Dreams Fulfilled Through Music

Posted on 10 May 2012 by Cindy

We recently received a wonderful email from a great young lady:  Nina Eng.  We at Special Needs Resource Magazine were so impressed we decided to post the email so that our readers could share in her accomplishment.

My name is Nina Eng, and I was recently awarded the Gold Award from the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas in San Antonio.  The Gold Award is the Girl Scout equivalent of the Boy Scout Eagle Award, and it stresses the importance of community outreach, leadership, and advocacy.

For my Gold Award project, I partnered with the non profit organization, Dreams Fulfilled Through Music (www.dftm.org), and created a referral directory of music teachers nationwide who offer their services (Read more...)

Posted in Creative Arts, Music for Special Needs, Music Therapy | Comments Off

Secretary Duncan calls CEC Member Ben White to say Thanks!

Posted on 10 May 2012 by Kristin McDonald

_1240Today, the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, surprised CEC Member, Benjamin White, by calling him to express his appreciation for Ben’s outstanding work in the field of education and to encourage him to keep it up.

  “It was definitely surprising,” and “I had no idea Secretary Duncan would join the call,” said White. “I thought I was just going to speak to members of the Department’s staff about teacher preparation programs – I had no idea what was coming!”

Secretary Duncan thanked Ben for his commitment to education and praised his accomplishments.  He also asked Ben what he thought the Department of Education should do to attract great teachers? Ben told the Secre (Read more...)

Posted in Administration, IDEA Early Intervention, IDEA Preschool, IDEA School Aged, Opportunities for Advocacy, U.S. Department of Education | Comments Off

CEC Celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week & Exceptional Children’s Week; Enjoy a 20% Discount on CEC Products

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Kristin McDonald

Teacher 2Thank you teachers for all you do for children and youth, schools, and communities. And a special thank you to special education teachers! To honor teachers, CEC is offering 20% off of our books online through Saturday. Use the code TAW20 when checking out. Browse CEC publications now!

CEC initiated Exceptional Children's Week  (May 6-12) as a means to educate the public about children and youth with exceptionalities and garner support for special education. Since its inception, this week has served to spotlight the capabilities of children and youth with exceptionalities and the programs that support them in their communities.

Special education is making great strides, and, as a (Read more...)

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CEC and NASDSE Host Webinar on Sequestration Budget Cuts: Last Call to Register!

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Kristin McDonald

Nasdse cecThe Council for Exceptional Children and the National Association for State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) are offering a free webinar for members which will discuss the upcoming effects of sequestration and what the two organizations are doing to fight these budget cuts. Sequestration is the name for the across the board budget cuts that will go into effect on January 2, 2013 and will mean an eight percent cut to all education programs.

This Sequestration Webinar will take place on Thursday, May 10 from 4:00 – 5:00 PM EST, and will feature speakers Deborah Ziegler and Lindsay Jones from the Council for Exceptional Children Nancy Reder from the National Association for State Direc (Read more...)

Posted in Opportunities for Advocacy | Comments Off

White House Recognizes STEM Champions of Change; CEC Members Nominated

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Kristin McDonald

DSC_0050In conjunction with Teacher Appreciation Week and Exceptional Children Week (May 7-11), CEC was proud to have two members recognized for their work to ensure access to educational opportunities for children with disabilities in STEM fields.

This week, the White House honored Champions of Change for individuals with disabilities in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at a ceremony held at the White House. The event included two panel discussions featuring the winners. The first focused on the inclusion of people with disabilities in STEM businesses and research opportunities, while the second focused on STEM education for children and youth with disabilities.

CEC (Read more...)

Posted in Administration, U.S. Department of Education | Comments Off

Jessica: Maurice Sendak—An Obituary in Book Recommendations

Posted on 9 May 2012 by CEC

JessicaI just read about the death of Maurice Sendak, and felt that all-too-familiar twinge of sadness as I let go of yet another piece of my childhood. For many — including myself, my husband, and now my children — an oft-selected story for bedtime is Where the Wild Things Are. The book is a classic tribute to the wondrousness of a child’s imagination and the power of beautiful illustrations. Besides making the bedtime ritual in my household transition with ease, Sendak gave me a number of fun classroom moments as well.

Enjoy reviewing all of his titles, but here are three of my personal choices of Sendak books for use in the classroom. All three are Accelerated Reader (AR) books worth .5 points, (Read more...)

Posted in Blogger Jessica, Reading and Writing | Comments Off

Happy Birthday to Us; Tech Update

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Jim Gerl


Today is the fifth anniversary of this blog.  It is hard to believe that we have been around for that long.  Thank you to all of our loyal and enthusiastic readers.

This blog is responsible for dragging me kicking and screaming into the world of modern technology.  In the words of the troubled public defender in the classic movie "My Cousin Vinny," I'm getting better."

One of the ways that we have tried to share information about special education law is through the new social media avenues. Many people read our posts on Facebook.  Others get our headline tweets on twitter.  The best way to be sure you get our posts is still to take one of the free sub (Read more...)
Posted in education, Education Law, Evernote, Facebook, Gerl, Legal Information, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Special Education, special education law, Technology, Tumblr | Comments Off

Teacher Appreciation Week

Posted on 9 May 2012 by Patrick Black


This week is Teacher Appreciation Week in my school.  So along with all my colleagues I'll be enjoying food, massages, trivia, prizes, and more food!  I truly do appreciate that the PTA takes the time to do this each year, and look forward to it.

I thought it would a good time to tell how I even came to be a teacher.  It was in a pretty round about sort of way, you see my original major in college was Aviation Management.  I entered Southern Illinois University with the intention of becoming an Air Traffic Controller.  I know, kinda crazy, but it's what I thought I wanted to do.  So I settled down to my freshman year, and got to work.

The first year wasn't (Read more...)
Posted in camp, Teacher Appreciation Week, UCC | Comments Off

Top 10 Most Ridiculous Comments Heard at an IEP Meeting!

Posted on 8 May 2012 by Special Ed.

From Special Ed. over on Special 2 Me.

http://blog.friendshipcircle.org/2012/01/19/top-ten-most-ridiculous-comments-heard-at-an-iep-meeting/


Posted in teaching | Comments Off

OSEP Wants You! Results Driven Accountability

Posted on 7 May 2012 by Jim Gerl

Uncle Sam recruiting poster.
Uncle Sam recruiting poster. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)







You may recall that in a recent post, I mentioned the press release by the federal Office of Special Education Programs stating that they were suspending their verification visits and contemplating a system driven more by results than compliance.  Here is the old
On the OSERS website you can find the press release and a Questions & Answers document as well as a summary of the new acronym RDA (results driven approach.)

Also the OSEP director, Melody Musgrove, has announced a new email address where you can submit your opinion as to what should be included in the new monitoring approach. You can put in your two cents at OSEP-RDA-input@ed.gov OSEP wants your opinion; give it to them!

Also please let me know what you think of this new approach.

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Posted in Gerl, Legal Information, Office of Special Education Programs, results driven approach, Special Education, special education law, verification visit | Comments Off