Globe and telescope.

Family, Food, and Facts with Peggy Martin

FAMILY, FOOD AND FACTS

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Venture Productions

11516 State Route 41 South

West Union, OH  45693

Peggy Martin, Family Advocate, Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities

 

 5:30 P.M. Pizza, Salad & Dessert

6:00-7:00 P.M Discussion

7:00-7:30 P.M. Information Sharing/Networking, Questions

R.S.V.P. to  Scott Amen  937-544-2574

ADAMSMRDD@YAHOO.COM

 

 

Peggy Martin will be discussing the benefits of collaboration and partnership betweeen families and agencies.  The Ohio Department of DD has made empowering families one of its priorities over the next  year.  Ms Martin is also looking for ideas as Ohio moves forward with the development of regional family councils.    

This meeting will be relevant to all families having a child with a disability, not only those served by the Board of DD.   

 

Technology Tools for Concept Mapping, Summarizing and Note-taking, and Web Cataloging

Resources referenced in a presentation given to staff at Fayetteville-Perry Local Schools on using technology tools for concept mapping, summarizing and note-taking, and web cataloging.

Session handout (single page) [PDF, 108KB]

Introductory Video [MP4, 10.2MB]

Concept Mapping

Summarizing and Note-taking

Web Cataloging

“First Five Presidents” Materials

Fall Parent Conference 2009

The annual Parent Conference was held on October 23, 2009 at Region 14/Hopewell Center.  It was a wonderful event with approximately 40 family members in attendance.

The keynote address was presented by OCALI (Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence) representatives, Julie Short, Donna Owens, & Heather  Bridgeman. They explained their web site and the resources they provide.   Many useful assistive technology  items were displayed and may be borrowed through OCALI’s lending library. 

Topics for the afternoon breakout sessions were: Post-secondary Transition, Stress Relievers, and  Postive Behavior Supports.   

Post-secondary Transition was presented by Sue Beck.  She provided attendees with a folder printed with an outline to track goals from graduation backward .  This will be helpful when setting goals for planning and at the IEP meeting.  Ms. Beck discussed the requirements of the Post-secondary transition plan and the advantages to the student to have an effective transition plan in place. 

The Stress Reliever session was presented by Jinnifer Daugherty.  She provided many useful ideas and tips to relieve stress.   Ms. Daugherty discussed the effects of stress and how to measure one’s stress level.  

Cathy Heizman spoke on the benefits of Positive Behavior Suppports and the many ways the supports can help students succeed in the school.  Ms. Heizman discussed the differences between punishment and discipline and their characteristics.  She also gave valuable information on Behavior Intervention Plans.

Post-Secondary Transition Trainings

Post-Secondary Transition Trainings

Presented by the Ohio Coalition for the Education of Students with Disabilities

To Register & for more Information:  1-800-374-2806

 

November 10, 2009

9:00 – 2:00 p.m.

OSU

Ohio Room – Collins Center

1804 Liberty Ave.

Ironton, OH  45638

 

December 3, 2009

10:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Ford Training Center

1155 Bible Rd.

Lima, OH  45801

2009 -2010 Parent Advisory Council Members

Comments

Surrogate Parent Training 2009-2010

Surrogate Parent Training

Region 14/Hopewell

6:00  -  9:00 p.m.

 

Contact:  Amy Luttrell  937-393-1904, ext 142

http://aluttrell@ohioregion14.org

Universal Education

“Many districts around the state of Ohio have struggled to reach high levels of proficiency Student proudly holds a paper graded a-plus.among students with disabilities, but a small percentage achieved steady improvement between 2004 and 2008. The Universal Education Project was designed to identify district-level strategies and practices among these schools that led to consistent improvement in math and reading proficiency test scores for students with identified disabilities. Because every district participating in this study described the importance of breaking down barriers between special and regular education, this report is titled Universal Education in an effort to unify two previously separate cultures into a single, high-impact education for all students.”

This brief article identifies major findings and some key practices regarding increased achievement for students with disabilities, and closing the academic achievement gap that typically exists between students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers.

The Region 14 State Support Team will be developing and conducting professional development in our region (Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette and Highland Counties in Ohio) regarding the major findings and key practices identified in this report

Congratulations to Bright Local Schools and Superintendent Dee Wright for being identified as a model district for this report!

View the report [PDF, 228KB]

The Importance of Digital Text

Young Abraham Lincoln reading by the fire - Library of Congress image

Young Abraham Lincoln reading by the fire - Library of Congress image

“When Abraham Lincoln was a boy, there were very few books in the cabins of the backwoods settlement where he lived. There was no school-house in the neighborhood; but it was not long before the people made up their minds that they must have one. So one day after harvest the men met together, chopped down trees, and built a small, low-roofed log cabin to serve as a schoolhouse for the children of the settlement….
Such was Abraham Lincoln’s first school. After a few weeks the term came to a close; and the lad was again as busy as ever about his father’s farm. After that he attended school only two or three short terms. If all his school days were put together, they would not make a twelvemonth.
But he kept on reading and studying at home. His stepmother said of him: ‘He read everything he could lay his hands on. When he came to a passage that pleased him, he would write it down on the wooden shovel or on boards, if he had no paper. Then he would copy it, commit it to memory, and repeat it again and again.’
Lincoln’s father was too poor to furnish lamps, or even candles, for his family to burn at night. However, they had a big fireplace at one end of the log house. There was wood in plenty, and Lincoln brought in piles of dry logs for the fire.
The bright blaze shed a strong light over all the room, and the boy, lying flat on the floor with his books in front of him, spent his long evenings in reading and study. In this way he read the Bible, ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ and Æsop’s Fables many times over.”
–    Baldwin, James, “Abraham Lincoln’s School Days,” 1806

Today’s classrooms have a lot more to offer in regards to variety of material, but the underlying concept remains the same – for a student to have any chance of making progress in education, access to the material is essential.  One way to greatly increase student access to information is the availability of digital text.

“Digital text” simply means that the text in question is available in an electronic format (for instance, as a Word document, a tagged PDF file, or a simple text file) that is machine-readable.  Many modern textbooks come with, or are alternatively available in, electronic formats.  When text is only available in an 11-point print format, numerous accommodations
have to be made for students with various disabilities.  Digital text makes many of these accommodations much more easily, and cheaply, available.

Digital text is the first step in a wide range of possibilities for improving access to curriculum materials for students with various disabilities.  The ability to produce customized versions as outlined above in-house can save thousands of dollars  over the cost of special orders for large print or audio versions of materials.  Many curriculum publishers are already moving towards making digital versions of textbooks available when a print version is purchased.  Ask your curriculum director or curriculum publisher about the availability of a digital version of textbooks!

Accessible Technology Presentation at OCALI

The following items are resources from a presentation about Accessibile Technology, given during the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI) “Share-It!” workshop on June 5, 2009.

Ten ways to prevent camp tragedies

Helpful tips to help avoid summer camp mishaps:

1. Don’t keep secrets
2. Provide references
3. Ask questions
4. Look for warning signs
5. Get extra help
6. Keep in touch
7. Hang around
8. Talk to your child
9. Do some role playing
10. Consider alternatives
More information is available at : http://specialchildren.about.com/od/inthecommunity/tp/safecamp.htm