Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

• National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS) is the leading voice and resource of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) community. NOFAS, the only international FASD non-profit organization, is committed to prevention, advocacy and support.  NOFAS effectively increases public awareness and mobilizes grassroots action in diverse communities and represents the interests of persons with FASD and their caregivers as the liaison to researchers and policymakers. By ensuring that FASD is broadly recognized as a developmental disability, NOFAS strives to reduce the stigma and improve the quality of life for affected individuals and families.  
• For "What Teachers Need to Know about FAS"
• For a National and Statewide Directory of all the information on FAS (you can even search by zip code)
• For numerous fact sheets on FAS
• Finally, a great article on Guidelines for Identifying and Referring Persons with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can be found here.

Floortime for Children with Autism

• Excellent overview with practical suggestions: Greenspan describes six emotional milestones or stages of development that form a developmental ladder. "Children achieve these milestones at different ages - there is wide variation even among children without challenges.
• Description of Floortime used for learning and development: Over the past 20 years, Stanley Greenspan, MD and colleagues have published numerous articles on theories of child development. Only one relates specifically to children with autism; others may include references to autism among an array of disabilities. At the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, Greenspan et al have worked with children with a wide range of disabilities from infancy through age 10. Read more... 

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

• Q&A and articles dealing with FAPE: This page has Qs & As, articles, law, cases, books, and other resources about FAPE. 
• 7 steps to getting Free and Appropriate Education 

Functional Behavioral Analysis 

• Functional Behavioral Analysis and Change Plans: These Websites provides assistance to educators in evaluating problem behavior and designing behavioral interventions. 
• The Childhood Learning Center: Their workshops cover a large variety of topics from the behavioral perspective. Each workshop is taught by a qualified behavior analyst and in most cases arrangements can be made for continuing education units. 
• Addressing Student Problem Behavior: the article that provides a wide range of topics discussing behavioral analysis, strategies, assessments and techniques used with children with disabilities. 
• This site provides information on useful behavioral strategies and techniques, when working with autistic children and their parents.: When considering what new behaviors to teach a child, one must typically consider the behaviors that the child is currently exhibiting. Often, a goal might be to replace a current behavior, one which may be inadequate in effectively meeting the child's needs, or inappropriate in the current environment, especially those behaviors are severely maladaptive, aggressive, or self-injurious. 
• Using Functional Analysis to Improve Reading Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities and Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: This site contains an article that describes an approach to reading instruction for students with learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders in which teachers use principles of functional analysis to generate hypotheses for the causes of reading failure. 

Functional Behavioral Assessment 

• Functional Behavioral Assessment:  This mini-web is designed to provide you with the resources needed to understand the usefulness of functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention plans in addressing student problem behavior, as well as what the law requires of school districts with regard to these topics. 
• Addressing Student Problem Behavior- An IEP Team’s Introduction To Functional Behavioral Assessment And Behavior Intervention Plans.  
• Behavior OnLine- The gathering place for Mental Health and Applied Behavioral Science Professionals. 
• Guidance on Functional Behavioral Assessments for Students with Disabilities  
• Functional Behavioral Assessment: What, Why, When, Where, and Who?- An article by Stephen Starin, Ph.D.  
• Multimodal Functional Behavioral Assessment- A recommended process.  
• Multimodal Functional Behavioral Assessment- Multimodal functional behavioral assessment is the process of identifying important, controllable, and causal functions related to a specific set of target behaviors for a child. The basic philosophy of mfba is that strategic and valid interventions should be coupled with a commitment to treatment integrity and critical outcome evaluation. 
• The Functional Analysis of Behavior- Examines the theoretical and ethical limits.  
• The Link Between Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBAs) and Behavioral Intervention Plans (BIPs)- Most research efforts have focused on procedures for conducting an FBA. Fitzsimmons (1998) summarized the typical processes of conducting FBAs, which include five core steps: (1) verify the seriousness of the problem; (2) define the problem behavior in concrete terms; (3) collect data on possible causes of problem behavior; (4) analyze the data; and (5) formulate and test a hypothesis. However, individuals who conduct FBAs do not necessarily incorporate these data into the student's BIP.  
• The Link Between Problem Behavior and Effective Intervention in Schools- An approach to functional behavioral assessments.  
• What is a Functional Assessment? - A functional behavioral assessment, or analysis, is a process which seeks to identify the problem behavior a child or adolescent may exhibit, particularly in school, to determine the function or purpose of the behavior, and to develop interventions to teach acceptable alternatives to the behavior.  
• Functional Behavioral Assessment and the New IDEA: This site discusses serious issues teachers in special education face, such as the presence of challenging behaviors. Functional assessment can be used to establish a basis for individualized behavior management programming. With the development of IDEA 1997, policies and procedures have changed to make functional behavioral assessment mandatory. 

G 

General Information about Disabilities 

Disabilities That Qualify Infants, Toddlers, Children, and Youth for Services under the IDEA:Every year, under the federal law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), millions of children with disabilities receive special services designed to meet their unique needs. This is a good overview article of services and needs of children with disabilities birth to 21. 

Gifted and Talented

Government Agencies

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