How do you apply for college and what do you
need from your High School's Special Education and
Guidance Departments? Should your student disclose
their learning disability when they apply for
college or after? What types of learning support
are available at college and does it cost extra?
These questions will be answered by a panel
of selected colleges in the area: Middlesex Community
College, Endicott College, Curry College, University
of Lowell and Northeastern University.
Easter Seals will be in attendance to present
their assisted technology offerings to students entering
college. John Norton from AHS Special Education
Department and Aixa de Kelley from AHS
Guidance will explain the high school's role in
assisting your student through the application
process.
Please join us on October 19 from 7:00pm-
9:00pm at Andover High School Library for this
informative and timely
presentation.
Open to Students in the
8th Grade through High
School and Parents.
The Basic Rights Workshop, co-sponsored with the
Professional Center for Child Development, will be
presented on November 8 at Memorial Hall Library,
and will provide families with an introduction to
their rights and responsibilities under:
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
- Massachusetts Special Education Law, and
- No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Led by Elizabeth Bostic, the workshop will help
parents learn to be effective partners with their
child’s school to decide their child’s eligibility for
special education, and to plan, make decisions and
monitor their child’s progress in school.
Elizabeth Bostic, a presenter from the Federation
for Children with Special Needs, is founder of The
Parent Coach, and is the mother of two special
needs children; one with Cerebral Palsy and other
medical issues, the other with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Through her own
experience of navigating through the special education
system, she was inspired to empower parents
by helping them develop strategies for effectively
advocating for their children’s academic needs.
The Gift: LD/ADHD Reframed
On January 24, Jonathan Mooney will conduct a
powerful presentation that supports parents in celebrating
the strengths, gifts, and talents of their exceptional
child. To empower students of different
abilities, parents and educators need to understand
that learning style differences can be seen as a social
construct, not a medical condition.
Come hear about what is RIGHT about your children and leave
with ways to change social perceptions. Parents,
teachers, and caregivers will be coached on how to
help uncover a labeled child’s assets while teaching
resiliency, meta-cognition, leadership skills, and selfadvocacy.
Jonathan Mooney is a dyslexic writer
and activist who did not learn to read
until he was 12 years old. He is a graduate
of Brown University and holds an
honors degree in English Literature. He
is co-founder of Project Eye-To-Eye, a
widely duplicated mentoring program
for disabled students. He is also a winner
of the prestigious Truman Scholarship
for graduate studies in creative writing and education,
and was a national finalist for the Rhodes
scholarship. He is the author of many books, including
the bestseller, Learning Outside the Lines.
For more about Jonathan, please visit his website:
http://jonathanmooney.com.
Co-sponsored with Parent to Parent, the presentation
will begin at 7pm at the Rogers Center for Performing
Arts at Merrimack College in North Andover.
Please feel free to bring your children (ages 10
and up) to hear this inspiring and provocative
speaker. You won’t be disappointed!
On January 25th at 10am in Conference Room C
of the School Administration Building,, Director
of Student Services Joyce Laundre and her staff
will discuss the procedures in place to ensure
smooth transitions for students and families as
they move up to the next level within the Andover
School System (preschool to elementary,
elementary to middle school and middle school
to high school). Staff from each school as well as
SEPAC representatives will be available to answer
questions. Please join us for this interactive
session that will provide the groundwork for
helping prepare your child as he or she moves
through their school years.
Guidance will explain the high school's role in
assisting your student through the application
process.
Please join us on October 19 from 7:00pm-
9:00pm at Andover High School Library for this
informative and timely
presentation.
Open to Students in the
8th Grade through High
School and Parents.
ADHD-How does it Fit
--CANCELLED--
On February 15, Dr. Joseph Moldover will lead a
presentation on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) and explore the ways the diagnosis
integrates with Special Education—is it to be
considered a special need/learning disability, is it best
served with an IEP, what is a parent to do, etc.
Dr. Moldover is a clinical psychologist with specialty
training in developmental neuropsychology. His
work focuses on building a complete understanding
of an individual’s learning and behavior through the
use of psychological and neuropsychological assessment
techniques, psychotherapy, and school consultation.
He frequently works with individuals diagnosed
with autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities,
ADHD/ADD, neurological and psychiatric
disorders, and cognitive disabilities and emphasizes
continuity of care, often working with children and
families over a period of years.
Helping Anxious Children Cope
Most parents struggle with how to build selfreliance
in their children and teens. Which strategies
work and which don’t? How can parents interface
with teachers and school administrators when
their child is struggling and no one seems to notice?
On Wednesday, March 15, Andover SEPAC,
in conjunction with the Andover Public Schools
and Parent to Parent, will host a presentation that
will focus on the early recognition of anxiety and
will provide an understanding of the environmental
factors that fuel anxiety in our children (and ourselves).
The efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy,
proactive parenting, and if needed, medications
with proven effectiveness in children with
anxiety will be illustrated using everyday examples
that all families can relate to.
Aureen Pinto Wagner, Ph.D. is a clinical child psychologist,
expert in the treatment of anxiety, and
an international speaker. She specializes in cognitive-
behavioral therapy (CBT) and has developed
the child-friendly Worry Hill TM approach to making
CBT accessible to youngsters. In 2002, Dr.
Wagner established The Anxiety Wellness Center
to provide effective treatment for youngsters and
adults with anxiety, Dr. Wagner is the author of
several highly acclaimed books, including Worried
No More: Help and Hope for Anxious Children,
Up and Down the Worry Hill: A Children's Book
about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, What to
do when your Child has Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder: Strategies and Solutions, and Treatment
of OCD in Children and Adolescents: Professional's
Kit.
Leaders in education are frequently
hard found and unsung. Mary
French, who held the positions of
Andover Selectperson and Director
of Pupil Personnel, was truly such a leader,
breaking ground in the delivery of special education
and the inclusion of the whole child in service delivery.
It is in her memory that, since 2002, the Andover
Special Education Parents Advisory Council
(SEPAC) has sponsored the Mary French Yellow
Rose Award to recognize like leaders in special education.
Years ago, Mary French led a group of
Andover teachers and parents on a
field trip to visit the Glastonbury
school system. The Glastonbury system
had been successful in implementing
new and innovative programs designed
to improve delivery of services
to special needs children. It was observed
that educators whose contributions
went the extra step to provide
improved programming and foster a
more inclusive environment for special
education students were rewarded
with the discovery of a yellow rose
secretly delivered to their desk. Thus the yellow
rose became a symbol of excellence and the seed for
the Mary French Yellow Rose Award was planted.
As we seek to acknowledge and recognize those
who work with distinction and go above and beyond
to improve the quality of the education our children
receive, we encourage you to nominate the individuals
that have made a difference in your life or the life
of your student. The guidelines for nominees follow.
The nominee can be a Special Needs or Regular Ed
teacher, an instructional assistant, coach, therapist
or any employee of the Andover Public School System.
The nominee will meet the following criteria:
1. The nominee consistently provides the opportunity
for the student to access both academic and
recreational Regular Ed programs in a meaningful
way.
2. The nominee is a true collaborator, working well
with parents and teachers alike. He or she is a
team player.
3. The nominee embraces change and is
willing to take risks in order to improve
upon current educational policies.
4. The nominee works with the team to
provide a vision for the student and uses
the educational process to achieve these
goals.
Nominations should be submitted in the
form of a letter stating why this individual
should be considered and, if possible,
detailing how this individual made a difference.
They should be submitted to Joyce
Laundre, Director of Student Services, by
mail to 36 Bartlett St. in care of Colleen
Sheehan or by e-mail to CSheehan@aps1.net. We
will not be accepting nominations through the
school principals or individual SEPAC members. The
deadline is March 15, 2012.
All nominees will be
honored and the Mary French Yellow Rose Award
will be presented at a ceremony on May 23, 2012 at
the High Plain Elementary Auditorium. Any questions
please contact Karen Finley at
kafinley@verizon.net or Sharon Mason at
s.sharonmason@comcast.net
Learning Disabilities