Kentucky Youth Advocacy Project

Hello!

We would like to invite your child to participate in an exciting new program called the Kentucky Youth Advocacy Project or KYAP. Your school district has agreed to participate in this innovative program.

KYAP is designed to encourage students who have disabilities to participate more fully in their everyday lives by learning to make choices, selecting personal goals and expressing themselves to others. We know from research and experience that when people with disabilities have these skills, they report that they are enjoying a better quality of life. The Kentucky Council on Developmental Disabilities understands this and wants to help children at younger ages gradually develop such skills so that they are more independent as adults.

This is what KYAP is about!

KYAP is a grant funded by the KY Council on Developmental Disabilities to the University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences and the Human Development Institute to work with younger students with disabilities to develop their “Self Advocacy” skills. In other words, becoming involved in the many choices which affect their daily lives.

Here is how the project will work.

All the children will participate in a fun opening day called “I CAN DAY.” They will learn about making choices and picking goals and they will meet people in your community who have disabilities and have developed successful lives. These individuals will serve as “mentors” to the students in the KYAP program on the “I CAN DAY.”

Next, your child will work with a teacher or therapist to select a personal goal. For some of our students who have difficulty expressing themselves, we may need your help to learn about your child’s favorite things and activities in order to help decide on a goal. Each student will, within his or her ability level, work through a program designed to help him/her develop a plan to reach his/her goal. Examples of such goals might include: participating more in IEP meetings, being a “student manager” for one of the school sports teams, picking out his/her own outfits to wear to school in the morning, being in a church activity like his/her siblings.

We will plot each student’s progress and at the end of the school year we will have another big celebration called “I DID IT DAY” in which students will have the opportunity, in their own way, of sharing what they did during the school year. 1 We will also have a website on which you can see how the project works, products the students have produced, tapes of the students as they work through the process, etc. We hope you will allow you child to be in some of those pictures and tapes. This website will help students and families in other parts of the state learn how to implement this program.

We have attached a permission form for you to sign if you want your child to be in the KYAP program. If you want your child to participate in the program but DO NOT WANT him/her to be photographed or taped, that is fine also. Just indicate that on the form attached.

We sincerely hope you will allow you child to be part of KYAP!

If you would like to join us for the “I CAN DAY’ activities, please indicate that on the attached permission sheet.

We look forward to meeting you and your child in the future. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Jane O’Regan Kleinert, Ph.D., CCC Principle Investigator, KYAP Division of Communication Disorders University of Kentucky 859-323-1100 Ext. 80568

Beth Harrison, MA Co-Principle Investigator, KYAP Interdisciplinary Human Development Institute University of Kentucky 859-519-7375

2 Kentucky Youth Advocacy Project Student Permission Form

I give my permission for my child, ______to participate in the Kentucky Youth Advocacy Project, a grant funded program supported by the Kentucky Council on Developmental Disabilities.

I give permission for my child to (please check those to which you agree): My child may:  participate in the “I CAN DAY,” individualized instruction, and “I DID IT DAY” activities.  be taped or photographed during these activities for the purpose of providing examples of how the project works with students.  have his/her work displayed on the KYAP website.  have his/her picture or tapes included on the KYAP website to demonstrate how the project works with students and to give examples of student progress.  allow the tapes, pictures or work samples to be used by teaching specialists who work with students with developmental disabilities.  work with mentors at meetings  communicate via school email with the KYAP staff members, if in high school  I will attend the “I CAN DAY” program

______Parent/Guardian signature Date ______Witness Date Thank you for allowing your child to participate in the KYAP project.

Contact Information for Kentucky Youth Advocacy Project Jane O’Regan Kleinert, Ph.D., CCC/SLP Beth Harrison, MRC College of Health Sciences Human Development Institute Division of Communication Disorders University of Kentucky 124 N Charles T. Wethington Building Coldstream Research Campus University of Kentucky 1517 Bull Lea Road, #110 Lexington, KY 40506-0200 Lexington, Ky. 40511 Email: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 859 323-1100 x80568 Phone: 859-519-7375 Fax: 859 323-8957 Fax: 859-257-4459