Beach Center Survey on Supporting Young Children with Disabilities at Home

The Beach Center on Disability is seeking parents of children with disabilities aged 3 to 5 years to participate in a survey about providing support for these young children at home. Click here to participate in this confidential survey. If you provide an address, you'll receive several children's books as a thank you. For more information, contact Susan Palmer, Beach Center, University of Kansas, (785-864-0270).

Northern Illinois Down Syndrome Group Annual Picnic

Retreat Yourself

September 24-26, 2010

Family Support Services at Easter Seals C hildren’s Development Center invites mothers of children with developmental disabilities for a weekend away.
Registration for retreat

Foundations Survey for Parents

Dear Parent,

We want to invite you to complete a survey about how parents or family members support their young children with disabilities at home. We are asking for your thoughts on how children aged 3 to 5 years learn how to calm themselves (called self-regulation), make choices and express their choices, and engage in activities with necessary help, to lay the foundations for later self-determination. We also want to know about your preferences about how best to work in partnership with teachers or therapists who help your child at school or therapy locations. Self-determination, or the ability of adolescents or adults with disabilities to make decisions and express their needs and choices, has been shown to be an aspect of success for adults with disabilities in community settings.

The secure link below will take you to a survey asking about your thoughts on choice-making, self-regulation, and engagement and your ideas about what you have found to be effective for your child. The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to finish.

In appreciation for your ideas, you will receive several children’s books (if you provide an address for mailing). And if you want, we can send survey results by e-mail showing the variety of tips and resources from other parents around the country. Your participation is completely confidential – we will not release information about survey participation, nor will your name be associated in any way with the results of the survey.

If you are interested, please click on the link below to read more about our “Foundations Survey for Parents,” and complete the survey. Thank you for your willingness to help provide more ideas and resources to early childhood practitioners about how to nourish Foundations for Self-Determination.

www.surveymonkey.com/s/B8WD8FB

Any questions? Please contact Susan Palmer, Beach Center, University of Kansas, spalmer@ku.edu 785-864-0270

Dental Clinic for children and adults with special needs!

The Noll Dental Clinic (which is affiliated with Hope Institute) has been formed to specialize in dental work for individuals having special needs (including Down syndrome, autism, AD-HD, MS, etc.) The clinic accepts all types of insurance and has a special fee scale for low income patients. The contact information is: Noll Dental Clinic5220 S. Sixth Street RoadSuite 2100Springfield, IL 62703Telephone: (217) 588-7640Facsimile: (217) 588-7645Website: www.thehopeinstitute.us (and there is a link to the Noll Dental Clinic)

The ARC of Illinois and The Autism Program

The ARC of Illinois and The Autism Program of Illinois announce the 60th Annual Convention: The New Reality: Energize and Reboot For more information see the flyer

Consumer Stipend Program

"The Statewide Independent Living Council of IL (SILC) created a Consumer Stipend Program to enable persons with disabilities to attend conferences related to disability issues that they otherwise would be unable to attend due to financial constraints."

Stipends are granted once every 2 yrs to persons with a disability, immediate family members or guardians. Maximum is $400/person or $600/family and must be used for conferences in Illinois.

Application can be downloaded from the SILC website: www.silcofillinois.org

New Mini-courses for Parents from Hadley School for the Blind

Hadley’s new mini courses contain one lesson and are great for parents who are short on time. Offered in large print and online, these courses deal with issues relevant to parents with babies and young children. Select from the Courses listed below for more information.

You, Your Child, and Your Community

Beginning the Special Education Journey

How to Be Your Child's Advocate

Course development was funded by grants from the Dr. Scholl Foundation, the Elick and Charlotte Lindon Foundation, the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation, the Blowitz-Ridgeway Foundation and the Chatlos Foundation.

Including Samuel DVD

Including Samuel is one of those 'dream come true' stories, that happens to be recorded in a documentary. Click here to learn more about the use of this public awareness tool.

Talking to Children About the Flu (Novel H1N1): A Parent Resource

Click here to download the flyer.

Telling Your Story

The Illinois Association of Microboards and Cooperatives is intended for those who want to explore possibilities of alternative services for themselves or their loved ones. The project assists persons with disabilities and their families and friends to create non-profit corporations that allow them to live self-directed lives through the use of person-centered planning, community supports and resource management. For further information, click here.

Illinois Insurance Coverage for Autism

Easter Seals Children's Development Center's Family Support Services

Family Support Services is pleased to announce that we are able to offer a respite program. We will be serving up to ten families a month for a total of twenty hours per family. Families will be chosen on a first come/first serve basis with a wait list used if necessary. Eligibility criteria:

• Birth to twenty one
• Must have a medical diagnosis of a developmental disability
• Denial from DHS-DORS program or Milestone and cannot be used in conjunction with either program
• There are no income guidelines
• Winnebago, Boone and Ogle counties

Family Support Services will provide the respite worker based on your input and needs for your child. All respite workers must have the Illinois State Board of Education Paraprofessional certificate.

For more information on this program, Contact Patti Hobbs at 815-965-6745 ext 218 or phobbs@eastersealschicago.org

Great Resources on the Web

The Little Friends Center for Autism was created in 2004 as an affiliate of Little Friends, Inc. The Center was created in order to build on the expertise that Little Friends has developed in serving children with autism and their families, and create a "one stop" resource center for families throughout the Chicagoland area.

LFCA provides comprehensive diagnostic and evaluation services, training for parents and professionals, consultation, and educational materials. Our desire is to help families by sharing the knowledge we have gained since the early 1980's while specializing in serving children with autism.
You can visit their website for a listing of upcoming trainings by going to www.littlefriendsinc.org/lfca.asp

W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s mission is to support children, especially vulnerable children, and families to be successful individuals as well as successful contributors to their communities. Their communication, evaluation and policy toolkits, designed for their grantees, are useful to a broader audience. Read the contents at
www.wkkf.org

The National Foster Parent Association offers online courses to help foster and adoptive parents develop leadership skills. Many elements of these on-line courses are useful for all parents. Visit www.nfpainc.org and check out the Surviving Leadership Training module where you can learn about qualities and styles of leadership and ways to support parent leaders, including ideas for mentoring new parents into leadership roles.

The Seven Changes Workbook (English, Spanish & Portuguese) will assist in the ability to brush up on skills and help others learn the art of communication with this workbook. Good leaders are good communicators. Check out the workbook at
www.newconversations.net/workbook

ChildRite Medical Supplies

ChildRite Medical Supplies is a provider for Illinois State Medicaid. Services they provide include a variety of incontinence products and durable medical equipment for children with developmental delays that are paid for via Medicaid. ChildRite will ship all products and equipment directly to the child’s home as approved on a monthly basis. As your child grows and progresses, sizes and product type changes are handled as needed. Eligibility for this service is re-evaluated monthly.

To qualify for this Medicaid funded program, the following criteria must be met:

1. Child must be 2 years of age
2. Incontinence program: Child must have a diagnosis that impacts their ability to be toilet trained.
3. Therapy items: Requires a letter of medical necessity for the needed item equipment.
4. Durable Medical Equipment: Requires a letter of medical necessity for the needed item equipment.
5. Child must have a Medicaid number or Medical Insurance. (Note: not all medical insurance companies reimburse for this program. Call 217-787-2203 and ask our Medicaid special if yours does. Please have a copy of your card and policy ready when you call.)
6. Copy of Physician Orders for incontinence products, therapy items, or Durable Medical Equipment with qualifying diagnosis codes.

For more information and to see if your child qualifies for this program, please call 217-787-2203 and ask for Kevin Schaul, Owner/Program Manager.

Financial Assistance for Conferences:

The ARC of Illinois has consumer stipends for parents of individuals with disabilities and people with disabilities to attend conferences. Contact them at 708-206-1930 or online at www.thearcofil.org.

Be sure to click on the News tab for more information on the following news or opportunities...

• Young Children and Family Military Deployment
• EC-TIIS Online Courses Offered
• Podcasts By LitTech!
• Potential Funding for Families’ "Medical Needs"
• Training for Preschool to Kindergarten Transition
• Special Needs Car Seat Program Helps Keep Kids Safer
• Tech on the Go

Heard It Through the Grapevine, occasionally STARNET will get some detailed information about specific parent meetings. (Find ongoing Parent Support Groups information on the "Support Groups" link on the left side of this page)