October Newsletter

Teaching Writing to Diverse Student Populations
The Access Center is pleased to release a new resource intended to help teachers implement writing instruction to meet the needs of all students. This document provides an information base for the core components of effective writing instruction and examples of specific strategies and supports that can be used to develop a comprehensive writing program.

Mnemonic Applications- Access Center Strategies Chart
We are also pleased to offer four new briefs to our ever-evolving Strategies Chart. For concrete information about mnemonic Instruction in teaching writing, math, science, and reading, view the “mnemonics” section of the chart on page six. Information is available on teaching students with disabilities to: remembersteps in the writing process; complete geometry problems, order of operations, measurement, and other pertinent math concepts; master key science subjects such as the human body, insects, levers, and the colors of the rainbow; and learn letters, letter sounds (phonemics), and vocabulary.   

September Webinar
Thank you to all who participated in our September 7th Webinar, "Making Abstract Core Curriculum Accessible to Students with Severe and Multiple Disabilities," with Dr. June Downing. If you were unable to join us for the live event, we encourage you and your colleagues to view the recording at your convenience.

AC, NC Work to Align Content Standards
Last month, The Access Center facilitated the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s process of aligning content standards, achievement standards, and assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities.  The objectives of this effort are:

• to assure that content extensions are aligned with grade-level content standards,
• to assure that the extensions provide functional, meaningful and relevant access to students at differing levels of ability,
• to devise academic achievement standards for the extensions, and
• to devise an assessment instrument that addresses these extensions and their associated achievement standards.

The Task Force’s specific objective of the meeting -- which included parents, school and system administrators, regular and special education teachers, and testing coordinators -- was to review the content standard extensions, and develop examples of these extensions from a symbolic to a pre-symbolic level.  The Task Force will re-convene in December to devise academic achievement standards for the extensions, including performance level descriptors.

AC, MPRRC, and SD Work Toward Higher Expectations
The Access Center, in collaboration with Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center, is working with the South Dakota Department of Public Instruction to shift the focus from functional standards to higher expectations for students with severe disabilities.  The collaboration focuses on (1) How to align instruction, extended standards, and alternate assessment; and (2) What it means for students with severe disabilities to access the general curriculum. The Access Center is developing informational briefs, assisting in the development of a statewide training for teachers of children with severe disabilities, and partnering with the state and MPRRC to increase the awareness of teachers of the importance of aligning instructional strategies, extended standards, and alternate assessment to promote access to the general curriculum for students with severe disabilities.

Target the Problem!
This new, FREE tool, developed by WETA’s Reading Rockets, The Access Center, and others,  helps you pinpoint a child's reading problem. It has many practical suggestions on what parents, teachers, and kids themselves can do to help students overcome or deal with their reading difficulties.

Universal Design Alliance 
The Universal Design Alliance, Inc. is a non-profit corporation founded in March of 2003. Their mission is to create awareness and expand the public’s knowledge of universal design, which is design for all ages, sizes, and abilities.

The National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) 
NCTI, funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), advances learning opportunities for individuals with disabilities by fostering technology innovation. The NCTI Math Matrix is intended to serve as a resource that matches technology tools with supporting literature on promising practices for the instruction of K-8 mathematics for students with disabilities.

ED Sets Up Katrina-Related Website
The U.S. Department of Education has established a website, Hurricane Help for Schools, to provide assistance to schools, students, and parents that were affected by Hurricane Katrina.  The Department has stated that, on a case-by-case basis, it may grant flexibility for certain requirements under No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  ED will also provide states with an additional $25.9 million for voc rehab services for persons with disabilities. 

Senate Bill Would Ensure FAPE to Katrina Victims
Members of a U.S. Senate Committee have introduced a bill, the Hurricane Katrina Education Relief Act (S. 1715), that would provide emergency assistance to individuals with disabilities to ensure they continue to receive free appropriate public education and job training, and to fund the replacement of damaged or lost assistive technology devices.

Center Hosts Informational Meeting for Education and Disability Communities
On October 14, the Education Department’s National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) will host a gathering of representatives of the education and disability communities to introduce the new Center and to hear ideas from the field about research in special education.