Our staff curated a new training for "Middle School Transition", what to do when your child with special needs goes from elementary school to Middle school. There are several changes that occur within the school but also key developmental things that also take place. Have a look by clicking the link below!
Middle School Transition!
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As is our custom this time of year, we are seeking nominations of teachers, or other school personnel, for our Reagan Sisters Excellence in Education award. We hope that you’ll take the time to send us a nomination if you have had an especially good teacher (or counselor, principal, speech therapist, etc.) during the past school year. We want to reach out to the schools and to recognize those educators who really believe all kids can learn, who go the extra mile to assist and to challenge our kids in special education, those who have made sure that parents are kept in the information loop and have been well-informed as to the progress their son or daughter has made.
The person nominated can be a special education teacher, or a general education teacher. He or she can hold other positions—such as one of those listed above. The important thing is that they have been helpful to your child and supportive of you as the parent. This is a parent nomination. Send us a paragraph or two describing how the person has helped your child. Also, please send us the person’s full name, position at school, and the name of the school and the name of the principal at the school. If you know it, the address of the school (or phone number) would also help us. You can email us the information to [email protected] and you can call us at 479-927-4100. You can also mail it to us at 614 E. Emma, Suite 219, Springdale, AR 72764. Thanks for taking the time to help us recognize outstanding school personnel in our area. We will notify you, if your nominee is selected. Candia Nicholas Family Support Director Arkansas Support Network 
NWA Community Parent Resource Center gets this question a LOT and the answer is almost always YES! In the unlikely event that we don't have any information on what you're looking for, we will either do research and obtain that information or push you in the right direction in order to find it. We have information on all sorts of subjects pertaining to our families and their children that have all sorts of special needs stashed all around our office. Here are the main places we keep our information:
1. OUR WEBSITE - we have a lot of information through the "Parent Resources" link on our website, divided into categories to make it easy to find what you're looking for. www.nwacprc.org 2. PINTEREST - recently we have begun a pinterest board to collect all of the information we come across in a visually appealing way - if you don't like searching down through long lines of text to find resources on what you need, this might be a good option for you because you can easily scan pictures on boards set up into different categories to find lots of useful information. We started this less than a month ago, though, so we're steadily but surely collecting more information. www.pinterest.com/nwacprc 3. LIBRARY - Did you know we have a library with thousands of books located in the JTL shop, a building very close to the Jones Center? The Library is open Monday through Friday at 614 E. Emma, suite 131 in Springdale, AR. You can browse Tuesday through Thursday from 12 to 5pm or request an appointment to go in with us at any other time during the week. The instructions on checking out a book are simple to fill out and are hung up next to our office inside the Library (Suite 127). Most materials can be checked out for a month. We have books, binders, dvds, brochures, tapes, and cds on specific disabilities, special education law, inclusion, special education, assistive technology, parenting, activities, and much more. We also have an entire section devoted to materials in Spanish as well as a kid's section where they can go play and sit down while you're browsing! 4. ON SITE DATABASE - we have a server in our office where we collect all of the loose pieces of information we get by email, conference, or trainings. This includes scans of documents, PDFs, Power Point files, Word documents, videos, and a lot of other media. All of those loose pieces of information are separated into categories and are filed under their own specific folders in our server. If you don't find what you need on our website, library, or our pinterest page, please contact us in our office because we more than likely have something for you. You can e-mail [email protected] or call (479)927-3283. 5. OUR TRAININGS or WORKSHOPS - we have many trainings or workshops that cover all sorts of subjects of highly requested items in English as well as Spanish throughout the year. Contact us or visit the calendar section of our website to find out what's coming up next. 6. OUR STAFF - We have an experienced and knowledgeable staff that have a lot of information and are more than happy to guide you - some of their knowledge you can find in books, but a lot of it is practical experience that you would not be able to find elsewhere. Always feel free to call, to set up an appointment with one of them, or to e-mail us. You can e-mail [email protected] or call (479)927-3283. Hopefully this sheds some light on the multitude of information we have to offer here at the NWA Community Parent Resource Center. So, if you're wondering "Do you have information on..." the answer is most likely "YES!" and we would be glad to help you! - Staci Bell, Technology Specialist / Librarian NWA Community Parent Resource Center
PRESS RELEASE: July 22, 2013
Arkansas Support Network is pleased to announce the hire of Jellesen Rubon-Chutaro as Outreach Coordinator for Marshallese families. We’re excited about the strong connection Jellesen has with the Marshallese community, both in terms of her ability to communicate fluently in English and Marshallese, and her connection to the islands through her college and past work experiences. Arkansas Support Network has a federal grant from the Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, to provide information and training to families who have children who receive special education services and those whose children are eligible for these services. One of the areas of focus for this grant is immigrant families, particularly Hispanic and Marshallese. Candia Nicholas, Director of the Family Support Program for ASN, says “we are pleased to have Jellesen’s experience and knowledge, as we strive to reach Marshallese families who have children with disabilities“. Jellesen works in the Family Support Program/Community Parent Resource Center office of Arkansas Support Network (ASN) in the Jones Family Resource Center on Emma St. in Springdale. Jellesen can be contacted by calling 479-927-4100 or by emailing her at [email protected].
Here's a reminder to fill out our short survey -- enter for a chance to win one of 2 $25 restaurant gift certificates of your choice!
There are two types of surveys you may be eligible to fill out - The first survey is only for people who have been offered assistance this year (since October 2012) in helping advocate for your child in school, assisting you with a school issue, or any other service relating to your child's education. CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE PARENT ASSISTANCE SURVEY The second survey choice is for those of you who have attended at least one of our trainings or workshops this year (since October 2012) covering anything. CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE TRAINING/WORKSHOP SURVEY You will be contacted when the survey closes at the end of September 2013 if you have won a gift certificate. Thank you! 
You may be wondering why we ask you fill out surveys throughout the year. We know as much as you that we get bombarded with surveys -- surveys from retailers, medical offices, restaurants, and a whole slew of other places. This can get overwhelming and eventually become white noise that you hardly notice anymore.
Our surveys are each different, but they are all used to gauge our progress on how we are doing on serving you and your families. We value all the responses we get, however some surveys are more important than others. As a non-profit, these surveys are certainly not used to increase profit margins or figure out how we can market things to you -- they are a gateway to keeping our doors, resources, and advocates open to you for years to come. Our MOST important surveys are our parent and workshop surveys that we do every year starting in the summer. They are surveys that are required by the Office of Special Education Programs / Department of Special Ed (where we get our funding). These surveys are collected by PACER - a big parent center up in Minnesota by the end of each grant year (end of September). They use these surveys as a way to gauge our progress as a parent center as well as collectively for parent centers across the board. They are extremely important to the survival of our center. Want to help us out by filling out this years surveys? The deadline is coming up quick! By filling out one of these quick surveys you also enter yourself to win one of two $25 gift cards to the restaurant of your choice :) Find out more information here: http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=903c6c5278013fd9dfcd7c840&id=5c9da0327a Another type of survey we send out each year is the Family Support Program Survey. This survey only goes out to people in our Family Support Program. When we receive results from our parents, we report our findings to our board and devise ways that can make the program more convenient and useful to you. Our last type of surveys we send out involve your preferences on things - the types of trainings you'd like us to offer, the types of resources you would like to check out from our library, how you like to be contacted, and whether you prefer trainings online or in person. All of this information helps us create a better all in one local resource for you, the parent, so that you can better advocate for your child. We hope this helped clear up why we ask for your opinions and thoughts through this format so often. We hope that the next time you see one of our surveys come through your inbox or pop up on facebook, you'll consider taking just a couple of minutes to help us. - Arkansas Support Network FSP/CPRC Staff |
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