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| The purpose of the Parent Mentor Program is to provide educational opportunities for parents and staff to learn effective communication skills as they work together to design and deliver programs for children with special needs. The program’s intent is to build collaborative partnerships between parents, educators and administrators. An underlying principle of the program is to build trust between school staff and parents that will result in a non-adversarial approach to problem solving. The Parent Mentor will provide parents and staff with training, networking opportunities, and resource information on the educational process or a specific disability. Parent Mentor services may also take the form of assisting individual parents with the various parts of their IEP process. Overall the Parent Mentor seeks to facilitate access to information and provide an opportunity to rethink or reframe an existing process or problem. Funds for the program are provided by the Parent Mentor Project grant from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). 100% of the funds are from federal sources. The program and grant are in partnership with Northern Suburban Special Education District (NSSED) and its Association of Parents and Staff (APS.) Susan Hans, the NSSED/APS Parent Mentor is the parent of four children, three with disabilities that require an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
© 2007 Parent Mentor Program |
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