It’s almost time to go back to school. Are you ready?

August is here and that means that parents, students with disabilities, and teachers are starting to prepare for the new school year. For students with disabilities and their families, this can be a stressful, yet exciting, time. NARIC’s information specialists have put together a list of resources that includes:

• The Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center provides technical assistance and support to states and territories for early childhood implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The center also offers publications, research and reference materials, topic-specific resources, and links to state-level education programs for families and advocates of young children with special needs to help them understand their rights under IDEA.
• The Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) helps to expand opportunities and enhance the quality of life of children and young adults with disabilities and their families. PACER provides individual assistance, workshops, publications, and other resources to help families make decisions about education and other services for their child or young adults with disabilities.
• The HEATH Resource Center at the National Youth Transitions Center is a web-based clearinghouse that serves as an information exchange of resources, support services, and opportunities for higher education. Staff gather, develop, and share information in the form of resource papers, fact sheets, website directories, newsletters, and resource materials.
• Think College is dedicated to developing, expanding, and improving research and practice in inclusive higher education for people with intellectual disabilities across the country. Their website includes a searchable college directory, a resource library, a searchable knowledgebase of state-level activities and collaborative groups of key stakeholders, and information for students transitioning to college.
• From School to College: A Transition Activity Calendar for Students Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, designed by The National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision (NRTC) at Mississippi State University, lists tasks which students who are blind or visually impaired need to complete as early as middle school in order to attend college. From taking the right high school courses, to learning to use the most appropriate assistive technology, to career exploration and finding the colleges best suited to the selected course of study, to what the student is looking for in campus life, the demands of good preparation start early and continue through 12^th grade and the summer before the first Fall semester of college.

Currently and recently completed research projects funded by NIDILRR are focusing on areas that help students with disabilities, their families, and education professionals.  These areas include assistive technology, cooperative learning, prognostic indicators for reading by children with visual disabilities, transitioning for youth with psychiatric disabilities, support in the classroom for children with traumatic brain injuries, and tutoring systems to improve educational outcomes.

NARIC’s database, REHABDATA, includes many articles, books, and reports on education for youth with disabilities. Within the theme of education, there are items that cover accommodations in college, tele-rehabilitation in a school-based setting, advocacy, electronic peer mentoring for youth and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and the evaluation of anti-stigma interventions with sixth-grade students.

If you would like to learn more or need resources in your area, please contact our information specialists through our chat or by calling 800/346-2742.