Free To Be Me Respite coming in October

 

As fall comes closer we are excited to have more programs on the way to help families caring for children with disabilities / special needs.

Free To Be Me Respite will be 4 hours a month for children with disabilities to have activities to do with a Respite Buddy as the caregivers take time to rest and focus on their self care needs. Before Free To Be Me starts in October we are asking families that would be interested to fill out an input form to help us structure our respite to help as many families as we can

Parent Input Form: https://forms.gle/9vUwdfAswAeqp7kNA

As we prepare for Free To Be ME Respite we are looking for volunteers that would like to help children with disabilities to have a time that they are free to be themselves doing activities, Crafts as their parents take a few hours to rest and focus on their self care needs.

To Volunteer with Community Inclusion Ambassadors inc please visit:

https://forms.gle/p3kzJdNyWgWtTfEU8

Community Inclusion Ambassadors Inc is a 501c3 non-profit organization formed in 2020 to help make our community more inclusive for families caring for children and young adults with disabilities. We are working to continue our Sensory Friendly Activities, Special Education Advocacy and to start providing monthly Respite events in October. This is not possible without the support of our community, area churches and local business.

If you have any questions or would like to help support our works to help families caring for children with disabilities please visit our website at: https://www.ourcia.org/p/donations.html

Special Education Starts with Child Find

 U.S Federal Regulations: 

IDEA Sec. 300.111 Child find

https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/b/300.111

The State must have in effect policies and procedures to ensure that—

(i) All children with disabilities residing in the State, including children with disabilities who are homeless children or are wards of the State, and children with disabilities attending private schools, regardless of the severity of their disability, and who are in need of special education and related services, are identified, located, and evaluated; and

(ii) A practical method is developed and implemented to determine which children are currently receiving needed special education and related services.

Indiana Special Education Rules:

Article 7  511 IAC 7-40-1 Child Find

https://www.in.gov/doe/files/art-7-english-may-2019-update-index.pdf#page=56

Sec. 1. (a) The public agency shall establish, maintain, and implement written procedures that ensure the location, identification, and evaluation of all students three (3) years of age, but less than twenty-two (22) years of age, who are in need of special education and related services, regardless of the severity of their disabilities, including students who: 

(1) have legal settlement within the jurisdiction of the public agency; 

(2) attend a nonpublic school, are served by an agency, or live in an institution located within the jurisdiction of the public agency; 

(3) are homeless students as defined at 511 IAC 7-32-46; (4) are wards of the state; 

(5) are highly mobile students, including migrant students; and 

(6) are suspected of being student

We need family input about monthly respite events.

Hello Families 

We are working to start monthly respite events. Free To Be Me Respite events will be for 4 hours once a month and have Art & Crafts, Musical, Recreational and Bible study activities for the children with disabilities to take part in with a volunteer buddy. As the children are at the respite events parents can have the time to rest and focus on their self care needs.

We are in the last step of approval with a church in Orange county indiana that has a handicap accessible youth center ( As soon as we have approval we will send out the church name) . We will have access to children's classrooms, a nursery and Student center ( a large room we can use for games, and larger group activities)   This will be a Pilot program and will be reviewed at 3 months to discuss continuing the respite events long term. 

What we need help with

Parent input for planning- We need families that would be interested in taking part in a monthly respite event to fill out a short google form it lets us know what times would work best for families, how you would feel about your child taking part in a 30 min childs bible study at the respite event, if you would like to take part in a parent bible study, if a sibling group would be helpful for your family, how you feel about the proposed logo ( You will see some post with Free To Be Me Respite for now but its subject to change based off parent input), and a option to share your contact info so we can share updates about respite and let you know when respite sign-up starts. 

Click Here to fill out the parent input for respite events form 

 Volunteers- Do you know of someone that has a heart for helping children with disabilities / special needs?  We would love to have their help in making respite available to families. We are asking all potential volunteers to fill sign-up using VolunteerMatch  All volunteers will have to have a current background check on file as part of our child safety system. Please share this link with anyone that you feel would be a good match for helping build our respite team. https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp3575249.jsp?fbclid=IwAR0q4_mJRjvQRFSWwNw9Fh8fDgXLk6ybfG_5sXRXC4MF_tnAqJTdUkpOGa0#.Yvbuluwuun4.facebook

Community Partners- The church will be opening their doors but our Non-profit will be responsible with funding the respite program itself.  If you know of any area business that may become a community partner in helping make respite events available in our area please let us know. We would love to talk with them as we work together to bring more resources and support to our area for families caring for a child with a disability.  

The proposed logo and name for the respite program 

--

Sincerely

Patrick Underwood

Board President / Lead Volunteer Special Education Advocate 

Community Inclusion Ambassadors Inc

Phone: (812) 329-0216

Email: PatrickU@ourcia.org

Website: www.ourcia.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stand.with.CIA

Parent Educational Survey 21-22 Findings (Part 1)

 Parent Educational Survey 

2021-2022

The survey was completed by families in Indiana and Mississippi for the 2021-2022 school year. 

The survey covers grades Pre-K through 12th grades with an equally general representation

with 48.4% female and 41.9% Male students and 9.7% preferred to not state.

64.5 % of the students had IEP’s, 6.5% had 504 plans and  29% were non-disabled students.

Special Education Findings

Parents to special education advocates

Introduction

As parents of kids with special needs, we're often thrown into a world where we don't know the rules or how to navigate them. The only way to find that out is by asking someone who's been there before you. You can learn how to advocate for your kids and become an expert in special education advocacy by talking to someone who has already done this work.

You don't need to be an expert to advocate for your child.

You don't need to be an expert on special education in order to advocate for your child. The school district, other parents and teachers, and your child's teacher are there to help you learn about the process of filing for special education services. They can also provide guidance as you move forward with the plans and programs that will benefit your child most.

If you want more information beyond what is available from school resources, there are many books available on the subject of special education law in different states, including Indiana laws (search Indiana article 7).

You can advocate for your kid in special education without being an expert on every aspect of it.

It's not that you have to be an expert on every aspect of special education, but it helps if you know a little bit about what your options are. The good news is that there is plenty of information available on the internet and from experts in the field. You can also look for other parents who may be able to help, either by sharing their own experiences or lending their expertise as professionals in special education or another field related to it (such as psychology).

Conclusion

Special education can be a scary thing for parents and children alike. It can be difficult to understand the process and make sure that your child is getting the help they need. Parents should have access to information about special education laws, procedures, practices, and resources so that they can advocate for their child in school or at home. We hope this article has provided some helpful tips on how to navigate through these complicated waters!

Community Inclusion Ambassadors Inc. Summer Newsletter

Community Inclusion Ambassadors Inc.

Phone: (812) 329-0216 Email: Info@ourcia.org

Summer 2022 Newsletter

Summer Park Outing 2022

July 23rd at the Red Cross Cabin In Spring Mill State Park 

Our family area will open at 10am and will close at 6pm families are invited to use this area as a break or rest area as they enjoy the park.  We are planning some craft activities, games, and snacks throughout the day for families at the Red Cross Cabin.  

We do ask that all families planning to attend please Sign-up at https://forms.gle/rCYtxq2NNCMnkCKF9

Board Nominations

We will be opening board self nominations in July at the park outing. This is for any Parent or family member over 18 that is active in coming to our events that would like to participate on the governing board. Our Board serves as leadership of our programs and develops us to better help families in our area. 

Self Nomination forms and online form will be open from July 23rd to November 1st. 

Families will vote in board members in December during Sensory Santa events. 

2021-2022 Parent Survey for School Quality 

As the 2021-2022 school year comes to a close we are doing a parent survey to help guide our special education advocacy team as they plan for next school year. Your responses can help us identify concerns or highlight programs that are doing amazing work but not receiving the recognition they deserve .

This survey will end July 1st as we hope to have results to display at the park outing July 23rd. 

To fill out a survey please visit: https://forms.gle/owRqpe8fd8MtXq4v8

Thank you to Our Community Partners 

Walmart Paoli

Amazon SDF 8 Jeffersonville,IN

Old National Bank 

River's Edge Fellowship Church 

Community Donors 

If you would like to be removed from our Email list please Reply "STOP" to this email and we will remove your email. 

 

Day at the Park

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