Early Childhood Special Education and Assistive Technology Blog

A couple days ago the U.S. Department of Education proposed a new rule "to improve the equity in the the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)," and made it public in a February 23, 2016, press release . You can visit the press release and listen or read the transcript explaining the proposal. The recording provides the voices of many national actors speaking about racial and ethnic disparities in education for students with special needs. I recommend listening to the recording in its entirety as well as the questions fielded at the end. The recording begins with Acting Secretary of Education John King stating: " Today, we are taking a critical step to support students of color with disability, and more broadly, to improve equity in our country. We have a moral and a civil rights obligation to ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed regardless of background or whether the student has a disability. Our laws exist for the purpose of

With the primaries wrapped up in New Hampshire, Therese Willkomm (one of NH's resident Assistive Technology experts and EC-SEAT project AT guru) has found a use for all those signs you find along the road and in people's yards. Click this link to find out what she is up to thanks to SFGATE! Also these websites provide ideas and resources for using recycled items in the classroom and some useful Assistive Technology solutions. ATinNH - Resources Tot's n Tech - Ideas to Share Irresistible Ideas Blog

Have you heard of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) Recommended Practices ? The videos below explain how they were constructed and what they are. If you have an interest in caring and/or teaching young children, you will find this document helpful in creating thoughtful environments for families and their little ones.

By: Katie McCormack , EC-SEAT Scholar Emotionary by Me. Mu . is an emotional journal for the ipad. It would be best used by children who have basic reading skills, so that they can be more independent in using it (although I definitely think educators could help children to use it as well). This app allows children to understand and track their emotions. On the home page, you are given the option to create a new entry or view past entries. When you create a new entry, you are prompted with “Today, I feel…” and can select one of six different emotions. Once you select an emotion, which is paired with a face, you take your own picture showing that emotion. You can then add a voice recording, a text entry and other picture entries to help explain and describe why you’re feeling a certain way. I think this is a beneficial app for children who struggle to differentiate between emotions, especially because it provides visual feedback to the child using his or her own