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February 2008
National Technical Assistance Center:
PACER Center, 8161 Normandale Boulevard, Minneapolis, MN 55437 (888) 248-0822, www.taalliance.org
In This Issue:
Parent Center Update
- Idaho Parent Center Moves into New Building
- Welcome National Indian Parent Information Center!
- Sharman Davis Barrett Receives CADRE's Keys to Access Award
Announcements & News
- New ALLIANCE Publications Available
- 2008 Overlapping Part B and Part C Data Meetings
- Tourette Syndrome Association Educational Program
- New Early Childhood Social Emotional Center
- Hurricane Katrina and Mental Illness
Resources
- Navigating an IRIS Module
- NCD Report: No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
- CADRE Online Overview
- KIDS COUNT Database
- The Parenting Imperative: Investing in Parents so Children and Youth Succeed
- Orientation and Mobility Skills of Secondary School Students With Visual Impairments
- Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities
Technology
- Accounting Packages
Fundraising
- Charles Lafitte Foundation
To find the Technical Assistance Center in your Region please visit www.taalliance.org/ptidirectory/
Parent Center Updates
Idaho Parent Center Moves into New Building
Idaho Parents Unlimited (IPUL), the Idaho Parent Training and Information Center (PTI), recently moved their office into a new building. The accessible space was designed and constructed by the Living Independence Network Corporation (LINC) of Idaho. IPUL, in conjunction with LINC, is hosting an open house in late March or early April for the community. Congratulations to executive director Evelyn Mason and all of IPUL on their new building! Learn more about IPUL at http://www.ipulidaho.org/.
Welcome National Indian Parent Information Center!
The ALLIANCE would like to welcome the new National Indian Parent Information Center to the Parent Center network. Judy Wiley is the director of this project which serves as a national resource for Indian Nations, Tribes, Clans, Parent Centers, and others. Their main office is located in Grants Pass, OR, with two regional offices in Oklahoma and Wisconsin. The main office will cover Regions 5 & 6, the Oklahoma (Central) office will cover Regions 2 & 3, and the Wisconsin (East) office will cover Regions 1 & 4. Look for more information soon on their future Web site: http://www.nipic.org/.
Sharman Davis Barrett Receives CADRE's Keys to Access Award
Congratulations to ALLIANCE Co-Director Sharman Davis Barrett on receiving the 2008 “Keys to Access” award presented by the Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE). CADRE director Marshall Peter presented the award to Sharman at the ALLIANCE National Conference on February 1, 2008. The award is given as part of CADRE’s mission to encourage broad access to the continuum of dispute resolution options and to honor individuals and organizations that build schools and communities that are respectful of cultural, linguistic and class differences. We congratulate Sharman on receiving this award! Read more at: http://www.directionservice.org/cadre/keys2008.cfm.
Announcements
New ALLIANCE Publications Available
Updated versions of Why Parent Centers? Why the ALLIANCE? and Outcome Data books were provided to participants at the ALLIANCE National Conference. We are currently updating the Parent Centers Helping Families CD with Flash and PowerPoint versions of the books. Those publications will be mailed to PTIs and CPRCs in March. Thank you to all the Parent Centers for providing the data and parent quotes used in these materials that highlight the important work you do:
If it wasn’t for the workshop I attended, I wouldn’t have known how to work with my child’s school.
The support you gave me made an immediate difference in my daughter’s life.
The information helped me maximize my children’s learning potential.
I now know what my child’s rights are.
Call the ALLIANCE at 888.248.0822 for more information.
2008 Overlapping Part B and Part C Data Meetings
The new Data Accountability Center (DAC) will be hosting OSEP’s 2008 Overlapping Part B and Part C Data Meetings June 9-12 in Arlington, VA. Registration is currently open online at https://www.ideadata.org/RegLogin.asp by using username = DACOSEP and password = Register2008.
Tourette Syndrome Association Educational Program
The Tourette Syndrome Association (TSA) is in its fourth year of collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to provide a series of educational programs on Tourette Syndrome and associated disorders. TSA is doing outreach to find organizations interested in participating in these trainings, either in person or through long-distance technologies. One program is geared toward medical and allied professionals and a second for education and school-based professionals. Details on the programs and contact information can be found at: http://www.tsa-usa.org/news/cdc_tsa_year4.html.
New Early Childhood Social Emotional Center
As of January 1, the Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior became the Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children (TACSEI). The TACSEI project will continue the work of the former center and provide products, technical assistance, and trainings with research-based information on improving social-emotional outcomes for young children with challenging behaviors and those with or at risk for developmental delays or disabilities. Look for more information on this new center at: http://challengingbehavior.fmhi.usf.edu/.
Hurricane Katrina and Mental Illness
A recent study shows that more Hurricane Katrina survivors are experiencing mental disorders now than determined a few months after the storm. Typically the pattern is the opposite after natural disasters, with rates of mental illness declining over time. Although hurricane-related stress was shown to have decreased, residents outside of the New Orleans metro area showed an increase in serious mental illnesses; further research will need to be completed to determine other contributing factors. The study reinforced the need for ongoing assistance for individuals living in that region. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2008/mental-disorders-persist-among-hurricane-katrina-survivors.shtml
Resources
Navigating an IRIS Module
The IRIS Center has developed an online tutorial video to show visitors how to navigate their training modules. Navigating an IRIS Module reviews each section of the modules, highlighting the special features available such as closed captioning and audio transcripts. http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/media/module_nav.html
NCD Report: No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
The National Council on Disability (NCD) recently released a new publication: The No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: A Progress Report. The study analyzes how these laws have affected student outcomes and what barriers still exist for students with disabilities. The report is available in HTML, Word, and PDF formats at: http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/index.htm.
CADRE Online Overview
CADRE (the Consortium on Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education) has developed a web-based video overview of their technical assistance project. The four minute segment outlines CADRE’s goals, partnerships, and resources. View the video at: http://www.directionservice.org/cadre/OverviewCaptivate.cfm.
KIDS COUNT Database
The annual KIDS COUNT report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation has a new presence on their Web site. The online tool tracks more than 100 indicators on education, income, health, and other risk factors for all 50 states and the nation as a whole. http://www.kidscount.org/datacenter/
The Parenting Imperative: Investing in Parents so Children and Youth Succeed
This policy brief prepared by the National Human Services Assembly examines strategies to support parents and caregivers and in turn strengthen families and communities. http://www.nassembly.org/fspc/practice/documents/FSPPolicyBrief2210-30.pdf
Orientation and Mobility Skills of Secondary School Students With Visual Impairments
This report from the National Center for Special Education Research uses data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS2) to look at how many students are receiving mobility training and the factors affecting their levels of orientation skills. Access the report online at: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/index.asp#20083007.
Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities
This curriculum disseminated through the ALLIANCE National Center is designed to train youth employment program staff with little or no experience working with youth with disabilities. This seven-module curriculum explores disability awareness within a civil rights framework, reviews laws that relate to employment for people with disabilities, helps individuals understand the needs of youth with disabilities and their families, introduces participants to examples of reasonable accommodations and assistive technology, promotes interagency collaboration, and examines the overrepresentation of youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system. Available on CD-ROM (must have Power Point and Adobe Acrobat software to run). http://www.taalliance.org/publications/index.htm
Technology
Accounting Packages
This article gives a brief description of various accounting packages, broken down based on size of organization. http://ga0.org/ct/tpS-qJ91Dr1V/
Fundraising
Charles Lafitte Foundation
The Charles Lafitte Foundation provides support to projects in various areas including education and children’s advocacy. There is no set deadline or application form; organizations are encouraged to submit a letter of inquiry first to determine whether their project matches the family foundation’s priorities. Visit http://www.charleslafitte.org/default.html for details.
PACER's site offers many PDF files for download, which require 
