This is Patrick Flores representating the state of Indiana and four of us as delegates heading to Philadelphia for the 50th Biennial Conference of NAD. More vlogs to come.
Indiana Delegates: Patrick Flores & Charleen Scully
Alternative Delegates: Marvin Miller & Jaye Johnston
Priority Proposal: NAD shall lobby to redefine how deaf/hard of hearing students are placed according to priorities set forth in the current Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA is being reauthorized and NAD shall advocate to ensure that the reauthorized act of IDEA includes a new set of priorities allowing for a child’s language needs before considering whether the placement is in the least restrictive environment (LRE).
Rationale: When IDEA was first authorized in 2004, the primary consideration for placing a deaf/hard of hearing student relied on whether the environment was least restrictive and recent years have shown that many school agencies have considered least restrictive environment in lieu of child’s language needs and for that reason, many deaf/hard of hearing children have been denied their foremost civil right – to gain access to a language that is most readily available to them (which in most cases would be American Sign Language).
Welcome!
This is Amy Cohen Efron and I am a delegate representing Georgia Association of the Deaf. It is my great pleasure to introduce myself and two other delegates (Christopher Patterson and Tina Caloud). In this vlog (4 mins, 29 seconds), Amy Cohen Efron explains about her proposal to NAD as one of the proposed priorities.
Feel free to leave any comments (video or text) and questions below.
See you in Philadelphia!
