School’s back — a helpful free guide for parents

by Beth Finke

Labor Day has come and gone, and with the kids back in school this might be the perfect time to recommend a free booklet (PDF) from the HSC Foundation that helps parents learn about resources available to them.

The booklet also offers information to help parents develop a partnership with their children’s schools, and the information is available in English and Spanish. The HSC Foundation’s Web site outlines the goals of their Family Supports Initiative like this:

• Provide knowledge regarding systems of care, home and family care practices, and community resources;
• Support family needs through technical training, counseling, and peer support;
• Strengthen skills in the areas of negotiation, conflict management, and advocacy; and
• Support related research, development, and evaluation.

The content has been reviewed by groups of parents, youth, and educators. The booklets are produced in partnership with George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development, the Council for Exceptional Children and the National Association of State Directors of Special Education.

We’re going to the dogs

by Erin Rogers

We just started an Animal Assisted Therapy program here at Easter Seals Central Illinois this summer, and already the program has been featured in a story on pjstar.com. Photos with the story show Ethan Simpson, age 5, a client of ours here at Easter Seals, petting Payton, a dog we use in the program. Another photo taken after the petting session shows Becky Bradley, Ethan’s primary physical therapist, looking on as handler Michelle Kosner takes Payton to the end of a hallway. The dog’s presence there encourages Ethan to propel himself down the hallway to get more loving from Payton! In fact, Payton was just the motivation Ethan needed to work harder than he ever had before!

Through the program, therapy dogs assist and offer encouragement for our kids in therapy. Use of the therapy dog is a strategy to work on goals including social skills, verbal skills, and movement in an enjoyable way.

Since bringing Payton to the Center, I’m hearing frequent stories of success from our therapists and parents — kids are climbing stairs to get to Payton, they’re speaking to give him commands, or practicing snaps and buckles as they dress Payton … skills they need in order to dress themselves independently. We’re excited about the progress we’re seeing as a result of our new addition! Kids. Therapy. Progress!

Make Avril’s birthday wish come true!

by Rachel Talen

Lately, I’ve noticed a trend in people mixing it up a little when it comes to their birthdays. Instead of a candles and cake party, I’ve seen friends do a volunteer project together or even ask others to make a donation on behalf of their favorite charity.

Well, it looks like Easter Seals’ friend and singer, songwriter and philanthropist Avril Lavigne had a similar idea! Avril’s birthday is September 27, and this year she’s inviting her fans to join in on her month-long birthday party and help support her efforts to help kids feel like rockstars.

Leading up to Avril’s birthday on September 27th, The Avril Lavigne Foundation is hosting a Rockstar Room and online auction for cool stuff like Lady Gaga tickets and celebrity-autographed guitars — all of this will benefit Easter Seals through her foundation.

The Rockstar Room and auction are all part of her R.O.C.K.S. mission: Respect, Opportunity, Choices, Knowledge and Strength in support of youth with disabilities. Here are the top five things you need to know to join in on the fun:

• You can DONATE to win fun rewards such as signed 8x10s, a surprise Avril grab bag and a phone call from Avril.
• You can BID on one-of-a-kind auction items from all kinds of Rockstars & musicians.
• You can SHARE your support for the Avril Lavigne Foundation and get your friends to donate, too.
• You can LEARN about our work to help kids feel like Rockstars, have fun, learn new skills, and of course – smile!
• Look for a SECRET ITEM coming soon in the Rockstar Room… keep checking back for updates.

Avril has a lot to celebrate these days. Did you know she’s also recently engaged?! I hope you’ll make Avril’s birthday wish come true by visiting the Rockstar Room and sharing the link with your friends via Facebook and Twitter.

Let’s get the party started!

Steppin’ out with Amy

by Allison Knopp

I am so pleased to introduce Amy Liss as a guest blogger today. We’ve known Amy since she was a baby — she started with physical, occupational, and speech therapy here at Easter Seals Du Page and the Fox Valley Region when she was just 5 months old, and over the years we’ve helped her with assistive technology too. Amy is a lovely grown woman now, and she works here as a Development Assistant.

Standing with my twin

by Amy Liss

Most people don’t realize how much work is involved in taking a step. The work involved in taking a step when you have spastic cerebral palsy? It’s exponential.

At Easter Seals, the therapists get it. My therapists have worked with me at Easter Seals DuPage and the Fox Valley Region for more than 25 years. This week we all experienced a new thrill: the therapists received some training using a new piece of equipment called a Walking Track from ArjoHuntleigh, and an hour later I was actually walking with it! You can see an amazing video of my first flight here.

I have had a walker for more than two years to use in therapy. When I take steps with that walker it happens after much stretching in therapy and I really have to think about the movements for each step I take. With the new walking track, my feet just seemed to go on their own. It felt like I was running at some points — but maybe that was just my excitement!

Thanks to Easter Seals, I have been able to use a lot of cool equipment to help make my body stronger but nothing like this. It’s so hard to describe the feeling, but the first time in it, the walking just seemed to come so easily. After posting the video on Facebook, I have read so many wonderful comments from people I don’t even know personally that are impressed by Easter Seals and are amazed to see me upright and moving. After 29 years of therapy, this is as close as I’ve ever come to feeling like I’m just walking like everyone else.

I’m excited to see other clients use this equipment, but I have to admit I’ll always be thrilled that I was the first one in it! My twin sister Kelly said it was the very first time we took a picture standing together and my little sister, Lindsay, said she cried watching the video and seeing me walk.

My therapists, Kathe and Diane, should be equally as excited because they are the ones who got me to this point. I loved watching their faces especially because they had just learned how to use the track an hour before I was on it. I was so impressed with their willingness to use a piece of equipment so readily after just being introduced to it.

The whole experience was really emotional for me because I really felt like I was walking down the hall with my friend, Kathe. And you know what? I was!

Two thumbs up for Inclusion Films

by Patricia Wright

Joey Travolta (yep, he’s John’s brother) was a special education teacher before his success in the film industry. He paired these two areas of expertise (special education and filmmaking) to start Inclusion Films, a practical film workshop for adults with developmental disabilities. Based in Burbank, California, the program teaches students everything from writing scripts to building sets and using film and editing equipment. Best of all, they work with Easter Seals Southern California to help find jobs for graduates of the program. A story in the L.A. Times explains:

Students with autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome are trained by working cinematographers, set designers, actors and other professionals who are active in the industry. “The filmmaking process is a great teaching tool about life,” said Travolta, 61. “A lot of our students aren’t going to be filmmakers and may never work in the film business, but they are going to be able to go into the workplace and have a sense of what it’s like to be on the job. This builds their self-confidence.”

Inclusion Films took their show on the road this summer and hosted short film camps at California college campuses from San Diego to Oakland, and across the country from Englewood Cliffs, NJ to Pittsburgh, PA. From the Inclusion Films web site:

The program is designed to develop self-esteem, confidence, and creativity through acting, improvisation, and digital filmmaking. Our students learn essential skills for a career in film in a non-competitive environment.

I totally dig the Inclusion Films concept — organizations who want Inclusion Films to come to their city to host a short film camp are encouraged to contact them by Email at inclusionfilms@aol.com.

If you can see, try out Blind Football

by Beth Finke

Last week a friend sent me a link to a video game that simulates what it’s like to be blind and play soccer. My friend can see, and she is a huge soccer fan. She’d scored a 35% on the simulation. I was determined to do better.

The simulation is supposed to present you with four different soccer challenges: passing, shooting, tackling and dribbling. Superstar David Beckham introduces the video, asking players to use their ears to angle their passes based on what they hear in their headphones.

I linked to the game. David Beckham told me to put my headphones on. I did. He explained how to use the arrow keys to follow the sound of the ball, and then said to hit the space bar to pass. I put my hands on the keys and waited for the action to begin. I waited. And waited.

I could hear children playing, but got no direction of where to pass or dribble, and I had no clue what to press to get the aural clues started. I tried arrowing up, arrowing down. I hit the space bar. I hit it again. Maybe enter? Would that work? No luck. Finally I called my husband over. He can see, and he was able to find the button on the screen for me. The only way i could play the blind soccer game was to have a sighted person help me.

Disappointing? Yes. Upon reflection, however, I realized this simulation isn’t intended for people who are blind. It’s meant to give people who can see a better understanding about living with a disability — the simulation comes from Sainsbury’s 1 Million Kids Challenge. Sainsbury’s sent Paralympics Sports Kits to schools, clubs and organizations all across the United Kingdom to encourage millions of British children to try out a paralympic sport ahead of the London Games this week.

A study by Sainsbury’s shows that the kids who tried out a paralympic sport are more knowledgeable — and excited — about watching the Paralympics. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of the children who tried a Paralympics sport were able to specify an event that they are looking forward to watching when the Games start. The event they are looking forward to most? Ellie Simmonds in the 100-meter freestyle. About one in five children (19%) said they’ll be watching that on TV, followed closely by Oscar Pistorius in the Men’s 400-meter. Both events are on the same day, September 8th. Other events set to be popular with British children are wheelchair tennis and cycling track.

This is so cool. It all makes me very happy. So happy, in fact, that I may just let my friend believe she beat me in blind soccer. Go Paralympians!

We have a paralympian in our midst!

by Jim Leiker

Paralympian Austin Hanson, 38, has spent years and years in boccia ball training with his father here at Easter Seals Capper Foundation and at a local YMCA. and now he’s heading to the 2012 Paralympics in London! Austin is the only American to qualify in boccia this year, but, amazingly, it is the third time he has competed in the Paralympics.

Boccia is a sport similar to bocce, and it’s open to athletes with physical disabilities — Austin uses a device to communicate, and he uses a headstick to aim his boccia ball. He’s an incredible athlete, and he returned from the boccia National Championship games in Chicago at the end of July with Gold Medals in singles and in pairs. From a story in the Topeka Capital-Journal:

Hanson, the No. 1-ranked player in the country for the past 17 years, won his fifth straight national singles title Sunday, and has won nine of the last 10 and 11 overall. Winning pairs with Christine Beck, of Chicago, he now has 11 national titles in pairs play.

Austin will head off to London this week so he can be there for the opening ceremonies on August 29. He’s ranked 21st in the world and will compete in singles play, which starts September 5.

When we asked Austin’s father Gary if he, his wife, daughter or Austin’s significant other will be texting, facebook-updating or tweeting while at the Paralympics (so we could all arrange to follow them), Gary said he is just learning how to do this — so we’ll see. If all else fails, we’ll just have to catch Austin online, or on TV! The United States Olympic Committee has announced that they’ll create original video content for the U.S. Paralympics YouTube channel, and that NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) will air one-hour highlight shows on September 4, 5, 6 and 11 at 7 p.m. EDT.

We’re behind you all the way — go, Austin, go!

Teaching teachers that All Kids Can

by Beth Finke

This time each year I start getting requests from professors who want me to speak to one of their college classes. Sometimes they want me to talk to animal sciences classes about service dogs. Other times they’ll ask me to speak to their writing classes about memoirs. Sometimes, they just want me to talk about what it’s like to be blind.

One class I’ll be speaking to this fall is full of undergraduates studying to be general education teachers. As part of their curriculum they are required to take one, just one, course in special education.

Considering 47 percent of students who have disabilities spend 80 percent or more of their day in general education classroom settings, can one special education course for future teachers be enough?

This is where All Kids Can helps. Created by the CVS/pharmacy Charitable Trust, All Kids Can is a five-year, $25 million commitment to making life easier for children with disabilities.

Through this signature program, CVS and the Trust help non-profit organizations like Easter Seals raise awareness in schools and in local communities about the importance of inclusion. I know that the general education students I’ll be speaking to will benefit from hearing how inclusion played a major role in the life of my son, who has severe disabilities. But I’m only one woman. I can’t do it alone. That’s why I’m grateful to CVS for funding programs to promote the awareness of inclusion and its importance to children with disabilities. Trust me, I’ll be sharing the All Kids Can link with those education students when I meet them!

Meet our new National Associate Board!

by Rachel Talen

Last week the Easter Seals National Associate Board (NAB) held its inaugural meeting. The NAB is a group of young professionals and leaders from many different backgrounds. Each NAB member has made a personal financial commitment to Easter Seals’ work and will continue to fundraise through fun, social events and whatever creative tactics they dream up!

The idea for a National Associate Board came from an innovation initiative we worked on last year. Easter Seals Headquarters staff submitted more than 300 ideas. A team of staff innovation champions evaluated the ideas to determine whether we could make them come to life, and the National Associate Board was born!

When it came to forming the NAB, Easter Seals headquarters staff sorted through our personal contacts and asked ourselves, who do I know who’s a younger generation business leader or professional? Do they stand behind Easter Seals mission? Are they philanthropic? Have they demonstrated fundraising skills? We were honored to get representation from companies including U.S. Cellular, Accenture, CNA Insurance, Goldman, Sachs & Company, WGN-TV & CLTV, Franczek Radelet, McDonald’s Corporation, Namaste Charter School, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, American Dental Association and Graystone Consulting. I’m personally honored to serve as a staff liaison to an NAB member (shout out to Brad!) and have been part of a group working on the formation of the NAB for many months.

The highlight of last week’s meeting was going around the room and hearing about each person’s journey and how they came to know Easter Seals. Each person was looking for an opportunity to give back to their community and I was amazed at the number whose lives had been touch by someone with a disability. I got butterflies thinking that this meeting was the beginning of something wonderful!

This group is without a doubt going to do great things and make a huge footprint for Easter Seals in becoming visible to younger generations and more. Welcome to the Easter Seals family, NAB!

A profile in courage

by Beth Finke

My Seeing Eye dog Whitney and I met a lot of terrific athletes last weekend at the Summer Military Sport Camp, and as is so often the case when it comes to volunteering, we got far more out of it than we put in.

Out of respect for privacy, I won’t be sharing any specifics here about the individuals who participated in the camp, but I can tell you this: very few of the vets I met used wheelchairs or a prosthesis of any kind to get around. The vast majority had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

An op-ed article about the high percentage of veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan who report mental health problems happen to come out in the New York Times the very day I started volunteering at the military sports camp. The piece follows the heartbreaking story of Maj. Ben Richards. He came home in 2007 after suffering multiple concussions in Iraq, and it took three years for him to get a diagnosis of TBI and PTSD. Richards is retiring from the U.S. Army this month, and the article quotes him saying that things might have been easier if he had lost a leg in Iraq.

”I’d trade a leg for this in a heartbeat,” Ben said. “If all I was missing was a leg, I’d be a stud. And if I’d lost a leg, I’d be able to stay in the Army. That’s all I want to do.” He summed up his future saying, “it comes to failure.”

The article refers to traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder as the signature wounds of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, “partly because of the strains of repeated combat tours and partly because the enemy now relies more on bombs than bullets.” It quotes Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta admitting in a congressional hearing last month that the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs are overburdened by the mental health demands of returning soldiers. “This system is going to be overwhelmed,” he said. “Let’s not kid anybody. We’re looking at a system — it’s already overwhelmed.”

Maybe Easter Seals can help. We have a long history working with people who have disabilities, and we’ve been providing direct services to the military and veterans communities since 1945. Back in 2005, when we started recognizing the new and unmet needs of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, we established the Military and Veterans Initiative. In 2008, (thanks to funding from the Ludy Family Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation) we launched a new in-home, computer-based cognitive training program nationwide to help returning veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury. And now, this year, the Dixon Center is partnering with Easter Seals to help meet the needs of veterans and service members by focusing on employment, education and access to health care. The Dixon Center will also act as an advocate and mentor on issues affecting veterans, service members, their families and families of the fallen.

After spending time with some of these veterans at the sport camp over the past weekend, I concur completely with what Nicholas D. Kristof said in that New York Times piece:

In speaking out with brutal candor about his injury and decline, Maj. Ben Richards exemplifies courage and leadership. He’s not damaged goods, but a hero. Maybe, if our leaders are listening, one of his last remaining dreams is still achievable: that his story will help win better treatment for so many others like him.