As parents you advocate for your children from the moment they become the center of your world, it is part of the job description! You have absolute authority because no-one knows your children like you do.

Before you even became Parent Advocates you were pretty accomplished self-advocates: used to figuring out what you need and making it happen, with varying rates of success of course. So if self-advocacy is a daily routine for us and advocacy for our children is a natural part of parenting, how can we use the same skills to navigate the somewhat unfamiliar territory of special education?

Truly no-one knows your child like you do, so find a clear, concise, and positive way to describe your child to her teachers. Never dismiss or ignore anything teachers say about your child. Treat the information as neutrally as you can and figure out how to use it to learn more about your child and her needs. Try to integrate all the information you receive to create a whole picture of your child.

Don’t spend time and energy disputing other people’s perspectives even if you think they are wrong. Remember, the IEP (Individualized Education Program) already contains your positive perspective on your child.
If information sounds very negative, ask the person to reword their thoughts in a positive way. If it conflicts with your picture of your child, remember that her behavior is a product of her environment and the relationships she has with the people she shares it with, try to change her environment and strengthen the relationships she has with others. It’s OK to have goals for your children and to expect other people to get excited about them also. If your goal is for your child to have a best friend at school or to learn to read, why would her teacher not want this too? Share your goals and ideas and invite teachers to share theirs also.

If you want to see your child achieve her goals, you have to be absolutely clear with yourself, and others, about what success will look like and what you are prepared to do to support your child in achieving the goal.

Focus only on the goal. The truth is that energy flows where the mind goes. Some healing may occur once your child starts to make progress towards the goal. Success feeds off success and pain feeds off pain, so choose success.

Never doubt your goal is achievable. If you feel discouraged hold onto the goal and decide if you need to take a different road to achieve it.

Make requests of people, and avoid making demands. Ask if people are willing to help you explore and idea or try something new. I find that people are more enthusiastic about pursuing their own goals and ideas than those that are imposed upon them. You can become an Educational Advocate.

Focus on relationships.

Technorati Tags: Education, Education Articles, Learning Disabilities

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The first thing that you need to know before going for any online college degree is to select the discipline in which you are really interested. Once you have decidead the discipline in which you want to attend the best online degree program, then you can take further steps; determining the discipline in which you are interested can help you in narrowing your overall search for the best online college degree.

Moreover, it will also help you in narrowing the search for institutions as well because not all institutions offers higher online education from all disciplines. Apart from it, there are further more things that you should consider in order to hunt for the best online degree program for you.

Deciding on which is the best online degree program you want to sign up for is hard enough, but let’s take a look at what you might want to consider.

Step 1: Find out what you already know

Decide whether you already have in mind the best online degree program that you want to pursue.

Step 2: Find out your purpose

Decide if it is for the career you’re looking after taking that degree or the kind of money you can take home after or if it is the kind of college life you’re interested in like online parties, sports and so on.

Step 3: Funnel your options

Check the accreditation of the institution offering the degree. Of course, you’d want something legal and solid when you shell out your money, guts and brains. Also, you can narrow down your list once you’ve already decided which program to take as not all educational institutions offer will offer the online accredited degrees that you’re looking for.

Step 4: Making that decision

The next step would be to scrutinize the offers out there by preparing a list of criteria of what you need in choosing the best online degree program. Are you after the school’s academic excellence? Do you like the courses they’re offering? Do you have particular professors you’d want to study under? Do you like the method of teaching the school is offering?

Step 5: Compare and contrast

With the criteria at hand, you can easily pick out and list the best candidates for your online degree. Take time to research on each school or institution to have a better grasp of what they can offer and compare it with the others. Don’t just glaze over what online advertisements can provide to you but check out each one’s own website. (For example, don’t be too trusting with colleges that don’t even have their own website.)

You can even make a chart out of the data that you have gathered to better contrast each college from each other and weigh your options. You’re chart may look like this:

College A
College B
College C
College D

Academic Reputation

Cost

Relevant Classes

Technology

Use a scale from 1 to 10 for narrowing down your list. If you know what you exactly want, you won’t end up in spending too much time in the hunt for the best online degree program for you.

Technorati Tags: Distance Learning, Education Articles, Finance, online education

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Have you just recently graduated and never held a “real” job before? Well, there’s no time like the present to get ready for your job search. Chances are that you haven’t been on the hunt for a job in a while, especially if you’ve been keeping busy with your education. You might be one of the thousands of recent layoffs, as employers cut their staffs to try and save money. Perhaps you’re bored with your current position and looking to try something else for a while. It doesn’t matter why you’re looking for a new job, you need to start right away- be proactive, use the connections you’ve made, and get out there and get into a job you can be happy with. Where should you start looking for jobs!%? Reading this article is a good start- three’s lots of good advice within on how to carry out a jobs2% in today’s less-than-rosy economy.

Connections to people are very important in a job search. Knowing people who work for organizations that you want to work for is always a bonus. For starters, s/he can let you know what the company culture is like, how management works and give you an idea if it’s a place that will satisfy you. That same person may also be able to refer you to positions that aren’t publicly posted. Also, an internal reference looks very good on a job application.

Use all of the resources available to you. Whether you have connections or not, search job boards, company career centers and set up job agents so that you are updated when new or applicable jobs are open. Requisitions for resumes fill up fast, so make sure you’re monitoring jobs3% every day, and early- this way, you won’t get beaten to the best jobs. Putting your feelers out there is very beneficial. If you’re finding that there aren’t a lot of jobs out there that fit what you’re looking for, look at joining some professional or academic organizations, as they frequently have members-only job boards as part of their websites. Many employers post ads on association websites in an effort to more directly target the types of specific workers they are looking for. There are tons of other niche job boards that focus on a particular region or industry – they may help to narrow your search and provide you with opportunities that more closely match your field of expertise.

Don’t get down on yourself! Remember, it’s easy to become depressed as the search for the perfect job drags on. Don’t let it affect you in that manner. Those feelings can come across in your resume, cover letter and interview. You definitely don’t want potential employers to think you’re desperate or at the opposite end of the spectrum, dispassionate. As long as you stay positive, they will see that in their interactions with you. Always remember that the perfect job is out there for everyone- it just takes a little looking.

Technorati Tags: Distance Education, Education, Education Articles, Online Learning

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