• Have you seen Chalk It Up, the Oregonian’s new online source for information and conversation about schools?  Although their focus is not on exceptional children, they have some very interesting articles.  Check out their welcoming post here or their twitter page here to help keep up on local education news.
• I just found a blog, the Oregon Autism Insurance Reform, whose purpose is to track the events and actions related to 111th Congress bills S.819 & H.R. 2413.
• The Oregon Association for Behavior Analysis announced an invitation to their upcoming board meeting on Monday, October 26th to anyone interested.
• Although these news releases are a month old, they are important.  The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) posted the final 2008-2009 No Child Left Behind ratings for Oregon schools and the 2008-2009 test results for reading, writing, math and science.  To stay up to date on other ODE news, click here for links to all of the ODE RSS feeds.

(Are you an Oregonian special educator with a blog or twitter profile?  If so, add your url to the comments or email oregoncec@gmail.com and you will be added to the list on the right.  Thanks!  -Larry)

In June we talked about whether or not RTI can help relieve oregon’s growing need for exceptional students.  We followed that with a post on Oregon for response to intervention resources.

In September we had a 3-post back to school series.  First we shared reading assessments and then math assessments.  The final post in the series shared a document to help teachers help involve parents in the IEP process.

Thank you for making these first few months at OregonCEC.org successful.  As the school year continues, what would you like us to focus on next?  Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Pre-IEP Planning Guide

That is the end of the back to school series.  Let me know what you think and how the assessments or planning guide have helped make the beginning of your year easier for you.

Beginning math assessment

Intermediate math assessment

(This is the second in a series of 3 back to school posts to help support special education teachers transition from summer break to a new school year.  Check back tomorrow for a pre-IEP planning guide for parents. )

Additionally, you may find this document useful to help you make decisions on how to group students using reading assessment data.

(This is the first in a series of 3 back to school posts to help support special education teachers transition from summer break to a new school year.  Check back tomorrow for math assessments and later for a pre-IEP planning guide. )

Extended School Year is an opportunity for students in Oregon to maintain academic, language, social and behavioral goals during the summer.  I had the opportunity to teach a class of 12 kinder students this year and I would like to share 2 things you can do as a student’s teacher during the regular school year to help assure things will go smoothly during ESY.

1. Clearly label all student materials you send. I cannot express how nice it was to see the name and school of a student right on the front of their materials.  Adding a label (like the ones below) increased organization which made it much easier to both set-up and clean-up the classroom.
2. Send a student introduction sheet in addition to the IEP for each of your students. For teachers who are unfamiliar with your student, this will provide the most critical information they need to know so they can work successfully with your student from day one.  Below is an example or you can click here for a blank Word document that you can edit.I hope you find these tips useful.  Am I missing anything?  If so, please share in the comments.

• Lon Thornburg, an assisstive technology specialist in Oregon, is collaborating with physical therapist Jodi Garberg and occupational therapist Christi Sullivan to create a pilot program to use a Nintendo Wii for therapy…”Wii-hab!”
• The Autism Community highlights the upcoming 2 day conference on Autism and Asperger’s in Portland on July 23 and 24.  Speakers include Dr. Tony Atwood and Dr. Temple Grandin!  Register with Future Horizons.

(Are you an Oregonian special educator with a blog or twitter profile?  If so, add your url to the comments or email oregoncec@gmail.com and you will be added to the list on the right.  Thanks!  -Larry)

• Kristy shares her Philosophy of Special Education on her blog, To Teach is to Grow.  She hits the nail on the head when she says “the future of special education is emerging now,” and points to Response to Intervention (RTI) as a key component to effectively providing services to students with disabilities.

• Steve Rawley, father of two students in the Portland Public School District, is the publisher and editor of PPS Equity.  In a recent post he highlights The Autism Association of Oregon (ASO) upcoming presentation by Peter Wright of Wrightslaw in a one day special education law and advocacy training conference October 29 in Portland. Details of the program and online registration are available at the ASO Web site.

I had the opportunity to attend my first National Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Convention and Expo in Seattle this year.  Highlights include a full-day session on co-teaching by Marilyn Friend, Marlee Matlin’s keynote presentation, and the opportunity to chat with special educators from all around the nation!

Disabilities in Literature

From the massive amount of information presented, I want to share with you one bit that you can take and use today.  Elizabeth Potts, Ph.D. and Director of Special Education Programs at the University of Virginia, featured a wonderful handout at a poster session, The Characteristics of Children’s Literature with Main Characters on the Autism Spectrum, which lists of book that have main characters on the autism spectrum.  She was kind to share a PDF version of the handout so you have access to it too!

The image above is from the cover of the book, Ian’s Walk: A Story About Autism, winner of the Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award in 2000, which recognizes fictional children’s books with positive portrayals of individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

The framers and sponsors of this award believe the Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award can make a great impact toward the general public’s recognition of the positive societal contributions of individuals with DDD, greater understanding and acceptance of teachers and school-aged peers of students with DDD, and encouragement of authors and illustrators to publish quality literature including characters with DDD.

Share other books you know with main characters with disabilities (as long as it is a positive portrayl) in the comments below.

If you haven’t downloaded the PDF yet, do it now before you go!