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Special Education

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State & Territory Information

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

  • Children’s Services New South Wales
    ‘Provide families with a wide range of service types to ensure that individual care and educational needs of families are best matched to their service delivery needs. The services listed on this web site support young children and their families, and the people who work with them.’
  • Disability Access
    [Whole of Life - All of Life]
    ‘Assisting people with disabilities to find education and training information.’ From the Department of Education and Training.
  • Learning Assistance Program, The
    ‘The Learning Assistance Program supports students experiencing difficulties in learning in regular classes, regardless of the cause. It includes support for students with significant learning difficulties, mild intellectual disabilities and language disorders.’
  • Services for Students With Disabilities
    ‘There are disabilities services available to both enrolled and prospective TAFE NSW students who have a disability. TAFE NSW employs specialist Teacher/Consultants for Students with Disabilities to ensure that people with a disability have equal access to education and training at TAFE NSW campuses.’ Scroll down this page to access a range of .pdf downloadable brochures covering specific disabilities and what help is available. Specialist pages include :
  • Special Education in Catholic Schools
    Information from the Catholic Education Commission. You can also access a range of major Catholic Special Schools here.
  • Supporting Students with Disabilities
    NSW Department of Education & Training.
  • Who’s Going to Teach My Child …
    [A Guide for Parents of Students with Special Learning Needs]
    Downloadable .pdf document providing information for parents.

Northern Territory

  • Children’s Development Team
    ‘The Community Paediatric Team and School Therapy Services have merged and are now know as Children’s Development Team.’ Find out who and where they are and what services they offer.
  • Early Childhood Intervention
    ‘Early Childhood Intervention is the planned provision of specialist services designed to meet the overall developmental and learning needs of the child. The aim of Early Childhood Intervention is to minimise the impact of developmental delay and disability on a child's development and learning.’
  • Educational Psychologists/Guidance
    General information, contact details, downloadable Guidance Information Sheet.
  • Special Education Students
    Information link as part of the Parent pack.
  • Students with Special Needs
    Information and links to Hearing, Vision, Guidance, Behaviour, Early Childhood Intervention, Therapy Services and Special Education.

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

  • Centre for Developmental Disability Health
    ‘An academic unit established by the Victorian State Government to improve health outcomes for people with developmental disabilities through a range of educational, research and clinical activities.’ Check their information and research activities here.
  • Disability Online [Victoria]
    ‘The aim of this site is to provide people with a disability, their families and carers with access to online disability related information across governments and the non-government sector, which is Quality assured, Reliable, Up-to-date and Locally relevant. Information on Disability Online is constantly expanded and regularly reviewed.’
  • Program for Students with Disabilities
    Covers all aspects.
  • Program for Students with Disabilities 2008 Handbook
    Now available in .pdf format.
  • Student Support, Health & Safety
    ‘There are a range of measures in place to ensure students are supported at school and have proper access to health and safety services.’ A number of sections are covered.
  • Student Wellbeing - Disability Services
    Information on programs.
  • Student Wellbeing
    ‘Advice and information about curriculum provision, assessment and reporting not found elsewhere’. All documents downloadable in .pdf format.

Western Australia

  • Centre for Inclusive Schooling
    Covers learning difficulties.
  • Inclusive Education
    Includes information on inclusive learning environments, care & protection, student activity enhancement, community support and more.
  • WAIDE
    [WA Institute for Deaf Education]
    ‘The Western Australian Department of Education and Training provides a State-wide co-ordinated service for children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing through the WA Institute for Deaf Education [WAIDE]. Parents are provided with a choice of educational settings, ranging from an inclusive placement in a regular school, through to metropolitan specialist schools that are located in inclusive settings and specifically cater for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children.’

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General Information

  1. General Sites :
    • Australian Sites :
      • Accessibility
        By an Australian wheelchair Olympic gold medallist. How to cope with disability from hiring equipment to links to disability associations. This is now a much bigger, improved version of the original site.
      • ACD Links to Other Sites
        [Association for Children with a Disability]
        ‘The inclusion of links on our site does not indicate that we agree or endorse the information contained in the site. Our purpose in providing an extensive range of links is to save you time. Disability - Specific links have their own page and index. Overseas links are indicated. As with all information on the Internet, you need to critically assess its accuracy and usefulness.’
      • Activ - Useful Links
        ‘Click a choice [below] to view a list of Useful Links for that area.’ Four [4] main areas are provided.
      • Australasian Journal of Special Education
        Details and ordering information.
      • Australian Disability Clearinghouse
        [On Education and Training]
        News & events, assistive technology, disability information, legislation/policy, networks & organisations, practitioner resources, teaching/assessment,transition/pathways and more. You can get a trial of a year’s access or subscribe for full access. Most sections give FAQs and then Web Resources. The Teaching/Assessment section is particularly good, as is the page on Disability Information and also the one on Networks/Organisations.
        Excellent !
      • Australian Disability Information
        Vicnet. About one hundred annotated links with the majority being Australian, but also quality overseas sites.
      • Choosing School - Checklist
        Prepared by The Spastic Centre and downloadable as a .pdf document.
      • Community.gov.au
        ‘Links to useful information for individuals and communities. Information for parents and specific condition information and National Support groups.’
      • Disability and Related Internet Sites in Australia
        Australian sites covering disability areas. Part of a site covering Women With Disabilities in Australia.
      • Disability Awareness Kit
        Done by a Victorian Library group. Covers general awareness factors, then several specific impairments. Designed to promote an awareness and understanding of issues surrounding disability, and specific needs in several areas.
      • Disability Information and Resource Centre
        Information on disability issues. EnableNet is no longer being funded and has now closed, but redirects visitors to this site.
      • Disability - Schooling Choices
        ‘Choosing a school for a child with a disability takes careful planning. The school you select should offer support programs that suit your child’s needs.’
        From Better Health, Victoria. Fact sheet with sound basic information. Links to related fact sheets on many aspects of disability.
      • Disability Services Australia
        Covers living at home, gaining & keeping employment, community services, transition from school to adult life and information about ‘Headstart’.
      • Disability Studies Links
        Compiled the Flinders University Library. Covers both federal and state links.
      • Diversity @ Work
        Help hiring people with disabilities in south east Australia.
      • Easy Access Australia
        Places, sites, tours, etc., which disabled people can easily access.
      • FaCSIA
        ‘FaCSIA provide services and assistance that help people with disabilities to participate actively in community and economic life, access a responsive and sustainable safety net, and develop their capabilities.’ Links to federal information from policies to carer information, payments to a Disability Calendar.
      • Ideas
        Information on disabilities, service information, employment advice, equipment assistance, accessible places, leisure venues, plus much more.
        Extremely Slow to Load.
      • Information on the Disability Discrimination Act
        Information to make people clear on their rights.
      • Literacy Online
        ‘Helping people use the Internet and assisting with reading, understanding and finding information on the World Wide Web.’
      • National Council on Intellectual Disability
        Federal government portal for disability information, communication and exchange.
      • National Information Communication Awareness Network
        Free information services to people with disabilities, their families, carers, service providers and the wider community.
      • NDS New South Wales
        Provides assistance with disabled rehabilitation. A national industry group incorporating 550 non-profit support organisations. Previously ACROD.
      • Riding for the Disabled
        Directory, mission statement, goals, links to state organisations.
      • Spastic Centre, The
        Information for teachers, parents and students, news and general information.
      • Women With Disabilities, Australia
    • Others :
      • AbleDisabled, The : Living Through Learning
        A Thinkquest site. Looks at disabilities and provides resource materials. It looks to become a meeting place for people with disabilities.
        Very slow to load, but worth waiting for.
      • British Columbia Ministry of Education
        This site provides access to a wealth of material grouped under headings ranging from Accessibility to Vision, including everything from Bullying to IEPs, Safe Schools even Sexual Health. Included on our individual special education pages are teaching strategies for specific disabilities.
      • Disability Online
        2 000+ links, collected in directories and sub-directories. Many are peculiarly US oriented, but others will be of use.
      • Disability Resources : DRM Webwatcher
        See the Teacher Resources : Special Education page.
      • Disability Specific Web Sites
        Worldwide sources. For Software, check this section of the site.
      • Educator’s Reference Desk Pages :
      • eParent
        ‘The Family & Professional site for the Special Needs community. ’ US based, but still with a range of useful information including journal, news, blogs, bookstore and more.
      • Glossary
        Glossary of terms about health, mental health and disability. Done in everyday language.
      • SERI
        [Special Education Resources on the Internet]
        ‘SERI is a collection of Internet accessible information resources of interest to those involved in the fields related to Special Education. This collection exists in order to make on-line Special Education resources more easily and readily available in one location. This site will continually modify, update, and add additional informative links.’ Multiple directories from General Information to Transition resources.
      • Speech Language Pathology
        [Caroline Bowen PhD]
        ‘This site comprises over two hundred web links for families, Speech - Language Pathologists, professionals in related disciplines, and students of human communication disorders and sciences. The articles and links here reflect my … interests - also the important part that families can play in the assessment and management of communication impairments.’
      • Texas DSHS
        [Department of State Health Services]
        A journal listing which, while it covers most areas of the medical spectrum, certainly covers special education related areas. It provides links to many online journals, some with decades of material available. Search alphabetically by title, then use the relevant link.
      • Untangling the Web
        Link directories covering special education.
      • Yahoo Directory : Disabilities
        Sites ranging from ‘@ctive teens’ to ‘Women with Disabilities’.
  2. Inclusive Education :
    • Inclusion
      ‘Inclusive education means that all students in a school, regardless of their strengths or weaknesses in any area, become part of the school community.’ US based and a little out of date, but the sentiments and the basics remain the same.
    • Inclusional Classroom Checklist
      ‘Are you setting your students up for success ? Try this checklist to see where your areas of strengths and weaknesses are.’ In addition to the checklist there are suggested readings, more suggestions and links to related articles.
    • Inclusive Education
      The range of policies with significance for this area from Education Queensland.
    • Inclusive Teaching Checklist
      ‘The checklist is a tool for staff to complete a quick check on course materials and related activities and is provided to assist staff in developing inclusive course material/activities.’ Downloadable Word document from the University of Tasmania. This is part of their Inclusive Teaching Practice package. Well worth checking for those in higher education.
    • Integration
      From ‘About’. It contains annotated links to information, articles and resources. ‘Integration’ here, is used in the same sense as ‘inclusive’.
    • Making Your Teaching Inclusive
      A UK site. Learn about common barriers, enhancing learning, types of learning support and more.
    • SERI Inclusion Resources
      A series of annotated links to networks, resources, and a variety of other sites all related to inclusion.
  3. Individual Education Plans
    In addition to the links provided below, there is an extensive collection of links on the Assessment Resources page.
  4. Technology
    Includes software, adaptive technology and more.
    • Ability Technology
      An Australian group working to provide computer accessibility to those who are disabled. They have a range of products & services available.
    • Accessible PDF Reader
      ‘Accessible PDF is a Free program from Claro Software that lets you read PDFs with the colours and fonts you want and makes it easy to read the text aloud with other programs. You can zoom in and out, use high- or low-contrast colours, and save your PDF as text or a web page for future use.’
    • ADCET - Assistive Technology
      A significant listing of annotated links to articles [Word and .pdf], hot topics, FAQs and websites for both information and suppliers in this area. The latter range from individual software and technology items to groups, research and more.
    • Assistive Technology Sites
      Done by the Australian National University’s Student & Academic Services, Disability Services Unit. It lists an extensive range of links under 9 directories covering major disabilities.
      Excellent !
    • Axistive
      ‘The world’s leading news portal for assistive technology, providing a wide range of Free services including product reviews, industry news, market trends, workshops, downloads, and product and organization information.’
    • connSENSE Bulletin
      ‘Bring[ing] you practical resources on assistive technology that will help individuals with disabilities.’ While US based there are still some very effective resources and information included. Recommended is their Guide to Low-Cost/No-Cost Online Tools for People with Disabilities 2005 - extensive annotated listing with URLs included.
    • SERI Disability Products and Commercial Resources
      A series of annotated links to particularly suppliers and manufacturers of technology to assist those in need.
    • TadACT
      ‘TADACT Disability Service designs and makes innovative aids that are not otherwise available [while] TADAustConnect provides dial-up and broadband internet connection services.’ Has links to similar groups in other states.
    • Welcome to the Australian Caption Centre
      ‘To promote captioning and the use of captioning to the Deaf and hearing impaired, to provide a wide range of Free information services about captioning and to develop and expand captioning’.

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