E-Newsletter
An electronic newsletter, published monthly by the Parent Information Center (PIC) and the Wyoming Parent Education Network (PEN), Wyoming State PIRC, projects of Parents Helping Parents of Wyoming, Inc. Signup to recieve the eNewsletter.
In this issue
- Quick Summer Tips: View Free Guides that show how to use everyday activities to encourage young children to listen, talk and learn the building blocks for early literacy
- PAWS Test Format Changes
- WATR's Vendor Venue
- WY Down Syndrome Association's Family Conference
- Dyslexia Linked to Differences in Brain Circuitry
Welcome to our first e-newsletter! We are hoping to highlight activities and events across Wyoming each month, and share stories of our children's educational success! Please send us information about events you would like to distribute across Wyoming as it relates to families, schools and children with disabilities
PAWS Test Format to Change to Paper and Pencil
Cheyenne-- Wyoming State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr Jim McBride, announced this week that the 2011 Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students (PAWS) will not have any portion of the test administered online. The test will be administered solely through paper and pencil format. McBride said the decision to administer PAWS by paper and pencil was made after receiving extensive feedback from school districts and meeting with various assessment experts. A simple survey of school districts in April showed that two out of every three respondents preferred to not continue with an online portion of the assessment. Those individuals that preferred to keep a portion of the test online believed that keeping technology as part of the testing process was important.
In addition, the assessment team of the Wyoming Department of Education has determined that the new testing format will not change the timeline that results are returned to students and teachers and believes that the testing window for administering the test will only have to be three weeks rather than five.
The amount of time it takes a student to take the PAWS will be consistent with the current administration, which is about eight or nine hours of classroom time. However, by removing the online administration of the test, students will not have to go to a computer lab to test, which will reduce the amount of classroom disruption and the stress placed on school computer lab schedules.
WATR's Vendor Venue: Opening Doors to Access
June 10-11 at the University of Wyoming -Outreach Center, 951 N. Poplar Center in Casper. Co-sponsored by the UW/WiYoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND), Wyoming Assistive Technology Resources (WATR) and WY Protection and Advocacy.
This event will offer attendees an opportunity to visit vendor booths and try a broad range of of Assistive Technology Devices and Augmentative or Alternative Communication (AT/AAC)devices and programs and to discuss specific individual needs as well as network with professionals from around the state of Wyoming. Each vendor will also provide training sessions on select AT, including AT features and implementation suggestions. This event is offered at no charge to attebndees. However, notice of intent to attend is requested by the vendors: this will ensure sufficient materials and refresjhments for all attendees. For more information call Mary Fick Monteith at 307-766-6187 or mmonteit@uwyo.edu or check out their website at http://uwyo.edu/wind/watr.
WY Down Syndrome Association's Family Conference
June 12 at Ramkota in Casper-- This free conference is for families, siblings and children and adults with Down Syndrome, with separate sessions for each group. Starting with an informal registration and "meet & greet" Friday night, June 11, with conference sessions beginning Saturday morning, June 12 at 9:15 am, this conference has something for everybody!
Presenters for the parent sessions are Jennifer Bekins-Meyers and Gretchen Carroll from the Jane and Richard Center for Down Syndrome in Cincinnati, Ohio. They will be focusing on communication as it relates to school and home. The dinner and Buddy Ball are Saturday night from 5:30-8:30 pm. For more information or to register call 307-742-6641 or bsell@arkregionalservices.org or go to http://wydsa.org.
Dyslexia Linked to Differences in Brain Circuitry
Differences in the physical makeup of the brain could help explain why children with dyslexia have trouble with written language despite being able to handle other intellectual tasks, new research suggests.
Researchers from Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins University and Kennedy Krieger Institute used MRI brain-scanning technology to study dyslexia. They found signs linking dyslexia to structural differences in a bundle of fibers -- part of the brain's white matter -- that allow communication between cells in the left-hemisphere language network of the brain. Read more at http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/639051.html
For more information and resources, check out our online publications at our websites www.wpic.org for disability brochures and www.wpen.net for fact sheets on parenting and education topics.
Together We Make a Difference
Terri Dawson
Parents Helping Parents of Wyoming Inc.
