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TO PARENTS--YOUR EXTENDED SCHOOL YEAR ...HOMEWORK
Are you counting the hours and days until school lets out for the summer? For some of you it already has, others are a few days away. Here are some ways to use summer to prepare for a successful start to the next school year:
Join parent disability organizations.
Collect copies of your child's files, all evaluations, IEPs and other information.
Organize a notebook for your child by subjects in chronological order. File all documents within a section (evaluations, IEP's, progress reports, notes, etc) this way: oldest document first, most recent document last.
Read the article titled "Understanding Tests and Measurements" from the Wright's website http://www.wrightslaw.com/ for the Special Advocate. To master the information presented, you should read the article several times.
Learn to use Excel or another spreadsheet program to help track records and progress.
Chart out your child's test performance on academics. Develop charts of your child's progress or lack of progress. (TIP: use the wizard in your software program to learn how to create graphs of educational progress or the lack of educational progress) (Us stanines or age/grade equivalent scores).
Learn how to touch type. Teach your child how to touch type. Children learn from their parents, and model them. If you can only "hunt & peck" do you think that your children will be motivated to learn touch typing? Of course not. If you use a typing software program 3 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes, you will learn to type 20-30 words per minute or more in about three months time. If you "hunt & peck," your goal is to touch type 30 words per minute or more at the end of the summer. If you learn to touch type, you can expect and require your children to do this too. After a week or two, you'll notice that they begin to compete with you and will try to increase their speed over yours. There are many fun programs for children too at low cost.
During the summer, continue to check out websites for educational and legal developments. In additions to "wrightslaw.com" you can visit, EdLaw http://www.edlaw.net, and the U.S. Department of Education http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/index.html websites. Pay frequent visits to Florida's Department of Education website at http://www.firn.edu/doe>. A couple of other good sites to check out are NPND (National Parent Network on Disabilities) http://www.npnd.org/ and STAND (Statewide Advocacy Network on Disabilities) http://members.aol.com/standweb1. You'll be surprised at the interesting information you can pick up there.
Resources provided by: Pete and Pam Wright, E-mail: pwright@wrightslaw.com for The Special Advocate
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