SPAR Winter Events

Please excuse the lateness of this post but the SPAR winter events email came to me between travel and Christmas and got buried in my inbox.  (Excuses, excuses.)  Still lots of fun to be had this winter:  Bowling, dances, snow shoeing at Presque Isle-- check out the details at www.upsail.com/events.php.

SAIL Chocolate Bash coming soon!

I attended this event last year when it was at the mall.  It will be nice to have it right down town this year.  Hope you can come out and support a great organization. 

Superior Alliance for Independent Living (SAIL)
3rd Annual Chocolate Festival
February 4, 2012, 11:30am-1:30pm
UpFront & Company Banquet Room

$5 per ticket, 5 and under FREE!

Our SWEET participants: Wahlstrom's, UpFront & Company, Sakylly's, Gourmet Girl Cafe, Huron Mountain Bakery, MQT Food Co-op, Sinfully Seductive Sweets, Doncker’s, DeRose Delights and Jilbert's Dairy

Attend to win door prizes including a SonicCare toothbrush, Gift cards from Aubree’s, Casa Calabria, Midtown Bakery cake, Marquette Baking Company, Border Grill and much more! Handmade silent auction items such as scarves, mittens, quilts and photos up for bid too!

Michigan resources

I got an email today from Mary Swift that directed me to this great section of the michigan.gov site.  Check out these resources from the Michigan Department of Community Health . 

See if you qualify for the Family Support Subsidy program. 

Check out this brochure describing how the Respite program works.

Or see if the State can help you better work with your insurance company to get the services your child needs:

Insurance Advocacy

The Insurance Advocacy for Home-Based Alternatives Program works statewide to help families maximize insurance coverage for home care services. The program: helps families understand the benefits available under their insurance contracts, coaches families through the process of negotiating approval for home care services that may or may not be regular benefits under the insurance contracts, and assists families in resolving denials of home care services. In addition, the program reviews each referral to ensure prompt coordination with all publicly funded home care resources and use of all available routes to achieve Medicaid eligibility. Services: Over 900 children and families are served annually. Contact: Kathy Neville, (616) 844-1056 Nevillek@michigan.gov

There are several other cool resources listed on this page; some that I was aware of I now have a little cleared understanding of how they work. 

Marquette Autism Summit

I wanted to write a brief post on the Autism Summit held yesterday at Women's Federated Club in Marquette.  It was a very positive and informative gathering.

There were professionals there from several area agencies:  Pathways, Bay Human Services, SAIL; and Early On.  Rep. Steve Lindberg was there as well as a rep from Senator Debbie Stabenow's local office.  Laura Reissner from NMU's education department who coordinates the autism endorsement program was there as well as Peter Holliday from NMU Student Services.  Serving the public schools, we had the special education coordinator from Ishpeming Schools, the Superintendent of Special Education for all of MARESA, the SEPAC president, and Barb Nelson, autism consultant.  Outpatient therapists from Bell Rehab Services at Teal Lake were there as well.

The discussion was organized by life stages:  Birth-three, preschool age, school age, and adulthood.  For each stage the goal was to identify available resources and needs.  I learned a lot, took notes and will have something up here in terms of general minutes in the next few weeks.  In truth, right now my head is still spinning!  By April, autism awareness month, the goal is to have a document that will be widely distributed throughout the area, listing available resources.  

Many thanks to all who participated in the summit!

DSM 5

I wanted to add a couple of links here that discuss the changes to the diagnostic tool used in the medical community to identify and define where one might fall on the autistic spectrum.  Here's one from the New York Times and one from Web MD

State of the State

If you haven't already heard, in Governor Synder's state of the state address Wednesday night, he specifically addressed the insurance reform legislation that was reintroduced this year.  You can read more about it on Autism Votes.

SEPAC Minutes for Jan 19.

I was able to attend the SEPAC meeting last week.  The scheduled guest speaker, Sue Bertram, had to cancel because of a family emergency.  I believe she is now at least tentatively planning to speak at the next meeting on February 16.  Her topic will be "Ten Successful and Assertive Steps for Working with Professional."

Much of the first half of the meeting was spent going over the details of the spring SEPAC newsletter, which should be heading your way in February.

New Online Screening Tool
Heidi, SEPAC vice president and member of this group and Great Start, mentioned a tool called ASQ (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) that is now available online for free screening of children from birth to age five.  Do pass this information on to any parent you know who has concerns about how their young child is developing.  They can complete the questionnaire online and track their child's development over time.  As I understand it, the results are also forwarded to Early On staff who can direct families to further evaluation and, if a need is determined, available resources. All of these services-- the screening, the evaluations, the Early On resources are free to parents. 

Family Fun Night
SEPAC is once again planning a family fun night at the YMCA that will be free to all special education students and their families.  This year's event will be on March 18 from 6-8 pm.  My daughter and I attended last year, and my daughter had lots of fun-- she loves the play gym and of course the pool.  The event was well organized and their was plenty of pizza for all.

Special Ed Conference
Luanne Peterson, Special Education Superintendent for MARESA, let us know that registration for the Special Ed Conference is now online.  The conference will be held at NMU's Bottom Center on February 23-24.  On Thursday, Barb Nelson will be part of a talk on Asperger's Syndrom.  I was able to attend just one afternoon of the conference last year and found it worth while.   Both days of the conference are free to parents.  Register online and learn more about the conference at http://www.maresa.org .

Sensory friendly film series

We got some press this weekend when we presented the film Mary Poppins sensory friendly style.  You can read the Mining Journal article here.  One correction, because I learned the library is already showing ET on Friday January 27 (no school that day) as part of another film series, our next sensory friendly film in April will be Charlotte's Web.

Young Athletes and Snowshoeing

I contacted Heidi Dougan this morning and she sent me some information on the remaining Young Athletes dates and a new Snowshoeing program she's started.

Young athletes, a fun, movement centered program for children with special needs ages 2-8 is held monthly in the Sandy Knoll Gymnasium on Monday nights from 6:30-7:30.  They will meet tomorrow, January 9.  Heidi says to bring snow pants as she plans to spend some time outside.

The remaining dates for the year are February 13, March 12, April 16, and May 14.

Snowshoeing is open to participants in the Special Olypics and Young Athletes programs.  They meet at the Fit Strip off of Bluff Street and 6:30 pm on Thursdays and 3:00 Sundays on the following dates:  Thursday Jan 12, Sunday Jan 15 and Thursday Jan 19.

Bring warm clothes, water and snowshoes if you have them.  If not, shoeshoes can be provided, just call Heidi:  225-4322.

Minutes for January meeting

There were four of us who met this afternoon.

Rebecca filled us in on a friend of hers who recently moved to the area and is looking for work doing child care.  She has lots of experience, including working with special needs kids.  I asked her to have her friend e-mail me a description of her experience and the work she's looking for and I add her to the resources list.

We also talked about recent encounters we've had with adults on the spectrum and agreed they would be welcome to attend to our meetings.  We're all learning and appreciate the insight.

I talked a bit about the upcoming Summit.  We've had nine people say they were coming and only two who said they couldn't make it.  Most of the people who haven't replied are either politicians or physicians.  I'll be making phone calls if I don't hear from them by the end of this week.  I've heard from parents who'd like to be there, but in the interest of a freer exchange of ideas, we are limiting attendance to the professionals who have been invited and will not be videotaping the discussion.  We do hope to have a really fine document to distribute to all interested parents and professionals that lists the findings and the goals set at the summit. 

We had one new attendee who's little boy is going through the diagnostic process at this time.  We shared a bit of our respective journeys.  He's already placed in ECDD and receiving services at Bell Teal lake so it sounds like they are well on their way to getting some good supports in place. 

I asked Heidi about the speaker, Sue Bertram, at the next SEPAC meeting.  Apparently she is a consultant with years of experience working in the special needs community.  She will speak on the process on coordinating services and give tips on how parents can learn to work most effectively with their service providers.  SEPAC (Special Education Parents Advisory Committee) will be meeting next on Thursday Jan 19 at 7:00 at MARESA on Ohio St. in Marquette. 

I had hoped to discuss the sensory friendly film but we ran out of time.  We had close to 30 people turn out.  I have another date set aside for the next one:  April 3, the Tuesday of Spring Break.  I had hoped to show E.T., but as I was cleaning up yesterday, I learned one of my co-workers at the library has already scheduled that movie for another film series on Friday, January 27.  If anyone has a suggestion for a really good family film for April, please let me know.

Assistive Technology Seminar

Assistive Technology Seminar

January 17, 2012, 6-9pm

St. Michael’s Parish Center

401 W. Kaye Ave., Marquette

Presentation by

Sara Menzel, ATP Manager Assistive Technology Center 

Hosted by Ross W. Johnson

Reviewing and demonstrating various assistive technologies, including computer software and hardware.

Contact Ross W. Johnson for more information at 906-361-0852.

Adaptive Cross Country Skiing with SAIL

Once again the good people at the Superior Alliance for Independant Living are offering Adaptive cross Country skiing for adults and children.  Below is the information I received: 

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION (2 sessions available):

SESSION ONE (4 weeks):

FREE Demo Day – January 14^th 12:30pm

Where: Noquemanon Trail Network – Forestville Trailhead

Time:  4:30-6:30pm

When: January 17, 24, 31 and February 7

Cost: $2 per session, $12 for both sessions (8 weeks)

Pre-registration by January 13^th is required!!

SESSION TWO (4 weeks):

FREE Demo Day – February 11^th 12:30pm

Where: Al Quaal Recreation Area (School Yard Loop) - Ishpeming

Time:  4:30-6:30pm

When: February 11, 15, 22, 29 and March 7

Cost: $2 per session, $12 for both sessions (8 weeks)

Pre-registration by January 13^th is required!!

VOLUNTEER INFORMATION:
Superior Alliance for Independent Living (SAIL), is in need of semi-experienced Cross Country skiers to help children and adults with disabilities learn to cross country ski.

SAIL Volunteer Training will be held on Thursday, January 5th, 6-7pm at the NTN trailhead - Marquette.  The training will consist of sit ski demonstrations and training logistics. We can also train you on the spot for the sessions if you cannot make the volunteer training. If you are interested in helping for any part of the sessions, please contact Sarah Peura prior to January 13^th. You do not require a NTN membership to be a volunteer for this program.
 
Call SAIL at (906)228-5744 or visit our website: www.upsail.com/events.php