Resources for Families
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Community Resources for EC Families and Caregivers
Click here for a list of general community resources for families in need of support, which was assembled by Lindsay Bedford, former SNAC Chair, and Carlie Ewen, former CHCCS Social Worker. Also included are links specific to supporting children with special needs through the pandemic. We are not endorsing any organization or business listed here.
CHCCS Special Education Resources
CHCCS Exceptional Children Program
Visit the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools homepage for Exceptional Children, which includes a staff directory, contact information, and important information pertaining to the school district's EC services.
This is a PDF document created for parents of EC students in the CHCCS district. It has useful information about the IEP process, special education acronyms, local community resources, and contact information for CHCCS EC Department employees.
Student Summary/Profile
As a new school year begins or if your child is attending a new summer program or after school program, it may be helpful for you to share important information about your child with teachers, teaching assistants, special teachers, cafeteria staff and counselors. The Sample Profiles are great to share with camp counselors as well if your child is attending summer camps.
This Student Profile presentation can help you create your child's summary.
Sample Student Profiles:
Special Education Resources
IDEA Standards Summarized
Exceptional Children's Assistance Center (ECAC)
ECAC is a non-profit organization that provides information and resources to the families of children with disabilities in North Carolina. They offer many services to parents and families at no charge including a lending library and parent to parent support.
The US Department of Education's website is a one-stop shop for resources related to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This site is a searchable website that has video clips, topic briefs and a Q & A Corner where you can submit questions.
NC Department of Public Instruction
The North Carolina Public Schools, Exceptional Children Division's website includes information for parent and educators about NC's special education processes, forms for IEP Teams, the Handbook on Parents' Rights, training opportunities and much more.
Disability Rights North Carolina
Disability Rights North Carolina is a non-profit organization that provides advocacy and legal services at no charge for people with disabilities across North Carolina. This site contains many resources designed to increase the ability of individuals with disabilities and their families to engage in self advocacy.
Resources for Military Families
The Difference Between IEPs and 504 Plans
GiGi's Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Centers
GiGi's Playhouse serves individuals with Down syndrome from infant to adult, their families and the community.
Embracing Dyslexia (Documentary Film)
Reduce the Noise: Help Loved Ones with Sensory Overload Enjoy Shopping
Estate Planning for Parents of Special Needs
College resources for visually impaired students.
Local Support Agencies
Goodwill Community Initiatives
First in Families of North Carolina (FIF) (can provide financial support for some needed supports)
Autism Resources
Autism Society of North Carolina (ASNC)
Autism Society of North Carolina provides advocacy, training and education and direct care services to individuals with autism, their families and professionals.
Chapel Hill Autism Resources and Tools (CHART)
CHART connects families with the people, tools and services that will help them to support their loved one with autism or a sensory processing disorder. We share local resources and events taking place in Chapel Hill, NC and around the Triangle. We also address national news about autism and share our personal experiences and tips. Please join us on Facebook and Twitter for the most up-to-the-minute news.
Sesame Street Autism Resources for Parents
Twice Exceptional (2E) Resources
Favorite Resources for 2E Families and Educators
The list below are suggested books, podcasts, articles, and websites that members of the SNAC 2E workgroup recommended as helpful to them in understanding and supporting twice-exceptional students. For suggested additions, please contact the workgroup lead at snac2eworkgroup@gmail.com.
Books
Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, by Steve Silberman
Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World, by Deborah Reder
Comment from workgroup member: “This mom has done an incredible service to the twice-exceptional community by sharing her family’s journey to navigate her son’s education. She also hosts the wonderful Tilt podcast that is a great resource.”
Self-Reg: How to Help Your Child (and You) Break the Stress Cycle and Successfully Engage with Life, by Stuart Shanker
Open Access Articles
“The Paradox of Twice-Exceptionality Packet of Information for Professionals – 2nd Edition (PIP-2)”
Comment from workgroup member: “This is a long document but has some case studies and practical recommendations that may be helpful for both parents/guardians and educators.”
Podcasts and More
Tilt Parenting — a podcast about learning disabilities, parenting differently wired children, and more
Comment from a workgroup member: “While trying to understand how to support our son’s needs, I binge-listened to this podcast. The interviews and personal stories gave me so many good ideas and so much hope.”
Bright & Quirky - a website that has an archive of presentations given by experts in many topics relevant to 2e students. There is free content available in the blogs or live summits, but a warning that past “summits” require payment for access
Understood - for learning and thinking differences
Comment from a workgroup member: “I'm hoping people are aware of this resource as it continues to be so helpful to me in explaining terms in bite-size pieces, and offering clarity where differences in medical/education/legal jargon create confusion (e.g., "Dyslexia" vs. "Specific Learning Disorder in Reading" vs. "Learning Disability"). It also includes unofficial "slang" terms (e.g., "stealth dyslexia") that have given me a framework for understanding my kids and helped me communicate about them when speaking across disciplines.”
Dyslexia Resources
The Mission of Dyslexic Advantage is to promote the positive identity, community, and achievement of dyslexic people by focusing on their strengths.
Disability Awareness Month (October) Resources & Ideas
Purpose:
Encourage and assist school staff in providing Disability History and Awareness during Disability Awareness Month, October.
In 2007, the state of NC passed a law requiring that “Each local board of education shall provide instruction on disability, people with disabilities, and the disability rights movement in conjunction with Disability History and Awareness Month.”
The purpose of the law is to “teach future generations that people with disabilities have a rich history and have made valuable contributions throughout North Carolina and the United States, and ensure future generations understand that disability is a natural part of life and that people with disabilities have a right to be treated as individuals above all else”.
Activities:
Activities should promote understanding of the challenges individuals with disabilities face, but also to promote awareness of the contributions individuals with disabilities make.
Activities could include book readings, art projects, hands-on activities (for example, making Braille letters, sensory experiences, experiencing school in a wheelchair), wax museums, bulletin boards, guest speakers, or essays that promote better understanding, awareness, and appreciation of individuals with disabilities.
A parent education component (such as a handout sent home) about the benefits of inclusion for all students - including non-disabled peers - is also recommended to promote acceptance of students with disabilities in the general education classroom.
Disability Awareness Guide:
Other resources for Disability Awareness Month
Parents Rights & Responsibilities in Special Education
Parents Rights & Responsibilities in Special Education (English)
This document provides an overview of 13 parental special education rights, sometimes called procedural safeguards. These same procedural safeguards are also available for students with disabilities who have reached the age of 18.
Derechos y responsabilidades de los padres de familia en educación especial (Español)
Este documento ofrece una descripción general de los 13 derechos parentales de educación especial, y a los que en ocasiones se les denominan “Salvaguardias procesales”. Estas mismas Salvaguardias procesales también están disponibles para los alumnos con discapacidad que cumplieron 18 años.
IDEA Act of 2017 Summary
"This might be of interest to the members of SNAC. This is my summary [of the 2017 U.S. Supreme Court case Endrew v. Douglas, 2017]. The decision itself is worth reading."
- Howie Kallem (past SNAC secretary)
After passage of the IDEA, there was considerable dispute about what "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) meant. Many parents argued that it required "an opportunity to achieve full potential commensurate with the opportunity provided to other children" and an "equal educational opportunity" relative to children without disabilities. Many school districts disagreed, arguing that the FAPE requirement was essentially aspirational, with no particular standard that they had to meet.
In 1982, the Supreme Court’s Rowley decision rejected both approaches. Instead, it held that FAPE requires a substantively adequate program of education. The requirement would be satisfied if the IEP set out an educational program "reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive educational benefits." For children receiving instruction in the regular classroom, this would generally require an IEP "reasonably calculated to enable the child to achieve passing marks and advance from grade to grade."
But this didn’t address students in self-contained settings, nor did it address behavioral and other issues that could affect a student’s educational progress. Subsequent lower court decisions variously interpreted “reasonably calculated to receive educational benefits” as only a minimal benefit or progress (a very low standard), some benefit (pretty much the same as minimal), or a meaningful benefit or progress (a somewhat higher standard, but not clear how much higher…and certainly less than the equal educational opportunity standard rejected in Rowley).
Instead, the Court now comes up with what it calls “a general approach”: to meet its substantive obligation under the IDEA, a school must offer an IEP reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances. The “reasonably calculated” part requires a prospective judgment by school officials and parents/guardians. A districts can’t use a form document for IEPs – it really does have to make an individualized determination as to what progress each student can make given the nature and impact of their disability.
How does this play out? Rowley reflected an expectation that most students with disabilities will be integrated in the regular classroom. Based on that, the Court holds: “[F]or a child fully integrated in the regular classroom, an IEP typically should, as Rowley put it, be ‘reasonably calculated to enable the child to achieve passing marks and advance from grade to grade’…through the general curriculum.” [Note that some courts after Rowley had specifically stated that passing grades and promotion may not be enough to meet the “educational benefit” requirement, particularly when it came to social development and/or behavioral and related issues (e.g., where a student was getting passing grades but engaging in disability-related misconduct or behavior). It isn’t clear whether/how this decision would apply in those situations.]
For a student not fully integrated into the regular classroom and not able to achieve on grade level, the IEP “must be appropriately ambitious in light of his circumstances…every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives.” The Court recognizes that this is a general standard, but makes it clear that “this standard is markedly more demanding than the ‘merely more than de minimis’ test” used by a number of courts – the minimal standard approach.
Endrew v. Douglas County School District RE-1, U.S. Supreme Court, 2017
NC Department of Public Instruction
Office of Exceptional Children
The mission of the Office of Exceptional Children is to ensure that students with disabilities develop intellectually, physically, emotionally, and vocationally through the provision of an appropriate individualized education program in the least restrictive environment.