School Age & Beyond

• ‘It’s OK to not be OK:’ How One High School Saved Lives with a 34-Question Survey June 5, 2019
• 10 Ways to Sustain Your Bullying Prevention Month Efforts Through the School Year Sept 2018
• The Benefits of Teaching Lessons Learned in Preschool to Older Kids June 2017
• Getting Students With Autism Through High School, To College And Beyond Jan 2017 A success story about a student with autism who has benefitted from the NYU Nest Support Project

• Guest Blog: Inclusive Out-of-School Time
• Afterschool Supporting Students with Disabilities and Other Special Needs 2014 Find under Research Briefs

• Beyond School Time Conference is September 14-16, 2018 in San Francisco

• State of the State Expanded Learning in California 2016-2017 (PDF) Oct 2018
• Quality Self-Assessment Tool 2.0 Oct 2018 CAN and its many partners realized it was time to revisit the Self Assessment Tool so that it is more inclusive to the work that is currently happening in the field. So beginning in August 2017, we have started working on the QSAT 2.0. This tool will align even more closely with the Quality Standards, as well as addressing some items that may not have been as clearly defined in the Standards, such as Social Emotional Learning, Cultural Competencies, English Language Learners and Summer. Find the current version at the link above and look for the new version in the coming months.

• Expanded Learning Division Sept 2018 | Phone: 916-319-0923 California’s Expanded Learning programs are an integral part of young people’s education, engaging them in year-round learning opportunities that prepare them for college, career, and life.
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers Sept 2018
  • After School Education & Safety Program Sept 2018

• CalSAC Out-of-School time elearning Catalog (PDF) May 2018

• Resources For Family Members
  • Working Together: Building Improved Communication
• Sitio en Español (Site in Spanish)
• Video Resources
• CADRE Webinar - Practical Strategies for Helping Parents in Conflict: Assisting Divorced or Estranged Parents Through the IEP Process
• Cadre Webinars Archive

• 5 Tips for Building Empathy in Youth Sept 2018 A discussion about what research tells us about empathy in middle schoolers is followed by 5 easy activities that help youth gain insight into their own emotions and the feelings of others.
• Finding the Friend within: The Science and Art of Self-Compassion July 2018

• Additional Resources from Center for Healthy Minds
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison “Kindness Curriculum” Nurtures Emotional Awareness in Preschoolers September 18, 2017 Wisconsin Public Radio interview UW-Madison's Center For Healthy Minds is providing its "Kindness Curriculum" to preschool teachers. Thousands of teachers have requested the curriculum, including Sesame Workshop. The researchers at the Center For Healthy Minds consulted on kindness episodes for the 47th season of "Sesame Street" premiering Sept. 18 on Wisconsin Public Television.
  • Sign-up to receive the Kindness Curriculum… free!
  • Kindness Curriculum Boosts School Success in Preschoolers
    Over the course of 12 weeks, twice a week, the prekindergarten students learned their ABCs. Attention, breath and body, caring practice — clearly not the standard letters of the alphabet rather, these 4- and 5-year-olds in the Madison Metropolitan School District were part of a study assessing a new curriculum meant to promote social, emotional and academic skills, conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM) at the Waisman Center. Researchers found that kids who had participated in the curriculum earned higher marks in academic performance measures and showed greater improvements in areas that predict future success than kids who had not. The results were recently published in the journal Developmental Psychology.

• Resources
• Growth Mindset Tool Kit
  • The effects of different kinds of praise (Video) Jan 2015 | Length: 4:09 mins
• Mindfulness Tool Kit
  • Perspectives of mindfulness from students and parents (Video) June 2017 | Length: 2:33 mins
• A Parent’s Guide to Social and Emotional Learning

• RTI Implementer Series The RTI Implementer Series is intended to provide foundational knowledge about the essential components of RTI and to build an understanding about the importance of RTI implementation.

• CTD Library
  • Hmong
  • Somali
  • Spanish
  • Video
• Isabel Needs Assistive Technology (Video)
  In this story, you'll meet Marta, the mother of Isabel, a young girl with fine motor and learning disabilities. The video introduces viewers to assistive technology (AT) and takes them through an Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting during which AT is considered. This video is captioned in English and is "described" as well. FCTD and Dicapta invite you to view and share this video with your colleagues and the families you serve. This video was originally produced as a Spanish-language resource. Voice-over and captioning were added to provide access to larger audience.
  • Video en Español (Video in Spanish)

• Dan Siegel’s Keynote Address Recording (Video) How our Relationships Shape a Healthy Brain and Resilient Mind: The Power of Connection, Inside and Out by Dan Siegel, MD, UCLA School of Medicine, Mindful Awareness Research Center, Mindsight Institute. In Dr. Dan Siegel’s keynote address for this USC UCEDD conference, he specifically addresses the damaging effects of exclusion and the need for empathy when a child has differences in speech and learning or any kind of difference. At about 16:40 he talks about research that shows that the experience of exclusion shows up in the brain the same as being hit with a red hot poker.....as physical pain! He also talks about how important it is to be able to articulate your differences and to be understood and acknowledged for who you are. The damaging effects of invisibility are also described. Although it's focused on transition aged youth with developmental disabilities, it's applicable to the broader population.

• Additional Resources from Edutopia
  • Helping Students with Autism Transition Into a New School Year In this article a mother reflects on what helped her son with successful transitions to a new class and teacher. She provides common sense suggestions that can contribute to reducing stress and encouraging well-being for both the teacher and student.
  • Response to Intervention: Meeting Students at Their Learning Ability Meyer Elementary uses RTI to provide targeted instruction and support to meet students at their learning ability.
  • Special Report: Overcoming Autism
  • Autism Peer Help (Video)
  • Enabling Dreams (Assistive Technology) (Video)
  • Introduction to Social-Emotional Learning (Video)
  • Fundraising and Grant Resources for Tech Integration
  • 5 Educational Resources for Parents and Families
  • Free tools and guidelines for Social-emotional learning in after school programs
  • Building Social and Emotional Skills in Elementary Students: Passion and Strengths
  • Simple Music Integration for Primary Classrooms
  • Empathy In the Classroom: Why Should I Care?
  • The Long Game: 4 Essentials for a Successful Mindfulness Program
  • Social Emotional Learning: A Schoolwide Approach Strategies like mindfulness, emotional regulation, and supportive small groups help Symonds meet the academic and social needs of their students.

  Family Engagement

  • Edutopia’s 2011 Home-to-School Connections Guide This guide highlights solutions for connecting home and school in order to improve student learning and success. Whether you’re a teacher, parent, or district administrator, this guide provides you with relevant and valuable tools and resources for how best to strengthen the bonds between schools, families, and communities for student learning and success.
  • Mobile Devices for Learning This guide can help you better understand how mobile gadgets -- cell phones, tablets, and smartphones -- can engage students and change their learning environment.
  • Cultivating Parent Engagement (Video)
  • Parent Engagement in Education Resource Round up

  Healthy Mind, Healthy Body

  • The New PE: Special Report: Students Learn That Active Bodies Lead to Active Minds As research linking physical fitness to academic success continues to emerge teachers are coming up with creative ways to keep kids active during teaching time, instead of relying on recess and those ever-dwindling PE hours. Teachers say they find that using movement in the classroom doesn't just get the jitters out, but actually makes for better learning as well, because engaging students' bodies in turn activates their minds.
  • Move Your Body, Grow Your Brain Incorporating exercise and movement throughout the school day makes students less fidgety and more focused on learning. Improving on-task behavior and reducing classroom management challenges are among the most obvious benefits of adding physical activities to your teaching toolkit. As research continues to explore how exercise facilitates the brain's readiness and ability to learn and retain information, we recommend several strategies to use with students and to boost teachers' body and brain health. The article includes the following resources:
    • Brain Breaks Physical activity ideas in the classroom from the Michigan Department of Education
  • Just Breathe: When Teachers Practice Mindfulness In this Edutopia blog by Elena Auguilar she introduces Meena Srinivasan's new book,Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom. She describes it as a resource that "speaks to a yearning I hear across our country: a desire to teach and work in a way that is anchored in joy, emerging from compassion, and that is more humane and slower than the way we work now." This easy-to-read book is a roadmap for this desire. She introduces a variety of mindfulness practices and then offers a wealth of resources for how to integrate these into our lives and classrooms.
  • Energy and Calm: Brain Breaks and Focused Attention Practices
  • Simple Music Integration for Primary Classrooms The blog describes five easy ways for primary teachers to integrate music into their classrooms. Each activity is specifically designed for individuals of all backgrounds and abilities, and none require musical training or experience. So why use music in your primary classroom? Well-designed music activities can deepen and reinforce knowledge and skill development across a wide range of subjects. Music is engaging, fun, and can motivate even the most detached students.
  • Empathy In the Classroom: Why Should I Care?
  • The Long Game: 4 Essentials for a Successful Mindfulness Program
  • Social Emotional Learning: A Schoolwide Approach Strategies like mindfulness, emotional regulation, and supportive small groups help Symonds meet the academic and social needs of their students.
  • Empathy In the Classroom: Why Should I Care?
  • The Long Game: 4 Essentials for a Successful Mindfulness Program
  • Social Emotional Learning: A Schoolwide Approach Strategies like mindfulness, emotional regulation, and supportive small groups help Symonds meet the academic and social needs of their students.
  • Resources on Mindfulness in Education
  • Positive Strategies to Avoid Stress, Anxiety and Burnout
  • 5 Simple Lessons for Social and Emotional Learning for Adults
  • How Emotions Affect Learning, Behaviors and Relationships Bring lessons from the movie "Inside Out" into your classroom
  • Islands of Personality and Trains of Thought (Inside Out)

• Familes Engaged in Education is the Leading Factor in Student Success (Video)
• Helping Your Child Succeed Resources describing key academic milestones and what to do at each stage of a child's academic development.

• Universal Design for Learning Training Module

KIT stands for Kids Included Together, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was founded in San Diego, California in 1997. The mission of Kids Included Together is to support recreational, child development, and youth development programs that include children with and without disabilities. KIT's goals are to enrich the lives of all who participate and to increase understanding and acceptance of disabilities as a natural part of life. We invite you to explore our site and learn more about our work in San Diego County and across the nation.

• Summer Camp Means Fun for All: How to Create a More Inclusive Camp May 20, 2022 Kids Included Together (KIT) says, “Pinpointing exactly what it means and looks like to be inclusive can be tough because creating a sense of belonging for each child will differ from person to person and camp to camp. But, that’s really what it is – creating a sense of belonging for each camper.” “So, where do you start and how do you know if you’ve gotten there? Well, providing a meaningful experience for every camper may look varied, but it will be rooted in a few universal principles.” This article provides helpful considerations to add to KIT’s inclusion checklist.

• Additional Resources from KIT
  • KIT: Top 5 Trends in Disability Inclusion 2018 Sept 2018 Kids Included Together (KIT) is leading the field in disability inclusion and behavior support through work with over 450 organizations in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Using research, media, and recent KIT data from 625 training sessions, 100 online courses, 325 onsite visits, and 1,752 support center calls, we have identified the top 5 trends in childhood disability inclusion. In 2018, we can exploit these trends to help increase meaningful inclusion of children with disabilities in schools and communities.
  • Inclusion Resources: Videos, Tip Sheets, Checklists, Guidebooks and Websites Sept 2018
  • Who We Are-Our Work: Publications Sept 2018
  • What is Inclusion? (PDF) Sept 2018

• Educational Resources
• Virtual Museum
  Our Virtual Museum brings the rich historical exhibits that we're known for right in to your living room.
• Disability History Lesson Plans
  Here you will find Disability History Lesson Plans for grades K-3. All documents are in PDF format and available for download.

• Quick Starts Organized by audience, each Quick Start offers brief answers to the most commonly asked questions about AEM along with links to additional resources for further information.
• Early Learning Resources

• Guidelines for Disability Inclusion in Physical Activity, Nutrition, & Obesity Programs and Policies Oct 2018 As part of the National Center on Health, Physical Activity, and Disability (NCHPAD), the Center on Disability at the Public Health Institute (COD-PHI) has developed these Guidelines for Disability Inclusion in Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity Program Initiatives to assist in the updating of community health programs and policies to be inclusive of the needs of people with disabilities.
• Inclusive Out-of-School Time Oct 2018 The purpose of this article is to promote inclusion of youth with disabilities in after-school, expanded learning, and out-of-school time programs. For the purposes of this article, the term “include” and “inclusion” embodies the values, policies, and practices that support all youth, those both with and without disabilities, to participate in a broad range of out-of-school time activities. The article introduces tool kits to support kids with disability in out-of-school time from various sources.

• Additional Resources from NCHPAD
  • Can Disability, Chronic Conditions, Health and Wellness Coexist? Mar 2015
  • Fun and Leisure: Program Considerations for Integrating Children with Disabilities into Community Sports and Recreation Programs Mar 2015
  • Preventing Obesity in Youth with Disabilities - The Time is Now for an Inclusive Agenda Mar 2015
  • Exercise is for Everybody. How do you get enough? Mar 2015

1. provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged; and
2. reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports, and challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities and students who are limited English proficient.

• Videos on Universal Design for Learning

• NIOST Making the Case: A Fact Sheet on Children and Youth in Out of School Time (PDF)
• Back to the Future: Engaging Older Youth (PDF)

• 6 Keys to Engaging Families in ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) (PDF)
• Family-School Partnerships Implementation Guide: The Power of Partnerships (12 page booklet in English and Spanish) The benefits of Family-School-Community Partnerships are many: higher teacher morale, more parent involvement, and greater student success are only a few. That is why PTA developed the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships Implementation Guide, a tool for empowering people to work together with an end goal of building family-school partnerships and student success.

• School, Family & Community Partnerships
• Family Engagement Checklist

• Apps for Schools
• Apps for the Family

• California’s Social and Emotional Guiding Principles (PDF)

• “Inclusion Tool Kit” (PDF)
• Tip Sheets and Resources

• Kindness Works! Poster (PDF) Sept 2018
• Bullying and Youth with Disabilities and Special Health Needs Sept 2018 This article provides suggests strategies to address student’s special needs at school that can also help to prevent bullying and have positive outcomes for all students, especially tactics that use a team approach, foster peer relationships, and help students develop empathy.

• All Means All (2:03 minutes)
• Together: A SWiFT film on Integrated Education Framework (23:49 minutes)
• Whatever It Takes: A SWiFT film on Inlusive Academic Instruction (21:53 minutes)