Resources

I also want to make sure everyone knows about the ADE media lending library. It works like Netflix…

There are videos like Rick Lavoie FAT city which has the audience explore what it feels like to have a learning disability (and I highly recommend if you haven’t seen) to videos based on Autism, behavior, classroom management, ADHD, transition, specific disabilities, behavior and much more.  

Here’s a link to the Free Media Lending Catalog from the Arizona Department of Education.  On page 20 of this booklet is the form to request a video/DVD with fax instructions. Requested items may be checked out for two weeks.

From Lisa Dee Meyerson Marshall: 

Here is a link to a parent lending library with great resources for parents in our district. There are books on learning disabilities, autism, divorce, grandparenting, anxiety, sensory integration disfunction, etc., etc. It was put together by the Cherokee LRC teacher Jen Germain with donations from some parents. She wants to make it available to teachers and parents districtwide.

I visited the web site and have included the information from Jen’s web page. She has collected quite a few of the “classics”, as well many other interesting looking books, providing a great resource for parents of children with special needs.

Cherokee Parent Book Lending Library

The lending library is ready! I will be available on Tuesday from 7:15-7:45 and Thursday from 2:15-2:45 for you to browse and check out. Feel free to email me if you would like a book sent home with your child or would like to have me set aside a book for you.

These are the titles in the library-

• Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew by Ellen Notbohm
• Ten Things Your Student with Autism Wishes You Knew by Ellen Notbohm
• Letters to Sam: A Grandfather’s Lesson on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life by Daniel Gottlieb
• Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir by Daniel Tammet
• It’s All About Attitude: Loving and Living Well with Autism by Kathy Almeida and Gayle Nobel
• Mainstreaming: Ideas for Teaching Young Children by Judith Souweine, Sheila Crimmins, and Carolyn Mazel
• A Mind Apart by Susanne Antonetta
• Simple Secrets of Parenting Easy as ABC by John Q. Baucom, Ph.D.
• Ready or Not, Here Life Comes by Mel Levine, M.D.
• It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend by Richard Lavoie
• The Dog Trainer’s Guide to Parenting by Harold R. Hansen
• Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports from My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin
• Chicken Soup for the Preteen a compilation of authors
• The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
• Grandparenting-A New Challenge by Helene Gonski
• Family First by Dr. Phil McGraw
• What I Wish You Knew from the editors of American Girl
• Helping Your Depressed Child by Martha Underwood Barnard, Ph.D.
• Learning Disabilities and Your Child by Lawrence J. Greene
• You’re a Stepparent… Now What? By Joseph Cerquone
• A Mind at a Time by Mel Levine, M.D.
• Understanding Dyslexia by Anne Marshall Huston, Ed.D.
• Helping Your Anxious Child by Ronald M. Rapee, Ph.D., Susan H. Spence, Ph.D., Vanessa Cobham, Ph.D., and Ann Wignall, M. Psych
• Everyday Parents Raising Great Kids by James D. MacArthur, Ph.D.
• Childhood Speech, Language & Listening Problems by Patricia McAleer Hamaguchi
• Helping Children Survive Divorce by Dr. Archibald D. Hart
• Life Landscapes-Parents Talk About Raising Children with Disabilities The Saskatchewan Family Resilience Project
• Keys to Parenting the Gifted Child by Sylvia B. Rimm, Ph.D.
• Overcoming Autism by Lynn Kerns Koegel, PH.D and Claire LaZebnik
• Worried no More Help and Hope for Anxious Children Second Edition by Aureen Pinto Wagner Ph.D.
• Behavioral Intervention for young Children with Autism Edited by Catherine Maurice, coedited by Gina Green and Stephen C. Luce
• Relationship Development Intervention with Young Children Social and Emotional Development Activities for Asperger Syndrome, Autism, PDD and NLD by Steven E. Gutstein & Rachelle K. Sheely
• Helping a Child with Nonverbal Learning Disorder or Asperger’s Syndrome by Kathryn Stewart Ph.D. Leading founder and Executive of the Orion Academy
• Do-Watch-Listen-Say Social and Communication Intervention for Children with Autism by Kathleen Ann Quill
• Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs (Raising the Bar of Expectations) by Judy Winter
• Love and Logic Solutions for Kids with Special Needs by David Funk
• Negotiating the Special Education Maze (Third Edition) A Guide for Parents and Teachers by Winifred Anderson, Stephen Chitwood, and Deidre Hayden
• A Parent’s Guide to Developmental Delays (Recognizing and Coping with Missed Milestones in Speech, Movement, Learning and Other Areas) by Laurie LeComer, M.Ed.
• Engaging Autism by Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D. and Serena Wieder, Ph.D
• It’s All About Attitude (loving and living well with autism) by Kathy Almeida and Gayle Nobel
  Activity Schedules for Children with Autism (Teaching Independent Behavior) by Lynn E. McClannahan, Ph.D. and Patricia J. Krantz, Ph.D.
• My Baby Can Dance (Stories of Autism, Asperger’s and Success through the Relationship Development Intervention (RDI Program) Introduction by Steven E. Gutstein Ph.D. Edited by Steven E. Gutstein, Hannah R. Gutstein and Carlotta Band
• Children with Autism (A Parents’ Guide) Second Edition Edited by Michael D. Powers, Psy.D. Foreword by Temple Grandin
• Let Me Hear Your Voice (A family’s triumph over autism)A universal tale of hope, love, hard work and ultimate triumph by Catherine Maurice
• Right from the Start (Behavioral Intervention for young Children with Autism. A guide for Parents and Professionals) by Sandra L. Harris, Ph.D. and Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.d
• Helping Your Socially Vulnerable Child (What to do when your child is shy, socially anxious, withdrawn, or bullied) by Andrew R. Eisen, Ph.D. & Linda B. Engler, Ph.D.
• Overcoming Autism (Finding the answers, and hope that can transform a child’s life) by Lynn kerns Koegel Ph.D., and Claire LaZebnik
• It’s So Much Work to be Your Friend (Helping the child with learning disabilities find social success) by Richard Lavoie
• Understanding Autism for Dummies by Stephen M. Shore, MA and Linda G. Rastelli, MA Note: (Free eTips at dummies.com)
• The Child With Special Needs by Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D. and Serena Wieder, P.h.D. with Robin Simons
• The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Integration Dysfunction by Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A.

At this time, I am requesting donations to put in the library. If you have any books at home that you thought were excellent, please consider sharing them with other parents in the Cherokee community. If you have any recommendations for great books that you can’t part with, email me at jgermain@susd.org with the titles. Lastly, if you can donate time to monitor the library or money to buy books that aren’t donated, I would appreciate any assistance!

Lois Healey, the Director of Special Education Services in the Scottsdale Unified School District is contributing a monthly column on our SEPACS website. This month she has submitted the following chart, SPECIAL EDUCATION-When Parents have questions and concerns, outlining the seven step process that parents can take when we have questions or concerns regarding the education of our children with special education needs. Most issues get resolved at the first level, our local school, and is always the best place to start.

Thanks, Lois, for your contributions!

You can also find this chart on our web site on our Local Resource Page.

The Special Education program location grid, for the Scottsdale Unified School district, has been updated for the 2008-2009 school year.  You will find it on our web site under Program Descriptions.

Remember that today there will be than 100 organizations that provide services and products for people with disabilities will answer questions and distribute information at the Arizona Disabilities Expo.

Details: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday at Phoenix Convention Center, Hall G, 33 S. Third St. Free. Susan DeNova, 602-470-1802, ext. 114, or www.azdx.com.  

This approach redefines the parent’s role in homework. With time tested strategies to use, the parent’s role shifts from homework sergeant to homework facilitator. The stress from nightly homework challenges is eliminated. Using these strategies, parents are able to guide their children to learn how to become self-advocates in their education and how to get their teachers to meet their personal learning needs in every classroom they enter.

Tuesday Feb 5, 2008, 7-9pm
Brimhall Jr. High Auditorium
4949 E. Southern Mesa, AZ 85206
Open to the public, $5 each, pay at the door.
Sponsored by Mesa Supporters of the Gifted and Talented (krismason@msgt.org). To register, call 480-472-7278.

Pam Murphy, SEPAC program director, passed on this Attention Deficit Disorder resource to share with you:

ADD Resources, the first choice for quality ADHD information

Founded in 1993, Attention Deficit Disorder Resources (ADD Resources) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization run mostly by adult volunteers with ADHD. We are dedicated to supporting, educating and serving as a resource for people with ADHD.

The mission of Attention Deficit Disorder Resources is to help people with ADHD achieve their full potential through education, support and networking opportunities.

Attention Deficit Disorder Resources maintains an educational website, a bookstore, and a lending library with over 450 titles of ADHD books, audiotapes and videos.

We’ve added a link to this site from our SEPACS web resources pages, too.

This article from the East Valley Tribune was published almost a month ago, and just came up in my Google alert this morning.

Testing rules hamper special ed planners - September 23, 2007

My first reaction was one of disbelief, so I emailed Lois Healey, Director of Special Education for the Scottsdale School district, asking if it was indeed true.  She responded that unfortunately the rule change (disallowing accommodation during district and state testing) was true and that Tom Horne has filed an appeal with the Federal Government, but that there’s no knowing how long it will take to get a response.

Lisa Marshall emailed me that we have a new Director of Special Education (as of the beginning of 2007) at the Arizona Department of Education Exceptional Student Services. I’m not sure how we missed this announcement, but from reading the Arizona State Advisory Panel for Special Education meeting minutes, I discovered:

http://www.ade.az.gov/ess/SEAP/11-28-06.pdf

Dr. Busenbark announced that Superintendent Horne has reassigned Joanne Phillips to work on special projects for special education. She will continue to work on statutory revisions to the Arizona Revised Statues and Arizona Administrative Code. Ms. Phillips will also be concentrating on revising the Special Education AZTAS documents. At the time of the November meeting a replacement had not been announced.

.. and..

http://www.ade.az.gov/ess/SEAP/01-16-07.pdf

Lynn Busenbark, PhD, Deputy Associate Superintendent, Exceptional Student Services, introduced Colette Chapman, who is the Assistant Deputy Associate Superintendent, Exceptional Student Services. Ms. Chapman will take over the role of Deputy Associate Superintendent and State Director of Special Education when Dr. Busenbark retires in June. Dr. Busenbark also introduced Cyndi Bolewski, who is the Director in the ESS Tucson office. Ms. Bolewski is currently working with Dr. Busenbark on the Annual Performance Report and will continue to work on the report after Dr. Busenbark’s retirement.

 Contact Info for the Director of Special Education:

Colette Chapman – Deputy Associate Superintendent
Tel: (602) 542-4013
Email: Colette.Chapman@azed.gov