Update from the National Dissemination Center for Children and Youth with
Disabilities with more info about our kids and sex than you would ever want
to know (see bottom dozen links)-

Latest Information on Autism- The GAO has released a report entitled Special
Education: Children with Autism, in which GAO reports on the trend in the
number of children diagnosed with autism served under IDEA, the services
provided to these children, the estimated per pupil expenditures for
educating children with autism, and approaches to their education. Find the
report online at http://www.gao.gov/docdblite/details.php?rptno=GAO-05-220.

Full report, text-only version at http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05220.html.
Full report, PDF version at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05220.pdf.

Have Your Heard of Facilitated IEP Meetings?

According to CADRE and the Alliance, facilitated IEP meetings are an
emerging practice. CADRE is the National Center on Dispute Resolution. More
info at http://www.directionservice.org/cadre. Info on the Technical
Assistance Alliance for Parent Centers is at http://www.taalliance.org/.
They've teamed to produce Facilitated IEP Meetings: An Emerging Practice,
which provides parents and other family members with an introduction to IEP
facilitation.

The guide in English is at
http://www.directionservice.org/cadre/facilitatediep.cfm.
The guide in Spanish is at
http://www.directionservice.org/cadre/facilitatediepspan.cfm.

Considering Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

A number of interesting and useful resources have emerged recently with
respect to providing services to those with intellectual or developmental
disabilities, namely:

Practical Oral Care for People With Developmental Disabilities at
http://www.nohic.nidcr.nih.gov/poc/Index.aspx. The National Oral Health
Information Clearinghouse (NOHIC) has released this new publication series,
to equip dental professionals in the community with the basic information
they need to provide oral care to people with mild or moderate
developmental disabilities. Publications provide practical management
strategies for office-based dental care and information to support
home-based oral hygiene. Send this to your child's dentist!

Expectations for Students with Cognitive Disabilities: Is the Cup Half Empty
or Half Full? Can the Cup Flow Over? at
(http://education.umn.edu/nceo/OnlinePubs/Synthesis55.pdf.

A new 41-page report from the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO)
examines the issue of academic expectations for students with cognitive
disabilities within the context of the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act. How many students with
cognitive disabilities can be expected to achieve the same level of
proficiency as other students? To what extent can we predict who these
students are? What effects do teacher expectations have on student
achievement? The report addresses these questions and more.

Think College at http://www.thinkcollege.net/index.php.

Youth with intellectual disabilities have not had many chances to go to
college. This is changing as individuals across the country begin to create
opportunities for these youth to reap the benefits of postsecondary
education. This Web site provides information and links to anyone interested
in finding out more about the possibilities.

Summit: Mark your calendars for September 22 and 23, 2005 for the Alliance
for Full Participation. Info at
http://www.allianceforfullparticipation.org/main/.

In December 2003, ten leading organizations serving the developmental
disabilities field officially joined together to form the Alliance for Full
Participation, LLC. The Alliance's objective is full realization of the
vision of people with developmental disabilities living meaningful,
productive and personally satisfying lives in their community of choice. On
September 22-23, 2005, this Alliance will host a 2005 Summit: Many Voices,
One Vision in Washington, DC to bring together those committed to making the
promises inherent in the Developmental Disabilities Act for Americans a
reality. Find out more at the link above, including who your state liaison
is and how to get involved.

Considering Students with LD. Here are links to some of the information.

Beyond F.A.T. City at
http://teacher.shop.pbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=1919051.

LD expert Rick Lavoie has released a new video on LD for parents and
educators called Beyond F.A.T. City, A Look Back, A Look Ahead. This release
is a follow-up to the original 1998 best-selling Lavoie video, How Difficult
Can This Be? The F.A.T. City Workshop, which underscores the Frustration,
Anxiety and Tension (F.A.T.) that many children with learning disabilities
experience. Available on VHS and DVD, this new program explores practical
strategies and provides expert insights for helping children with learning
disabilities. Both the VHS and DVD come with a 52-page Viewer’s Guide, and
the DVD includes a
Spanish-language track. The program may be purchased for $49.95 by calling
PBS VIDEO’s 24-hour, toll-free, customer service line at 1-800-344-3337; by
mailing a check or money order made payable to PBS VIDEO to P.O. Box 279,
Melbourne, FL 32902-0279; or by visiting the link above.

Technology and LD at
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/technology/technology.html.

Whether in the classroom or workplace, technology can provide a vital
difference in the lives of individuals with LD. Find out how at the link
above.

Technology that improves reading instruction: Reading Matrix at
http://www.nationaltechcenter.org/matrix/default.asp.

Visit the Reading Matrix, a searchable database that presents evidence and
products for the use of technologies that support the instruction of reading
for students with reading disabilities.

Successful Afterschool Programming

The Academy for Educational Development (AED), with funding from the C.S.
Mott Foundation, has created a virtual library of promising practices at
http://www.afterschool.org/. The site includes information on how a practice
was developed, how it is being implemented, a description of the program
implementing the practice, sample activities pertaining to the practice,
and outcomes from those activities. Practices undergo a rigorous peer review
process before being named promising.

Curricula information at http://www.siecus.org/pubs/biblio/bibs0010.html.

What curricula incorporate the key concepts of the SIECUS guidelines? SIECUS
provides a review.

The Responsible Education About Life Act: In the works at
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/real.htm.

Introduced in Congress on February 10, 2005 by Representative Barbara Lee
(D-CA) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), the Responsible Education About
Life Act the REAL Act)—formerly the Family Life Education Act—will provide
funding to states for medically accurate, age appropriate, comprehensive
sex education in the schools—education that includes information about both
abstinence and contraception, from both a values and public health
perspective.

Information about education for individuals with disabilities at
http://63.73.227.69/pubs/biblio/bibs0009.html_
(http://63.73.227.69/pubs/biblio/bibs0009.html.

Find out what's available in SIECUS' Annotated Bibliography: Sexuality and
Disability.

Sexuality education for people with disabilities at
http://www.siecus.org/siecusreport/volume29/29-3.pdf.

This issue of the SIECUS Report (Volume 29 Number 3) includes such articles
as: Parents as Sexuality Educators for Their Children with Developmental
Disabilities, Sexuality and People with Psychiatric Disabilities, and the
annotated bibliography noted above.

Sex education and students with disabilities at
http://ericec.org/faq/sex-ed.html.

This April 2002 resource list from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities
and Gifted Education (ERIC EC) references articles and items in the ERIC
collection that address sex ed for students with such disabilities as
developmental disabilities and MR, chronic health issues, and LD.

Sexuality education for persons with developmental disabilities: Selected
resources at http://www.dbpeds.org/articles/detail.cfm?TextID=141.

ADD toolkit for parents and professionals at
http://www.ppct.org/education/resources/ddintro.htm.

From a resource center on preventing pregnancy, info at
http://www.etr.org/recapp/column/column200110.htm.

ReCAPP, the Resource Center on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, offers
"Educating Youth with Developmental Disabilities," which focuses on how
educators can best meet the sexuality education needs of young people with
mental or emotional disabilities.

Sex education: Building a foundation for healthy attitudes at
http://www.disabilitysolutions.org/pdf/4-5.pdf.

A fine read for parents, from Disability Solutions.

From the commercial publisher, Paul H. Brookes at
http://www.brookespublishing.com/store/books/schwier-4285/index.htm.

Sexuality: Your Sons and Daughters with Intellectual Disabilities is
intended to help parents "learn how to interact with your children — no
matter their age or ability — in a way that increases self-esteem,
encourages appropriate behavior, empowers them to recognize and respond to
abuse, and enables them to develop life long relationships."

From the commercial publisher, James Stanfield at
http://www.stanfield.com/sexed.html.

James Stanfield Publishing offers several different video series to help
educators address the social skills and sexuality education of students with
intellectual disabilities.

In case you're wondering if sex ed is really necessary for youth with
disabilities, go to http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/journals/3518703.html.

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health reports that "Teenagers with
Mental Disability Lack Reproductive Education and Knowledge; Still, Many
Have Had Sex."

The birds and the bees and kids with LD at
http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=626&g=2.

Sex ed for young people with visual impairments at
http://www.tsbvi.edu/Education/sexuality-education.htm.