The U.S. Department of Education’s Assistive Technology (AT) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) resource page can help guide parents and professionals who support children with disabilities who need AT devices and services for meaningful access and engagement in education. Information is available in English and Spanish.

The page also includes “Myths and Facts Surrounding Assistive Devices and Services.” This publication aims to increase understanding of the AT requirements under IDEA. It also aims to:

• Dispel common misconceptions about AT
• Provide examples of the use of AT devices and services for children with disabilities
• Highlight the different requirements under Part C and Part B of IDEA

You can also review “Myths and Facts Surrounding Assistive Devices and Services” in Spanish.

Children’s Wisconsin’s G-tube Notebook videos offer information and step-by-step help for taking care of a child’s feeding tube. The videos include an introduction to understanding feeding tubes as well as videos specific to caring for and changing tubes in English and Spanish.

Children’s Wisconsin’s PEG tube video provides information and demonstrations on what to expect after the tube is placed, including:

• Care after surgery and helping the site heal
• Types of PEG tubes
• Tips for caring for and stabilizing the tube
• Primary tube change
• Common problems

The Oley Foundation is a non-profit home nutrition therapy community and advocacy group working to enrich the lives of people living with home IV nutrition or tube feeding. The Oley Foundation provides a wide range of resources covering education, community, awareness and innovation.

For questions, please contact the Oley Foundation at (518) 262-5079 or info@oley.org.

The “Caring for My Child with a Gastrostomy” video from St. Louis Children’s Hospital provides information on understanding your child’s gastrostomy appliance and how to care for it at home.

This educational video focuses on the gastrostomy tube (g-tube), the gastrostomy button appliance and answering a variety of frequently asked questions.

“Caring for My Child with a Gastrostomy” is broken into segments and available in full. Be sure to select the appropriate video based on whether you want to learn about the gastrostomy tube (g-tube) or the gastrostomy button appliance.

Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago provides this video on “The Basics of Caring for a Child With Feeding Tubes.”  Lurie also provides the parent guide, “Supporting Nutrition: Understanding Tube Feeding.” The reference guide includes personal stories and information on:

• Administering feedings through the feeding tube
• Changing the dressings and cleaning around the tube
• Problems that may occur with the gastrostomy tube or the insertion site

Lurie’s website also offers tube-feeding resources for children and adults with cystic fibrosis and an overview of the types of feeding tubes for children.

Please note this information is not a substitute for the medical care and advice of your physician. There may be individual circumstances in your child’s healthcare that cause a variation in treatment.

Camp New Hope offers year-round recreational opportunities for individuals with disabilities ages 8 and older. Camp New Hope is accessible to all and located on 41 rolling acres overlooking Lake Mattoon. Year-round programming includes summer camp, respite weekends, bowling and parties.

For more information or to take a tour, call (217) 895-2341 or email officemanager@campnewhopeillinois.org.

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has created a useful tip sheet with strategies to support parents and guardians who help children complete homework. The “Homework Help Strategies for Caregivers” tip sheet is available under “Family and Community Resources” on ISBE’s Family and Community Engagement webpage.

The Illinois State Board of Education’s Inclusion Brochure provides an overview of early childhood inclusion, the benefits of high-quality inclusive programs, teaching models that support inclusion, and more. It can also help families and professionals to better explain least restrictive environment (LRE) and inclusion.

The brochure is also available in these languages:  Arabic Inclusion Brochure, Cantonese Inclusion Brochure, French Inclusion Brochure, Japanese Inclusion Brochure, Mandarin Inclusion Brochure, Polish Inclusion Brochure and Spanish Inclusion Brochure.

The Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) and the Specific Learning Disability (SLD) Support Project’s Dyscalculia and Dyslexia Handbooks provide information and guidance on dyscalculia, dyslexia and related disorders for educational professionals, school leaders, families, guardians, and students. The handbooks aim to provide a better understanding of dyslexia and strengthen programs to meet the educational and social-emotional needs of children and adolescents who struggle to learn to read.

The Dyscalculia Handbook helps educators, families and students better understand dyscalculia, a learning disorder that affects a person’s ability to understand numbers, calculations and mathematical reasoning.

The Illinois Dyslexia Handbook outlines how to identify signs of dyslexia, describes evidence-based instructional practices that improve academic outcomes and highlights available resources and services to support students and those who work with them.

You can use the handbook alone or with the Dyslexia Toolkit. The toolkit’s ever-evolving collection of resources includes laws, websites, videos  and podcasts for families and educators.

Visit the Specific Learning Disability Support Project (SLD Supports) website for these resources and more.

Miracle Flights provides free commercial airline tickets to pediatric patients ages 17 and under in need of life-changing medical care far from home. Families must meet certain requirements and apply online using the online application for requesting each flight.

The organization also provides flights for service dog retrieval and/or training. Miracle Flights’ service dog program is open to all individuals who need help retrieving/training their service dog.

For questions, please contact Miracle Flights by calling (800) 359-1711 or emailing communications@miracleflights.org.