Programs

Please note:  Speakers and topics may change without notice.  To avoid disappointment, be sure to confirm the information as the date gets closer.

Unless otherwise stated, all Los Altos programs are held in the Covington Elementary School multipurpose room, 205 Covington Road, Los Altos, and are open to all.  Our events are free and do not require registration.

2010-2011 Parent Education Coffees

September 15, 9-11 AM
IEPs and Legal Matters
What should you do if you feel your IEP is not working? How do you establish a good working relationship with your IEP team? How do you establish need in order to get services? How do you evaluate IEP goals? How do you handle placement issues? What if you have a compliance complaint? How do dispute methods such as mediation and due process work? Jane Floethe-Ford and Loni Allen from Parents Helping Parents will come and share their expertise.

October 20, 7-9 PM
Assessment, Diagnosis and Schools

Steve Newton, a neuro-psychologist who has conducted over 3,500 assessments, will talk about how to know if your child needs to be assessed. How does a private assessment differ from a school assessment? How important is a diagnostic label? Gain an appreciation of the complexity of human behavior; for the fact that strengths and weaknesses often cluster and do not exist in isolation; and why a comprehensive test battery is the best vehicle to provide a detailed road map for educational placement and planning.

November 17, 7-9 PM
Life Skills

Often our special ed students are a bit behind in life as well as school. When and how should parents promote skills for daily living and life in the real world? What about family chores, doing their own laundry, phone skills, managing money, riding a bike, driving a car? Melanie Murphree, OT, will present about younger children and Nancy Ng, a professional counselor and mother of 13, will present about older students.

January 19, 7-9 PM
Turning 18

What happens when high school is over and our kids are legally adults? What happens to the child who can pass CAHSEE and graduate, yet struggles? How should we prepare our child during high school for this transition? What about programs and supports, college or not, employment, driving, and medical visits? Come hear our panel address these issues and your questions. Jan Johnston-Tyler, owner of EvoLibri Consulting, Loni Allen, an education specialist at PHP and a parent of two special young adults, Margo Dobbins from Foothill College Student Services, and NOVA representative Jennifer Springer.

March 16, 7-9 PM
Health Insurance
To be held at Springer Elementary, 1120 Rose Ave., Mountain View

Would you like to learn more about various health insurance plans? Which of them approve (or deny) coverage for chronic conditions that affect many of our children? How those various plans cover traditional and experimental, or alternative, medical treatments, and how parents should work with their health care and insurance providers to achieve best outcomes, both medically and financially, will be discussed. Presented by Michelle Droz, Vice President of Benefits, Woodruff Sawyer and Co., an insurance brokerage and consulting firm in San Francisco.
 
For slideshow from this program, see attachments, below.

April 27, 9-11 AM
Improving Your Child’s Social Skills: From Childhood to Adulthood

Social Skills Therapy encompasses a variety of skills including engaging with others, using language to make connections, understanding perspective of others and acting accordingly, etc. However, to build social intelligence families must have a systematic approach to enable daily practice in order to see changes in the way children play with their peers, organize their lives and exercise their imagination on the playground and in their school work. Please join us in exploring what a “systematic approach” to daily practice looks like with The Talking Playhouse founder, Jenn Bulka. Jenn has been working in the field since 1979 and is a nut for neuroscience and how to change the brain; she has a fresh perspective on what it really takes to make social skills become a habit. The session will be broken into two parts. The first hour will be about choosing the right path for your young child and developing a plan with “best practices.” The second hour will address late-phase social skills from middle school through adulthood and how the brain continues to develop successful social skills strategies.

Missed A Program?

Now you can view our talks on DVD. DVDs of our talks from the past few years are available at the Covington library in the resource room. All DVDs must be checked out with the librarian there, and standard library rules apply.

You can also go to the Archive to read summaries of past programs.

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SELPA 1 CAC,
Mar 30, 2011 2:55 PM