Workshops about Special Education

F.I.R.S.T. is offering IEP Clinics for parents and family members to learn about advocacy, the Special Education forms and tips for writing good IEPs. Come and learn to be your child’s best advocate for more information at www.firstwnc.org. Special Education can be intimidating and confusing. Come to one or more workshops for a series of topics.

2nd Tuesdays 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Dec 8, Jan 12, Feb 9, March 9, April 13, and May 11

West Asheville Community Center

670 Haywood Road

Asheville, NC 28806

3rd Tuesdays 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

Dec 15; Jan 19; Feb 16; March 16; April 20 and May 18

Fletcher Public Library

120 Library Road

Fletcher, NC 28732

3rd Thursdays 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

Dec 17; Jan 21; Feb 18; March 18; April 22 and May 20

Marshall Public Library

1335 North Main Street

Marshall, NC 28753

Reservations are not required but appreciated. If you would like to have an IEP Clinic or another workshop in your community call the F.I.R.S.T. office for more information at 277-1315. If the schools are closed due to weather, workshops are cancelled.

Call your House Reps Today!!!!! All must ACT!!!!!!

The House Budget Threatens Our Lives
The House\'s proposed budget will destroy the economic fabric of our state. (If you would like to read the proposed budget go to our action alert page at:

http://72.167.22.100/action_alert/index.shtml . Click on the link for the House Budget Proposal)

Our service system will be set back 40 years. The House\'s proposed budget cuts to Health and Human Services and Medicaid will have a total impact of close to $3.5 billion.

The entire service system will be destroyed. Individuals and families will lose their services. It\'s not even a matter of trying to send people with developmental disabilities back to institutions - there won’t be institutions and there won\'t be community supports.

A few of the worst cuts are:
Reducing the budget for state-funded services by over $150,000,000
Cuts all Medicaid service rates by 4% causing salary reductions and layoffs
Cuts Medicaid Personal Care Services by over $50,000,000...reducing the services by over half. This is the only direct service other than case management that is a Medicaid entitlement for people with developmental disabilities
Eliminates continuation increases in Medicaid of over $500,000,000. This cut means serious reductions because any increases in CAP plans implemented during the last fiscal year will be eliminated
Cuts case management services by over $50,000,000 by \"consolidation\"
Eliminates the Medicaid service called Community Support which is the one Medicaid service that is designed to support people with mental illness in the community.
The House\'s budget will cause a depression in North Carolina. The massive reduction in jobs in health and human services and education, as well as in other areas, will result in a lower tax base, which in turn will necessitate further budget cuts and more losses in services. It’s a vicious, downward spiraling cycle.

THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW! We must all unite to fight the House\'s proposed budget, and we have no time to waste. The House may vote on the budget as early as June 8.
No one can afford to sit back and watch this budget debacle play out. The lives of people with disabilities, their families and the entire state of North Carolina depend on everyone getting involved. Don\'t think someone else will make the calls. YOU must make the calls!

The Arc of NC has a strategic advocacy plan. Today, tomorrow and Wednesday the leadership of the House must hear from you. We will send out an e-alert when it is time for the next steps, but today, you need to make three calls:

Speaker Hackney 919-733-3451
Majority Leader Holliman 919-715-0873
Minority Leader Stam 919-733-2962

Our Area House Representatives are:

Buncombe Bruce Goforth 919-733-5746
Jane Whilden 919-715-3012
Susan Fisher 919-715-2013

Henderson Carolyn Justus 919-733-5956
David Guice 919 715-4466

Madison, Yancey, Haywood Ray Rapp 919-733-5732

Parts of Yancey and Mitchell Phillip Frye 919-733-5661

Check to see who you have and make calls.


Tell them:
The proposed cuts in HHS and education will destroy our state, risking the lives of people with disabilities, our children’s future, cost thousands of jobs and drive our state into a depression! Raise taxes in order to avoid this disaster! We hold the House accountable!

These representatives must receive thousands of phone calls in the next two days.

To follow The Arc of North Carolina\'s activities on the House budget, read our blog at: www.thearcnc.blogspot.com.

Next Class of Incredible Years Parenting Classes will run for 14 weeks and will build on weekly skills of developing positive approach to discipline. The program will be offered at the YWCA of Asheville on South French Broad Avenue, starting February 4 from 5:30 to 7:30 and running to end of May.

We start by discussing importance of building relationships through the use of play. This may be basic for some parents who are already doing this, but gives ideas on what to say to a child during play and how to use play time as teaching opportunities. We will also cover using praise and positive reinforcement strategies as a tool for decreasing behaviors, in addition to discussing effective limit setting and learning techniques to manage misbehavior associated with tantrums, aggression, biting, defiant behavior etc... Also, a lot of the class will involve discussions with other parents as to the challenges they have, how they handle them, while the facilitators listen and provide guidance. There will be video segments that are watched that show real parent/child interactions to use as a base for discussions and teachings. Each week there will small amount of homework to do, usually hands on practice with a child and small amount of reading.

There are no special requirements for you except to register, call 277-1315, and show up!!! If you have further questions call 277-1315. Hope to see you in classes! Parents and children must be registered for classes, childcare and dinner.

Respect - the positive "R word"

Since the release of the multi-million dollar film "Tropic Thunder", Special Olympics International, the Arc and many other organizations have worked to change our vocabulary to eliminate the use of the "R word" - retarded.

A Virginia parent has put together a wonderful video that focuses on respect for and honoring people with disabilities.

http://firstwnc.org/video/respect-english.html

Please have a look and share with others!

ACCESS Project

F.I.R.S.T. offers a new project to help families understand the services available to persons with developmental disabilities

Asheville, NC – July 24, 2008 – The services for persons with Developmental Disabilities has changed as the state of North Carolina has made changes in the Mental Health system which can be confusing to professionals and especially families. F.I.R.S.T. is very excited to offer families and professionals support and education about how the system works.

With our ACCESS Project, staff will train families and individuals about both state and federal services. F.I.R.S.T. will offer sessions open to the public in each of the eight counties in the Western Highlands Network monthly making the ACCESS Project accessible to families in all areas. These training are made possible with funding from Western Highlands Network. “Every parent that I have talked to over the years is confused about how services for developmental disabilities work. Many families have had CAP MR/DD for many years and do not understand the procedures one because they have changed on a regular basis and no one has really explain the system to them. We are very excited to offer this education to families and have Mike Brown, who knows the system so well is really an asset to F.I.R.S.T.”

Mike Brown, formally with Turning Point and Blue Ridge will spend most of his time doing training to groups about how the system works and what you can expect from the system. “Our goal is to have parents and families members have a better understanding of how they can support and be helped supporting a family member with Developmental Disabilities.” Brown will also work individually with individual to support them in learning the system and advocating for their needs. ACCESS Project will closely watch the changes in the system and inform families how those changes may affect them. Outreach into the communities of stakeholders about how Developmental Disabilities servcies work and support families in Western North Carolina is a major part of the ACCESS Project.

F.I.R.S.T. is a resource center for families of children with or at risk of disabilities that has served over 2100 families and professionals in Western North Carolina since 2002 about special education issues and access to community resources. Most of this support to families has been one to one help at the time of crisis or for specific information usually dealing with school issues and accessing community services through state and government agencies.

F.I.R.S.T.’s mission is to help persons with disabilities to live included, productive lives as members of the community by supporting and education families to be their child’s best advocate and youth to be self-advocates.

All families qualify for education and training from F.I.R.S.T. but we focus on families with family members with disabilities or at risk of disabilities including developmental delays, physical disabilities, learning disabilities and mental illness. Through collaborations in the community, F.I.R.S.T. looks for projects to fill gaps in services for persons with disabilities.

For information: www.firstwnc.org or

Contact: access@firstwnc.org

Phone: 828.277.1315

Direct line to ACCESS: 828.216.9925

Incredible Years Parenting Classes

The Incredible Years classes will run for 14 weeks and will build on weekly skills of developing positive approach to discipline. The program will be offered at the YWCA of Asheville on South French Broad Avenue, starting February 4 from 5:30 to 7:30 and running to end of May.

We start by discussing importance of building relationships through the use of play. This may be basic for some parents who are already doing this, but gives ideas on what to say to a child during play and how to use play time as teaching opportunities. We will also cover using praise and positive reinforcement strategies as a tool for decreasing behaviors, in addition to discussing effective limit setting and learning techniques to manage misbehavior associated with tantrums, aggression, biting, defiant behavior etc...

Also, a lot of the class will involve discussions with other parents as to the challenges they have, how they handle them, while the facilitators listen and provide guidance. There will be video segments that are watched that show real parent/child interactions to use as a base for discussions and teachings. Each week there will small amount of homework to do, usually hands on practice with a child and small amount of reading.

There are no special requirements for you except to register, call 277-1315, and show up!!! If you have further questions call 277-1315. Hope to see you in classes! Parents and children must be registered for classes, childcare and dinner.

FirstShine 2007

http://picasaweb.google.com/smailliWcMnahtE

Link to photos for 2007