Read The "Back to School" Edition of the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival

The Back to School Edition of the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival is up and ready to read.
This month has some great posts sharing parent's perspectives from their blogs where they share their heart about their special needs kids. There is a wonderful post on print disability tools for the Mac, a visit to a special Education teacher's classroom and a post on creating audio books on your own.
Take some time to visit and enjoy!

All the best to you!
Lon

Missing: 90,000 Children with Traumatic Brain Injuries

Nationwide Statistics show that there are far more cases of Emergency Room- verified Traumatic Brain Injury in children than there are identifications of TBI disabilities in schools, according to Karen McAvoy, Ph.D. and Judy Dettmer, Ph.D.
In a 2-day workshop on "RTI, Assessment, & Special Education Process for Students with Traumatic Brain Injury", I found some very interesting information that I am passing on to you with our colleagues' permission.
Our trainers shared that TBI has been classified as a low incident disability, but when you look at the ramifications of nation-wide statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Education, The National Center for Disease Control and the National Pediatric Registry, the data tells an interesting story...

National Data:
The National Center for Disease Control states that there is an annual average of 435,000 Emergency Room visits, 37,000 hospitalizations and 2,685 deaths among children due to TBI. This number only identifies those who had the injury reported and were admitted to a hospital. It does not include injuries where the child remained under care at home and did not receive formal medical treatment or where the patient was released without a TBI diagnosis. Because the actual number is low due to the non-reported incidents, experts think that the actual number could be closer to 1.4 million children with TBI injuries a year.
The U.S. Department of Education has said that there is an average of 475,000 TBI injuries among children a year. Their data shows that during the 1991-1992 school year, there were a total of 4, 499,824 students receiving special education. Out of that total, only 245 were served under a TBI disability category. During the 1999 -2000 school year, 5,683,707 students were receiving special education services and of that total, 13,874 children were served under the TBI disability category. 2005 data shows that out of 6,021,462 students receiving special education services, there were 23,449 TBI students.
The above statistics show an increase in children served under the TBI category from 1991 to 2005, and according to the speakers at our conference, there was a lot of hard work done in building awareness about TBI in the school sector during those years.
It is interesting to note though that in 1991, Autism received its' own disability category and in 1992 there were 15,302 students identified. By 2005, there were 192,643 students identified as having autism. There were around 170,000 more identified students for autism than TBI.
In Oregon, 2006 statistics show 1008 students hospitalized for TBI. Oregon had 269 identified students that year.
The National Pediatric Registry reports that 19% of youths who sustain a brain injury will have long term disabilities. Reviewing the data from USDOE and using the 19% guideline, we could conservatively estimate that 19% of 475,000 average reported injuries a year leave us with 90,250 a year nationally. If in 1991 there were 245 children identified, what happened to the other 90,005 children? The presenters asked us, "Are we missing 90,000 students with brain injuries?" and more importantly, "Why are we not identifying these students?"

I will share tomorrow on some possible reasons for identification issues as well as some of the charateristics of TBI for those of you who might like to learn more about TBI. I will also share some AT ideas during the week as well.

All the best to you!
Lon

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!

The 504 Plan: An under-used Tool in Accommodating Learners?

Is the 504 under-used? Should we give ALL students access to the tools that would be given to accommodate students on a 504 plan? If we did, wouldn't we be covering the needs of everyone?
I was researching these questions and reading up on the implementation of a 504 Plan under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. I know that it gives "legal teeth" to folks that need to advocate for equal access and fight discrimination. That is a good thing and I don't want to sound like this post is advising that we noy use a 504 plan. I just see that there are tools we would use on a 504 that maybe should be considered standard support for anyone. But first, let's look a minute at the 504:
I found a good advocacy resource site, Special Education Advocacy.com. They have a glossary of descriptions that relate to special ed and advocacy. These descriptions are a real help to parents that are new to this whole area and need to find some answers. They shared that the 504 is often an under-used tool in the education arena.
"The 504 protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination from policies or a lack of equipment from recipients of federal funding".
Maybe schools and parents don't take advantage of the power in this tool - instead they either do nothing or go for broke with testing and working on an IEP?
The site's description of 5o4 meetings brought out that the end-result of an effective 504 plan should be equal access for academic success and student achievement in a course of study - not a focus on a disability and why it prevents success. The plan should be developed to encompass not only modifications and accommodations for the curriculum and equal access to the course materials, but also equal access to evaluations, test and assessments of student mastery of content.
The 504 is intended to provide access for those with a disability in the general education setting rather than in special education and an IEP. For those that are unclear (and in my research online I find many professionals and parents alike that are unsure of the actual "legalese") I have a good definition from LD Online - a great resource too by the way...

"A 504 plan is a legal document that outlines a plan of instructional services for students in the general education setting. Students with ADHD often have a 504 plan. While not an IEP, the document usually describes the types of accommodations that will be made for a student in school."

These accomodations can include providing extra support through readers, interpreters or assistive technology such as text to speech tools, special word processing support tools, etc.
If you are a parent sensing that your child has more going on than meets the eye as far as their lack of ability to succeed at school, you might want to explore the 504 as a tool. My thought as to why it is under-used is that possibly it is not commonly presented as an option to parents for fear of over-use. I can hear administrators asking: "What if every parent that thinks their child isn't doing well at school wanted a 504 plan written out and followed? Yikes! What would we do?"
Here is my question: "With all the federal mandates and accountability pieces for average yearly progress staring us in the face and the threat of dropping student achievement, why wouldn't we WANT to identify those with disabilities and accommodate them so they can be successful? "

And then here's another concept:
As well as accommodating special needs for IEP's, special education and 504's, why don't we provide ALL students with the tools they need to succeed, teach them how to use them to self-accommodate, and then no student needs to stick out and be embarassed and we can see the legal mandates for 504's from the Rehab Act and IDEA met in one full swoop.
Seems like a lot easier road to me. Maybe I am over-simplifying it.

For a list of links for tools that can support learning for ALL students - and could be a strong support for students on a 504 plan, see my post here.

All the best to you!

Lon

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!

Accommodations for Students: Roll Up Your Sleeves and Do it!

I am hearing: "We should be using this for ALL our students!" and "What about our students with learning difficulties that aren't on an IEP? Shouldn't we be helping them use this too?"
These are the comments I am hearing more and more as I travel around our districts and share great tools like Intellitools/Cambium Learning's new Version 4 of Classroom Suite, Premiere Literacy's Accessibility Suite, text to speech tools that are free online and methods to use the cheap Jump drive Mp3 players you can get at the big name chain stores for $29.95.
As I demonstrate AT tools for learning, the common element that always comes up is the concern for the kids that need these tools but don't qualify for an IEP. I sat in a sped teacher's office yesterday morning and we discussed a whole lot of tools like the ones mentioned above. We discussed how the school needs to implement these tools and train the teachers so everyone can benefit. The problem is, "We discussed". I am tired of "cussing and discussing" as one of my elders used to say.
I have begun implementation. I am training teachers. I am writing about it on my blog. I am challenging administrators. As I said in a monthly special ed teachers meeting for another ESD where I spoke and demonstrated print disability tools this month, "Lets stop talking about it and roll up our sleeves and do it."

Here are some ideas to get your ball rolling:
1. Experiment with a scanner. Try scanning a page as a text file instead of an image file. Clean up the text file, i.e. delete misspells and numbers, lines, dashes, etc. Get it readable ready.

2. Try a free text reader like Natural Reader. Download it to your computer and then open the window and copy/paste in your text from the scanned page - hear it read. You have made one quantum leap!

3. Try using Firefox as a browser and use some of the add-on tools that are free like Click-speak and the Google Gadget Merriam Webster Dictionary support.

4. Play with Mp3's. Try experimenting with odiogo on a blog you set up for free somewhere like Blogger just to convert text to Mp3 files.This is just the beginning, but it gives you a start.

We will have to talk about how to start implementing this with students in an up coming post.

All the best to you!
Lon

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!

Advocacy Can Come From the Most Unexpected Places

I have been writing and sharing about advocacy on my blog since I started it almost a year ago. Over this past year I have written some posts that I turned into articles on Ezine Articles (See the sidebar on my blog for links to these articles) about advocacy tips and have been working on a free report: Action Steps to Advocacy (ASA Report) that is almost ready to put up for folks to access.
I had an email and follow-up call recently asking me if I would moderate a national online discussion on "Family Advocacy and Family-School Partnerships." I am honored to be asked and have agreed to moderate, but at the same time I am humbled when I think of all the resources out there and experts in the field. I just have been working from practical observations and common sense as I have seen what has worked and what has failed for parents as advocates. I see the angry ones, the lost ones, the frustrated ones and the collaborative ones, the veterans and the newbies.
I am thankful that I believe I have an extra dose of compassion in that I understand somewhat what it means to be thrust overnight into a world of being an advocate with no experience because your newborn was born with a severe impairment or even multiple disabilities. A parent can send a child to football practice one day or, in my part of the country, out to ride a horse after school, and end up with a head injury - next thing you know - you are looking at rehab and assistive technology.
I was reading a discussion thread from a parent on a site the other day and they shared that they believed if they would have waited for the school to initiate something for their son, he would still be floundering and behind. The fact that they as parents, saw themselves as the only advocates, and that they were initiating the discussion and pulling in outside advice and professional expertise into the picture - added up to a better response from the principal and the school towards developing a plan of action.
I know in my own world, I have many needs surrounding me throughout our region. I am trying to keep up with all of them but I find that the parents and schools that are most vocal, most on top of the situation in getting requests, reports and ideas to me, etc. are the ones that get the most service. It's not that I don't care about all of the situations around me. All of them get met to a certain degree, but the ones I enjoy the most are the ones where everyone is positive, pro-active and ready to do whatever it takes.
In all these cases, it always points back to someone that was a powerful advocate for that child. Sometimes the advocate isn't necessarily the parent. Sometimes it is the principal - I have some right now that are the biggest advocates you could want for a student. Sometimes it is the teacher - I have seen parents who literally frustrate and try and block any positive progress - even to the point of denying equipment and services offered by the school - even though they agree to and have their child on an IEP. Yep, try and figure that one out! If it weren't for a teacher that continues to push for the best for these children in these cases, a child would not be getting anything.
I see advocacy as having many faces and many styles. It is great to see AT company reps that genuinely want the best for a student even if it isn't their company product getting purchased. I had an AAC rep tell me a story recently about a request for help. This rep actually wrote a request for funding letter out for a parent that asked even though they were getting another device from another company - that's advocacy!
Don't ever underestimate where it can come from.

All the best to you!
Lon

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!

Familiy Center on Technology and Disability: Treasure-Store of Information

The Family Center on Technology and Disability provides a range of information resources on assistive and instructional technologies. Funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education's Office of Special Education Programs, the site offers an indepth topic-related bi-monthly newsletter. I spent some time looking through the resources and topics on the site and they are very impressive.
The August September issue is on AT and High Incidence Disabilities and the work of Karen Janowski, educator and AT/educational technology consultant who has the EdTechSolutions: Teaching Every Student blog. I have been enjoying reading Karen's writing and the issue from the FCTD was great to discover.
The Family Center site offers an archive of their newsletters on various AT topics. They are packed full of information that will be a great resource for anyone involved with assistive technology. Topics include Universal Design, AT and Families, Preservice Training, Matching child and AT, Accessing Literacy AT, etc.
On their link, "AT Resources" they offer a searchable database where you can check all the topics that apply and get a list of articles and reviews that address the topics you selected. There is a list of AT Organizations, AT Fact Sheets, PowerPoints and Success stories. The Center provides an annual AT Resource CD with all the published materials at the end of each year by request. There is also an online discussion thread on a topic every few months.
If you haven't explored this site, I would recommend giving it some serious consideration. The resources there are high quality and offers something for everyone.

All the best to you!

Lon

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!

Weathering and Surviving the Storm

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, my friend and fellow-blogger, Ron Graham of AcessAbility shared about adjusting to life when everything around you is NOT "life as normal". Schools are out, electricity is still out for about a million people, grocery stores do not have most perishable items, and folks have damaged property.
In spite of the adjustments to be made, some folks are expected to jump back into work and function as if nothing happened, when in actuality, something traumatic has disrupted many lives. I think about Ron, who shared his experiences and a friend's experiences through this time right now - seeing places they love destroyed. Ron has his power back on and is beginning to catch up on life, but it is going to take awhile for his community to be up and running again.
As I read his post, I thought about how we met through blogging and what a friend he has become to me. I have been able to catch up with him from time to time with email, share stories and get advice for folks I meet that are visually impaired. Ron has a great heart and a story to match it.
The most interesting thing to me is that although Ron is blind, all the disruption of Ike in his life hasn't seemed to create any more stress or inconvenience for him than anyone else - and that is one of the reasons I admire him. He is an example of someone who has accommodated for his circumstances in life, adjusted and moved on with the same expectations on himself as he would have for anyone else - with or without an impairment. Definitely one who I would want on my side if I was in a place where I needed rehabilitation and someone to help me adjust to new changes in my lifestyle.
I have several students in my case load that have new changes in their lifestyle as they are coming back to school this fall. I hope that I can be a positive influence for change and help them with new accommodations as we use new assistive technology and work into a productive academic year. I hope that, like Ron, I can help them move through the "not so normal" stages and get to that place where they can settle in and feel they have something to look forward to every day. I hope you can make a difference for someone in a positive way too this week. So, if you are reading this on Monday - go out this week and use your skills to create a little more peace and blessing in someone else's life. I am sure you are doing that in ways that you have no idea about every day.

All the best to you!
Lon

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!

Learning To Thrive With Attention Deficit Disorder : NPR

"Lots of us find ourselves a little scattered at moments. Who hasn't spaced out during a meeting? Or BlackBerryed their way through a conference call, only to find out later that they missed the one important point?

For Emily Algire, 19, distraction is not just the result of too much technology in her life. She was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) in high school. She recalls 'earth-to-Emily' moments, when she'd be staring out the window during class and a teacher would call on her.

'Do you understand, Emily?' she recalls her teacher asking. 'Yes, yes, a little bit,' she'd respond." Read More

Listen to NPR Report

Economic Crisis and IDEA Mandates: Where Are We Headed?

The recent federal money bail-outs of financial institutions and the subsequent stock market slide, deemed an "Economic 9/11", has me asking some serious questions about where our funding sources for schools and special education are headed. As I drove to work, Public Radio had a piece on the Secure Rural Schools program and efforts to get it re-authorized.
In the past, rural schools in Oregon and Washington State have been able to qualify for supplemental federal support through the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act passed in 2000. The financial support amounted to over 200 million dollars to Oregon rural schools where there were a lack of other economic factors to offset costs, i.e. closed lumber mills, federal lands without industry surrounding a community. It also provided support to many other rural programs in the states that qualified.
Congresss did not feel the Act should be permanent and final legislation closed/terminated the program in 2006. Blue Oregon posted a guest column by Congressman Peter DeFazio, (D- Eugene, Oregon) about the battle to re-authorize the Act. The challenge has been coming up with the resource avenue that will fund the program. As the program has been tried to be re-authorized through write-ins on energy bills, evidently big oil and energy has resisted and lobbied against inclusion. The column by DeFazio takes us through the maze of attempt after attempt to get this funding resource back into the hands of our rural schools.
What does this have to do with assistive technology?
While polticians play their games and work for or against re-authorization, school programs falter. Through IDEA 2004, we have a mandate to provide assistive technology to students. Some of the districts in my region do not pay into a pot for AT services because they don't have a budget to pay for it. They bring me in on a case by case basis - which doesn't happen very often. I have had visits with district SLP's that will "wish" I could help and I can't. I can refer them to OTAP (Oregon Technology Access Program) for an AAC device, but I can't loan equipment from my center or do evaluations, etc.
As our economic situation worsens nation-wide, I ask myself, "Where are our funding priorities going to fall as budgets tighten? What ramifications will this have on special education and the staff number, assistive technology support etc.?" Just because the feds mandate something, doesn't mean it will get funded. Our schools are burdened with all kinds of mandates when there is no money to support them. My job security is not determined by the fact that what I do is federally mandated somewhere. The dire needs of individuals with disabilities will not necessarily be met because of mandates either - when push comes to shove. This makes our advocacy efforts more important than ever.
My only answer right now is to stay involved. We need every federal and state program we can get to support schools right now. We also need administrators in school districts that will allocate dollars to keep our special education and support services running. Let's work together to continue to push and be vocal for our students with disabilities.

All the best to you as we "hang in there!"

Lon

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!

Accessible Instructional Materials: Shift Happens

I was reading a post on EdTech Solutions by Karen Janowski on paradigm shift occurring (or not) because of IDEA 2004 mandate for accessible instructional materials (AIM). Reading through IDEA 2004 section 674 (e) (2) (B), it says:

"To provide access to print instructional materials, including textbooks, in accessible media, free of charge, to blind or other persons with print disabilities in elementary schools and secondary schools, in accordance with such terms and procedures as the National Instructional Materials Access Center may prescribe." (674/c/1/D includes postsecondary and graduate schools as well.)

Karen referred to an article by Skip Stahl on the TRLD Site stating that getting this trend going will jump start the adaptation of curriculum into accessible formats for all students. He believes that is the shift that will be taking place in education in the future. You can read her commentary on it to get more of the information.
Reading this related closely to what I was doing yesterday and I wanted to share:
I spent a half-day yesterday doing an in-service training at a high school for several teachers and administrators on developing accessible materials. We scanned text book pages, copied them into a closed blog for one student to access and used a text to speech engine and an Mp3 converter. We dragged Mp3's onto a jumpdrive Mp3 player and listened back to the text. We built teacher blogs with odiogo and set up student emails and invited them to join. It was exciting for them to paste widgets into the code side of their blogs and see videos play in and see the text book come alive on the page as they listened to it. They were having some ah-ha moments. The lights were turining on for them.
We were accomplishing great things and as the superintendent of the district sat and watched what we were doing, he too was excited to see the potential. He was ready to see his staff use these blogs and link them on the school site. (Of course then we have to be careful of what text we are scanning and posting - we have to watch out for the copyright violations).
The amazing thing was... I saw that shift happen. The students that these blogs were prepared for will get to have some fun exploring how to do this too.
I asked the teachers to let the students pick some content online and paste it into a blog post and hear it or let them find a video to embed. Let them explore content they are excited about to learn the process of using the tools. Once they use the tools to access what they want to read, hear and see, they will buy in and then they will use the tools for their schoolwork too. If we don't develop the real-life correlation to the use of the tool, we can build all these cool methods for access and then put the most boring thing on earth there and the student will hear "blah, blah, wah, wah, wah".
Here is an example: We had scanned the first page of chapter one of a business english text book. It was exciting to use OCR and see the text ready to hear, but we had some cleaning up of the text to do since the scanning is never 100% perfect. They did some of the editing and I asked them to listen back to what they had. It was the most awful, boring text I had about ever heard or read."If I were the student supposed to use this new way of access and my first introduction to it was this passage, I would tune out just like that - snap." I said. "Why not let the student listen to or find something they want so you get the excitement and buy in?"
A teacher found a horse polo video and embedded it. She also found a short story on Gutenberg.org to add. The creative juices were flowing. We were on our way to getting buy-in from the staff and the administration. The student is next - and that is who this is all for!
So...the shift can begin to take place for this school and this staff, but the shift also has to take place for the students. They have to adjust to the change so they know what they can expect and how they are allowed to access the material - and maybe what they are allowed to access. When the students arrive there, then things really begin to take off.
I will be eager to see what happens in the weeks and months ahead.

All the best to you!

Lon

Assistive Technology Blog Carnival is taking posts on a "Back to School" topic. The deadline is Friday, September 26. If you would like to share a blog post with us, check out the details at http://atblogcarnival.blogspot.com/

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!

Save Fuel, Hold a Virtual Meeting

"Can you please check your schedule and send me some times that you can be available and then I will contact the others?" I had just sent back a response to a second request for a planning meeting over a student, saying I had more scheduling conflicts. The team in this instance has about 8 members and we are having an awful time trying to find a slot when everyone can be at the school for a meeting. This is not an IEP - this is just a planning and strategy time. It involves driving upwards of 100 miles one way for at least one team member who is an OT and covers a wide territory. It would be 50 miles round trip for me - a cost of $25 in gas, multiplied by 8 team members is $400 just to be there for the milege expense - and that is a low figure since many drive more than my 50 miles.
One member emailed in response, "Why don't we just email and try and get what we can get done that way for awhile since we all can't be together at the same time." To which I replied, "I can set up a private, closed chat room online where we can all log in with a password and instant message a meeting. It means we all have to be at a computer at the same time, but we don't have to be in the same room."
"I think, based on our options at this point, the chat room might be the way to go," replied the sped specialist.
I got on Meebo.com, set up a chat room and marked it private - access with password only. I named the room, uploaded a graphic for it, set up a password and submitted it. I had a URL address for the room immediately and emailed it to the team. If they already have Google Talk, Yahoo or MSN Messenger, etc. they can access the new team chat room through their existing IM service, or they can set up a free new Meebo account.
I would like to have video conferencing from laptops set up but we don't have that option set up yet on our work force laptops. Google Talk has an actual voice/audio feature and there are services like Skype, but then we're into microphone land with our team and that can be complicated as well since some don't have them and the built in mic can be poor quality on the IM voice features.
All the things considered, for free, I was able to set up a closed, password protected chat room for team planning in about 5 minutes and send it out to the team. Once everyone becomes members we can see who is online and chat privately over student service issues and progress, etc. The chat room archives a log of the meetings and members times online, etc. so there is also a record of the meetings and who was there. If a parent wants to be involved, a simple email invite can allow access.
The logistics of setting up different chat rooms with different passwords for various schools or students might be something to entertain if you want to ensure that team members from other teams aren't logging in to see the discussion if you are using the samed chatroom across different districts and schools. If they do sign in and they aren't invited, you can see they are there and ask them to log off. I think most of the time I can use mine as a tool and invite folks in from our OT, PT, SLP and Autism staff without worry of someone being in on a meeting they aren't a part of. Since it is closed and we will be inviting team members via email to participate on a certain date and time, I highly doubt we will have any staff there that aren't supposed to be. Still, if it is a concern you might just set it up for that one student and get the whole team, parents and administrators in on it. It will be one way we can not only get around the logistics of meeting dates, but also save on miileage costs.

With fuel the way it is, a big piece of our budget goes to mileage and anywhere we can cut will be great. This also demonstrates to schools and the community that we are trying to use alternative means through technology to save expenses and to be efficient in everything we do.
I plan to implement more of this as the year progresses.

All the best to you!
Lon

ADHD Awareness Week

During National ADHD Awareness Week (September 14 - 20), ADDitude magazine is offering a free online information center and support network.


ADDA, CHADD and ADDitude Magazine are promoting the week this year using the theme – "From First Years to Golden Years: AD/HD and Life's Relationships." Free Teleclass Series starts tomorrow:

Time: 9PM (EST)
Toll Free: 888-676-3315
Canada: 513-562-2954
Conference ID: 91333

Website Log In:
Website: http://www.webdialogs.com/join
Conference ID: 91333

Tuesday, September 16th
Speakers: Ari Tuckman & Linda Anderson
Title: "Q and A – Everything You Wanted to Know about AD/HD – But Were Afraid to Ask!"

Wednesday, September 17th
Speaker: Nancy Ratey
Title: "The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents"

Thursday, September 18th
Speaker: Dr. Stephen Hinshaw
Title: "Q and A – Everything You Wanted to Know about AD/HD – But Didn't Know to Ask!"