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Champions for Children with Disabilities
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January 2008
National Technical Assistance Center:
PACER Center, 8161 Normandale Boulevard, Minneapolis, MN 55437 (888) 248-0822, www.taalliance.org
In This Issue:
Upcoming Events
- ALLIANCE 11th Annual National Conference - January 30-February 1, 2008
Parent Center Update
- HUNE Philadelphia CPRC Update
- PRO-Parents of South Carolina Update
Announcements
- New IRIS Module
- Children's Mental Health Conference Calls
- Request for Information - Fragile X Research Priorities
- TASH Webinar Series
Resources
- Children Who Are Deaf-Blind
- United We Ride Transportation Resources
- State Lobbying Resources
- Diploma Options of Students with Disabilities
Technology
- TechMatrix
- NIMAS Discussion Group
Fundraising
- TechSoup GrantStation Promotion - January 30, 2008
To find the Technical Assistance Center in your Region please visit www.taalliance.org/ptidirectory/
Upcoming Events
ALLIANCE 11th Annual National Conference
January 30-February 1, 2008
Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Washington DC
Register online at: www.taalliance.org
Reception on the Hill (privately funded)
January 30, 2008 5-7 pm
Russell Senate Office Building, Room 325
Parent Center Updates
HUNE Philadelphia CPRC Update
HUNE, Inc, a Community Parent Resource Center in Philadelphia, recently held their holiday party for children with disabilities. They secured several sponsors to provide the food and members of the 39th police district also helped. Children received gifts through Toys for Tots. A story about the party and HUNE was also featured on the local news. Congratulations to director Luz Hernandez and HUNE on a successful event! Photos can be found on HUNE’s Web site at http://www.huneinc.org/.
PRO-Parents of South Carolina Update
PRO-Parents of South Carolina’s South Carolina Special Kids (SCSK) project is funded by the South Carolina Department of Social Services. Through this program, PRO-Parents trains foster families on how to advocate for their children with disabilities in the public school system. In 2006-2007, SCSK provided assistance to over 1,141 foster families, and they anticipate their numbers will increase in the coming year.
In December 2007, PRO-Parents staff member Susan Bruce was featured in the Wrightslaw newsletter, archived online at: http://www.wrightslaw.com/nltr/07/nl.1218.htm.
Congratulations to director Mary Eaddy and PRO-Parents on their continuing success! For more information, visit www.proparents.org.
Announcements
New IRIS Module
Serving Students with Visual Impairments: The Importance of Collaboration is a new module developed by the IRIS Center for Faculty Enhancement. Third in a series, the training demonstrates the importance of general education teachers collaborating with families and other professionals to meet the instructional needs of students with visual disabilities. Find all of the IRIS Center resources at http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/index.html.
Children's Mental Health Conference Calls
The National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health at Georgetown University holds monthly conference calls on a variety of topics such as public health models, family involvement, and cultural competency. There is no registration fee, but participants will incur the cost of the long-distance phone call. For the schedule of calls and topics for 2008, visit: http://gucchd.georgetown.edu/programs/ta_center/tacalls2008.html.
Request for Information - Fragile X Research Priorities
The National Institute of Health Fragile X Research Coordinating Group is requesting comments on their research activities. They are looking for feedback on the direction of their research relating to associated disorders: what data is missing and what approaches would be most useful in the treatment of such disorders. Responses will be accepted through email to: NICHD_FMR1RFI@mail.nih.gov until March 31, 2008. More information about this request is available at: http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HD-08-003.html.
TASH Webinar Series
TASH’s February 2008 Webinar Series will feature 3 sessions around the theme of Literacy for ALL! Access and Opportunity for Effective Literacy. The 90-minute presentations will help participants develop skills on providing effective literacy instruction in an inclusive setting to young children with significant disabilities. There is charge for these calls. Visit www.tash.org for more information.
Resources
Children Who Are Deaf-Blind
Children Who Are Deaf Blind, a new 4-page publication by the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB), provides an overview of this unique group of children. The article includes details such as classification of vision and hearing loss and profiles four children who are deaf-blind. The publication is available on the Web at www.nationaldb.org/documents/products/population.pdf and print and Braille versions are available from NCDB.
United We Ride Transportation Resources
United We Ride is a federal interagency council with the goal of improving the quality and availability of transportation for people with disabilities and other populations such as older adults and those with lower incomes. They have recently published four fact sheets: United We Ride, Mobility Management, Family of Transportation Services, and Transportation Services Coordination Plan.
State Lobbying Resources
The Alliance for Justice has recently introduced Web-based state law resources for nonprofits that provide details on issues such as lobbying disclosure and ballot measures. The resources are currently available for Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin with more states to be added during the year. You must register (free for nonprofits) at http://www.afj.org/for-nonprofits-foundations/state-resources/ to access the state resources.
Diploma Options of Students with Disabilities
This new policy analysis from Project Forum synthesizes information regarding state graduation policies and discusses trends and recommendations. http://www.projectforum.org/docs/DiplomaOptionsforSWD-SynthesisoftheNCEODocument.pdf
Technology
TechMatrix
The TechMatrix 2.0 is a collaborative project of the National Center for Technology Innovation and the Center for Implementing Technology in Education. Users can customize their search results to find assistive technology products and resources for different subject areas and types of learning supports. There are also guides to assist consumers making decisions regarding purchasing educational technology. Visit the TechMatrix at http://www.techmatrix.org/.
NIMAS Discussion Group
The NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) Technical Assistance and Development Center at CAST maintains a NIMAS Interest Group listserv to discuss implementation concerns, new technologies, and other related issues. Join the group at: http://nimas.cast.org/.
Fundraising
TechSoup GrantStation Promotion - January 30, 2008
Through a special promotion, TechSoup will be offering a discounted one-year membership to GrantStation on January 30, 2008. GrantStation is a searchable fundraising database that links nonprofits to local, regional, and national grantmakers that match their program areas. Nonprofits who visit TechSoup on January 30 between 10am – 8pm EST will receive a one-year membership for $99 (retail price is $599). For more information about GrantStation and instructions on participating in this offer, go to: http://www.techsoup.org/stock/promo/.
PACER's site offers many PDF files for download, which require 
