There is still time to apply!
Smart Kids with LD – Youth Achievement Award. This $1,000 award recognizes the strengths and accomplishments of young people with learning disabilities and ADHD.
It will be given to a student 19 or younger who has demonstrated initiative, talent and determination resulting in a notable accomplishment in any field—including art, music, science, math, athletics or community service.
Winners are nominated by a parent, teacher, mentor, coach, or self. Deadline! Applications must be submitted by February 28, 2012.
The award will be presented at the organization’s annual benefit on the evening of Friday, June 8, 2012 at the Stepping Stones Museum in Norwalk, Connecticut.
The winner of the 2011 Youth Achievement Award was Ryan Haggerty of Stamford, CT.
Ryan decided early on that he would not let his severe language and reading disabilities get in the way of his achievement—including his determination to excel at hockey. Buoyed by his gifts as an athlete and ability to think “outside the box,” he took a leading role in student life at Villa Maria School for children with learning disabilities in Stamford, and was recruited as a high school junior by the U.S. National Developmental Hockey Team. Ryan played a key role in the team’s Gold Medal-winning seasons in 2010 and 2011, and is currently a freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
Do you have a Ryan in your family – or know someone who does?
Learn about this Award and download an application
from the Smart Kids with LD website.
Deadline! Applications must be submitted by February 28, 2012.
I work at one of the better schools. However, most of the parents we deal with are absolutely clueless about their child’s needs, and are not interested in learning anything new. Some of them are very neglectful parents, and do not even attend to their child’s physical needs. Most of them are very uneducated as well. When we, the teachers, attempt to educate them, they turn a deaf ear. Many of them act as if they dont’t want to be bothered by their child’s disability, and are simply glad to have a place to dump their kid for the day.
So much for parent involvement and advocacy. So of course, there rarely is any early childhood intervention once the autism or other special needs diagnosis is made. In a few cases only, children attended special Ed . preschools. But even in these cases, parents don’t know what to do next. There often is a drop-the-ball mentality. Such parents act as if they want us to do a miracle, and as if they are saying to us “we know that any day now our Billy is going to need a regular Ed. classroom, as if the autism will suddenly go poof!
Our classrooms are getting more and more really severe needs kids, as the county shuts sown more and more of its programs. I’ml looking at finding another job. Any suggestions?