AUGUST DISABILITIES THREAD

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www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-solution-to-pressing-issue-in-special-education-100973469.html

New Solution to Pressing Issue in Special Education: U.S. Department of Education Awards Grant to Presence TeleCare

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Presence TeleCare, the leading online provider of special education services, announced today that it received two separate grants from the U.S. Department of Education totaling $175,000. The grants support the company's efforts to address the national shortage of speech-language pathologists (SLPs), which leaves at least 250,000 children in special education with inadequate or no service every year. "We are honored to receive such generous grants from the Department of Education, and delighted that the Department recognizes our ability to help special education students through the innovative use of technology," said Presence TeleCare co-founder Clay Whitehead.

Every U.S. public school is legally required to provide speech-language therapy services to eligible children, but a critical national shortage of SLPs is preventing schools from meeting this obligation. The shortage, which causes some schools to go for months or years without an SLP, often means that children with communication disorders such as autism or learning disabilities fall behind. In 2008, 72% of SLPs reported shortages in their local areas, up from 62% in 2004. Presence TeleCare is addressing the needs of these students through the use of online speech therapy, or telepractice, which is the live delivery of services via web-based video conference. 29 peer reviewed studies show that speech language pathology telepractice provides outcomes that are just as good as, if not better than, outcomes obtained by traditional face-to-face therapy. In addition, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) recognizes telepractice as an appropriate method of service delivery.

"There is a large and growing body of research that suggests that telepractice is not only highly effective for students, but also cost-affordable for districts," said Presence TeleCare Chief Clinical Officer Melissa Jakubowitz, M.A., CCC-SLP. "When you go for months not providing speech SLP services, it gets very stressful knowing you are not meeting the requirements you are legally obligated to provide. With Presence TeleCare, I didn't have to worry about compliance anymore. That definitely gave me peace of mind, and the kids are enjoying it," said Sherrie Hutchinson, a California Special Education Director and Presence TeleCare partner.

Dr. Shari Robertson, who is the chair of ASHA's 2010 national conference, has reinforced the potential of telepractice. "I am an old-school skeptic who is now a complete convert to telepractice, having had the chance to work with Presence TeleCare. I know now that telepractice can be research-driven. It can be flexible. It can be innovative, and it can provide students with services that we might not be able to provide using our typical face-to-face intervention."

About Presence TeleCare: Presence TeleCare's live, interactive web platform is designed to connect high quality, certified speech language pathologists with children who have communication disabilities. Further information about Presence TeleCare and telepractice can be found at presencetelecare.com.

RELATED LINKS
www.presencetelecare.com

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php.radford.edu/~imdetermined/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=24

A great resource on encouraging self-determination & student participation in the IEP process.

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6th Annual Disability Services and the Hispanic Community Conference

Wednesday, November 17, 2010
8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Location:
Fifty Forward, Knowles Senior Center
174 Rains Avenue, Nashville

Pre-registration is required at: www.kc.vanderbilt.edu/registration

Fees: $20 Before November 3/$30 After November 3

Fees cover a Mexican cuisine lunch and workshop materials. Fees paid after November 3 must be paid the day of the Conference and only by cash or check. Please make advance checks payable to: Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Hispanic Conference. Checks may be mailed to:

Heidi Holstein-Edwards
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
Peabody Box 74
Nashville, TN 37203
(To pay by credit card, call [phone].)
Parking: Free parking is available at the Knowles Senior Center
Sponsors: · Tennessee Disability Pathfinder · Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities · Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities

For more information, contact: Carolina Meyerson [phone]/[e-mail]

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1st Annual Congregation Inclusion Conference Empowering Faith Communities

Do you care about people with disabilities being included in faith communities? Do you think the spiritual needs of people with disabilities are often overlooked when doing assessments and developing care plans? Does disability affect your life in any way?
Religious leaders and educators, individuals with disabilities and their families, and disability service providers are invited to participate in this inaugural event designed to accelerate congregational accessibility so that people with disabilities and their families can have deeper access into the community life of congregations throughout Tennessee.

When: Tuesday, October 5, 2010 @ 8:30a.m.-5 p.m.
Where: Holiday Inn Express, 920 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203

For discounted room reservations, call: [phone] or toll-free [phone]

Fees: $49 Before September 24/$59 After September 24 (Fees cover meals, snacks, and a CD of resources.) A limited number of scholarships are available. To request a scholarship call: [phone] or toll-free [phone].

For more information and to register, visit: kc.vanderbilt.edu/congregationinclusion/

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The Britt Henderson Training Series for Educators @ Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

This annual series of workshops provides training for school teams that include both general and special educators. Workshops focus on innovative evidence-based practices to improve the quality of education for students with diverse learning needs. Founded in 1996, the Britt Henderson Training Series is made possible at no cost to participating educators through an endowment from the Robert and Carol Henderson family in memory of their son Britt.

2010 – 2011 Schedule: 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. in Room 241 Kennedy Center/MRL Bldg

You may attend one or more sessions. Please bring a school-site team or one other member of your faculty for all sessions.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - Functional Assessment

Wednesday, October 6, 2010 - Setting Up Your Classroom for Success

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - Behavior Screening Tools

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - Using School-wide Data to Identify Non-responders

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 - Using Self-monitoring in Academic Interventions

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - Differentiating Instruction

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - Using Simple Strategies to Increase Student Engagement

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 - Mentoring Faculty to Improve Implementation of the Primary Plan

For session content and registration: www.kc.vanderbilt.edu/kennedy/Henderson or Mary Crnobori [phone]

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NASHVILLE FLOOD RELIEF INFORMATION!!!!!

„« Property tax reassessment
Deadline to file September 1, 2010
A property tax reassessment could lower the property
tax rate as a result of lower home values due to flooding.
Visit the Davidson County Property Assessor¡¦s website:
www.padctn.com/flood_real.html

„« Sales tax refund
Deadline to file November 30, 2010
A state sales tax refund is available for some disaster repair related expenses purchased before September 30, 2010. These include: boxes, trash bags, drywall, paint, and other construction tools. To qualify, the purchase price must be less than $500. Replacements for some damaged or destroyed household items also qualify for a tax refund. These include dishwasher, microwave, oven, washer/ dryer, etc. The purchase price must be less than $3,200. For the complete list of eligible items visit the TN Department of Revenue website:
www.state.tn.us/revenue/misc/floodrelief.htm

„« Federal income tax disaster write-off
Deadline to file or amend April 15, 2011 (If you
have already filed 2009 or are filing for 2010)
There will be a considerable amount of paperwork associated with this. Tax professionals will be available to help, however, flood victims should be collecting receipts for flood damaged property, tax history documents, and hiring an assessor, etc. Visit the Nashville Recovery website for more information. www.nashvillerecovery.com/

For more information from the Internal Revenue Service visit www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=222406,00.html.

To watch a Mid-TN Legal Aid Society Tax Relief Video visit
www.las.org/booklets/tax_problems/2010_flood_tax_guide.
Tax Relief for Metro Nashville Flood Victims

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From the GA Assistive Technology Project—guide for considering a student’s assistive technology needs.

www.valdosta.edu/coe/ecre/ATRB/AT_considerati_resource.htm

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The People Who 'ARE'

It's in the press again. I search to find out the context of the word. I see debates all over the web, people bemoaning the 'politically correct' and the 'word police' and making ridiculous claims about having to ban the concept of a 'fire retardant'. Last I looked there's never been a protest about products that protect from fire. Last I looked there's only ever been protests about the use of a word that demeans a group of people.

No matter what the fearless defenders of freedom of speech say, there is a huge difference between a word to describe something that slows fire and someone who learns differently. There's a huge difference between a thing and a person - but, no, maybe not. After reading their diatribes regarding their freedom to spit out hurtful words, they may, really, not see people with disabilities as fully human with a human heart capable human hurt.

People mock the concept of respectful language regarding disability. People make odd arguments about the latest gaffe by ... no, I won't say her name here ... they say 'she was saying that of herself not anyone else' - um, so? The word she used was one referring, not to a commercial product, but to an oppressed minority. Yet the debate rages on and the fierceness of the attack by those who are proponents of the use of hate language are both hysterical and who often purposely miss the point. One wonders what's at stake - their personal liberty to hurt others?

It's time to recognize that the 'R' word is an attack against who people with with intellectual disabilities 'are', it is an attack against the group that they belong to. It is like other words that exist to slur an entire people, unacceptable. The fact that people do not see the seriousness of the word and the attack it represents is simply a result of the fact that they do not take the 'people' who wear that label seriously. The concerns of those with intellectual disabilities have always been diminished and trivialized. There is a sneaking suspicion that they 'don't understand, poor dears', that they 'miss the point, little lambs' so therefore their anger need not be feared as justified.

The people who 'ARE' what the 'R' word refers to have a long history.
They have been torn from families and cast into institutions.
They have been beaten, hosed down, over medicated, under nourished, sterilized, brutalized, victimized.
They have been held captive, have been enslaved, have had their being given over to the state.
They are the group in society most likely to be physically, sexually and financially abused.
They are the group least likely to see justice, experience fair play, receive accommodation or support within the justice system.
They are the group most likely to be bullied, most likely to be tyrannized, most likely to be the target of taunts.
They are the least likely to have their hurt taken seriously, physical hurt, emotional hurt, spiritual hurt.
They are most likely to be ignored when they speak of pain, have their words diminished by an assumption of diminished capacity.
They are the least likely to ever be seen as equal, as equivalent and entirely whole.
They are the victim of some of the most widespread and pervasive prejudices imaginable.
They are those that the Nazi's thought unworthy of life, they are those targeted by geneticists for non-existence, they need fear those who wear black hats and those who wear white coats.
They are educated only under protest, they are included as a concession rather than a right, they are neighbours only because petitions failed to keep them out.
They are kept from the leadership of their own movement, they are ignored by the media, their stories are told to glorify Gods that they do not worship.
That they are a 'people' is questioned even though they have a unique history, a unique voice, a unique perception of the world.
That they are a 'community' is questioned even though they have commonality, they have mutual goals, they have a collective vision of the future.
That they are have a legitimate place at the table is questioned simply because no one's ever offered a seat.
They are a people.
They ask for respect and receive pity.
They ask for fair play and are offered charity.
They ask for justice and wipe spittle off their face.
They ask to silence words that brutalize them and their concerns are trivialized.
They ask to walk safely through their communities and yet bullies go unpunished.
They ask to participate fully and they are denied access and accommodation and acceptance.

And this is NOW.
This is the people who have walked the land of the long corridor, who have waited at the frontier of our bias to finally be here, now. They have survived. They have come home. They have continued, silently and without fanfare, to take hold of freedom and live with dignity. They have given everything they have for what others take for granted. Their civil liberties are perceived as 'gifts' as 'tokens' and as 'charity'. Their rights are seen as privileges. Their movement is, as of yet, unacknowledged. They are a people recently emancipated, new citizens, who are tentatively discovering their voice.

It is a voice not yet heard.
It is a voice not yet respected.
It is a voice not yet understood.
But it is speaking.
And when it is finally heard. The world will change.
The 'R' word is an attack on a people who know discrimination. Tremble when you say it. Because those who should know better will be held accountable to those who know best.

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New Solution to Pressing Issue in Special Education: U.S. Department of Education Awards Grant to Presence TeleCare

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Presence TeleCare, the leading online provider of special education services, announced today that it received two separate grants from the U.S. Department of Education totaling $175,000. The grants support the company's efforts to address the national shortage of speech-language pathologists (SLPs), which leaves at least 250,000 children in special education with inadequate or no service every year.

"We are honored to receive such generous grants from the Department of Education, and delighted that the Department recognizes our ability to help special education students through the innovative use of technology," said Presence TeleCare co-founder Clay Whitehead.

Every U.S. public school is legally required to provide speech-language therapy services to eligible children, but a critical national shortage of SLPs is preventing schools from meeting this obligation. The shortage, which causes some schools to go for months or years without an SLP, often means that children with communication disorders such as autism or learning disabilities fall behind. In 2008, 72% of SLPs reported shortages in their local areas, up from 62% in 2004.

Presence TeleCare is addressing the needs of these students through the use of online speech therapy, or telepractice, which is the live delivery of services via web-based video conference. 29 peer reviewed studies show that speech language pathology telepractice provides outcomes that are just as good as, if not better than, outcomes obtained by traditional face-to-face therapy. In addition, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) recognizes telepractice as an appropriate method of service delivery.

"There is a large and growing body of research that suggests that telepractice is not only highly effective for students, but also cost-affordable for districts," said Presence TeleCare Chief Clinical Officer Melissa Jakubowitz, M.A., CCC-SLP.

"When you go for months not providing speech SLP services, it gets very stressful knowing you are not meeting the requirements you are legally obligated to provide. With Presence TeleCare, I didn't have to worry about compliance anymore. That definitely gave me peace of mind, and the kids are enjoying it," said Sherrie Hutchinson, a California Special Education Director and Presence TeleCare partner.

Dr. Shari Robertson, who is the chair of ASHA's 2010 national conference, has reinforced the potential of telepractice. "I am an old-school skeptic who is now a complete convert to telepractice, having had the chance to work with Presence TeleCare. I know now that telepractice can be research-driven. It can be flexible. It can be innovative, and it can provide students with services that we might not be able to provide using our typical face-to-face intervention."

About Presence TeleCare: Presence TeleCare's live, interactive web platform is designed to connect high quality, certified speech language pathologists with children who have communication disabilities.
Further information about Presence TeleCare and telepractice can be found at presencetelecare.com.

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php.radford.edu/~imdetermined/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=24

great resource on encouraging self-determination & student participation in the IEP process