The Family Advocacy and Support Training (FAST), a project of the PACER Center in Minnesota, is currently conducting a study of the needs of youth with disabilities (12 – 22 years old) as they move into adulthood. Parents or primary caregivers are asked to complete this survey, which is also available in Spanish. The purpose…
FILM YOUR DREAM—WIN $1,000! ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT—DEFINING THE NEW AMERICAN DREAM CONTEST
What is your American Dream: to buy a home, have a job, go to school, start your own business? Make a 3 minute video of your dream, enter it into this contest, and compete for a $1,000 award plus a trip to Washington, D.C. in October. The National Disability Institute is sponsoring this contest along…
State Board of Ed to decide on OCS testing
On June 2-3, the State Board of Education will make decisions on the testing program for students on the Occupational Course of Study. In 2008-09, the United States Department of Education determined that the NCEXTEND2 statewide alternate assessments for students on the Occupational Course of Study (OCS) did not meet their approval. The OCS students could…
ACT TODAY ON CORPORAL PUNISHMENT BILL IN CONGRESS
On Thur., April 15, a subcommittee of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee will begin hearings on banning school corporal punishment. If you agree that the United States needs to join 100 other nations that have already banned this ineffective practice, please contact one of the following: Write Representative Carolyn McCarthy, Subcommittee Chair,…
Losing credit for Curriculum Assistance Classes in High School…
Did you know that students in Curriculum Assistance classes in high school will no longer receive credit for this class? For those who do not have a child in high school, a Curriculum Assistance (CA) class is a class for students with IEPs who need additional help—it’s comparable to resource pull-out time in elementary school. …
Get ready for High School – Changes in the Occupational Course of Study
The Department of Public Instruction is redefining the Standard Course of Study into the Essential Standards. The program is called ACRE, the Accountability and Curriculum Reform Effort. Additionally, it was determined that the Occupational Course of Study (OCS) was not rigorous enough. The OCS is also being aligned with the new Essential Standards. There have…
Statement By Secretary Sebelius on National Autism Awareness Month
During National Autism Awareness Month, we reflect on an urgent public health challenge and rededicate ourselves to addressing the complex needs of people with autism and their families. Over the last decade, we’ve learned that autism is far more prevalent than we had previously believed, affecting one out of every 110 American children. While we…
SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD…
Please join the Autism Society of North Carolina and many other organizations in the campaign to eliminate the derogatory use of “retarded” in common usage. You might think that this isn’t very important, but consider this: words and how they are used can change attitudes, social policies and laws, and influence our feelings. The civil…
No Hitting! Just like we tell our kids…
Join the Autism Society of NC and others in a coalition to ban the use of corporal punishment (CP) on students with disabilities! Past attempts to ban CP for all students have not been successful on a statewide basis, but we hope to at least protect students with disabilities by this ban. At last week’s…