Special Kids, Inc.

Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) Helps Texas Theme Park Cater to Special-Needs Guests

specialkids — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:05:10 +0000

When families go to Morgan’s Wonderland, a San Antonio, Texas, theme park devoted to children or adults with physical or mental disabilities, the park already knows something about them-including their health needs and allergies, the names of the people accompanying them, and an e-mail address for sending pictures of their time on-site. With the use of an RFID-enabled bracelet, visitors can share that information with park employees as needed, automatically. The park installed the system to better provide for the safety and comfort of its special-needs guests. The park includes attractions such as the Sensory Village with themed spaces-a grocery store and TV station, for instance-built around an indoor streetscape intended to provide sensory stimulation. The Butterfly Playground has wheelchair-accessible playground equipment, and there is also an amphitheater, an off-road vehicle ride and a carousel. Each visitor to Morgan’s Wonderland wears a wristband containing three RFID tags. Morgan’s Wonderland is owned by Sports Outdoor and Recreation (SOAR), a nonprofit organization established by the Gordon Hartman Family Foundation to manage Morgan’s Wonderland and the South Texas Area Regional Soccer Complex (STAR). The 25-acre theme park, which first opened its doors in April 2010, is the first of its kind to specialize in entertainment for those with special needs, according to the company. Its operation is fundedby contributions, as well as proceeds from STAR. Each special- needs individual can enter the park for free, and family members without special needs pay $5 each. Those attending without a special-needs guest pay $15 per person. When establishing the park, SOAR met with family members, who indicated they needed a park at which special-needs individuals would feel safe and comfortable, says Peter Albarian, the director of Morgan’s Wonderland. That meant limiting the number of visitors at the park at any given time, in order to reduce crowds, noise and lines, as well as make it possible to easily track the location of all members of a particular group. The solution was an online registration system that reserves tickets for pending visitors, and also gains information regarding those individuals, that is then forwarded to an RFID system known as Location Station, provided by RFIDTec, a California integrator and software provider. The system uses several RFID tags embedded in a single wristband, and RFID interrogators installed throughout the park, as well as RFID kiosks, to help visitors keep track of their party by reading their own ID bracelet and accessing a screen showing where the others are located. The system also helps ensure that no one leaves the park with a non-group member, because handheld RFID readers at the gate issue an alert if anyone attempts to leave without their full party, and allows photos of the visitors interacting at the park to be e-mailed directly to them when those individuals scan their RFID tags to call up their e-mail address. The park sets a maximum number of visitors at any particular time, Albarian says, to keep the crowds under control. It expects that number to be approximately 1,700, he notes, adding that the park plans to adjust that maximum as it determines the level of noise, lines and crowding it may create. To control the numbers of visitors at any given time, the park employs anonlineregistration process provided by San Antonio software consultancy Denim Group. Those registering can create an account, select the date on which they wish to visit, and then input information about themselves or their family members if they so choose, such as health issues that they would like the park to be aware of, explains Sheridan Chambers, Denim Group’s principal and cofounder -for example, if a child has a specific food allergy, is diabetic or is prone to seizures. The Denim registration software then stores that information, enabling a user to print a bar-coded reservation ticket that he or she can then take to the park on the date of the visit. When visitors arrive at the park, their printed bar-code tickets are scanned, and the registration data is listed on a computer screen. Workers provide each member of the group with an RFIDTec Locator wristband, about the size of a watch. The wristband contains three RFID tags: one active RF Code 433 MHz RFID tag for location purposes, and two passive tags-a high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz tag provided by ViVOtech , and a low-frequency (LF) 135 kHz tag from Texas Instruments. The HF tag is designed to be read at close proximities at the exit and registration area, as well as at Location Station kiosks. The LF tag-which, due to the readers’ antenna array, has a longer read range than the HF tag with handheld readers, and requires less precision in placing the wristband by the interrogator-is used by the visitors to have photos e-mailed to them. Each of a wristband’s three tags is encoded with a different unique ID number, and all three IDs are linked to another unique identifier for the wristband itself. RFIDTec’s Location Station software then links the wristband ID numbers to the guest’s registration data. The park has installed 33 RF Code 433 MHz readers, to create 33 separate zones within the site. At any given time, anyone in the park is within read range of one of the interrogators. The active tag in the wristband transmits to the reader with a read range of between 50 and 400 feet, depending on how the interrogators are adjusted to receive those transmissions, based on their location within the park and their nearness to other readers. That location information, says Eric Couch, RFIDTec’s chief architect, is then forwarded to the Safety Zone software on the park’s back-end system via a cabled connection.

If a group’s leader loses someone from his party, he can visit one of five RFID-enabled kiosks installed around the park. At the kiosk, he places his wristband within range of a reader, which reads the wristband’s passive HF tag. The software then pulls up the ID numbers for all members in his group, and displays the location of each person as named icons on a displayed map of the site, shown on the kiosk monitor. A Location Station kiosk at some exhibits, such as a simulated newsroom, visitors can have their pictures taken and e-mailed to them. In this case, a visitor taps his or her wristband near an RFID reader, and the passive LF tag is read and linked to an e-mail address provided at the time of registration. The park’s staff can then send the picture to that address.
In case an individual requires help, several employees carry handheld RFID interrogators. In such an event, they can read that person’s passive HF tag and view a display listing his or her name, along with any medical information input at the time of registration. When guests leave the park, their wristbands are read with handheld HF interrogators a final time, and the Denim software verifies that all members of that group are present before the wristbands are returned to the park’s staff and the guests are allowed to exit. The wristbands are then cleaned and later reassigned to subsequent visitors. “People have told us, ‘This is amazing-how does it work?’” Albarian says. The RFID system, he adds, “is one of the things that makes families feel at ease. These kids are enjoying themselves in the park, and parents are able to relax without worrying about their child.”

Family Advocacy and Support Training (FAST)

specialkids — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:58:58 +0000

Special Kids, Incorporated has partnered with the FAST Project to provide family support leadership training to families of children with disabilities in Houston and the surrounding areas. A primary emphasis will be reaching underserved families from all geographic regions.

You are invited to be in a national research study of supports for families of youth with disabilities. You were selected as a possible participant because you are a parent or primary caregiver of a young person with disabilities between 12 and 22 years old. Please read this form and ask any questions you have before agreeing to be in the study.

The Family Advocacy and Support Training (FAST) Project is funded by the Administration on Development Disabilities (ADD) as a Project of National Significance (Grant number 90DN0269). FAST is a project of PACER Center in Minnesota in collaboration with Parent Centers throughout the United States and Territories and with the help of the University of Minnesota.

This survey is being conducted by: Sheryl A. Larson, Ph.D., and K. Charlie Lakin, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Research and Training Center on Community Living. The FAST Project is coordinated by Shauna McDonald and Paula Goldberg, Executive Director, PACER Center.

If you would like to be a part of this iniative please visit: www.fastfamilysupport.org to find out more about what SKI is doing and to complete a survey. In doing so you will help to provide effective services for thousands of children/individuals with disabilities no only in the Houston Area but in the United States. Also, be on the look out for upcoming training in late August or early September.

To obtain more information about the Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) visit www.acf.hhs.gov

Up Coming Trainings!

specialkids — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:39:07 +0000

Focus on Family Support and Protocols

Special Kids will be conducting a discussion and gathering information about the underserved and underrepresented families of children with disabilites. Date: April 30, 2010 Place: Special Kids Inc 2600 S. Loop W. suite 340. Time: 7pm-8pm.

Purpose is to bring awareness of current access to family support services and unmet family support needs.

youth development
family support and leadership
career development and employment
connecting activities and education

Obama Administration’s Education Reform Plan Emphasizes Flexibility, Resources and Accountability for Results

specialkids — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:48:11 +0000

The Obama administration’s blueprint to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) will support state and local efforts to help ensure that all students graduate prepared for college and a career. Following the lead of the nation’s governors and state education leaders, the plan will ask states to ensure that their academic standards prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace, and to create accountability systems that recognize student growth and school progress toward meeting that goal. This will be a key priority in the reform of NCLB, which was signed into law in 2002 and is the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).

“We will work with Congress on a bipartisan basis to reauthorize ESEA this year,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said about the blueprint, which the Obama administration released on Saturday. “We owe it to our children and our country to act now.” NCLB highlighted the achievement gap and created a national conversation about student achievement. But it also created incentives for states to lower their standards; emphasized punishing failure over rewarding success; focused on absolute scores, rather than recognizing growth and progress; and prescribed a pass-fail, one-size-fits-all series of interventions for schools that miss their goals. The administration’s proposal addresses these challenges, while continuing to shine a bright light on closing the achievement gap.

“To make ESEA work, we have to fix accountability and get it right,” Duncan said. “A rigorous and fair accountability system measures student growth, rewards schools that accelerate student achievement, and identifies and rewards outstanding teachers and leaders. NCLB says that fifth-grade teacher who helps a student reading at a second-grade level reach a fourth-grade level, within one year, has this missed their goal. In fact, that teacher is an excellent teacher and should be applauded.”

Under the Obama administration’s blueprint, state accountability systems will set a high bar of all students graduating from high school ready to succeed in college and careers. The accountability system also will recognize and reward high-poverty schools and districts that are showing improvement getting their students on this path, using measures of progress and growth. States and districts will identify and take rigorous actions in the lowest-performing schools. The administration has proposed a significant investment to help states and districts in these efforts.

Under the ESEA blueprint, states and districts will continue to focus on the achievement gap by identifying and intervening in schools that are persistently failing to close those gaps. For other schools, states and districts would have flexibility to determine appropriate improvement and support options. With states setting high standards we must ensure that states, districts, schools, and teachers have the support they need to help students meet these higher standards, especially in high-need schools. The blueprint asks states and districts to develop meaningful ways of measuring teacher and principal effectiveness in order to provide better support for educators, enhance the profession through recognizing and rewarding excellence, and ensure that every classroom has a great teacher and every school has a great leader.

“We’re offering support, incentives and national leadership, but not at the expense of local control.” Duncan said. “Our children have one chance for a great education. Together, we need to get it right.”

Special Kids 20th Annual Christmas Party “The Magic of Christmas”

specialkids — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:23:38 +0000

It’s that time of year again! Special Kids Inc will be hosting their annual christmas party for parents and children with disabilities. Please come and join us. The Magic of Christmas on Sunday December 13 2009, 12 to 4pm. Georgr R. Brown Convention Center, ballroom A-3rd floor, 1001 Avenida de las Americas. This event is made possible through partnership with the City of Houston(Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities),Texas Department of Health and Human Services,and George R. Brown Convention Center.

Making the Best of Your Child’s IEP Meeting

specialkids — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:49:45 +0000

Federal law requires that the IEP have a statement describing how the child’s progress will be measured.

An important reason for making sure your child’s IEP goals and objectives are measurable is to hold the school accountable for how they are working with your child. It is very difficult to establish that the child has not made progress with vague wording. When the goals are specific, observable and measurable, the parents have a system of keeping up with their child’s progress. The IEP must also list how the child’s parents will be informed of their child’s progress toward the annual goals. Use this checklist to build a good IEP for your child.

I.E.P. Checklist:

· You have a copy of all evaluations and other related documents prior to the IEP

· Evaluation data was discussed. Was the data for the following areas written: academic skills, nonacademic skills, communication skills, social/behavior skills, assistive technology

· Measurable and observable annual goals

· Measurable short-term objectives or benchmarks were written. Goals and objectives were based on your child’s individual educational needs. A method for measuring your child’s progress (at least as often as nondisabled peers) was established.

· A target date for the completion of each objective was established.

· A statement described the special education and related services to be provided.

· Modifications, and supplementary aids and services were specified (so your child can participate in the general curriculum with his/her nondisabled peers).

· Time your child will receive each instructional service and related service was noted. This includes minutes per session and frequency of sessions. This also includes related aids the

· teacher will need to enable the child to participate in the general curriculum.

· Date when all services will begin was established.

· Person responsible for implementing each service in the IEP was identified.

· Placement was based on goals, objectives, supplementary aids and services.

· A statement describing how your child will be educated and participate with other children with and without disabilities.

· Your child’s participation in statewide testing was clarified. Transition, if appropriate, was discussed.

· Get a signed copy of the IEP minutes prior to leaving the meeting.

If you have not every taken the time the read the Procedural Safeguards or if has been a while since you last read it, please read it. It contains a wealth of information parents need to maintain a clear understanding of what your rights are as parent and the rights of your child. This equals EMPOWERMENT!

Visit ed.gov or tea.gov for all the latest in education information

Tell Us Your Story

specialkids — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:30:54 +0000

Special Kids, Inc. Community Parent Resource Center is looking for stories from families about their struggles and victories. If you are interested in telling us your story email Helen Davis at hdavis.speckids@yahoo.com.

The Agnes Johnson Community Technology Center

specialkids — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:16:24 +0000

The Agnes Johnson Community Tech Center is available to children with or without disabilities, parents and members of the community in Southeast Houston near and around Reliant Park. The Tech Center provides access to the Internet, fax machine, light coping, resume writing, and homework assistance. Tech Center hours are Mondays and Wednesdays from 1o am to 2pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 7 pm. Closed on Fridays Contact Quisa Johnson: Office Manager at 713.734.5355.

Our Training Classes and Family Support Group Meetings

specialkids — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:32:53 +0000

SKI in partnership with a variety of community agencies provides FREE training classes for parents, foster parents , guardians,A and caregivers of children with disabilites. We also provide low cost training for professionals. Here is a list of trainings that SKI provided in 2009:

What’s New with IDEA and NCLB
Bullying In Public Schools
Positive Behavior Support
Understanding Procedural Safeguards
Transition; Building Capacity

The training schedule for 2010 is in progress and will be posted as the dates become available.

UPCOMING TRAININGS:

January 29, 2010 ” So! My Child Has Special Needs!” and “A is for Advocacy” Location: Moody Gardens Spa and Convention Center, Galveston, TX. 77554 Time : 10 AM to 4PM.

Here are some regular parent meetings that also provide information and support to our families.

Family Support Meetings are every 2nd Wednesday of the month from 7 to 8pm at the SKI office, 2600 S. Loop W., Houston, TX, 77054. If you plan to attend this meeting call the SKI office at 713-734-5355 by Monday of the 2nd week to RSVP.

SKI in Public Schools (SIPS): This family support meeting and mini training sessions are held in public schools throughout the city.

The next meeting dates:

~To be announced~

Thanks To Our Sponsors

specialkids — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:27:58 +0000

Many, many thanks to our private sponsors for your support of our SKI programs. You really make a difference and we cannot thank you enough!

We realize that it is a special effort to support our work and we want you to know we really appreciate what you do for families of children with disabilities in our community.