Chapter 14: General Resources

Introduction: There are resources that can help you navigate the systems and procedures you will encounter as you advocate for your child. Resources range from written information to direct services for you and your child, to people who can provide you with legal or advocacy support. Here are some resources that are available to help you.

General Resources:

A Kid Again- Non-profit for families with children with special healthcare needs
A Kid Again offers free local events and activities called Adventures for families who have a child facing a life-threatening condition. We handle all expenses and details, so a family can simply enjoy quality time with their loved ones.

Children with Medical Handicaps Program
The Complex Medical Help Program (CMH), formerly called Children with Medical Handicaps (BCMH), is a health care program in the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). The CMH provides assistance to individuals with special health care needs and their families who meet the medical and financial eligibility criteria. Assistance is provided to individuals under the age of 25 who have special health care needs and are residents of the State of Ohio.

Disability Rights Ohio
Disability Rights Ohio is a nonprofit corporation with a mission to advocate for an equitable Ohio for people with disabilities. DRO provides free legal advocacy to people with disabilities in a variety of areas including special education, employment, community integration, abuse, and neglect.

Flying Horse Farms- Non-Profit for families with children with special healthcare needs
Flying Horse Farms is a nonprofit medical specialty camp that provides experiences at no cost to children with serious illnesses.

Parent Consultants- Ohio Department of Health
The role of the parent consultants at the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) involves being support to the 30+ programs within the Bureau of Child and Family Health — offering a parent perspective and voice. Parent consultants strive to make sure all ODH efforts are family centered, community-based, and culturally sensitive. Consultants can provide support to families and connect families to additional support.

Parent Mentors of Ohio
A Parent Mentor is the parent of a child with a disability employed by local education agencies and Educational Service Centers to help families and school districts by providing support, information, and training services. A Parent Mentor is a guide and mentor to help the parent navigate the special education process and to develop their skills as an advocate, the best advocate for their child.

PACER Center
PACER provides individual assistance, workshops, publications, and other resources to help families make decisions about education and other services for their child or young adult with disabilities.

The Center for Parent Information and Resources
The Center for Parent Information & Resources (CPIR) is the central hub of valuable information and products specifically designed for the network of Parent Centers serving families of children with disabilities. The website provides access to the products and resources for families.

The Council for Exceptional Children
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the success of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.

National Center for Learning Disabilities

Summer Institute for Gifted
The National Center for Learning Disabilities works to improve the lives of individuals with learning disabilities and attention issues—by empowering parents and young adults, transforming schools, and advocating for equal rights and opportunities.

National Association for Gifted Children
NAGC is the nation's leading organization focused on the needs of gifted and talented children. Dedicated to uplifting and empowering those who support children with advanced abilities, NAGC provides energizing professional learning, impactful research, and inspiring advocacy to ensure all children have equitable opportunities and support to develop their gifts and talents.

TeachersFirst
TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format. Busy teachers, parents, and students can find resources using their robust search tools.

Open Education Database
Open Education Database gives individuals the tools they need to make informed decisions about their educational paths and careers. Whether students are looking for financial aid, comparing college programs, or exploring a school's accommodations for learners with disabilities, Open Education Database offers free guides and school rankings that can help reduce the stress of an online college search.

Kid Source Online
KidSource Online web-site acts as a source for in-depth and timely education and healthcare information affecting the lives of children and their families. Information for parents and educators of toddlers, preschoolers, K-12 curriculum ideas, health information and articles, books on a variety of topics, and search capabilities. Learning disability, and attention disorder info as well as related news links are also available.

Davidson Institute for Talent Development
Davidson Institute offers support profoundly intelligent young people, their families and the educators that serve them. Support includes resources and summer programs.

Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted
SENG is a nonprofit network of people who guide gifted, talented, and twice-exceptional individuals to reach their goals intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.

National Association of School Psychologists
The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is a professional association representing more than 25,000 school psychologists, graduate students, and related professionals throughout the United States and an additional 25 countries worldwide. As the world's largest organization of school psychologists, NASP works to advance effective practices to improve students' learning, behavior, and mental health.

Each Child Means Each Child
Each Child Means Each Child offers recommendations, tactics, and action steps to ensure Ohio’s 270,000 students currently enrolled in public schools who have been identified with disabilities benefit from the vision and core principles heralded in Ohio's strategic plan for education.

Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center
The mission of the Statewide Family Engagement center is to support the development and academic achievement of children by providing tools and learning opportunities to Ohio families and schools for building effective family-school partnerships.

NAEYC Family Engagement Site
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. We advance to a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children. The association comprises nearly 60,000 individual members of the early childhood community and 52 Affiliates, all committed to delivering on the promise of high-quality early learning.

Family Centered Practice, ASHA
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 234,000 members, certificate holders, and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology assistants; and students. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment, including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) identify, assess, and treat speech, language, and swallowing disorders.

Naughton, S. (2004) English Language Learners, Immigrant Children and Preschool for All. The Importance of Family Engagement: An Issue Brief Series.
The Importance of Family Engagement is part of a working paper series on issues related to English language learners, immigrant children and preschool for all, developed in conjunction with National Council of la Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Early Intervention: Should I be concerned about my child’s development?
Information, checklists, and questionnaires from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth to help families gauge child development.

Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities
The Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities (OCECD) is a statewide nonprofit organization that serves families of infants, toddlers, and youth with disabilities in Ohio, educators and agencies who provide services to them. OCECD’s programs help parents become informed and effective representatives for their children in all educational settings. In addition, youth are assisted to advocate for themselves. Through knowledge about laws, resources, rights and responsibilities, families are better able to work with agencies to ensure that appropriate services are received for the benefit of their children.

Ohio’s Medicaid School Program
The Ohio Medicaid School Program is a federal program that allows school districts to receive Medicaid reimbursement for costs associated with providing ETR (Evaluation Team Report) and IEP (Individualized Education Program) services to students with Medicaid insurance. Ohio currently has approximately 650 school districts participating in the program. This program brings in valuable dollars for Ohio schools to help offset the cost of providing therapy services to students on an IEP.

Ohio School Based Health Alliance
The Ohio School-Based Health Alliance (“Ohio Alliance”) is the only nonpartisan, statewide organization created to advance and support the sustainability and expansion of school-based health care to reduce disparities and improve health and education outcomes for Ohio’s students, their families, and communities. The mission of the Alliance is to improve access to comprehensive, integrated health services through school-based health care to advance equity and improve health and education outcomes for students, their families, and communities.

Families of Students With Disabilities
Families are essential partners with teachers in supporting their child’s educational progress. This is especially true for families of students with disabilities. This page from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce offers resources for families to help navigate the educational process for students with disabilities.

Special Education
Families are essential partners with teachers in supporting their child’s educational progress. This is especially true for families of students with disabilities. This page from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce offers resources for families to help navigate the educational process for students with disabilities.

Preschool Special Education
The Office of Early Learning and School Readiness aims for families, preschool staff, and the community to work together to meet the needs of young children with disabilities. To meet individual children’s needs, districts offer a variety of preschool special education services. Children with disabilities may receive services in public schools, private preschools, or child care centers.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts. OSEP administers the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which authorizes formula grants to states under Part B, grants to lead agencies for the infants and families program under Part C, and discretionary grants under Part D to institutions of higher education and other non-profit organizations to support grants for state personnel development, technical assistance and dissemination, technology, personnel development, and parent-training and information centers.