Winter 1997-1998

A Note from the President

Since the last newsletter, we have had two workshops with an average of 80 people attending each, and we had two evenings of Parent to Principal meetings which were extremely productive and informative. The process, the questions, and the dialogue at these principal meetings were most beneficial and illuminating. Many parents were unable to take advantage of these meetings and we would like to know why. Was it lack of interest, schedule conflicts, unavailable sitters, or some other reason. This feedback is very important to receive so we can determine if these type of meetings should be scheduled in the future. You can share your feedback with your school liaison, drop SSEPAC a line, or call 784-8316. Thanks.

Suzanne Peyton

IDEA 97-Federal Law Amended

The Federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997, signed into law on June 4, provide parents, students, and educators important new tools for ensuring that all children with disabilities receive a high quality education. The introduction to the law notes that 27 years after the special education law was first passed, low expectation still plague the education of SPED students. The new amendments make explicit that SPED students need to be given the opportunities to learn the skills and information that all students are expected to master to enable them to succeed in the general curriculum. Parents and advocates can use these rights to help make this a reality. For a copy of the IDEA Federal Register notice, please see: http://ocfo.ed.gov/
fedreg/propfule.htm or call 1-800-USA-LEARN. SSEPAC can also provide you with the major amendments and highlights of IDEA 97.

Grants and Funding

SSEPAC was awarded a mini grant from the Department of Mental Retardation for ongoing workshops that help parents learn more about their children's issues. This is the first grant this organization has ever applied for and received. We are quite excited, and plan to apply for more grants to allow us to expand our Resource Library and to provide more programs for children. If you know of any grant sources or small community funds which SSEPAC could apply for, please share that information with the Council! Call 784-8316.

Resources for Parents

Center for Public Representation
246 Walnut Street
Newton, MA 02160
617/965-0776
Statewide assistance low cost service

Children's Law Center of Mass.
P.O. Box 710
Lynn, MA 01903
781/581-1977

The Attention Deficit Information Network (AD-IN)
475 Hillside Avenue
Needham, MA 02194
781/455-9895
AD-IN is a non-profit organization, which offers information and support to families, adults and professionals through a network of national support group chapters. AD-IN serves as a community resource for those who work with individuals with AD/HD. They present conferences and workshops on current issues, research and treatments for AD/HD.

Nat'l Info Center for Handicapped Children & Youth
P.O. Box 1492 (NICHY)
Washington, D.C. 20013-1492
800/695-0285
A clearinghouse for special education and disability issues. The center provides publications on specific disabilities and refers individuals with disabilities to national support groups.

OC Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 70
Milford, CT 06460
203/878-5669
A foundation for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and other related neurobiological disorders. Provides information, resources, data, support, research findings.

Special Needs Advocacy Network
259 Jackson Street
Newton Centre, MA 02159
617/982-0002 x3
Provides listings of individuals who are in private practice as Special Education Advocates. Fees vary

How to Reach SSEPAC

If you have questions regarding workshops, need information, referrals for advocates or attorneys, there are several ways to reach this organization. Please note:
Sharon Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SSEPAC)
One School Street
Sharon, MA 02067
Phone: 781/784-8316
E-mail: ssepac@sharon.k12.ma.us
Web: http://www.ritop.com/ssepac/

Volunteer Opportunities

Setting up Resource Library at Middle School, coordinating and organizing the May Resource Fair, folding quarterly newsletters, readers, reviewers, liaison at the Middle School, newsletter editor, refreshments for upcoming Parent Connection meetings.

The next newsletter will be published in March 1998.

Happy Holidays Everyone.

Parent Connections

We will continue to have Parent Connection evenings in 1998 but these will be Parent to Parent. These meetings are for you, parents who have children with special needs, so you can network with other parents with similar concerns, find out about resources that may be useful to you, and just have someone to talk to and share your issues with. These Parent to Parent meetings will all be held at the Middle School Library from 7-9 PM and will be on the following dates:
January 13
March 10
June 9

Library Update

The SSEPAC books from our Resource Library have been delivered to the Middle School Librarian. We will keep you posted on when the Resource Library will be up and running. Until then, we still have everything you need to navigate the course through the Special Education maze. Call 784-8316 for a copy of:
The Parent Manual

Parents Guide to Chapter 766

Resource Referrals

Assorted Dept. of Ed publications

SSEPAC's Role

Many people are referred to the PAC when they are experiencing trouble with their child's educational progress. They are referred by friends, teachers, counselors, principals and other agencies. Usually they come to us with children who are faltering in an educational placement that is not meeting their needs. We try to support these parents by helping them to understand the process-on a somewhat reactive level.

Some of the academic difficulties experienced by children do not have to happen. Parents can make the choice to be proactive with their children's future, rather than reactive to their failures. By joining SSEPAC, at our monthly meetings, you can obtain the tools of knowledge necessary to navigate the special education maze. You can be supported by other parents who have experiences quite similar to your own. Most importantly you can learn how to work with the system to design the best possible education plan for your child's individual needs. SSEPAC can provide you with the tools you need. But, to stay focused on SSEPAC's mission and stated goals, this organization cannot champion individual cases.

Teachers, counselors, principals and others would be doing parents a service by referring them to SSEPAC early. Help them by giving them the tools of knowledge that they may need to better advocate on behalf of their children.

SSEPAC meetings are usually held the second Tuesday of every month at the Middle School Library and advertised in the Sharon Advocate.

PAC Coalition

On November 15, the day after our first snowstorm, 24 community PAC's met in Westwood to discuss upcoming legislative challenges and how we can help each other and other children. A very special thank you to Audrey Morgenbesser from the Family Autism Center who came in on Saturday to allow us the use of that facility. This was a dynamic meeting of highly motivated and talented individuals. We had representation of over 15,000 children on IEP's. A proclamation and mission statement were accepted, and a series of letters to the Board of Education and to our elected officials were approved for distribution. The PAC COALITION will reconvene on January 10 at the same location, to prepare for the new year's legislative sped agenda. If interested in this PAC COALITION and would like to attend the next meeting, please contact SSEPAC at 781/784-8316.

Internet Live! Web Sites to Visit

IDEA HOME PAGE
http://www.ed.gov/offices/
USERS/IDEA/index.html

LEARNING DISABILITIES-an interactive guide
http://www.LDOnLine.org

CLASSROOM LEADERSHIP ASCD NEWSLETTER
http://www.ascd.org

SOUTH NORFOLK COUNTY ARC
http://www.sncarc.org

WINNERS ON WHEELS
http://www.wowusa.com

PARENTING Q & A
http://www.parenting-
qa.com

Officers, Coordinators and Liaisons

President: Suzanne Peyton
Vice President: Margy Davidson
Vice President: Diane Pankow
Secretary: Lee Berkowitz
Treasurer: Susan Linehan
Treasurer: Susan Horne
Public Relations: Mark Baron & Lee Berkowitz
Abilities and Challenges: Diane Pankow
Youth Coalition: Katie Baker & Barbara Strassman
Early Childhood: Wendy Dagle
Cottage Street: Denise Hebb
East Elementary: Cheryl Weinberg
Heights Elementary: Nancy Safran
Middle School: volunteer needed
High School: Venera Emmi

Upcoming Events

Attached with this newsletter is an updated upcoming events listing of other local workshops or conferences. There are many wonderful opportunities for learning and training locally. Most workshops sponsored by local PAC's are free and open to anyone. If you know of other meetings or topics, please share them with SSEPAC so we may share them with others.

Table of Contents

A Note from the President

Resources for Parents

Officers, Coordinators and Liaisons

Volunteer Opportunities

Chapter 766 Update

The state legislature has recessed for the holidays and will resume the first week of January. During that time, you should be writing to our legislators to express your opinion or concern. The Sharon SEPAC supports the the mediated Special Education Reform proposal drafted by 15 statewide organizations, such as MASS, MTA, MFT, etc. This mediated Special Education Reform has generated the "One Voice for Children Coalition" which is attached for your review. SSEPAC promotes:

	A placement neutral funding model
	Alignment of Chapter 766 independent evaluation process and adoption of a sliding scale fee option
	A time-limited study of the impact of repealing Maximum Feasible Benefit (MFB) and replacing it with the Federal Standard of Free and Appropriate Education(FAPE).

In addition, we are advocating the continuation of SPED PACs. Please indicate your support or concern, one way or another. Send your letters now and to:

Representative Louis Kafka
State House, Rm. 237
Boston, MA 02133
617/722-2305

Senator William Keating
State House, Rm. 213C
Boston, MA 02133
617/722-1222

Book Reviews

Educational Care is a book dedicated to children whose stifled struggles to succeed have been misinterpreted. "Needless suffering occurs whenever children grow up disappointing themselves and the adults who care about them. Often they do so because they perform inadequately in school. These children come to question their own worthiness, as they compare themselves to others. Children who experience too much failure early in life are vulnerable to a wide range of complications. When these students are poorly understood, when their specific problems go unrecognized and untreated, they are especially prone to behavioral and emotional difficulties that frequently are more severe than the learning problems that generated them."

A major supposition in this book is that a child with a learning problem cannot receive the best educational care at school unless there is close collaboration with the adults at home. Throughout the book, collaborative management is stressed. There is a strong emphasis on consistency. Parents and schools need to share the same understanding of the child, work from the same conceptual models of strength and dysfunction, and communicate using the same terminology. Dr. Mel Levine, Educational Care-A System for Understanding and Helping Children with Learning Problems at Home and in School, 1994, Educators Publishing Service, Cambridge, MA.

Learning to Learn is a well written, informative book that guides parents through the struggles of their learning-disabled children. "The ability to think about how we think", is the direction this book takes us. Its goal is to help the learning-disabled students, their parents, and their teachers discover how they learn best. The goal, states one of the students quoted, is to "analyze my mistakes...and use what I have learned as the basis for future learning."

The authors start at infancy to discuss various types of learning and memory, the importance of teaching children organization strategies, the critical role language plays in learning, and ways parents can help their children develop better language skills. They understand that dyslexia and similar learning disabilities are not just reading disabilities but language disabilities. Self-esteem is a critical piece of learning. The authors stress the need for positive reinforcement both at home and in school for a student to perform effectively. (This book review from the Cambridge Special Education PAC. Many thanks.) Carolyn Olivier and Rosemary F. Bowler,1996, Learning to Learn, Simon & Schuster, NY.

Program Schedule

January 13
Parent Connections-Parent to Parent
January 22
Learning Disabilities workshop
February 10
Business Meeting
February 26
Dyslexia workshop
March 10
Parent Connections-Parent to Parent
March 26
Social Skills Workshop
April 14
Business Meeting
April 30
Inclusion workshop
May 12
Business Meeting
May 17
Resource Fair / Parents' Forum
June 9
Parent Connections-Parent to Parent