Dear NASET News, Welcome to NASET'sWEEK in REVIEW. Here, we provide you with the latest publications from NASET to read and or download, as well as some of the most interesting articles that have happened this week in the field of special education. We hope you enjoy this publication. Feel free to send us articles for this publication or let us know your thoughts about the WEEK in REVIEW at news@naset.org. Have a great weekend.
Sincerely,
NASET News Team |
NEW THIS WEEK ON NASETParent Teacher Conference Handout #137April Issue #137Parent counseling and training is an important related service that can help parents enhance the vital role they play in the lives of their children. Its definition is found at §300.34(c)(8) and reads: (8)(i) Parent counseling and training means assisting parents in understanding the special needs of their child; (ii) Providing parents with information about child development; and (iii) Helping parents to acquire the necessary skills that will allow them to support the implementation of their child's IEP or IFSP. The first two parts of this definition are longstanding in IDEA. The last part-regarding helping parents acquire the necessary skills that will allow them to support the implementation of their child's IEP or IFSP-was added in IDEA '97 "to recognize the more active role of parents as participants in the education of their children" (71 Fed. Reg. at 46573) and is retained in IDEA 2004. As with all related services, parent counseling and training would only be provided to parents "if a child's IEP team determines that it is necessary for the child to receive FAPE" (Id.). Read More
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NASET's The Practical TeacherFire Safety: How to Teach an Essential Life Skill. By Molly Clifford, Robert Cole, PhD, and Carolyn KourifskyThis issue of NASET's Practical Teacher was written by Molly Clifford, Robert Cole, PhD, and Carolyn Kourofsky. Preventable injuries are the leading cause of death for all children and teens, and those with intellectual disabilities are at higher for such injuries, including fire and burns. Teens are an especially important group to reach with effective fire safety skills, because they are approaching an age when many will move into more independent living situations-where their risk increases. This article includes six modules for lessons and classroom activities, discussion prompts and take-home materials that cover the key skills of kitchen safety, smoke alarms and exit plans, and calling 911. Read More |
The Arc Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Special Education Case: "The IDEA Demands More"On Wednesday, in the second major win for students with disabilities and their families before the U.S. Supreme Court this term, the Court issued a unanimous decision in the special education case Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1. In an opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court clarified the test for determining whether school districts have met their obligation to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with disabilities, definitively rejecting the incredibly low standard utilized by the Tenth Circuit in this case. Significantly, this is the first time the Court has articulated a specific standard of review for educational benefit required for schools to meet their FAPE obligations under the IDEA. In 1982, the Court held in Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley that the IDEA establishes a substantive right to FAPE for children with disabilities but declined to establish a specific standard for determining when children with disabilities are receiving sufficient educational benefits to satisfy the IDEA. Lower courts have thus interpreted this substantive right in a variety of ways, some applying an incredibly low standard of review as the Tenth Circuit did in this case, while others have established a higher bar and called for a "meaningful benefit" standard. Read More |

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The Separate, Unequal Education of Students with Special NeedsBrent Agnew remembers feeling a sense of relief when he left the meeting called to discuss his 6-year-old son Caleb's anxiety attacks. As he and his wife, Jennifer, walked into the parking lot outside the E. E. Butler Center in Gainesville, Georgia, that day in 2006, the two could picture a different future for Caleb. At the meeting, a special-education teacher had recommended taking the boy out of Martin Elementary School, in a town 10 miles southwest of Gainesville, and placing him in Georgia's Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support (GNETS), a statewide system for children with "emotional and behavioral disorders." Read More |
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Oakland Students with Disabilities Use New Sensory RoomStudents at Oakland-Craig Public School with sensory impairments and other disabilities have been using the school's new sensory room to relax. Students on the Autism spectrum, as well as students with attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, have had access to the room for the past month. The room is designed to give students who have difficulty performing in traditional education environments a sensory break in order to help them tune out sensory distractions while focusing in the classroom. "Our end goal is that they won't need this room anymore and they can go and be in a classroom, and be independent and have those coping mechanisms in their own tool box that they can use to be successful," Occupational therapist Ashley Johnson said. Read More |
A Study on Paperwork in Special Education
The Common Good Institute, a nonpartisan government reform think tank based in Brooklyn, NY, is recruiting special education teachers in K-12 public schools to participate in a small study by taking just five minutes each day, for three weeks, to report the number of hours they spend on paperwork. A teacher's participation will be strictly confidential, and Common Good will provide a $100 Amazon gift card to each participant. Any full-time special education teacher in a K-12 public school is eligible to participate in the study. Common Good's goal is to provide a clear picture to lawmakers, regulators and the general public about how much time teachers are losing to paperwork-much of which could be spent to meet student needs-and to build support for reform that streamlines or eliminates any unnecessary paperwork that does little to help special education students. To participate in Common Good's study or for more information, please contact David Choi at dchoi@commongood.org. |
Launch of Alto, America's First Advantage Club for People with DisabilitiesAlto, America's first advantage club for people with disabilities and their families announces its launch today. Alto is designed to be the essential consumer destination for the 57 million Americans living with disability. It offers exclusive savings on the products and services that people with disabilities need and want to improve their quality of life. The launch includes more than 1,000 aggregated exclusive savings and benefits on everything from mobility products to daily living, insurance and travel. Members of the Alto Advantage Club will be able to find and buy products with greater ease than ever before and save hundreds of dollars a year. 'It is incredible that until now this powerful consumer group has been largely ignored by countless retailers. Finding the appropriate resources for people with disabilities is often emotionally draining and time consuming for people and their families. It is so refreshing to see a business endeavor that is catering to this market by curating and centralizing the very best products at competitive prices to help people living with disabilities in every aspect of their lives' David Small Executive Director, Variety - the Children's Charity. Read More |
Individuals with ADHD Make Good Entrepreneurs: StudyPeople with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can harness their symptoms by becoming entrepreneurs, researchers say. A study by the University of Bath in England found symptoms such as hyperactivity and impulsiveness, which pose daily challenges to those with ADHD, can be beneficial. Such symptoms can have a positive impact on entrepreneurial traits such as risk taking, persistence and time commitment. Impulsiveness - which people with ADHD can find difficult to suppress - results in bold business decisions made intuitively without considering the consequences. Several participants in the study cited boredom in previous jobs as a reason for setting up their own company, where they could follow their own ideas when they wanted. Read More |
Board Certification in Special Education Available to NASET Members Through an agreement with The American Academy of Special Education Professionals(AASEP), NASET members now have the opportunity to achieve AASEP Board Certification in Special Education - (B.C.S.E.) at a reduced fee. AASEP Board Certification in Special Education - (B.C.S.E.) is a voluntary choice on the part of the candidate. The candidate for Board Certification wishes to demonstrate a commitment to excellence to employers, peers, administrators, other professionals, and parents. From the standpoint of the Academy, board certification will demonstrate the highest professional competency in the area of special education. Board Certification in Special Educationestablishes a much needed standard for professionals, across disciplines, who work with exceptional children.Read More |
New Autism Study Released Reveal Startling StatisticsA new study on autism has been published by the American Journal of Public Health a week ahead of Autism Awareness Day. The study was conducted over a 15-year period ending in 2014, thumbing through over 39 million death records, screening the codes on each record. It found those with an autism diagnosis were three times more likely to die from injuries than the rest of the general population. That number among children rises dramatically. Children with autism are 40 times more likely to die from injuries than the general child population. Read More |
In Singapore, Photography and Music Help Children with Disabilities Connect with SocietyFor 24-year-old Joshua Yeo, a photography workshop for individuals with autism, which concluded yesterday, not only helped to hone his photo-taking skills but also taught him how to communicate with others. "Josh learnt to approach someone and ask for permission to take their picture and to understand why some may not be comfortable with him doing so," said his mother Karen Yeo. Mr Yeo, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 10, started experimenting with photography two years ago and enjoys taking portraits as well as candid shots of people. "He'd take seemingly random shots of people's feet on the carpet or even his own facial features, like his tongue," Mrs Yeo added. "Because we found it very hard to communicate with him, these photos gave us some idea of how he looked at things." Read More |
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