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Welcome to Bridges4Kids!  We are a non-profit organization providing an internet-based system of information and referral for parents and professionals seeking help for children from birth through transition to adult life.

Breaking News

starUnderstanding Bipolar Disorder (Video)star

starLooking for Goals & Objectives for an Upcoming IEP? Click here.star

starNew Math Resource: Calculators.org/gamesstar

A variety of fun games to help teach math skills in a free online arcade that open in a tab with no branding, navigation, ads, or any other distracting elements, so students can learn math while having fun learning in a focused environment.

star36 Free Educational Resources Kids Can Use At Homestar

star250 Ivy League Courses You Can Take Online for Freestar

starTwinkl.comstar
Access to over 525,000 teacher-created resources for just $5/mo: Pre-K - 5th, Special Ed and Christian Ed.

starLearn About: Eosinophilic (ee-uh-sin-uh-fil-ik) Esophagitis (EoE)star

An allergic swallowing disorder. It is often triggered by food. EoE may be triggered by pollen as well. Both children and adults can have EoE.
starTaco Bell is giving away $21 million in college scholarships—and they don’t care about SATs or GPAstar

starMightier.com by Neuromotion Labsstar
“With our bioresponsive games, kids learn self regulation to help them thrive.” Developed and tested at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

starFeatured Resource: Grand Rapids Academic Summer Program (For All Michigan Kids!)star
GRASP is a Reading and Math correspondence program for children completing grades K-8. There is also an online version for grades 4-8. The program seeks to help students retain skills learned during the past school year by providing review exercises created by curriculum professionals and teachers. GRASP has 9 lessons to be submitted during the summer—one per week or at their own pace to work around other activities, as long as everything is submitted by the deadline. Each lesson reinforces the basic skills typically found in most curricula at that particular grade level. GRASP staff score the lesson and return it to the student with comments. Online students get immediate results. Students who successfully complete at least 7 of 9 lessons by the deadline are awarded a GRASP certificate. A medal is awarded for 9 successfully completed lessons. For more information or to enroll, go to http://grasp.grps.org or call (616) 819-2548.

starNew Resource from Galludet! What is ASL Connect all about?star
ASL Connect is intended to be a central resource for learning ASL and about Deaf Studies online, with all content created by Deaf ASL-fluent scholars. We offer ways to learn some basic ASL online to get you started, and then we offer highly engaging and interactive ASL and Deaf Studies courses online.

starNew Math Resources!star

Graphing Puppies - How do you get a middle schooler stoked about graphs? One word: puppies!  Home Design-Inspired Activities for Kids - What better way to learn about geometry and other core concepts than designing a room or even a whole home?  10 Enjoyable Math Crafts And Activities For World Maths Day - If your student thinks they’re destined to hate math because they prefer to use the creative side of their brain, give a few of these activities a try.  70 Cool Math Games - If you disguise math as a game (or 70!), kids won’t mind learning arithmetic.  Cooking with Recipes - Kids won’t be able to resist learning about fractions, multiplication and division if their favorite recipe plays a part. This lesson also has customizable, printable worksheets.

starFeatured Resource: Khan Academystar

You can learn anything. For free. For everyone. Forever.

starWhich Dyslexia Program is Right For Your Child?star

Read about the differences between Barton, Lindamood-Bell LiPS and ABeCeDarian.

starOnce At Rock Bottom, This Northern Michigan Elementary Now Produces Starsstar
By almost any indicator, the students at Kenwood Elementary in Cadillac should be poor readers. Almost 3/4 of Kenwood students are economically disadvantaged, in a state that ranks 44th in the nation in low-income 4th grade reading skills. More than 9/10 of students at the school are white; Michigan’s poor, white students rank a dismal 49th in 4th rade reading, ahead of only Alaska. Yet these low-income students are reading all-stars, meeting Michigan’s 4th grade reading standards at double the rate of poor students elsewhere in the state.

starDetroit Might Create Special Schools for Students with Special Needsstar

starGAMES FOR LEARNING: From MITstar

Playful approaches for building cognitive skills and exploring science & math. Games play an important role in the learning process: they provide a safe, creative environment in which children learn to experiment, collaborate and problem-solve. We work with educators to make sure our games tie into their math and science curriculums. The games we develop can be played on computers or mobile devices, and are used both inside and outside the classroom.

starLove: A Story About Who You Truly Arestar
In 2006 Anita Moorjani succumbed to cancer, had a near death experience, and came back miraculously healed. Her books "Dying to Be Me" and "What if THIS is Heaven?" are New York Times best sellers. In this book, she shares with children what she wishes she had learned as a child and the secret of her miraculous healing.
starDerelict School Becomes National Leader by Making a Surprising Subject Compulsorystar
We were in special measures. We had low staff morale, parents not happy with the school, results were poor and nobody wanted to come here, we had budget issues. It's a downward spiral when you're there.
starDoting Grandfather Murders Family, After Taking Just 2 of Thesestar
It's the world's second most prescribed antidepressant, taken for everything from anxiety, depression, irritability, muscle tension and fatigue. Up to 85 percent get addicted within weeks.

star9 Back-to-School Tips for Parents and Studentsstar
Between the social-media-fueled pressure, college admissions madness and bullying, schools today can be a minefield. We collected some education-themed Op-Eds to help guide families as they settle into the new year.

starNow what? A Familiar Fear When Disabled Children Turn 26star
The murder-suicide of a respected educator and his son serves as a rallying cry to some about the stresses that begin when special education ends.
starCyber Bullying: The Complete Resource Guidestar
A list of the best resources on cyberbullying prevention including guidance for victims.

starMI Standards for the Emergency Use of Seclusion & Restraintstar
The document, Supporting Student Behavior: Standards for the Emergency Use of Seclusion and Restraint is now available on the Office of Special Education Web site. The document summarizes how a positive behavior support approach uses proactive strategies to reduce or eliminate the use of seclusion and restraint; defines the terms "seclusion" and "restraint"; outlines procedures for emergency use of seclusion and restraint; and provides a framework for training.

starSpecial Education Law Questions and Answersstar

starCould Some Symptoms of Autism Be Reversed With Probiotics?star

starChild Lead-Poisoning Elimination Board Releases Expansive Plan Tackling Lead Exposurestar
Enacting the recommendations would represent a paradigm shift in how Michigan approaches environmental lead exposure, moving from reaction to prevention. Board members were adamant that up-front costs should be no obstacle. The dividends that would come from lessening the societal costs of lead exposure -- in lost wages, treatment, educational services and even incarceration - would make the action more than pay for itself.

starMI New Michigan Law Provides Mental Health Treatment Options star
HB 4674, which is aimed at expanding the availability of assisted outpatient mental health treatment, was signed into law on November 16, 2016, by Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. The legislation updates Kevin's Law. Kevin's Law was named for a graduate student, Kevin Heisinger, who attended the University of Michigan. Returning home to Kalamazoo using public transit, Kevin was killed in the bus station by a man with a long history of schizophrenia who avoided treatment, and who had been in and out of the mental health care system for years.

star10 Tips for Good Advocatesstar
Wrightslaw's Pat Howey says parents need to understand that the law gives them power to use in educational decisions for their children. Parents should not be afraid to use their power. But, there are better ways to obtain positive results than to roar through IEP meetings in a Mack Truck. Here are Pat's newest tips for effective, successful advocates.

 

Link to Important Programs, Partnerships, and Websites Related to the Education of Children

  Michigan Department of Education (MDE)

The Arc Michigan Michigan Alliance for Families Michigan Public Schools Online
Michigan Special Ed Law Center  Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council (DDI) Partnership for Learning
Center for Educational Networking (CEN) Michigan Disability Rights Coalition (MDRC) The Education Law Center Michigan Special Education Mediation Program (MSEMP)

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NOTE: (ALL RESOURCES PRE-IDEA 2004 ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL/HISTORICAL RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY)