How Do I Get Information on the California Budget?

Every year when the California budget process starts up again, I have the urge to stop paying attention. It's so over-whelming and the news is not good! But I can't do that'none of us can do that. And why? Because legislators need to hear from families of children with special health care needs. They need to know what everyday families are going through and how they are struggling. And in order to tell our stories to legislators, in order to build up the confdence we need to step foot in their local offices, we have to start somewhere.

So we start by educating ourselves. We get connected so that some time in the near future, we can take the leap. Then, when we're ready, we can start joining committees, parent groups, educating other parents about what we fnd out, and talking with decision-makers. And why do it? Because no-one has more experience with special health care needs than you do. When policymakers are deciding on how much to cut IHSS or Regional Center services to balance California's budget, if they don't hear from you, they'll assume that you don't care. That the cuts won't impact you. But you know differently. You know how hard these cuts will hit your family and other families like yours.

How do you take that first step?

  • Get an email account and use it regularly. Even if you don't have a computer at home, make a habit of going to the library once a week, or borrowing your friend's computer.
  • Sign up for a few listservs for organizations that provide updates and action alerts. A group email list, when there's a new update, you'll get an email directly to your inbox. Also search Yahoo groups for listservs of other families in your area.
  • Attend free webinars or trainings through your local Family Resource Center, or other state or nationwide organizations.
  • Get practice: 1) send letters to your legislators when there's an action alert (remember to include a personal story before you send the template); 2) attend local committee or board meetings; 3) make a public comment or give testimony; 4) organize a letter writing campaign; 5) fnd another way to take action. There are so many options that everyone can fnd something that suits their personality. Practicing will build your confidence, your power, your skills'all of which make a good leader.

Here is a list of organizations with informative listservs that provide opportunities to get involved:

Tara Robinson is the Manager for Family Voices of CA, a statewide collaborative of locally-based parent run centers working to ensure quality health care for children and youth with special health care needs. To sign up for the statewide listserv or free monthly webinar trainings, please visit the website at www.familyvoicesofca.org.

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Presenting a new page on our website:
Arts and Activities for All (4-A's)

Sometimes individuals with special needs laugh, shout or stand up in the middle of a performance. Some audience members might consider this disconcerting. In reality, this is how some individuals express their enthusiasm, appreciation or joy.

In addition, some children get over-stimulated; they may not be used to being in a public performance setting. Families have to quickly leave the setting.

These are experiences many families encounter when they take their children with special needs to arts-related activities. Too often when families have a bad experience, they don't try again, especially when tickets for performances can be very expensive.

Lulu Carpenter and Rony Rolnizky, parents of a young adult with a disability, brought this issue to our attention last year. They have worked with The New Conservatory Theatre, in San Francisco to create special performances for individuals with special needs. The challenge is getting the word out to families to let them know these opportunities exist. Their original idea was the catalyst for Support for Families' new program: 4-As- Arts And Activities for All.

Families can go to our website and find events and activities that their children and youth may enjoy, that include opportunities in the community where individuals with disabilities and their families can have a successful experience being in the audience.

If you know about performances and events that should be included on the webpage, please post events at:
www.supportforfamilies.org/artforall/

If you have questions about the program, please e-mail Kathleen Schlier, Care Services, Special Events and Volunteer Manager.

Kathleen Schlier is our Care Giving, Special Events and Volunteer Manager. She can be contacted via email. She welcomes any and all who wish to volunteer at Support for Families.

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Meet SFCD Board Member Laura Lanzone

The first years were beyond confusing and terrifying for me- what most people don't realize about having a child with disabilities is that your life becomes a tangled web of government agencies, doctor's appointments, therapy appointments, school district battles, insurance problems, attorney's appointments, etc., etc.

I was lucky, fairly early on, to discover SFCD and I cannot even begin to tell you how much they have helped me over the years. They provide what parents who have kids with disabilities REALLY need advice, referrals, edu-cation, support groups, training AND someone to watch the kids while you do it all! When you have a kid with dis-abilities, you NEED help and guidance, and Support for Families is always there to give it.

I had always been meaning to volunteer with SFCD – in some way, sometime soon, in the future. The budget cuts of last year really made up my mind, however- I am now on the Board of Director's and feel privileged to be part of such an awesome organization and to have the opportunity to help families just like mine. Let's hope that together, we can all make this year a little better for a lot of families!
Meet the boys: Robert and Tony with the dog on our family Christmas card.

Laura Lanzone lives with her husband and two stepsons with disabilities in the City. She is a full time real estate agent and is also very active in her community and the children's schools, (Lowell and Mission High Schools). She has always admired the work of Support for Families and is thrilled to be on the Board. You can reach Laura via email or 415-699-1549.

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Top Things You Need to Know to Navigate the Special Education System

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the Community Advisory Committee as a whole and do not represent the views of Support for Families of Children with Disabilities. If you have any concerns or issues please contact them by email: cac_specialed@hotmail.com or go to their website's About Us page at www.sfcacsped.org for names of their officers.

In order to be the best advocate you can be for your child, you'll need to learn as much as you can about your child's rights and your child's disability.

  • Knowledge of the laws will empower you to advocate more effectively for your child and enhances your ability to participate as a full partner in your child's educational team.
  • Learn how to use the Internet. If you don't have a computer ' libraries have computers you may use for free, and also people to help you learn how to use them.

A Composite of Laws: Special Education Laws and Regulations (Also called California 'Ed Code' ) Database

The Offce of Special Education Pro-grams (OSEP)

CASE Special Education Rights and Responsibilities Handbook

IEPs and IEP Meetings

  • Parents are the most important members of their children's IEP teams. You are the expert when it comes to your child. You know your child best.
  • You may have more than one IEP meeting a year. IEP meetings may be held as often as you need them. Request an IEP meeting by sending a written request to the school. Once your request is received, the meeting must be held within thirty (30) calendar days, not counting holidays.
  • Familiarize yourself with the compo-nents of the IEP before the meetings; IEPS should have social and emotional goals as well as academic goals.
  • Avoid fuzzy language like 'as needed' or 'when necessary' or 'when feasible'. Do what you can to make sure district wording in your child's IEP is very specfic.
  • There is no 'voting' at IEP meetings, it is not a majority rules scenario.
  • You do not have to sign the IEP right away, take it home and review it before you sign it. Waiting to sign the new IEP will not discontinue any services your child is currently receiving.
  • Watch out for 'watered-down' goals that are too easy.
  • Need not disability determines service. Special education and related services decisions must be based on each child's unique needs. [34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.26(a).] on the [34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.300(a)(3)(ii).]

Grade level content standards by the California State Board of Education

IEP Goals and Objectives Bank (PDF)

Keeping meticulous records is crucial.

  • Get in the habit of keeping a journal and writing down: WHO, WHAT and WHEN.
  • Make copies of everything; do not write on original documents.
  • Being organized and keeping good records is the best defense you have when problems arise.

Disagreements

  • Policy vs. Law — If district employees tell you that something you request for your child is 'against district Policy,' ask for that policy in writing. District employ'ees sometimes confuse procedures ' which are non-binding practices the district is accustomed to following ' with policies, which must be approved by the Board of Education and must conform with special education laws.

Teacher qualifed licenses and credentials:

Search for the credentials(s) of a public school teacher

Compliance complaints:

Compliance complaint form (MS Word)

Author(s)
Katy Franklin and Robin Hansen
The CAC for Special Education is an advisory committee to the Board of Education, made up of parents and professionals, whose purpose is to advocate for quality special education. The CAC welcomes all to attend meetings and share information the 4th Thursday of every month, 7pm at SFCD. You may contact the CAC at cac_specialed@hotmail.com or visit their website at www.sfcacsped.org.

Support for Families has an internet-ready computer that is available for use during business hours. Call Open Gate if you would like to discuss your child's IEP and learn more about how to write specific goals and how to write bench marks so you can monitor your child's success. Please join us at our monthly IEP clinics, provided in English, Spanish and Chinese. For more information on the dates for upcoming IEP clinics and more visit page 8 of this newsletter.

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Annual Report 2009'Highlights of Programs and Services

Information

The Phone Line and Drop-In Services at the Open Gate Family Resource Center offer families and professionals information, resources, referrals and guidance. Community Resource Parents provide information in English, Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

The Joan Cassel Memorial Library at Open Gate lends books and media materials for families and professionals, and includes a toy lending collection. The library catalogue is now online. Resource Packets in three languages on specifc topics such as Learning Disabilities, ADHD, Behavior and Autism provide another source of information.

The SFCD website provides information on events at Support for Families and in the Bay Area, and links to resources from around the nation. Families can also use a computer at Open Gate, where staff members are on-site to provide help in accessing online resources. Several listserves keep families and professionals up to date. The quarterly Newsletter features articles relating to children and youth with disabilities. Spanish and Chinese editions are also available in print and downloadable versions.

Education

Education activities include parent-professional workshops, small group clinics, trainings, parent panels, and conferences. Topics for workshops and trainings during the year included Early Intervention, Behavior, Inclusion, Sensory Integration, Family Centered Care, the Individual Education Program (IEP), and many more. Weekly small-group clinics on the IEP and transition issues offered more individualized help for families. Free on-site childcare made it easier for families to attend. Clinics were presented in English, Spanish, and Cantonese; simultaneous translation was available for workshops and trainings.

An annual Information and Resource Conference was held in April and offered a full day of educational activities. Nineteen workshops, an Assistive Technology demonstration center, and 60 different exhibitors provided families and professionals with a wealth of information and opportunities to network with one another.

Family-to-Family Support

Support Groups offer peer support, information, and resources to parents, caretakers and siblings of children with disabilities. Continuing support groups in 2009 included those for Spanish speakers, Cantonese speakers, families with mental health issues, families of young children, families dealing with specifc disabilities, and others.

Volunteer Parent Mentors are parents of children with disabilities who complete extensive training. Mentors are matched with other parents to offer support and resources on an individualized basis.

Mental Health Services in 2009 included short-term counseling, referral, and case management available in English, Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

Family Recreational and Social Events provide relaxing, fun opportuni-ties for families to get together and enjoy themselves. More than 1,000 parents, children and volunteers attended free family events during 2009, including Family Fun Day, the Halloween Party, and a Holiday Ice Skating Party. Also this year, Access to Adventure was launched, a health and recreation fair for kids with special health care needs or disabilities.

Collaborating and Convening Groups

In 2009, Support for Families remained actively involved, often taking a leader-ship role, in several local and statewide projects to improve services and sys-tems. These included Family Voices of California, the Family Resource Centers Network of California, the High Risk Infant Interagency Council, DCYF Special Needs Inclusion Project, and others.

Impact of Support for Families

  • Community Resource Parents (CRPs) provided individualized support to 799 unduplicated families.
  • CRPs made 5,475 phone and in-person contacts with families and professionals.
  • There were 7,296 newsletter readers, including 504 in Spanish and 302 in Chinese.
  • 1,299 families and 1,075 professionals attended 165 workshops, trainings and clinics, including the Information and Resource Conference and the Parent Mentor trainings.
  • More than 350 families and professionals attended the 2009 Information and Resource Conference, which featured 19 workshops and 60 exhibitors.
  • There were 69 matches through the Parent Mentor program with 110 active English and Spanish-speaking Mentors.
  • 199 individual family members attended one or more of 13 support groups.
  • 968 volunteers provided 3,877 hours of service.
  • 813 children received more than 2,437 hours of on-site childcare, allowing their parents to participate in Support for Families activities.
  • There were 246,841 visitors to the SFCD website.

Hilary Bothma is the Development and Communications Manager. For a complete Annual Report call 415-282-7494 ext 17 or download it from the Support for Families website.

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Inclusive Education Guidelines

Reprinted with permission from the book by Halvorsen, A.T. & Neary, T. (2009). Building Inclusive Schools: Tools and strategies for Success. (2nd ed.) NY/Boston: Pearson-Allyn & Bacon.

Inclusive Education

The following characteristics are research-based practices for inclusive schooling. These guidelines are useful in planning for inclusion and also as a means for maintaining the integrity of the term, Inclusive Education.

Inclusion: It's Not Mainstreaming

1. Students are members of chronologically age-appropriate general education classrooms in their normal schools of attendance, or in charter schools or other district schools of choice when these options exist for students without disabilities.

2. Students move with peers to subsequent grades in school, as indicated by their IEPs.

3. No special class exists except as a place for enrichment or supplemental instructional activities for all students.

4. Disability type or severity of disability does not preclude involvement in inclusive education.

Service delivery

5. The staff to student ratios for special education teachers and para-professionals are based on student needs and are at least equivalent to the ratios in special classes or other segregated arrangements.

6. Special educators are based at single school sites full time, in order to enable effective in-class instructional support, co-teaching arrangements and increased collaboration.

7. There are always certificated employees (special and general education teachers), assigned to supervise and assist any classifed staff (e.g., paraprofessionals) working with specifc students in general education classrooms.

8. Special education students are considered a part of the total general education class count for class size purposes. In other words, they are not 'extra' students above the contractual class size.

9. Inclusive education efforts are coordinated with school reforms at site and district levels, and clear commitment to inclusion is articulated by the Board of Education and Superintendent.

Planning and Curriculum Development

10. The special education and general education teachers collaborate to ensure:

a. students' natural participation as regular members of any class;

b. differentiation and adaptation of core curriculum and materials to facilitate all students' participation and learning of standards-referenced goals and objectives as well as other critical skills (e.g. social, communicative), and

c. systematic instruction of the students' IEP objectives within inclusive contexts;

d. development and implementation of positive behavioral interventions tosupport students with challenging behaviors.

11. Supplemental instructional services (e.g., for communication, mobility skills; adapted P.E.) are provided to students in classrooms and community settings through a transdisciplinary team approach.

12. Regularly scheduled collaborative planning meetings are held with general education staff, special education staff, parents and related service staff in attendance as indicated, in order to support initial and ongoing program development and monitoring.

13. Plans are developed for the transition of students to subsequent grades and schools of attendance. Research-Based Practices in Education

14. Effective instructional strategies (e.g., differentiated instruction, cooperative learning, teaching to multiple intelligences, employing universal design principles, infus'ing technology) are supported and fostered in the general education classroom.

15. Classrooms promote student responsibility for learning and self-determination through strategies such as student-led conferences, classroom meetings, student involvement in IEPs and planning meetings.

16. Ability awareness education is provided to staff, students and parents at the school site through formal or informal means. This is most effective when ability awareness is incorporated within core curriculum or within a diversity focus e.g., character education.

17. Natural peer supports are facilitated among students, as are instructional arrangements that decrease reliance on paraprofessionals as any students' primary instructors.

18. Ongoing personnel development needs for all members of the school community are identified and addressed.

Chris Ide-Don is our Education Manager and can be reached at 415-920-5040 or email him at cide-don@supportforfamilie s.org. Please call if you would like more information about our educational programs, parent professional workshops and clinics.

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What is Early Childhood Inclusion?

The High Risk Infant Interagency Council (HRIIC) recently presented a workshop for San Francisco's Preschool for All (PFA) programs on supporting children with special needs in PFA settings. The workshop included a discussion of the joint position statement on early childhood inclusion by the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Division for Early Childhood.

Because there is often misunderstanding or confusion about what early childhood inclusion is, the position statement includes a definition that can provide families and providers with guidance in understanding and identifying key elements of high quality inclusive programs.

The following points are from this definition (1):

  • Early childhood inclusion involves values, policies, and practices.
  • Early childhood inclusion supports the right of every infant and young child and his or her family, regardless of ability, to participate in a broad range of activities and contexts as full members.
  • Desired results of inclusive experiences include a sense of belonging and membership, positive social relationships and friendships, and development and learning to reach full potential.
  • There are three defning features of inclusion'access (providing a wide range of activities and environments for every child), participation (using a range of instructional practices to promote engagement and a sense of belonging for every child), and supports (addressing larger system issues such as professional development, incentives for inclusion, and opportunities for communication and collaboration among families and professionals).

As families and providers develop a shared understanding of what early childhood inclusion means and can look like in their communities, they can work together to create successful early childhood inclusive experiences for all children.

(1)DEC/NAEYC. (2009). Early childhood inclusion: A joint position statement of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, FPG Child Development Institute. PDF downloadable version.

Ann Carr, Director of HRIIC and Judy Higuchi, Assistant Director can be reached at 415-206-7743 or visit the HRIIC web site.

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New Collaboration with Infant Parent Program

We are excited to announce that Support for Families recently began a new collaboration with the U.C.S.F. Infant Parent Program (IPP). IPP provides infant-parent psychotherapy for children under 3 and their families when there are concerns about a child's development or childrearing has become challenging.

Twenty years ago, IPP began providing consultation in child care programs to help providers and parents better understand and serve children in their care. IPP's consultation efforts have expanded to support a variety of settings where adults care for children: child care, homeless shelters, substance abuse treatment programs, and family resource centers in San Francisco.

This is the frst time that IPP will provide consultation to a parent center such as Support for Families. In regular meetings with staff, IPP will offer their expertise in early childhood development and their years of service provision experience to help us better serve our families' needs. IPP will work with our phone line staff and support group facilitators as well. In the future, we might collaborate in a parent-child interactive group.

Families can contact the Infant Parent Program, based at SF General Hospital, to receive their services by calling (415)206-5270. The program accepts Medi-Cal. Considering giving them a call, if you are a parent with a child under three who:

  • 'feels their baby is too fussy or diffcult to comfort,
  • finds their baby unusually quiet or uninterested in them,
  • is concerned about how active their child is,
  • is worried that their baby is not eating well or growing as expected, has a child experiencing long and frequent temper tantrums, diffcul-ties around separation or sleeping problems,
  • feels burdened by the demands of parenthood,
  • has a baby with developmental delays or medical problems that place special emotional burdens on the parents.'(1) Infant Parent Program website, Clinical Services

Sue Kuyper is our Licensed Clinical Social Worker and can be reached at 415-920-5040 X33 or via email. She speaks Spanish and English. Please call if you would like more information about our counseling, case management and support group services.

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