Family and Community Special Needs Resource Guide for Parents
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Family and Community Special Needs Resource Guide for Parents by Parents Dear Families, We are pleased to provide this directory of resources in an effort to assist families of children with a variety of special needs, disabilities, and learning differences. It is our hope that you find it to be a valuable tool and that it will serve as a creative link to the many other resources that are available in the Denver-Metro area. Please note that the organizations listed are not associated with Adams 12 Five Star School District and their inclusion in this directory does not imply endorsement. It is the responsibility of the user to research the organization, its policies and/or activities to determine suitability for your individual needs. Thank you for your support as we continue to work together to build a school-parent- community partnership. Sincerely, The Family and Community Special Education Advisory Committee - SEAC - to Student Support Services, Adams 12 Five Star School District Student Support Services, Adams 12 Five Star Schools ..................720-972-4770 For more information, please contact ...................... [email protected] i ii FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SPECIAL NEEDS RESOURCE GUIDE FOR PARENTS BY PARENTS Table of Contents How to use the Family and Community Special Needs Resource Guide for Parents by Parents .................................................... v Welcome to Holland ..............................................................................1 Diagnosis/Evaluation ........................................................................3 Therapy and Interventions .................................................................6 Early Childhood Education ............................................................13 Recommended Children’s Book ......................................................14 Alternative Learning Services ..........................................................20 Transition Services .......................................................................... 21 Advocacy ..........................................................................................26 Legal Assistance ...............................................................................27 Community Resources ....................................................................28 Parent/Family Support ....................................................................34 Recommended Books for Adults .....................................................38 Health Care Providers ......................................................................43 Certified Nursing Assistants ............................................................45 Mental Health .................................................................................46 Teaching Your Child Through Play ........................................................ 47 Crisis Assistance ..............................................................................49 Recreational/Social Opportunities .................................................51 Web Sites Directory .........................................................................59 Adams 12 Five Star Schools ............................................................62 iii iv HOW TO USE THE FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SPECIAL NEEDS RESOURCE GUIDE FOR PARENTS BY PARENTS This directory will help you find resources of organizations and services that can support you and your family in a wide variety of ways as you raise your special needs child. Some of these organizations and the network of parents associated with them will provide diverse service links to meet your child’s and family’s needs. Other resources will link you with fun activities and recreational opportunities to enhance you and your child’s lives. Please keep this book handy and refer to it regularly as a support system for you, your child and others. These resource organizations can also open further doors and lead you to unlisted resources by your merely asking … “where can I go to get assistance with”… or ... “can you refer me to a website to learn about” ... “do you know someone who has a child with a disability similar to my child, who I might contact for” ... Let this directory only be a beginning on your journey to discover more organizations, services and opportunities for your child, your family, and you. The parent and community volunteers who put this resource directory guide together are in many ways like you. We have shared many unique experiences with our children. As a parent in our school district we want to extend our hand to you. Please call us if we can support you on your journey. v vi WELCOME TO HOLLAND I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this ... When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.” “Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.” And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away ... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. But ... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland. ©1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of the author. 1 DIAGNOSIS/EVALUATION Anchor Center for Blind Children The Children’s Hospital 2550 Roslyn Street Sleep Disorders Center Denver, CO 80238 13123 E. 16th Avenue Ph: 303-377-9732 Aurora, CO 80045 Fax: 303-377-9744 Carole Kline, Nurse Practitioner www.anchorcenter.org Ph: 720-777-5618 Provides early intervention/education to blind and Offers sleep studies to determine if your child may suffer visually impaired infants, toddlers and preschoolers from sleep apnea which can, in turn, affect behavior. and their families throughout Colorado, both at Creative Perspectives, Inc. their Denver campus and in-home/outreach. (Autism Centers of Colorado) Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado 901 Englewood Parkway, Suite 118 4200 W. Conejos Place #524 Englewood, CO 80110 Denver, CO 80204 Ph: 303-935-5200 Ph: 303-355-9969 www.creativeperspectives.org Fax: 303-355-9968 Creative Perspectives, Inc. Toll Free: 800-955-2443 (Autism Center of Boulder Valley) www.biacolorado.org Satellite Center Provides information and support to individuals and 1724 Majestic Drive, Suite 108 families. Lafayette, CO 80026 Boulder Community Hospital- Mapleton Center Ph: 303-935-5200 Autism, Behavior & Learning Evaluation Team www.creativeperspectives.org 311 Mapleton Avenue Provides a variety of center, home, school and Boulder, CO 80309 community based intervention services for individuals Ph: 303-441-0526 with autism spectrum disorders and other related developmental disabilities as well as diagnostic www.bch.org/rehabilitation-services/default- assessments, trainings, social groups, specialty rehabilitation.aspx consultations, family support and summer camps. Child Development Unit Department of Pediatrics at UCD (University TCH - The Children’s Hospital of Colorado Denver) Health Sciences Center Dr. Ann Reynolds, MD Clinical Genetics and Metabolism 13123 E. 16th Avenue, Unit B140 13123 E. 16th Avenue, Unit B300 Aurora, CO 80045 Aurora, CO 80045 Ph: 720-777-6630 Ph: 303-724-2370 Has a clinic that offers full developmental evaluations. Evaluation for genetic disorders including such things as Fragile X, 22q deletion, and chromosomal analysis. 3 DIAGNOSIS/EVALUATION Developmental Evaluation Clinics JFK PARTNERS University of Colorado Denver Boulder Community Hospital; Dept. of 13121 E. 17th Avenue, C234 Pediatric Rehabilitation Aurora, CO 80045 Ph: 303-441-2385 Ph: 303-724-7643 Developmental FX Beverly Murdock 2000 S. Dahlia, Suite 300 www.jfkpartners.org Denver, CO 80206 Has a clinic that offers developmental evaluations. Ph: 303-333-8360 Referral from PCP (Primary Care Physician) to www.developmentalfx.org Developmental Pediatrician first will assist in billing Not-for-profit organization specializing in issues and costs, also prepares