Fun events for children with special needs

I saw this article and had to post. It has some different events that take place in Southwest Florida for kids with special needs. Check it out.

I want to highlight this:

Fort Myers Miracle

Hammond Stadium, Lee County Sports Complex » 14100 Six Mile Cypress Parkway, Fort Myers » miraclebaseball.com

The Fort Myers Miracle and the Dave Clark Foundation will hold their 10th annualSpecial Needs Baseball camp in April. The Miracle team and coaches teach the kids a variety of baseball skills like hitting, throwing, catching and fielding as well as playing baseball games with them. The event, which includes lunch, is open to children up to age 18 and is free to participants and their families. For more information, call Ashley Adams at 768-4210 or email aadams@miraclebaseball.com.

and I also thought this was interesting. I know the Surfers for Autism events take place all over Florida.

Surfers for Autism

Surfersforautism.org

Statewide program that has a surfing day on Fort Myers Beach each fall.

Let me know if there are any other events for kids with special needs. Email me at scottrussell@tfamail.com

Services for children with special needs in Florida

When you find out your child has special needs, looking for services for your child can be daunting. Who do I contact? Where do I start? Just some of the questions you may be asking. In Florida there are special education services that your child may be eligible for. Here’s a article that may help point you in the right direction of these services. Click here for more information.

Scholarship helps students with disabilities

As a parent with kids with disabilities it’s is important to know that there are schools and scholarships out there to help your child succeed in school.

One example is the McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program, originally created in 1999. This was designed so that no child is left behind and provides scholarships for eligible students with disabilities to attend an eligible public or private school of their choice. Students with disabilities include K-12 students who are documented as having an intellectual disability; a speech or language impairment; a hearing impairment, including deafness; a visual impairment, including blindness; a dual sensory impairment; an emotional or behavioral disability; a specific learning disability, including, but not limited to, dyslexia, dyscalculia, or developmental aphasia; a traumatic brain injury; a developmental delay; or autism spectrum disorder can apply for this scholarship.

Any parent of a public school student with a disability who has an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or a 504 accommodation plan may receive a McKay Scholarship if the student meets certain requirements. One of the requirements is that a student needs to have spent the prior school year in attendance at a Florida public school.

The student can go to a public school in the district, or any other eligible school in an adjacent district or private school.

The amount of the scholarship is equal to the amount the student would have received in the public school to which the student was assigned or the amount of the private school’s tuition and fees, whichever is less.

Last school year more than 26,000 students with disabilities were able to attend a private school through this scholarship.

For more information about this scholarship for kids with disabilities go to the Florida Department of Education’s website at http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org/Information/McKay/

If you need help taking care of someone with special needs, please contact me as this is one of my passions as a financial planner.