Special Education Resources

Today I stopped by Chloe's preschool classroom and in just a few minutes, realized some major frustrations of the teachers in regard to funding for technology assistance, equipment, etc. I started doing some research to see if/how I might be able to help them help me help Chloe. I found some great resources and wanted to pass along the great information!

• PEATC on Special Education - Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center. This is a great resource for special needs parents. There is a power point that gives a full tour of Special Education. There are glossaries for definitions and acronyms of terms frequently used in the Special Education world. There are fact sheets about many subjects relating to Special Education. Those are just the highlights. There are many other resources and useful tools. I highly recommend taking a peak at this site!
• PATCN - Parent Technical Assistance Center Network is a division of the U.S. Department of Education. They provide training and resources applicable to your specific region, in order to, "[improve] outcomes for children with disabilities and their families."
• OSEP - "The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts." There are resources about IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act), grants, technical assistance and training.
• TA&D - Technology Assistance & Disabilities is a project of OSEP. "The projects address topics such as autism, deafness, disproportional representation, dispute resolution, learning disabilities, parenting children with special needs, positive behavior support and transition. Most information and technical assistance is available free of charge."
• RRCP - The Regional Resource Centers Program is another part of OSEP. Its purpose is to "assist state education agencies in the systemic improvement of education programs, practices, and policies that affect children and youth with disabilities. Services offered by the RRC Program include consultation, information services, specially designed technical assistance, training, and product development."
• NICHCY - National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (um, not sure how they got that acronym from that name?) provides information and research on special education practices. I particularly like their state-specific resources.
• Special Ed Justice - News & information about Special Education Law.

Although many of these sites appear to have duplicate purposes and resources, I still think they are all worth a minute of your time to see which program will be most beneficial for your child's specific needs.

Tara