Parent Center Updates

2011 PTI and CPRC Awards

Parent Center Standards for Excellence Awards

Announcements & News

TA&D Center of the Month: Family Center on Technology and Disability

Division for Early Childhood Conference Stipends

National Center for Ease of Use of Community-Based Services Survey

Resources

Language Access Webinar and Resources

State Performance Plan Process and Indicators Policy Forum Report

Education and the Economy Brief

Addressing Bullying and Harassment Matters

2011 State of Learning Disabilities Report

2011 Kids Count Data Book

“Who’s Who” In School

Nonprofit Management

How Boards of Directors Can Help New Executive Directors Succeed

Technology

PDF Escape

Remote Access Basics

Nonprofits and Google+

Parent Center Updates

2011 PTI and CPRC Awards

Congratulations to the following organizations receiving Parent Training and Information Center (PTI) and Community Parent Resource Center (CPRC) grant awards for fiscal year 2011!

Parent Training and Information Centers

• AK – Stone Soup Group
• AL – Alabama Parent Education Center
• CO – PEAK Parent Center
• FL Region 1 – Florida Network on Disabilities
• FL Region 2 – Central Florida Parent Center
• FL Region 3 – Florida Network on Disabilities
• KY – Kentucky Special Parent Involvement Network
• MD – The Parents’ Place of Maryland
• ME – Maine Parent Federation
• ND – Pathfinder Parent Center
• NE – PTI Nebraska
• NV – Nevada PEP
• NY Region 1 – Advocates for Children of New York
• NY Region 1 – Resources for Children with Special Needs
• NY Region 1 – Singeria
• NY Region 2 – The Advocacy Center
• PR – APNI
• VT – Vermont Family Network
• WI – Wisconsin FACETS

Community Parent Resource Centers

• AK – LINKS Mat-Su
• CA – Support for Families
• IL – AAROW Community Parent Resource Center
• MN - Discapacitados Abriéndose Caminos
• NY - Buffalo Community Parent Resource Center
• NY – United We Stand
• SC – Family Resource Center for Disabilities and Special Needs
• WI – Aliana Latina Aplicando Soluciones (ALAS)
• WA – Open Doors

Parent Center Standards for Excellence Awards

Three Parent Training and Information Centers received Parent Center Standards "Excellence" awards and were recognized by their peers at the 2011 OSEP Mega Leadership Conference. The awards were given to Learning Disabilities Association of Hawaii, Nevada PEP, and Parent to Parent of Georgia based on information they had submitted regarding their family-centered services and nonprofit management practices. Congratulations!

Announcements & News

TA&D Center of the Month: Family Center on Technology and Disability

The Family Center on Technology and Disability (FCTD) supports programs and individuals that work with children with disabilities to more effectively incorporate assistive technology into their practice. Their website contains resource reviews, monthly newsletters, family guides, fact sheets, and success stories. Many of their materials are also available in Spanish. FCTD is a project of FHI360. More>>>

Division for Early Childhood Conference Stipends

The Division for Early Childhood’s (DEC) 27^th Annual International Conference for Young Children with Special Needs and their Families will be held in National Harbor, MD from November 17-19, 2011. DEC is offering 25 stipends to family members of young children with special needs to cover conference registration fees. Applications are due September 15, and further information is available on the conference website. More>>>

National Center for Ease of Use of Community-Based Services Survey

The National Center for Ease of Use of Community-Based Services is conducting a needs assessment of families and service providers to help guide their work and determine how various groups define “easy to use” health services. The mission of the National Center for Ease of Use of Community-Based Services is to advance policy and practice solutions that improve the ease of use of community-based services for families with a child with special health care needs (CSHCN). It is a project of the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Massachusetts Boston and funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). More>>>

Resources

Language Access Webinar and Resources

On July 14, 2011 the Parent Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) Multicultural Work Group held a webinar for Parent Centers about federal language access requirements and provided examples of language access assessments and plans.

Following are some additional language access resources:

Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services’ Toolkit for Teachers and School Personnel

National Center on Immigration Integration Policy’s Digital Library of Translated Documents

State Performance Plan Process and Indicators Policy Forum Report

Project Forum at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) has published the proceedings from a policy forum held May 11-13, 2011, to provide input to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) accountability reporting system known as the State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR) process. Participants discussed the benefits and challenges of the SPP/APR requirements and made recommendations for improvement. More>>>

Education and the Economy Brief

This report from Alliance for Excellent Education describes the economic benefits of improving the graduation rate of students from diverse backgrounds. More>>>

Addressing Bullying and Harassment Matters

This new publication from the Equity Alliance at Arizona State University provides background on the connection between bullying and harassment and describes culturally responsive ways of building a more positive school climate. More>>>

2011 State of Learning Disabilities Report

The National Center for Learning Disabilities recently released the 2011 State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends and Indicators report. The document provides national and state statistics, including prevalence rates, school data on graduation and discipline, post-secondary outcomes, and other information. The report also defines the term “learning disabilities” and explains common misconceptions. More>>>

2011 Kids Count Data Book

Another excellent source of national and state-by-state data is the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s “Kids Count” Data Book. The book includes data on a variety of well-being indicators such as poverty, birth weight, parental unemployment, and others. More>>>

“Who’s Who” In School

This article from Reading Rockets provide parents with short descriptions of various school personnel, such as specialists, literacy instructors, aides, and administration staff. More>>>

Nonprofit Management

How Boards of Directors Can Help New Executive Directors Succeed

This article provides 12 tips on ways boards can support executive directors transition to their new positions. More>>>

Technology

PDF Escape

PDFescape is a free web-based program that enables users to manipulate pages, add text boxes, and perform other editing functions of PDF documents. More>>>

Remote Access Basics

This TechSoup article defines key remote access terminology in order to help leaders evaluate whether it is a good fit for their organization. More>>>

Nonprofits and Google+

Learn how Google+ differs from previous social networking tools and factors nonprofits should consider before joining. More>>>