A new accreditation council, staffed by volunteers, has been created to ensure that colleges and universities serving students with intellectual disabilities meet quality standards, reports insidehighered.com.
“The evaluation of programs can work ‘in tandem’ with expanding college access and providing helpful information to students and their families ‘about what they’re going to get and what they’re going to experience’ before a student decides to enroll,” Martha Mock, a clinical education professor and executive director for the council, told the website.
The council was created through Think College, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Ed. Think College provides resources, technical assistance and training related to college options for students with intellectual disabilities, and manages the only national listing of college programs for students with intellectual disabilities in the U.S.
Think College’s incredibly helpful directory, which it says is the only one of its kind to feature information on 316 postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disabilities, can be found here.
UPDATE: Disability Scoop reports that five programs are expected to go through the accreditation process “between now and the 2024-2025 academic year,” and that the agency plans to petition the U.S. Department of Education and the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity to be recognized as a program accreditor.
And if you want to learn more about the council, here’s an nterview with Mock.
Brick It Takes, a new Legoresale store, is providing job training for people with disabilities, reports lohud.com.
The store is run by Jawonio, a nonprofit provider of lifespan services for people with special needs throughout the Hudson Valley. It resells donated LEGO Bricks, provides afterschool workshops, schedules individual “Play Times” and offers party packages for the Rockland/ Westchester County Communities.
Read more about the store here.
Opening March 31!: Legoland New York Will Be a Certified Autism Center by End of March (The Boost)
Two interesting articles this week about sports in schools have inspired me to do a quick primer on New York State physical education regulations. But first, those two stories.
One comes from Special Olympics New York, which announced it’s expanding its partnership with New York City Public School to “ensure” access to Special Olympics sports at District 75 schools.
This means that “more than 1,700 students with disabilities will now be able to participate in Special Olympics track & field, volleyball, and basketball during their school day. An additional 200 high school students with and without disabilities will participate in an afterschool unified basketball league, and 200 middle school students with and without disabilities will participate in a unified bocce league,” the organization reports.
This leads me to the second article, which has a broader scope. An excellent look at unified sports, which includes students with and without disabilities on the same team, it comes from YouthToday.org. Entitled “Yes, you can do this: The story behind the rapid rise in sports for youth with disabilities,” it reports that “nearly 48,000 students nationwide participated during the 2021-2022 school year in unified sports, which include students with and without disabilities on the same team. That’s up from about 5,500 in 2018-19, according to the survey from the National Federation of State High School Associations.” Read about the history of unified sports, why there’s some nuance to these numbers and more here.
And now, a primer. The information below and much more can be found on the New York State Education Department website.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) entitles all K-12 students with disabilities to receive a free, appropriate public education, including appropriate physical education. The IEP must indicate the extent to which the student will participate in physical education including adapted physical education (APE), if appropriate. It’s recommended that a certified physical educator conduct the evaluation to determine the need for APE. The CSE must ensure that the evaluation results are discussed and the participation of the evaluator is sought through written and/or verbal means.
In many cases, appropriate physical education means adaptive physical education, a specially designed program of developmental activities, games, sports and rhythms suited to the interests, capabilities, and limitations of students with disabilities who may not safely or successfully engage in unrestricted participation in the activities of the regular physical education program.
Adaptive PE is a direct, not a related, service.
The class must be provided by a certified physical education teacher.
The size of APE classes (number of students per class) should conform with what is contained in a student’s IEP. When students requiring an APE program are included in integrated classes, consideration must be given to the total class size and support services so that all students are able to benefit from instruction.
If a one-to-one aide is indicated on the student’s IEP in all instructional areas, that aide must be provided for the adapted physical education class. However, the (IEP) may indicate that the provision of an aide is limited to certain areas of the student’s educational program.
When scheduling the use of physical education facilities, students receiving APE must be given equitable access to all physical education facilities. Adapted physical education and extracurricular programs for students with disabilities must be conducted in safe environments appropriate for the student’s individual needs.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) has a new resource guide for older adult caregivers of individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities.
NYSOFA’s Future Planning Guidebook For Older Caregivers of Adults with I/DD, available here, connects older adult caregivers with information and resources to begin the process of long-term planning. This includes financial and legal tools as well as supportive programs and services.
In many cases, says NYSOFA Director Greg Olsen in a statement, services and options are available to people of all ages who are in a caregiver role.
The resource guide was developed with support from the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC).
The U.S. Department of Education wants schools to stop using corporal punishment, a practice still legal in at least 23 states. The practice disproportionately affects students with disabilities and students of color.
Children served under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) were “overrepresented in receipt of corporal punishment,” according to the U.S. Department of Education. Students served under IDEA represented 13.2% of the student enrollment but 16.5% of the students who received corporal punishment. (Source: 2017-18 Dept. of. Ed Civil Rights Data Collection, updated May 2021.)
“It’s unacceptable that corporal punishment remains legally permissible in at least 23 states,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona wrote governors, chief state school officers, and school district and school leaders on March 24, 2023. “Our children urgently need their schools to raise the bar for supporting their mental health and wellbeing. Despite years of research linking corporal punishment to poorer psychological, behavioral, and academic outcomes, tens of thousands of children and youth are subjected to beating and hitting or other forms of physical harm in school every academic year.”
Boost has been sharing reports of corporal punishment still being used in New York schools despite it being banned. In response, New York lawmakers introduced a series of bills that would clarify the regulations and, for the first time, extend the laws to all private as well as public schools.
But other states are doubling down — and in Oklahoma, legislators are really going for the jugular, voting “no” on a bill to ban the use of corporal punishment on students with developmental disabilities. The reason? The Bible says it’s cool to do so, one lawmaker explained.
In the meantime, lawmakers across U.S. are pushing for harsher school discipline as safety fears rise. (Toughening gun laws? Disgustingly, not so much.) “Critics say the proposed state laws would punish young people still recovering from the pandemic and trigger a return to zero-tolerance discipline that could be disastrous for students of color and those with disabilities,” Chalkbeat reports.
Hot on the heels of the well-attended Westchester County Transitions Fair, held March 28, 2023, comes the Rockland Transition Forum in West Nyack. The fair, offered through Rockland BOCES and the Rockland Transition Consortium, features supports and information for students of all ages with an IEP or 504 Plan, families and professionals. School groups are welcome.
You’ll find information on educational institutions, recreation, advocacy, education, employment training and other opportunities, day programs and more.
Details
When: Friday, April 28, 2023
Time: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Palisades Center Community Rooms (4th floor near ice rink), 1000 Palisades Center Drive, West Nyack, N.Y. 10994
No need to register. Contact Dawn Kitz at dkitz@boces.org for information.
If you’re considering applying for Supplemental Security Income for your family member, this workshop, presented by Community Support Network at Westchester Institute for Human Development, can help.
You’ll learn some tips and tricks to the application process, when and how to apply, the eligibility requirements and how to best make the process less stressful.
Details
When: April 14, 2023
Time: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Register here.
You can find more WIHD events on its calendar.
RAISE is offering a virtual session to provide family, caregivers and advocacy professionals with strategies and tools that help build key self-determination skills in their youth.
The RAISE Center describes self-determination as the ability for an individual to make their own decisions and guide the path of their lives. The session will include “useful goal-setting and supported decision-making tools.”
“Family involvement and student self-determination can coexist,” RAISE writes. “By helping families see the value in self-determination we can support students to build confidence and take charge of their futures.”
The ARC GLOW New York is offering families and caregivers who have children experiencing sensory processing issues a two-hour class featuring techniques used by occupational therapists.
Occupational therapy “is one of the key ways that children can learn to prevent overload,” writes The ARC.
The class will share some commonly used techniques and approaches used by occupational therapists in schools and clinics “to help you encourage a happier and healthier home environment for all.”
ARC GLOW serves the counties of Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming, but of course all are welcome to attend the seminar.
Details
When: April 18, 2023
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Register here (Microsoft Teams)
FET class credit if needed.
To enhance communication between police officers and drivers, a growing number of states have or are proposing measures that indicate a driver is on the autism spectrum. Now, at least three more states — New Jersey, Rhode Island and Nevada — are considering them as well.
The programs have some variations, but there’s a trend toward the use of blue envelopes, which are handed to police officers during a traffic stop. (It’s unclear where the idea started, if you know, share!) Each envelope, meant to hold items such as insurance cards and registration, has printed tips and instructions for police that include what to expect (repetitive motions, unusual eye contact) and for drivers, such as preparing themselves for a flashlight being shone in their eyes and a loud police radio.
Connecticut uses this program, and it’s the one New Jersey is now considering (the bill was submitted in January 2023). Blue envelopes are already in use in some New Jersey counties. (UPDATE: A report in August 2023 noted that Berkeley Township in New Jersey was joining the program.)
A few years back, a New York bill proposed the option of a distinctive marking being added to an autistic person’s driver’s license, but it appears to be languishing in the assembly’s Transportation Committee.
A bill in Rhode Island would combine the voluntary use of a blue envelope with a license decal provided by the Division of Motor Vehicles. The one in Nevada would require, under certain circumstances, the DMV to place a designation on a driver’s license for certain persons with autism.
UPDATE: CBS News Boston reported in August 2023 that a blue envelopes bill is passing through the Massachusetts legislature.
While the goal is better communication and to increase the safety of drivers, some worry the measures could increase discrimination and stigma.
A study from 2017 found that one in three adolescents with autism spectrum disorder acquired a driver’s license versus 83.5% for other adolescents and at a median of 9.2 months later. The vast majority (89.7%) of those with autism spectrum disorder who acquired a permit and were fully eligible to get licensed acquired a license within two years.