Friends of Different Learners is a district-wide, independent organization of parents, students, staff, and community members of the Birmingham Public Schools (Michigan) working together to enhance the education of BPS students who have different learning styles, strengths, abilities, and opportunities.
NEXT MEETING - Thursday, December 4, 2008 - 7:00 p.m.
Emotional Wellness for Caregivers of Children
with Special Needs
Guest Speaker: Judith Greenbaum, Ph.D
Dr. Judith Greenbaum will speak about ways caregivers and parents of a person with Special Needs or Disabilities can nurture and care for themselves. Learn techniques to help relieve stress, enrich our life, and brighten your outlook in order to continue to have the strength and energy to take care of yourself and your children. Dr. Greenbaum has authored several books including “Life Planning for Adults with Developmental Disabilities: A Guide for Parents and Family Members.”
Birmingham Covington School - 1525 Covington Rd.
We will begin at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome!
FODL Co-Presidents November Letter
Dear Friends,
We hope that many of you were able to attend Dr. Aimee Kotrba’s lecture "Coping Strategies for the Family.” While all families experience stress, raising children with special needs can create unique challenges for marital relationships and siblings. Dr. Kotrba reminds of the need to nurture ourselves as well as other relationships in our lives to remain healthy caregivers. For those who are interested, Dr. Kotrba’s slides can be found on the FODL website.
We are excited to have Tom Kendziorski esq., executive director from ARC, speak at our November 5th meeting about ways to advocate for our different learners. Please note that the date has been changed from the 6th to the 5th to accommodate our speaker.
We are excited to report that we are progressing toward our goal to expand the LINKS program in every building in the district. If you are interested in helping out in your child’s building, please contact either one of us and we will pass your name along to the social worker in your child’s building. We believe that having a LINKS program available to any child that can benefit from one is an invaluable experience for everyone involved.
We would like to thank Kelly Lovik for joining us for coffee on September 24th, the coffee was well attended and it was nice to be able to get to know Kelly better and discuss our concerns about special education. There was very meaningful and productive dialogue with an emphasis on problem solving and working collaboratively to improve different aspects of special education. We continue to work with Kelly and other administrators to make the IEP process more consistent throughout the district. Renee Boogren, President of the PAC has joined with us in this process and we have had very insightful dialogue as to concerns raised by FODL membership as well as issues brought to the PAC. We are really excited to have such a collaborative effort.
Finally, We have already begun to meet with administrators and staff from community education to enhance summer planning options for our different learners. We will be sure to keep all of you informed as the year progresses. We look forward to seeing you at our November meeting.
Shawn Mobley-Sulich and Suzanne O’Leary