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Happy Holidays from the MPACT Family!
MPACT Offices will be closed
December 24th - January 3rd, 2023
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Join Our Team - Apply Now | |
Featured MPACT Webinar Series* | |
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The holidays can be difficult for children with sensory processing needs. Understood.org has some wonderful resources to make this holiday season easier. Click HERE to be directed to the article!
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Importance of Parent Participation | | |
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At MPACT, we believe that a child's best advocate is their parent and that is why is so important for parents to be able to participate in their child's IEP meeting. Even IDEA outlines that schools, "...shall take steps to ensure that one or both of the parents of a child with a disability are present at each IEP meeting..." To learn more about parent participation at IEP meetings, click HERE. | |
The Difference Between Homeschooling and Virtual Learning | |
Recently, families have been faced with making a decision many have never had to make before, how and where their child would receive their education. Many families chose to homeschool assuming that homeschooling would carry the same rights and opportunities as choosing their school district's virtual learning option. Although homeschooling and virtual learning share common factors, there are some major differences that affect your child receiving a free appropriate public education (FAPE). | |
Watch this video to learn the differences between homeschooling and virtual learning. | |
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To find out more about Missouri’s Course Access and Virtual School Program and Frequently Asked Questions at: https://mocap.mo.gov/faqs/
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Mid-year graduates? Students with IEPs graduating in December 2022? | |
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If you are or have a student who is graduating high school this December that has an Individual Education Program, keep in mind that it is required for you to receive certain documents that you will want to keep with the student’s records. Documentation will include Prior Written Notice/Notice of Action because graduation is a change of placement and is covered by procedural safeguards, including mediation and due process.
Additionally, you will receive a Summary of Performance, which is the summary of the student's academic achievement and functional performance and includes recommendations to assist the student in their post-secondary goals.
Remember, in Missouri, students covered by IDEA who have completed four years of high school may participate in graduation ceremonies and related activities covered by Kaitlyn’s Law, Missouri Revisor of Statutes - Revised Statutes of Missouri, RSMo Section 162.1125
For additional information or questions, contact MPACT at [email protected]
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Holiday Travel Tips for People with Disabilities
Do you or does your child have a disability that affects mobility? The Transportation Security Administration shares some important tips to help families better prepare for security screening at airport screening checkpoints for the 2022 holiday traveling season.
13 Holiday Survival Tips For Your Child With Special Needs
The holiday season can be an extremely stressful time of year for children with autism and other forms of learning disability. The disruption to their routine, unfamiliar sights and smells, the house full of noise and people – it can all prove too much. These tips for surviving the holiday season come from parents of children and adults with special needs.
Does Your Child Have Food Sensitivities?
Holidays are a time for family, friends, and endless eating. That can be tough for kids with sensory processing issues who are sensitive to the tastes, smells, and textures of foods. Here are 8 tips to help reduce food battles—and let you and your child enjoy the holidays. (Also available in Spanish).
15 Tips for Surviving—and Enjoying—the Holidays with a Brain Injury
Flashing lights. Crowded stores. Loud family gatherings. The holiday season should be joyful, but it can often be overwhelming to someone who is living with a brain injury. Here are tips to help you make the holiday season happier and more relaxed for all of your friends and family.
Playtime’s Guide to Activities Families Can Do Together
(Available in English and Spanish) | The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project offers creative tip sheets for parents looking for fun activities to do with their children during the pandemic. Tip Sheets 1-4 are available in English. Tip Sheets 5 and 6 are available in both English and Spanish. There are also fun videos for children on the project’s YouTube channel.
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First Steps Focus - Communicating Effectively | |
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Tools That Challenge
the School-to-Prison Pipeline
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THE USE OF SECLUSION AND RESTRAINTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
House Bill 432
In July 2022, House Bill 432 was modified to address provisions related to the use of seclusion and restraint among vulnerable individuals, including children with disabilities. The Governor signed this Bill into law on July 14th 2022.
The Bill provided that beginning July 1, 2022, no school district, charter school, or publicly contracted private provider shall use any mechanical, physical, or prone restraint technique which causes certain obstructions, impairments, physical pressure, danger, or pain, as listed in the act.
School districts were instructed to update their existing policies that address restrictive behavioral interventions to be consistent with the act's prohibitions and limitations related to restraint techniques. To read the Bill in its entirety, click HERE
To view Missouri's Seclusion and Restraint data for 2022, click HERE
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Moves for military families are usually associated with the spring and summer months, a natural break in the school calendar. However, almost half of military transitions are midyear moves, often during the winter holidays. No matter what time of year a military-connected student changes schools, the Seasons of TransitionTM cycle is in effect: the Season of Leaving, Season of Arriving, Season of Growing, and Season of Thriving. For a wintertime move, the anticipation that initiates the Season of Leaving may begin in August or September. This means a student could begin the school year with visions of moving trucks dancing in their head. You can read the full article HERE.
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Governors Council on Disability Inclusion Award | |
The deadline for nominations is January 31, 2023. | |
The nomination form and criteria are available HERE. | |
Youths with disabilities can be nominated HERE. | |
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The 19th Annual Missouri Youth Leadership Forum
(MO-YLF) will be held July 18-22, 2023
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The Missouri Youth Leadership Forum is a unique career leadership-training program for high school students with disabilities, ages 16 – 21. Youth delegates are selected from their local communities to cultivate leadership, citizenship, social, and career development skills at this summer program.
For information and application for the Virtual Leadership Forum, click HERE.
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The 2022-23 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) launched at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. New and returning students who plan to attend college between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, should complete the FAFSA as soon as possible. To assist students and parents in the process, the Department’s Federal Student Aid (FSA) office has been sharing tips @FAFSA, including “7 Things You Need Before Filling Out the FAFSA Form”.
FSA continues to take steps to make it easier to complete and submit the FAFSA form. For example:
- students’ prior drug convictions, as well as registration status with Selective Service, no longer affect their federal student aid eligibility;
- gov is even easier to navigate to get help and information, with an entirely new look and feel; and
- in most states, applicants only see the questions on the FAFSA form that pertain to them.
Students and parents may complete the FAFSA form online at FAFSA.gov and through the myStudentAid mobile application.
In related news, the Department released the latest federal student loan cohort default rate, which decreased (from 9.7% to 7.3%) for students who entered repayment between fiscal years 2017 and 2018 and subsequently defaulted before September 30, 2020. This new cohort default rate represents the lowest national rate since the three-year rate was first released in 2012. Schools with high default rates may lose their eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs.
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Upcoming MPACT Webinars*
Click on the links below to register
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*Training is subject to cancellation due to inclement weather or low registration. | |
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Upcoming MPACT In-Person Training*
Click on the links below to register
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*Training is subject to cancellation due to inclement weather or low registration. | |
View all upcoming MPACT trainings HERE. | |
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All MPACT trainings are free of charge! If you would like to schedule any MPACT training in your area or for your organization
please click on the link HERE.
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Make A Difference, Join MPACT Today! | |
Shop with MPACT on Amazon Smile :) | |
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Your holiday shopping can help make a difference, at no additional cost to you!
When you shop at smile.amazon.com, or in the Amazon app with AmazonSmile turned on within Settings, you'll find the same products and same low prices as the Amazon you already know - plus, they donate a portion of your purchases to your chosen charity.
You can select us as your AmazonSmile charity by visiting: smile.amazon.com/ch/43-1460328
#amazonsmilecharity #amazonsmiledonates
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MPACT is funded in part or whole by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs Grant No. H328M090020-10. The contents of the website, however, and any documents cited herein do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S Department of Education.
Copyright © 2022 MPACT. All rights reserved
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