing installation challenges conventional ideas of motion. Watch the video online or find a screening near you. The 650 million people worldwide who live with disabilities deserve inclusion and access to equal opportunities. Because disability knows no borders.

Billings School District 2 trustees were listening to a report on No Child Left Behind compliance, hearing about which schools had the requisite percentage of children testing at grade level in math and reading, required by the 2002 federal law. The report was something of a mixed bag. In some cases, white students were performing better than their minority counterparts and students from more affluent homes were doing better than those from poorer families. But taken all together, 89 percent of Billings students were reading at or above grade level and 74 percent were doing math at that same level -- a good step above the 83 percent required for reading and the 68 percent required for math. And that's the problem, trustees were told. Starting next year, the requirements jump significantly.

Regina playwright and producer, Kelley Jo Burke was an orderly woman with an orderly life. In 2000, she had a perfect baby. But by 2004, order was out the window, as she tried to cope with her perfect but "special" boy. In this performance-documentary, annotated by comments from specialists and other parents, she talks about meeting and accepting her son's autism.

Lawrence Wang used to hate the shrill sounds of the flute. He'd clamp his hands over his ears to drown out his sister's piano playing. During music lessons, he'd fidget and fight with his teacher.On Saturday, though, he tapped his feet while blowing happily on his saxophone, a member of an unusual band of special-needs performers.

Assistive technology (AT) is "devices and aids which can help a person with a disability perform activities that might otherwise be difficult or not be possible." Our mission is to provide access to information on AT devices and services as well as other community resources for people with disabilities and the general public. This site is created and maintained through the collaboration of our Sponsors: Georgia Tech Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA), National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), and Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).

For preschoolers in the United States, the pressure is on to learn math early and learn it well. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has put pressure on schools to make sure that all students are meeting state standards for achievement, and this has resulted in more rigorous math curricula and testing, starting in early elementary school. With increased public attention on the value of high-quality early childhood education, the pressure to perform has trickled down to our youngest students, and preschools are taking a closer look at their math programs and making adjustments that will prepare “little learners” for the challenges of elementary school.  And parents are always searching for better ways to boost their youngsters’ mastery of early math.

When fathers are involved in the lives of their children, especially their education, their children learn more, perform better in school, and exhibit healthier behavior. Even when fathers do not share a home with their children, their active involvement can have a lasting and positive impact. There are countless ways to be involved in your child’s education at all ages. This section of the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse website highlights some of them.

"Children who enter grade school with cognitive and social-emotional delays are at an increased risk for reading problems, academic underachievement, and becoming disengaged or disinterested in school." This assessment, from Janet Welsh, a research associate at Penn State University's Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, is at the heart of a new intervention program developed by researchers at the school to help families with kindergarteners at risk for poor school performance.

Cary Griffin knows all sides of the job development issues.  He has worked with U.S. Department of Labor as well as a myriad of state and federal agencies.  For two decades he has   been a consultant  building communities of economic cooperation, creating high performance organizations, and focusing on disability and employment.  He has co-authored several books      about creating meaningful work opportunities for people with disabilities.

The Neuro Networking Club at The University of Montana will host Spring Hullabaloo 2, an autism awareness event, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 3, in the University Center Ballroom.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature fun activities for all ages, including a performance by a UM mime troupe and appearances by PLUK the chicken and UM mascot Monte. Local organizations, including PLAY (Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters), PLUK (Parents Let’s Unite for Kids) and the Child Development Center, will provide information and resources on autism.

The Board is undertaking an update of its standards for electronic and information technology in the Federal sector covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.  As part of this effort, it is also updating guidelines for telecommunications products subject to Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act.  On March 17, the Board released for public comment a draft of the updated standards and guidelines.  The draft features a new structure and format that integrates the 508 standards and 255 guidelines into a single document referred to as the “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards and Guidelines.”  Requirements have been reorganized according to functionality instead of product type since many devices now feature an array of capabilities and applications.  The released draft includes proposed revisions to various performance criteria and technical specifications that are designed to improve accessibility, add clarity to facilitate compliance, address market trends, and promote harmonization with other guidelines and standards.

The head of Montana’s Office of Public Instruction traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to stand up for rural schools, especially schools on reservations. Rural districts face challenges in complying with the methods set for improving results in their lowest-performing schools – action required as a condition for receiving billions of dollars in federal aid, Education Week’s Lesli Maxwell writes here.

But rural means something very different on the East Coast than it does in the far-flung reaches of the West, Juneau told the annual legislative conference of the Council of Chief State School Officers. “The frontier is really where we are,” she says. “We are more rural than rural.”

This workshop will discuss the following:  1.  Preventive     How to create environments that are developmentally appropriate and meet the young child’s needs, understand how needs are communicated with behavior, and how we to meet those needs and prevent outbursts.   How to create a child friendly environment that prevents problems because children will be successful using socially appropriate behaviors. 2.Educational   How to create environments that teach the child replacement skills that are as easy or easier to perform, that are more socially acceptable, and that serve the same function as the behavior they are designed to replace.  3. Respectful   How to create environments that treat children with dignity and respect.   4. Individualize.  How to create environments where you can recognize each child’s individual needs and respond to each child according their individual needs. 5. Choices   How to create an environment where the young child can make choices and have a degree of control.  6. Gentle   How to create and maintain an environment that is gentle, without physical or mental distress. 7. On going    How to create an environment that gives a child ongoing support.  How to give the child the support they need to be successful with each new experience in new environments.  IF YOU ARE A PARENT OF A YOUNG CHILD OR WORK WITH YOUNG CHILDREN THIS TELE/WEBINAR IS FOR YOU. LEARN HOW TO SUPPORT YOUNG CHILDREN SO THEY LEARN APPROPRIATE SKILLS AND BEHAVIORS.