Thursday, May 23, 2013

Medical Grants Now Available in Georgia from UnitedHealthcare




ATLANTA (May 20, 2013) – The UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation (UHCCF) is seeking grant applications from families in need of financial assistance to help pay for their child’s health care treatments, services or equipment not covered, or not fully covered, by their commercial health insurance plan.

Qualifying families can receive up to $5,000 per grant to help pay for medical services and equipment such as physical, occupational and speech therapy, counseling services, surgeries, prescriptions, wheelchairs, orthotics, eyeglasses and hearing aids.  

To be eligible for a grant, children must be 16 years of age or younger. Families must meet economic guidelines, reside in the United States and have a commercial health insurance plan. Grants are available for medical expenses families have incurred 60 days prior to the date of application as well as for ongoing and future medical needs. Parents or legal guardians may apply for grants at www.uhccf.org, and there is no application deadline. 

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Positive Behavior



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Webinar:
Top Ten Strategies for Promoting Positive Behavior in Children

May 19, 2013

7pm EST
(Closed Captioning)

Laurie Denno, Ph.D.

Register Now
Webinar: Top Ten Strategies for
Promoting Positive Behavior in Children
Presenter:  Laurie Denno
The Foundation is excited to announce the second webinar in our 2013 series. Registration is now open for Top Ten Strategies for Promoting Positive Behavior in Children to be presented by Laurie Denno on May 19, 2013, 7pm EST. With limited availability, registrationis on a first-come-first-served basis. The session allows plenty of time for questions after the presentation.

Within a couple of days after registration, you will receive a registration confirmation and detailed instructions on how to log in to the webinar, participate and learn from our expert.
Laurie S. Denno, Ph.D., is a board certified behavior analyst and a licensed mental health counselor.  Laurie has over 30 years experience working with individuals who have developmental disabilities.  She has worked in public schools, private schools, vocational programs and day habilitation programs.  Laurie works part time at the Perkins School for the Blind as a behavior analyst and is also on the faculty of Simmons College.  Her primary interests are CHARGE syndrome, deafblind education and behavior analytic applications for mental illness.
Top Ten Strategies for Promoting Positive Behavior in Children
It is much more efficient to prevent behavior difficulties than it is to try and decrease them once they are already in a child's repertoire.  This presentation outlines a number of simple strategies that can be used to structure the home and school environment to prevent behavior problems in children with CHARGE syndrome.  Discussion includes the importance of consistency, positive feedback, high but realistic behavioral expectations, communication at the child's functional level in the correct mode, teaching independence and self-management and how to get professional help if you need it.

Monday, May 6, 2013


 Institute Designed for Educating All Students (IDEAS) 2013

                           June 3 – 6, 2013 
                          Epworth by the Sea, St Simons Island






Georgia Department of Education’s Division for Special Education Services and Supports is proud to offer the IDEAS conference in partnership with Georgia Tools for Life, Georgia CEC and Georgia Sensory Assistance Project. The IDEAS Conference will offer a wide range of session topics and presentations that will address technical and functional perspectives for all educators who teach students with disabilities.
For more information, please click on the link above. 

Two sessions presented by GSAP include:
Making Calendar Systems Work
Description: Developing individualized, accessible schedules that are meaningful for students who have sensory loss and/or significant intellectual delays is a best practice strategy for improving behavior, communication, and literacy.  But, it is a strategy often misunderstood or misused in classrooms.  Martha Veto from the Georgia Sensory Assistance Project, and Diane Foster, graduate of the East Carolina Deafblind Intervener program and parent of a child who is deafblind, will share their experiences developing calendar systems. Topics include: how to get started, what makes it work, and a calendar planning tool to help participants make decisions about what a system for their own student might look like.

Detours, Construction Areas and High Occupancy Lanes:  A team’s journey toward creating a child-driven program
 Description: For 3 years, a team in Floyd County has worked together to create programming for a student who is deafblind.  In this presentation, team members will share how they have come to work in new ways and learn new skills to build a team that collaborates on writing objectives, developing activities and adapting materials for a student who is deafblind.   Team-developed forms used for planning and evaluation, adapted materials, and concept boxes will be shared, as well as new strategies such as using shared video clips to improve consistency and using distance technology to get input from experts outside the team.

Other Topics of Interest

  • Assistive Technology & Accessibility
  • Behavior & Classroom Management
  • Common Core Curriculum: UDL & Curriculum Integration
  • Education/Learning Strategies & Instructional Technologies
  • Parent/Family Engagement
  • Policies, Procedures & Practices
  • Sensory Impairments
  • Transition