Providing Information and Support for Parents and Grandparents to Learn and Act
Early intervention services can make a big difference for students who are at risk for learning disabilities. What should teachers look for?
— Read on www.edutopia.org/article/recognizing-signs-potential-learning-disabilities-preschool
Taking advantage of early intervention services is important, paired with screening focused on identifying risk in learners.
Detroit is now giving Covid-19 vaccinations to people with ADHD, autism, vision or hearing impairments, and other intellectual and developmental disabilities.
— Read on www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/detroit-s-covid-vaccination-queue-one-first-include-people-adhd-n1258399
An important decision to improve access for those individuals having problems with mask wearing and social distancing.
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are offering up a new estimate of the number of American children with intellectual disability.
— Read on www.disabilityscoop.com/2021/01/21/cdc-study-pinpoints-prevalence-of-intellectual-disability/29160/
Nationwide the CDC found 1.2% of children 8 years old had IQ scores 70 or below, qualifying these children for the traditional diagnosis of intellectual disability diagnosis. The majority, 78%, had mild intellectual disability, suggesting that many of these children can participate in educational opportunities within the regular classroom and ultimately will likely live within the community.
Nearly 12% were classified as having moderate intellectual disability and 1% are considered severe and profoundly disabled. These children require extensive modifications of the school curriculum and specially trained personnel. As adults these children with require specialized housing and support for daily functional skills.
This study also found that intellectual disability is twice as likely in boys, than girls, and in children of color when compared to white children. Nearly 39% of these children had autism.
Continued progress on a life-limiting genetic disorder gives hope for many with rare diseases. Science is the path for many to live life independently.
staff.
— Read on www.disabilityscoop.com/2021/01/05/advocates-covid-19-relief-leaves-out-people-with-disabilities/29138/
Yet again, the disability community has been shocked by the lack of a meaningful commitment to the everyday lives and survival of our nation’s most vulnerable. Congress has passed another relief package with a token dollar amount for individuals, yet no critical funding for services that would support the everyday life of persons with disabilities and their families.
www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/health/Covid-toddlers-playdates.html
The importance of social interaction is the substance of the daily concern of many early intervention specialists. The target population is the young child, two to five years of age. Typically developing children in the youngest group will usually benefit most from healthy parental relationships and the incidental emergence of language and cognitive skills.
Children with developmental delays are not so easily led into developmental skills. Language is often modeled through small group interactions. Cognitive skills need to be broken into tasks, each manageable for the child, expanding as the child understands and masters the skills.
Virtual learning during the pandemic for these young children with developmental issues is not the path to substantial social, emotional, and cognitive growth.
Students with educational disabilities have an IEP which details the special education services to be provided to your child. No children with IEPs have has these services provided in accordance with their IEPs since the closures of schools nationwide in March 2020. Most of America assumed, based on confusing advice from our leadership and health officials, that schools would open for in-person learning, waving farewell to the ill-conceived notion of virtual learning for students with IEPs.
Many of these children may be non-verbal, have physical disabilities, or attention deficits. Many parents work. In order to access an appropriate education, often speech and language therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy are required.
What is a family to do? How will these children with significant learning challenges be able to access the appropriate curriculum? Regression in learning is taking place for regular and special education students when only able to access their learning virtually.
To counteract this loss of access, some school systems are transporting students with disabilities to schools on certain days, in combination with virtual learning. Since many of these students have health conditions placing them at risk if exposed to COVID, returning to a physical classroom, mainstreamed with their appropriate grade and age peers, is too dangerous.
In-home services by teachers and other appropriately trained therapists should begin as soon as these personnel can be identified. School systems are struggling to engage personnel, provide safe transportation, physically distanced classrooms, and assess how to compensate students for their interruption of services.
While in the long-run parents will need to decide for their family what is best for their child, school systems need to provide the safe and effective environments for special education which can be safely selected by parents and children.
www.wsj.com/articles/the-lasting-benefits-of-preschool-11603378648
Preschool education has a lasting effect on young children, helping learning and increasing socialization skills.
Parents of children with disabilities have had significant interruptions in their children’s delivery of IEP services. School systems have a continuing obligation to provide services. Some will provide a combination of virtual and in person. While this is very difficult for many children and families, the services must be consistent with services provided to all children.
With an unprecedented school year underway, federal officials are weighing in yet again on how educators ought to be serving students with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
— Read on www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/10/05/ed-department-reminds-schools-of-idea-obligations-during-pandemic/29019/
The 2019 American Community Survey estimated that among noninstitutionalized civilians with a disability in the U.S., 7.9M are employed and 0.9M are unemployed.
— Read on www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/disability-employment-awareness-month.html
Celebrating the work of persons with disabilities in the workplace. Diversity and creativity abound.
Early Intervention Services and Special Education for Parents and Grandparents 