DETAILS

Learn, Lunch & Laugh is a program designed to educate parents and caregivers about a topic related to spina bifida while their children are supervised nearby, enjoying fun activities together. Our first Learn, Lunch & Laugh in Greater Cincinnati takes us to the Newport Aquarium. At this session, Terri Doerr, Special Needs Parent Mentor at Lakota Local Schools will be joined by Becky Kremer, Special Needs Parent Mentor at Hamilton City Schools, to discuss how to maximize your child's education and inclusion in the classroom. Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and 504 Plans are documents developed for each public school child who needs special education and/or accommodations to succeed in the classroom. In this presentation, we will touch on typical challenges students with spina bifida encounter at school, share examples of successful IEP goals, and review the IEP process and your rights as a parent. The presentation will be general in nature to provide information to parents of grade school and high school students and will not be specific to any school district. The program begins with a lunch of pizza and lemonade in the Reef Room at the Newport Aquarium. After lunch, children will explore the aquarium with volunteers from the UC School of Social Work and the UC University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities LEND Program while parents remain in the Reef Room for the presentation. Our goal is to provide one volunteer to accompany each child with spina bifida in the aquarium. Siblings will be attended by the same volunteer, unless otherwise requested. Please contact Diane at diane.burns@sb-coalition.org if you have questions. DON'T WAIT TO REGISTER! This session on IEPs is limited to 27 people due to the size of the Reef Room at the Aquarium. Because of this, each family is asked to register no more than three family members.