Fact: Schools are punishing kids with disabilities at higher rates than other students.

Now the U.S. Department of Education is doing something about it. They’ve provided guidance for schools to make discipline fairer and decrease suspensions and expulsions:

Read how the new guidelines affect your child - here - http://www.ncld.org/ld-insights/blogs/government-gives-new-guidance-on-school-discipline-but-what-about-students-with-disabilities?utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction

Get advice from a mother whose child was labeled as “disruptive” here - http://www.ncld.org/learning-disability-resources/special-needs-stories/parent-stories/african-american-mother-be-wary-disruptive-label?utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction

Fact: President Obama signed the federal budget, but the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is still not fully funded.

Money isn’t everything, but schools need the right resources so they can provide special education services. To help you understand the stakes, we’ve put together a brief update about which education programs got funded and which didn’t here - http://www.ncld.org/ld-insights/blogs/budget-update-idea-not-fully-funded-but-special-ed-research-increases?utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction

At the end of the month, President Obama gives his state of the Union. Among the many things needed to be discussed, one vital issue is that the President should promise to fully fund IDEA in the next 10 years and the National Center for Learning Disabilities is asking Congress to sign a letter urging him to do so.

Awareness of the needs of students with learning and attention issues is growing—for proof, check out the new Congressional resolution on dyslexia here http://www.ncld.org/learning-disability-resources/ld-in-the-news?utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction

It’s time to turn that awareness into real gains for our kids.

GET INVOLVED!  HELP OUR CHILDREN! Click here:  http://www.ncld.org/disability-advocacy??utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction

Early Intervention with ABA

There has never been a more accurate mantra in the field of developmental disability: “Early diagnosis leads to timely intervention…timely intervention leads to better outcome.”  We know that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate signs of the disorder even before the age of nine months.  However, the average child with ASD is not diagnosed with the condition until the age of six.  As a result of this delay, there are several years of lost opportunity. This is especially important because the years from birth to three are so crucial in a child’s life. So what’s the best way to implement early intervention strategies?

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is considered by many researchers and clinicians to be the most effective evidence-based treatment approach for children with ASD. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, thirty years of research on the ABA approach have shown very positive outcomes when it is used as an early intervention tool for ASD. Studies show about 50% of children with autism who were treated with the ABA approach before the age of four had significant increases in IQ, verbal ability, and social functioning.

ABA teaches communication, social, and motor behaviors in addition to reasoning skills and self-help skills that are useful to promote independent living.  ABA treatment specializes in teaching behaviors to children with ASD who may otherwise not learn on their own as other children would.

The ABA approach can be used by a parent, counselor, or certified behavior analyst EVERYWHERE! It aims to help children with autism lead more independent and socially active lives. Research shows that this positive outcome is more common for children who have received early intervention, when the brain is critically developing during the preschool years.

As a parent or educator working with a child with Autism obtaining the necessary training to implement effective ABA treatment can be difficult juggling a home and work schedule. So, Special Learning is bringing the convenience of online training to you! Our ABA Online Training Program provides comprehensive training in the methods if ABA implementation, so you can start helping your child TODAY! Visit www.special-learning.com/aba_online_training for more information or to register for one of our upcoming courses!

Take the first steps in securing a brighter and more successful live for your child today!

Everyone should take a look at this. Unfortunately this kind of behavior occurrs on a nearly regular basis in SNFs & LTCs.  No one should have to go through or even watch this subhuman conduct. 

I assure you, I haven't personally witnessed this kind of disgust or any evidence that it may have it occurred.  I also know a lot A LOT of therapists who say the same thing.  For the most part your loved ones are in good hands.

However, there are no excuses, if you suspect one little thing is off, you talk to management.  If it keeps happening, you get your loved one into another facility if you have to. 

Please click on the link below, read the article, and watch the video.  If you find any of the information presented in the article familiar, either bring it to your management's attention (by-passing the nursing staff), or feel free to contact me & I'd be happy to assist if I can.  

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24958181

Parents often ask us: how can we stimulate the development of speech in our children? We present you with a great program, Land of Sounds, which will appeal to younger children, who are just learning to speak, as well as to already speaking preschool, who are just beginning to know their the world around them. It is also a perfect tool to stimulate speech for children with the delayed speech development. The Land of Sounds program may be also used as the supplement to the speech therapy.

The program is available on-line at www.landofsounds.com Without registration you can play with several games and exercises. After a quick registration the users can use all resources of the program. You can find hundreds of animations and games supporting the development of children’s speech.

And here’s more good news: until the end of October you can use the program completely for free! You just need to register.

After registering on the website and logging in you can use the resources of several major sections: “exercises”, “games”, “exercises with a guide” and “knowledge library”.

You will find a lot of animations with sounds made by animals, vehicles, devices and sounds associated with every day activities and situations. In next scenes there are presented different sources of sounds in the form of images and onomatopoeic words. The child by watching the cinematographic animations, listens to the onomatopoeic sounds of the speech. He can also try to repeat the expressions during the exercise.

Using onomatopoeic words is an important stage in the development of child’s speech. In this way he replaces too difficult words with those that are easier to say. Because of that in a simplified way he names the surrounding world and achieves his first success in communication. As a result, he more likely establishes the language contact with the environment!

For children, who move from the stage of onomatopoeic speech to the stage of words and sentences there are animations, in which they get to know the names of objects and activities.

Games in this section will definitely interest the youngest children learning to speak and developing speech. They will also be great while working with children with the delayed speech development.

The Land of Sounds program has a very large base of animations that is bound to find something to keep their interest. Doing the exercises – tests you can check how the child recognizes and associates the sounds with the sources making them.

Using games and activities in this section, the children perpetuate the sounds of onomatopoeic words learned in the section “Exercises”. To use the games you just need basic skills of using the mouse and keyboard. The level of difficulty of games is adjusted to the age of the children. You can find labyrinths, memory games, tasks involving collecting objects and many others!

Apart from access to hundreds of animations, you can use the aid of the virtual advisor, who will tell you how to preferably begin the work with the Land of Sounds program. You just need to fill in a short survey, and the virtual advisor will direct you towards the best place to start work and will look after your progress. At any time you can cancel the virtual advisor and move to the selected exercises and games.

In the library you can find interesting articles in the field of speech therapy, as well as those from which the parents can learn how to stimulate the proper development of speech of their child.

Exercises in the program are selected with great care, appropriately to the age of children and their cognitive areas. The Land of Sounds program is worth recommending for one more reason: it has a beautiful, calm, uncluttered with excessive number of elements graphics and beautifully recorded sounds. We can fully recommend this program as the tool to stimulate the development of the child’s speech! We recommend it!  

Service landofsounds.com was created from the EU funds grant (Innovative Economy Operational Program, activity 8.1)