Hot Topics and Slow Dollars

• Like Molases: Stimulus money is coming, but many districts will have to wait. One Texas district expects to wait months to see the first trickles of a $100 million stream over the next two years.
• Too Hot to Touch: About.com's Special Needs blog spins off an idea from NPR with its list of Ten Toxic Special Needs Topics. On the top of the list of hot-button issues in special needs discussions: peanut bans.
• On that note... NPR also looks at an experiment that takes a bite out of peanut allergies.
  
• The Examined Life: A special needs parent asks if sometimes 'we' coddle special needs children too much. While another parent looks at how best to discipline her special needs teen.
  

New Video: Installing STAR

As we ramp up for the this year's School Transportation News Conference EXPO and Trade Show, this week we add another new video from the 2007 EXPO. In this video, SafeGuard IMMI's Charlie Vitts shows attendees how to install and remove the company's SafeGuard STAR child safety restraint system.

After the Ride: Job Numbers Grim for People With Disabilities

Occasionally, we look at how schools prepare special needs riders for life after the bus ride ends. Transition planning often includes travel training on how to use public transit systems and getting them ready for the working world. But like everywhere else opportunities here are shrinking. "In February, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities rose to 14 percent compared with 8.7 percent for the rest of the population ... Meanwhile, just 19.8 percent of people with disabilities are employed compared to 64.8 percent for the rest of the population." Indiana University East Disability & Community Blog laments:

For many students with disabilities, becoming a productive citizen is a deciding factor in whether they can enjoy the liberties of a democratic society. People with disabilities are often dependent upon social services to provide a variety of supports that make it possible for them to be employed. It can take months if not years to get agency help coordinated in ways that make employment possible. It is a daunting task to start the support process all over again when a job falls through.

Texas Team Takes Home 2009 Roadeo Crown

As promised, results from the 2009 National Special Needs Team Roadeo during the Transporting Students with Disabilities & Preschoolers 18th National Conference & Exhibition. From our Web site:

Jeffery Brown and Deanna Mallow of Kileen, Texas, took home the first place trophy after a hotly contested 2009 National Special Needs Team Roadeo during the Transporting Students with Disabilities & Preschoolers 18th National Conference & Exhibition.

The economy appeared to have something to do with smaller total conference attendance numbers than from recent years, and only 16 teams competed this year down from 30 in 2008. But that fact did not keep the participants from pushing each other in such skills tests as evacuations, railroad crossings and child passenger seat restraints. Brown and Mallow held off Lynea Brown and Michael Ingraham of Falcon, Colo., by just five points. Finishing in third place was Suzanne Gettings and Lee Ann Ovens of Penn Yann, N.Y.

The event was held in freezing cold temperatures on Feb. 28 at Decatur Intermediate Learning Center. The larger conference concluded on March 4.

Look for more on the conference in our April issue. For now, some a photo of the winners:

Special Needs Highlights

• They may not ride the school bus, but these special needs students are getting help from their school. The Miami-Herald tells the story of the Merrick Educational Center "the only public school in Miami-Dade County that works with homebound, hospitalized or special needs children who are unable to attend a traditional school. The school goes from pre-K to 12th grade."
  
• It's not what we think of when we talk about a Special Needs Rodeo. (We'll be posting the results from Special Needs Roadeo in Indianapolis soon, we promise). But the California High School Roadeo association is letting some special needs students lasso and ride life-size "broncos" and "horses" hand rocked by volunteered.
• Another special needs Rodeo of the same breed is looking for pardn'rs to volunteer for the event.

Stimulus, Solidarity and Site Update

Last week, we reported that the stimulus package provides $13.6 billion for special needs education. In the week ahead, we'll look at the package more closely and discuss how schools and pupil transporters may be able to get their piece of the pie.

Later this week, special needs experts gather in Indianapolis, Ind., for the National Conference on Transporting Students With Disabilities & Preschoolers. The group might take note, in Northern California, a group of parents of children with autism and other special needs have formed their own PTA. The group was founded to help parents work together to draw attention to special needs and the often under-funded mandated special education costs. The group's president and co-founder Susie Christensen stated the group's mission:

"Our mission is to disseminate information and support parents in their quest for educating their children, and let them know they're not alone."

For those looking for education online, we've recently updated the special needs section of our Web site. Inside disabilities definitions, resources, commentaries and more.

How to Become the Captain of a Winning IEP Team

Pupil transporters can save themselves a lot of Tylenol by taking part in the IEP meetings that often dictate how their special needs riders are to be transported. In this presentation [PowerPoint] from the 2008 Florida Association for Pupil Transportation Summer Conference, Alexandra Robinson and Jamie Warrington offer tips on leading IEP teams. Presentation covers IEP requirements, what pupil transporters should bring to meetings and the benefits of participation. Well worth reading, well worth getting in touch with these experts with your questions.