Resources for Special Education Professionals |
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May Update
This newsletter is designed to inform special education professionals about the different resources available to them to support their work with students and families.
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This edition of AJE's newsletter for Special Education Professionals includes:
- Professional Development Opportunities
- Classroom Tools and Resources
We hope you find our information helpful. If you do, please forward it to colleagues!
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Public Virtual Workshop on Supporting Children with Disabilities: Lessons from the Pandemic
June 13, 14, 15, 2022
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Board on Children, Youth and Families will host a 3-day virtual workshop focused on Supporting Children with Disabilities, Lessons from the Pandemic. The event is designed to explore promising approaches and innovative strategies employed during the pandemic to address challenges faced by children with disabilities and their families, including access to clinical service and treatment needs, home caregiving, and mental health treatment with an emphasis on underserved/under resourced children and families. In addition, the workshop will consider policies and/or practices that might be sustained or implemented beyond the pandemic to support children with disabilities and their families.
Day one (June 13) will include panels focused on lived expertise, hospital and outpatient settings (including telehealth), and school and educational settings.
Day two (June 14) will feature panels focused on home care settings, state and federal policy, and health equity.
Day three (June 15) will include panels on public health and emergency planning and planning for recovery, as well as closing reflections from planning committee members.
This workshop is sponsored by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. More information is available at the project's website here
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Virtual DC Youth Health Summit - an opportunity for students!
The DC Department of Health (DC Health) Youth Advisory Council (YAC), working in collaboration with the DC Department of Behavioral Health and Metropolitan Police Department, is delighted to invite youth aged 14-21 to attend our virtual Youth Health Summit on May 21, 2022, from 10 AM to 3 PM. They encourage all adolescents who live in the District of Columbia and are interested in improving the health and well-being of youth in their local communities to participate.
The summit will be focused on youth mental health, violence, and healthy behaviors. Mental well-being is essential for adolescents to have a positive quality of life and function well at home, at school, and in their communities. Locally, DC high and middle school students are increasingly reporting feeling sad and/or hopeless and attempting suicide, especially female students and those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (2019, DC YRBS). Due to increased social isolation and stress, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated these issues in the District. However, more District youth are taking action to address these health issues, and the summit is a vehicle in the District. However, more District youth are taking action to address these health issues, and the summit is a vehicle for them to work together and convene other youth.
The Youth Health Summit will be a starting point of conversation with youth from the District of Columbia regarding mental health, violence, and healthy behaviors. It will be convened to address these critical issues and related risk factors by providing a forum for them to organize, network, learn and share their hopes and concerns in a public setting. The summit led by the DC YAC will feature youth and expert panels, group discussions, brainstorming activities, and much more. It will provide youth the opportunity to play an active role in tackling issues that affect them most directly and create solutions.
They are seeking passionate youth in the District to join them for this ambitious convening and share the invite with peers!
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Services for Adults with Developmental Disabilities in DC: Learn What the New Law Says
Eligibility requirements are changing for adults with developmental disabilities to receive services from the DDS Developmental Disabilities Administration. You are invited to an Online Community Forum to learn more about the new law and how services can support residents with developmental disabilities to live self-directed lives. The discussion takes place
Thursday, May 19, 12 - 1:30 pm
Participants will
- receive an overview of the new law and eligibility requirements;
- learn about support services offered by DDA;
- gain insight about support services via a panel discussion with people with developmental disabilities and family members; and
- learn when and how to apply for services.
DC Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, Chair of the Council Committee on Human Services, will give opening remarks.
Interpretation will be provided in Spanish, Amharic, American Sign Language (ASL), and captioning in English. To learn more, see the attached flyer or click on the links below. For additional accessibility requests, please contact ucedd@georgetown.edu or call 202-687- 8807.
Language Translated Event Flyers:
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What You Need To Know: OSSE-DOT
OSSE-DOT has increased access to reimbursement for parents and LEAs who provide transportation to students who should be transported by OSSE. The parent reimbursement forms are here - Parent Certification, OSSE-DOT Guidelines, and W9.
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Section 504
Forty-five years after the publication of the regulations implementing Section 504 of the landmark Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Department announced plans to gather public input on possible amendments to those regulations to protect and strengthen the rights of students with disabilities. Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in public and private programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance, including K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions. The Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will solicit public comments to help decide how best to improve current rules.
Lessons from the Field
You can view previous "Lessons from the Field" webinars here.
To support the continued recruitment of new school bus drivers during the pandemic, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) granted a 90-day extension of its temporary waiver of the “under-the-hood” skills test that is part of a new commercial driver’s license (CDL) application. This extension expires June 30, 2022.
Title IX and STEM
Deputy Secretary Marten and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy held a fireside chat on the role of Title IX in exposing girls and women to the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
College Scorecard
The Department released updates to the College Scorecard that make the interactive tool more useful for students and families weighing college options. The tool also features new and revised information that may be beneficial to school counselors, college access providers, researchers, and other critical stakeholders. These updates include restoring metrics that help compare institutions’ costs, graduation rates, post-college earnings, and more (press release, Secretary’s tweet, and Department’s tweet).
Among the updates is a refresh of the cumulative loan debt of borrowers at both the institutional level and the field of study within each institution, as well as federal student loan repayment rates for institutions.
Also, for the first time since 2018, the Department is publishing institution-level earnings data, providing an overall sense of the career outcomes for alumni, and additional information about graduates who are better off having gone to college, by showing the percentage of those earning more than the typical worker with only a high school diploma.
The College Scorecard includes many examples of institutions that are inclusive and serve students well, closing gaps in the completion rates among students of color compared with white students and ensuring programs lead to positive career outcomes with manageable levels of debt. For example, the University of Baltimore, a predominantly black institution in Maryland, charges much lower tuition rates than most four-year institutions and has median post-college earnings of more than $58,000. As another example, Valenica College, a community college in Florida with three in four undergraduate students of color, has narrowed its completion rate gap; currently, 45% of white students and 41% of Hispanic students graduate from the program.
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Additional Links - New Reports & Resources on Special Education, Mental Health Support for Teachers, Parents and Students & Talking about Covid-19 with Families. |
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The US Education and Justice Departments issued a Fact Sheet on Supporting Students at Risk of Self Harm During COVID-19 Era
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Education crafted a Letter to Educators outlining the civil rights obligations of schools to students with mental health disabilities.
Educator Mental Health & Family Wellness and Support team at the DC Department of Behavioral Health has shared these resources -
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Supporting DC's Youngest Students and Learners
Early Stages, a program of DCPS, is how DC plans to identify, locate and evaluate children between the ages of 2 years 8 months and 5 years 10 months suspected of having a disability and who are NOT already enrolled in another LEA (a Charter school).
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education's Strong Start DC Early Intervention Program provides early intervention therapeutic and additional services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays. Strong Start also accepts online referrals now.
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Talking to Parents about Vaccination and Understanding Vaccine Hesitancy
Additional information can be found in this infographic.
Do you want to build your skills to have conversations about the vaccine?
This online course aims to provide “vaccine ambassadors” with the tools to discuss concerns about COVID-19 vaccines with people in their communities. The self-paced course teaches adults how to have respectful and empathetic conversations with parents and guardians who remain hesitant about vaccination for their children, even if they are vaccinated themselves.
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Upcoming Events for Families and Children
AJE Seeking Parent Survey Participants
Please share this opportunity with families you work with - you can cut and paste the paragraphs below for interested parents.
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If you live in Ward 1, 5, 7, or 8, we invite you to participate in our health equity project where you can receive up to $50 in gift cards! This is a parent-led advocacy effort to eliminate racial disparities and improve equitable access to health care for children and youth with disabilities and special healthcare needs in the District.
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Si vive en barrio 1, 5, 7 o 8, ¡lo invitamos a participar en nuestro proyecto de equidad en salud donde puede recibir hasta $50 en tarjetas de regalo! Este es un esfuerzo de defensa dirigido por los padres para eliminar las disparidades raciales y mejorar el acceso equitativo a la atención médica para niños y jóvenes con discapacidades y necesidades especiales de atención médica en el Distrito.
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Information About Telemedicine:
Are you worried about the efficacy of telehealth visits? New research indicates that maybe you shouldn't be.
In general, the evidence shows that using video teleconferencing in health care results in outcomes that are just as good as and in some cases better than in-person care," said lead researcher Jordan Albritton, a public health analyst with RTI International, a nonprofit research institute in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
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About AJE:
Advocates for Justice and Education is the federally designated Parent Training and Information Center and the Health Information Center for DC. AJE seeks to empower families, youth, and the community to be effective advocates to ensure that children and youth, particularly those who have special needs, receive access to appropriate education and health services.
Our passion is empowering families by equipping parents and students with disabilities with the tools they need to be their own best advocates.
Have questions? We are here to educate, advocate and empower. Contact us today!
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Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc.| (P) 202.678.8060 | (F) 202.678.8062 |
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