Special Needs Registry
SPECIAL NEEDS REGISTRY This registration website allows residents with special needs an opportunity to provide information to emergency response agencies so those agencies can better plan to serve them in a disaster or other emergencies. The information collected here will not be available to the public. It will only be shared with emergency response agencies to improve their ability to serve. Please be as complete as possible in your responses. You will be contacted occasionally to ensure the information is correct and to make any necessary changes. If you have any questions, please contact them at the information given below. By submitting your information, you agree that you voluntarily authorize its release. There is no substitute for personal preparation. In a disaster, government and other agencies may not be able to meet your needs. It is important for all residents to make individual plans and preparations for their care and safety in an emergency.
Website: www.specialneedsutah.org; Email: 211@utahfoodbank.org
Thank you for all of the information on this wonderful blog! Emergency preparedness is definitely a critical issue to address for individuals with disabilities and their family members.
I would like to make a side comment about something I also feel strongly about. I am the family member of a child with a disability and I am also a teacher in Box Elder School District. I am extremely concerned about the impact that budget cuts in the district will have on our kiddos receiving special education services. The biggest blow is the proposed firing of classified employees (para-educators/teacher’s aides) in special education classrooms. Research has shown time after time that the most effective way to have a meaningful impact in a classroom setting is by keeping a manageable child to adult ratio. This is particularly true in a special education setting where children are receiving intensive physical supports (changing, feeding, responding to seizures, implementing behavior plans etc.)in addition to intensive educational supports (individualized lessons, assistive technology, high rate of attention/reinforcement etc.).
Yes, special education is in Box Elder is in the hole right now and cuts have to be made somewhere, but the first place it should be made is by getting general education’s hand out of the special education fund. Special education has been funding a significant portion of the district’s literacy program (great program, but why are our kids with disabilities paying for it?!). Money has also been siphoned out of special education by forcing it to purchase school buses and in some cases, rent, for facilities used (these things are supposed to come out of the general fund, not special education money). Teachers and classified employees have no power or say in the things that are happening, but parents actually carry quite a bit of clout in special education matters because you have legal rights and the authority to take the district to due process when they fail to provide appropriate services for children with disabilities. Please, for our childrens’ sake, please consider: going to school board meetings; writing letters to the editor; calling/writing the school district. The district has misappropriated funds so severely; make them pay, not our kids with disabilities.
Concerned Teacher
April 17, 2009