Special Education Expo Focuses on Technology and Policy

Last week's Special Education Expo brought crowds of parents together to explore the topics and solutions regarding improving the education system for parents and students within the special education program.

The 18th annual program, organized by the Parent Teacher Council's special education committee, sponsored a variety of workshops to help parents better prepare for navigating the system. The workshops included discussion sessions to trade best practices and ideas for improving the system.

To kick off the expo, the PTC presented their “Make a Difference Award,” first awarded in 2002, to Board of Education member Alice Hunnicutt. Hunnicutt founded the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network 17 years ago and has held a staff position there to this day.

She is retiring from the Board of Education in May after nine years in office. During her tenure, Hunnicutt has made special education her signature issue, becoming recognized as the school system's leader on special education policy.

“For the first time since I have been on the board, “said Hunnicutt. “We looked at the budget for kids as a whole. It wasn't the budget for standard kids and special needs kids. It was the budget for kids as a whole and we have certainly come a long way.”

A teary eyed Hunnicutt ended her speech by encouraging everyone to vote in the April 27 school election.

Topics covered in the workshops included: How to deal with bullying, understanding technology, speech, reading, relationships with autistic children, different disorders and medications, physical therapy, college, and estate planning.

The special education committee has made bullying prevention their top issue of the year.

Technology is certainly a frightening subject to any parent who does not know or understand what their child is doing on the computer and their cell phones. With sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare, one can never know who has access to their child's information. Joann Corrao Spera travels to school districts to speak about the positives and negatives of technology. While the internet offers an endless amount of academic and business resources, it also creates a whole new realm of dangerous possibilities.

“Technology offers children new insights due to enhanced communication and access to data via the Web,” said Robert Wendel. “However, it can also present children with challenges regarding privacy, bullying, and potential safety concerns. Parents can become partners in technology with their children providing oversight and guidance regarding the appropriateness of Texting and Facebook communication. Being involved in your childrens’ on-line life is a highly beneficial role for a techno-savvy parent today.”

Spera's workshop provided ideas for parents to monitor and control their child's cell phone use without being too abrasive. She offered ideas such as enforcing a house rule that everyone is to charge their phones overnight in the kitchen to keep the children from taking their phone to bed with then to stay up late texting and possibly getting trouble. She knows that ideas such as that are good but will not deter an issue from arising. She believes that communicating with the children and educating them is the most important tool.

“We're putting kids in this cyber world at such a young age and they don't understand or believe the dangers of it,” Joann explained.

Bullying is always a topic in the front of the minds of those that teach or parents of the children in the schools. Anyone can be subject to bullying. Although making it disappear completely is the ultimate goal, learning how to cope with being bullied is just as important. This workshop, presented by Roberta R. Fallig, was directed at “empowering the parents” by giving them ideas and strategies on handling the situation. Fallig is the clinical and executive director of Psychological Association of North Jersey LLC.

Bullying can easily be carried out through technological means. Spera explained in her session that she believes the incident at Columbine High School in Colorado was a huge wake up call for educators and parents to realize what bullying can eventually lead to if it is not handled swiftly and properly.

Co-Chair of the Special Education Committee Lisa Kops-Wendel was very satisfied with how the event turned out.

“We had over 200 attendees, and more than 100 educators who received professional development hours for attending the sessions,” she explained. “The Expo event is our annual forum to raise awareness of special needs and provide to both parents and professionals, education and support in these areas. As the gap between the general and special education environment narrows, this community becomes larger to serve. Our mission is to provide ongoing support and valuable information to this community, so we can continue to educate, remove barriers and open doors to our children with special needs and issues.”