School Choice For Special Ed Parents of disabled children need more choices, but they Eagle on July 19th as specialedParents 1000 massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington DC 20001-5403 Phone http://www.cato.org/dailys/07-16-02.html
Extractions: July 16, 2002 by Marie Gryphon and David Salisbury Marie Gryphon is a policy analyst and David Salisbury is director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom . They co-wrote, " Escaping IDEA: Freeing Parents, Teachers and Students Through Deregulation and Choice ," released on July 10. Last week, the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education released recommendations for the nation's troubled special education system. Proposing that states be allowed to adopt school choice programs for disabled students coupled with extensive continued regulation of both public and private schools the commission got it half right. A Cato Institute policy analysis released right after the commission's report shows that real reform requires massive regulatory relief in addition to parental choice. The Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) governs the development of educational programs for more than 5 million disabled children. Instead of empowering parents, the law creates a power struggle between parents and the education establishment. When disagreements occur, parents and school officials must sort out their differences through a complex series of dispute resolution procedures, often involving attorneys and lawsuits. This "dispute resolution model" creates needless conflicts between parents and educators. Because benefits under IDEA are determined on a case-by-case basis, parents can walk away with either few special benefits or many, based less on their child's needs than on how aggressively they navigate the act's procedures.
Education Week - Registration - Access Restricted so broad that kids who are not necessarily disabled are being standard would enhanceconsistency in the way special education is delivered in massachusetts. http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=43mass.h19
KidPower Links Page Health Link USA KidSource Online massachusetts General Hospital Sibling Support ProjectSiblings R special 2 Soda CP Self Defense disabled Sports USA disabled http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Village/9021/links.html
Extractions: KidPower Home Page Accessible Travel Alternative Therapies Articles of Interest Awards BookStore Causes We Support CPKids Conductive Education Centers Contact Us Content of the KidPower Index Doctor/Therapist Listing Diagnostic Definitions Equipment Recommendations Explanation of Specialtists HBO Centers HBO 4 R Kids Hints From Home In the KidPower News Infant Development/Types of CP Information Share KidPower WebRing Kids At Play Kyle's Friends Kyle's Story Members Members Meet Message Board Our Special Child WebRing The Paper Ribbon Campaign Parnters In Policymaking Power Connections Newsletter Seizure Disorder Information Sensory Integration Dysfunction Siblings Site Credits Special Needs Abbreviations ToyStore Vaccination Information WebRings Index Young Artists' Gallery ACCESSIBLE/ADAPTIVE HOUSING Accessible Housing Designs
Norma Cantu Strikes Again group that sued the school, the massachusetts Advocacy Center reason families chooseto enroll disabled children in revision of the federal specialeducation law http://www.edexcellence.net/library/cantu.html
Extractions: While President Clinton calls for 3,000 charter schools by decade's end, his administration's lawyer-activists at the U.S. Education Department are doing all they can to savage these independent public schools of choice, now numbering around 700 nationally. First blood was drawn recently by Norma Cantu, a veteran of the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund and now head of the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights (OCR). (Cantu's mischief was last exposed in these pages by David Tell on 8/11/97: "Norma Cantu's Cant.") Last month, Cantu's Boston office handed down two precedent-setting and outrageous rulings against the Boston Renaissance Charter School in response to allegations of discrimination by the school against a fifth-grade girl and a first-grade boy with "attention deficit disorder." Both youngsters are African-American. Here are the facts: The Boston Renaissance School, which is managed by the for-profit Edison Project on behalf of the non-profit community group that obtained a charter from the state in 1995, enrolls over a thousand students in grades K-8. It's one of the country's largest and most celebrated charter schools. Three-quarters of its students are minority; 12 percent are disabled.
HEC K-12 Education News | Western Massachusetts startup grants from the massachusetts Department of solutions that aid students withspecial accessibility needs. specialists, and parents of disabled students http://www.collaborative.org/newshec7.html
Extractions: Assistive technology specialists Dale Gardner-Fox, Patricia Walsh-Cassidy, Nancy Hogan, and Dan Herlihy will present several workshops on topics ranging from inclusion to utilizing multimedia as a learning tool for special needs students. Hogan, who is also a special educator, and Walsh-Cassidy, a speech pathologist, were instrumental in starting the CCATT Center, a regional resource housed at the Hampshire Educational Collaborative (HEC) on Hawley Street in Northampton. The pair, along with speech pathologist Judith Conte, used start-up grants from the Massachusetts Department of Education and the Community Foundation to get the project off the ground in 1995. This was followed later by a three year federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education. As an early pioneer in the area of augmentative communication and assistive technology, the CCATT Center and its staff has gained a reputation for leadership in this rapidly growing field. An assistive technology device can be any item, piece of equipment, or system that is utilized in a way that makes life easier-and assists-a person with a disability. Assistive technology can range from the low-tech-such as pieces of velcro to help a student keep items in place-to high-tech, voice-activated computers. In between are a full range of devices, customized for each individuals needs, from a simple switch-activated toy for a toddler with motor control difficulties to an augmentative communication device to help a student with a speech impairment talk.
Massachusetts Disability Resouce Exchange_shop_r_to_z list of support groups in massachusetts for people with mental, emotional or behavioralspecial needs and their Support Group for battered disabled lesbians To http://www.hesperuswebdesign.com/madisabilityexchange/shop_r_to_z.shtml
Extractions: RESOURCE MALL Massachusetts State Parks -Universal Access Recreation Alternative Leisure Company -Accessible Recreation Trips Outdoor Explorations -Accessible Recreation Trips for All Abilities New England Regional Ski for Light - Physical fitness for visually impaired Wild Carrots - A Horse Farm where people with disabilities can relax. Back to Index Massachusetts Respite Programs - A list of Respite Programs in Mass. (many for free) Back to Index Parents For Residential Reform Back to Index Child Care Circuit - Special Needs Child Care Referral (and others) Massachusetts Listing of SPED Schools Massachusetts Charter Schools Judge Rotenberg Center, Inc. Back to Index This is a list of support groups in Massachusetts for people dealing with various types of disabilities. If you know of a group that should be included here, please contact Lori Downs at info@HesperusWebDesign.com
Free Press Article On Special Ed Hearing General Court to preserve massachusetts maximum feasible of the Commonwealthsspecial education statute the limited potential of disabled students and http://www.macathconf.org/free_press_article_on_special_ed.htm
Extractions: Bishops Support No Change in Special Education Standards By William T. Clew, Catholic Free Press (Diocese of Worcester, MA), Mar. 17, 2000, at p. 1. Critics of the standard claim it costs municipalities too much money to pay a large part of the cost of each child in the state program and that the state funds less than 20 percent of the cost. They point out that the federal government and every state but Massachusetts operate under a standard called free and appropriate public education. It requires school districts to provide programs considered adequate and appropriate and gives a child with special needs some benefit or some meaningful benefit. They say the state could save millions of dollars on special education by switching to the federal standard. The bishops said they "strongly urge the governor and the members of the General Court to preserve Massachusetts’ ‘maximum feasible benefit’ standard in special education as part of the Commonwealth’s special education statute. "Even with today’s strong laws, too many parents constantly struggle to obtain the necessary services for their children. The ‘maximum feasible benefit’ standard is essential to overcoming the prejudicial views about the limited potential of disabled students and freeing them to develop their God-given potential.
Special Education Statement General Court to preserve massachusetts Maximum Feasible of the Commonwealthsspecial education statute. the limited potential of disabled students and http://www.macathconf.org/special_education_statement.htm
Extractions: STATEMENT ON SPECIAL EDUCATION BY THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF MASSACHUSETTS These young ones with obvious physical as well as those with hidden disabilities, students in both public and non-public schools, have as much claim on the concern of society and its policy-makers as their non-disabled peers do. Therefore, we strongly urge the Governor and the members of the General Court to preserve Massachusetts’ "Maximum Feasible Benefit" standard in special education as part of the Commonwealth’s special education statute. Even with today’s strong laws, too many parents constantly struggle to obtain the necessary services for their children. The "Maximum Feasible Benefit" standard is essential to overcoming the prejudicial views about the limited potential of disabled students and freeing them to develop their God-given potential. +His Eminence, Bernard Cardinal Law Archbishop of Boston +Most Reverend Thomas Dupre Bishop of Springfield +Most Reverend Daniel Reilly Bishop of Worcester CONTACTS Stephen Perla, Ex. Director (978) 665-9890 Fitchburg, P.A.C.E.
EdPolicy.org - Daily News Headlines more in costs to educate massachusetts' most severely 17, 2003) Groups representingdisabled people accused the chances of children with special needs going to http://www.edpolicy.org/news/news.shtml
The American Prospect Advertisement Advertisement If your child is a special needs child or the percentage of severely learningdisabledstudents in figures recently released by the massachusetts Department of http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V9/39/farber-p.html
Extractions: Volume 9, Issue 39. July 1, 1998 - August 1, 1998. Boston: Renaissance Charter School Peggy Farber Boston's Renaissance Charter School initially foundered when it apparently attempted to discourage the enrollment of disabled children (although the school's Edison Project sponsor has always insisted that these efforts violated its policies). This year Renaissance reformed its special education program in an attempt to bring it more in line with Edison's own stated ideals and the standards of special educators generally. But the school's experience should serve as a lesson to other charters, for whom discouraging the enrollment of difficult-to-educate children may seem a tempting shortcut to success. The following report, written before this year's reforms, describes the Renaissance experience. O pened in 1995, the Renaissance school enrolls 1,000 inner-city students, and is the showcase of the Edison Project, a for-profit schools company. Created as a partnership between Edison and a group of Boston civic leaders, the school occupies a nineteenth-century office tower in downtown Boston that its founders renovated with the help of a $12 million loan from the quasi-public Massachusetts Land Bank. Beyond its obligation to meet the general goals spelled out in its charter, the school is completely autonomous. The Edison Project runs Boston Renaissance according to the blueprint it uses in all 25 of its for-profit schools across the country: each family gets its own Macintosh computer; the school day is longer by an hour than the average public school's day; and the school year is longer by a month than in regular Boston public schools.
Letter To Massachusetts Department Of Education, April 1999 on the proposed changes to massachusetts special Education regulations the needs ofdisabled children of children receiving effective special education services http://rsaffran.tripod.com/DOE-99-04-22.html
Extractions: Malden, MA 02148-5023 Dear Department of Education Members This is a story of two young children in Brookline, Massachusetts. One is rich, the other poor. Both were born with a severe developmental disability. Despite that, each had within him the potential for normal development. Both had parents who were willing to dedicate their lives to getting them the special education services they needed to achieve that potential. Both needed that dedication, because the local educational authorities went to great effort to deny access to those services. The rich child was the first to enter the system. Before age three he was seen by the school’s "Early Childhood Specialist." It took the school over half a year to begin any service delivery—time, precious time, in which he could have made substantial progress, but instead was allowed to fall further into disability. He started group speech therapy, twice a week, even though that provided less than 2% of the accepted standard of services for a child with his disability. Then a part-time preschool program. He did not learn to talk or to play. He did learn to attack other children, so that his disability became a prison for his entire family. So the parents of the rich child took some of the money they got back from the school and used it to pay for an independent evaluation of the poor child. They hired the same expensive lawyer. And, after the expected delays, the poor child got the same program as the rich child.
UMASS RESEARCH to include children with special needs in general study undertaken for the MassachusettsDepartment of at different populations of disabled students, surveying http://www.umb.edu/research/commonwealth/page14.html
Extractions: IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Moving special needs children into general education classrooms provides them with valuable opportunities, but their social integration must be successful for these benefits to be realized, say researchers at the Center for Social Development and Education (CSDE). As children with special needs become members of general education classrooms and the mainstream school community, they are expected to interact flexibly and adaptively under frequently shifting circumstances, often with more cognitively advanced peers. CSDE has undertaken the Promoting Social Success in Elementary Schools project in response to the fundamental shift toward inclusion. Through this project, CSDE has been developing and testing an innovative curriculum, materials, and teaching strategies promoting effective social skills instruction. A research-to-practice demonstration project has already been implemented in three Massachusetts communities, involving approximately 100 children with mental retardation and 400 children without mental retardation in 27 classrooms in 10 schools. This three-year project, funded jointly by the U.S. Department of Education and the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, is a direct outgrowth of an extensive program of research, carried out by the Center over the past twenty years. Director Gary Siperstein says, "The program is a major contributor to the move to include children with special needs in general education. Without social integration, physical and instructional integration will fail. Children need to feel that they are a part of the classroom and school community in order to succeed."
Financial Aid FAQ's For Disabled then you may be considered disabled by most Information Center's tollfree number(massachusetts only), 1 special or unusual circumstances are not collected on http://www.heic.org/disabled.htm
Projo.com | Providence | Local News with 74 percent of nondisabled students last fall of its services for special-needschildren, from intervention programs, to the public schools' offerings for http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20020803_speced3.11ff3.html
Extractions: sectNum =1; @import url(/css/bi.css); Providence, R.I. document.write(lmonth + " "); document.write(date + ", " + year); Local News Home Digital Bulletin Blackstone Valley East Bay ... New England MARKETPLACE MY PROJO.COM Register/Sign in Account Info Local News News stories ... Bulletin Board R.I. plans to correct flaws in special ed The state, which leads the nation in the percentage of special-needs students, will set new standards for the way children are diagnosed and improve data collection, among other actions. BY MARION DAVIS Journal Staff Writer SMITHFIELD Prompted by new federal rules, the state has launched a five-year plan to expand access to special-education services, especially at young ages, and stop the misdiagnosis of healthy children as "disabled." In 2000, Rhode Island ranked first in the nation in the proportion of students in special education nearly 1 in 5 more than 3 percent higher than the national average, and more than twice the state's rate 20 years ago. In fiscal 2000, Rhode Island spent more than $243 million on special education, a 152-percent increase from 1990, or twice the growth rate of education expenditures overall. Every year, schools superintendents complain to local and state officials that they can't keep up with the skyrocketing costs. And yet despite the huge investment, it's unclear whether all the students who need special-education services are getting them especially those in minority groups. Blind and visually impaired students are widely recognized to be underserved in Rhode Island, with support varying substantially from town to town.
Resources- Phone Numbers (617) 7238455. disabled PERSON PROTECTION COMMISION. (617) 423-9162. MASSACHUSETTSDENTAL SOCIETY (Referrals for special needs dentistry). (800) 342-8747. http://ppal.net/numbers.html
Springfield Library: Education Links about colleges and universities throughout massachusetts, with campus lenders andothers; and special interest categories (minorities, disabled, etc http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/liblinks/educate.html
Extractions: Government sites Higher Education Schools Alternative Education ... Special Education Government sites: A database intended to help identify and contact organizations that provide information and assistance on a broad range of education-related topics. For teachers, librarians, parents, researchers and others. From the U.S. Department of Education.
Tufts Journal: Features: Serving The Underserved more than 14,000 developmentally disabled persons are of the population in Massachusettshas developmental to treat patients with special needs is limited, and http://tuftsjournal.tufts.edu/archive/2001/september/features/dental.shtml
Extractions: by Janet Walzer Fred Holway, 54, has had multiple sclerosis for 25 years. It is not easy for Holway to get around, but that does not deter him or his caregivers when it is time to see the dentist. Via an ambulance and on a stretcher, Holway is brought to the Tufts Dental Facility (TDF) Serving Persons with Special Needs in Waltham, Mass. Dr. John Morgan oversees the TDF clinics. What makes this situation even more unique is that a dentist, hygienist and assistant, all of whom have been specifically trained to treat patients with special needs, will see Holway. The number of dental professionals who are appropriately trained to treat this population is alarmingly low. According to surveys by the Academy of Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities in 1994 and 1995, dental schools average 12.9 hours of lecture time on the subject, but 65 percent of these schools report 10 or fewer hours of clinical experience. This dearth of training, coupled with the low rate of dentists who accept MassHealth, the Medicaid equivalent for dental care in Massachusetts, make it difficult for these patients to receive care. ÒWhat the statistics show is a definite need for more training,Ó observes Dr. John Morgan, administrative director of TDF, which is headquartered at the Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham. ÒTufts is in a better situation than most of the country,Ó he adds. As a result of a partnership that goes back to 1976 between the School of Dental Medicine and the Massachusetts departments of Public Health and Mental Retardation, Tufts dental residents and students have the opportunity to learn how to treat patients with special needs.
PAC Newsletter - November 2002 and financial security of disabled family dependents is a member of the MassachusettsBar Association offer recreation programs for children with special needs. http://www.newtonpublicschools.com/Documents/PupilServices/SPED/PACNewsletter021
Extractions: PAC Newsletter November, 2002 Newton Parent Advisory Council for Special Education 100 Walnut Street Newton, Massachusetts 02460 newtonspedpac@hotmail.com Special Needs Trusts and planning on Thursday November 14, 2002 At the November 14 PAC meeting, Michael Bass, a Brighton attorney, will discuss special needs planning, including trusts and guardianships, to help assure the comfort, care and financial security of disabled family dependents. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association Committee on Medicaid Planning, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and is a volunteer Big Brother at Jewish Big Brother/Big Sister Association of Greater Boston. Meeting Agenda Refreshments/Networking 7:30 PM Introductions 7:40 PM Announcements 7:50 PM Special Needs Trusts by Michael Bass 7:55 PM The PAC holds monthly meetings during the school year at 7:30 PM in Room 210 at the Education Center, 100 Walnut St., Newtonville. All parents, teachers, specialists and others with an interest in education are welcome. Please join us and contact us with your ideas and questions For more information, contact the PAC Chairperson, Leslie Lockhart, at 617-527-5046 or newtonspedpac@hotmail.com.
VITA students who were completing a schoolbased special. Boston, massachusetts. 1987- Winter Educational Assessment Planning for Learning disabled Adults. http://www.uwsp.edu/education/dupham/ProPort/Vita/Vita.htm
Extractions: DAYLE ANN UPHAM 460 College of Professional Studies University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, WI 715-342-4293 H 715-346-4802 W dupham@uwsp.edu Fax: 715-346-4846 EDUCATION Ph.D. University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, Educational Psychology/Special Education, July 1994. M.Ed. Keene State College, Keene, New Hampshire, Special Education, May 1988. B.S. Keene State College, Keene, New Hampshire, Elementary and Special Education, Psychology Minor, 1986. A.G.S. New Hampshire Technical Institute, Concord, New Hampshire, WISCONSIN TEACHING LICENSES IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: 22 Pre-kindergarten Through Grade 12 810 Cognitive Disability 22 Pre-kindergarten Through Grade 12 811 Learning Disability 22 Pre-kindergarten Through Grade 12 830 Emotional Disturbance 42 Elementary 118 First Thru Eighth Grade 43 Substitute Teacher 118 First Thru Eighth Grade 43 Substitute Teacher 810 Cognitive Disability RELATED EXPERIENCE 1996 - Present A ssistant Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Massachusetts-Links www.doe.mass.edu NICHCY massachusetts Resource Sheet and assistance to parents ofdisabled children Site parents of children with special needs from preschool http://community-2.webtv.net/SpecialEd_Watchdog/MassachusettsLinks/page2.html
Extractions: The Concord Special Education Parents Advisory Committee is a positive and solution oriented committee that has grown to over 150 members. A state mandated, system wide volunteer organization that is a resource and advisor to parents of children with special needs from preschool through high school, serving all Concord schools. Works closely with Concord public school administration to identify needs and acts as advisor to School Committee. Offers info, contacts, networking opportunities for parents. Site features: One of the more comprehensive and well thought out sites out there. Very complete in its presentation of information. Great resource! Signs of trouble, why evaluate, types of evals, recommended evaluators, request eval letter, questions to ask evaluator, types of testing, which education test, IEP definition, IEP reviewing, time factors, measurable goals, ESY, behavior management plan, team meeting notes, 504s, parent tool kit, recommended articles, recommended books - advocacy, recommended books-disabilities, problem resolution, definitions, FAQ, reading/spelling/math, reference materials, professional help, schools, laws, who are our reps, organizations, recreation, links, events.
