Family Advocacy Program and Parent Education Program Provides Parent Support and Workshops for Special Needs

The Howard County Autism Society was recently awarded the Family Advocacy and Parent Education (FAPE) Program Grant by the Howard County Department of Citizen Services for 2008-2009. The grant was established in 2002 to help Howard County families who have children with disabilities understand the special education delivery system.

FAPE is not an autism-specific program. The program serves all families who have children with special education needs by providing individualized support, as well as offering workshops on special education topics.

The grant, previously administered by Parents Place of Maryland, has been directed since 2002 by special education advocate Julie Foley. Parents for Parents, Inc., will administer the FAPE grant during the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Ms. Foley and Kim McKay, co-founders of the cross-disability parent support organization, will serve as co-directors of the grant.

The grant goals remain the same parent support and workshops, said Ms. Foley. I attend many IEP meetings, meet with families who are in the “diagnostic” phase, and also help families find community resources. I have helped families obtain non-public placement, and my passion is to help underserved parents. Ms. Foley reports that the services provided by the FAPE program will expand in the coming year. There are plans to offer more parent advocacy training through the newly established Parent University.

The Parent University will be an intensive training course for parents who commit to providing support for the FAPE program by talking to other parents about their experiences and support networks. I would love to see this evolve into parents attending IEP meetings with other families, said Ms. Foley.

The demand for this service continues to grow. Parent University programs will be offered at the HCAS Autism Resource Center and will begin in late winter.

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Howard County Autism Society:
10280 Old Columbia Rd Suite 215
Columbia MD 21046-2378
Tel: 410-290-3466
Fax: 410-290-5455
Last Modified: Wednesday, September 24, 2008
e-mail: info@howard-autism.org
 

Previously, workshops hosted by the FAPE program featured topics such as inclusion; understanding No Child Left Behind; understanding learning disabilities; “The Dance of Partnership;” and IEP basics. Ms. Foley also participated in statewide task forces, including most recently a taskforce on the revision of COMAR (Code of Maryland Regulations).

In an effort to continue expanding outreach, Ms. Foley will continue her ongoing collaboration with the Howard County Public School System to improve transition-planning services for youths with disabilities. As a result of her work, the school system last year received funds from the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council  for Project Discovery, a program that provides teacher and staff training on transitioning students with significant support needs to adulthood and on parental perspectives in the IEP process.

It is always fulfilling when parents send me emails or call to tell me that they feel that having me at their meetings has made a difference for their children, states Ms. Foley. I had one team thank me after the meeting because we were able to make so much progress just by having me there to take notes and keep the meeting on task.

To contact the FAPE program, e-mail Kim McKay at Kim@parentsforparents.org or Julie Foley at Julie@parentsforparents.org, or call 410-465-1193. To subscribe to the workshop schedule, email on of the above address with the subject line workshop schedule and you will be notified of upcoming workshops along with the dates of the Parent University.