The amount of money needed for special education programs is increasing every year. The state of Hawaii, spent $75 million in 1994, and $306 million in general fund appropriations for the 2005-06 fiscal year. Is this enough? What more can we do? There are four very important ways in which we can all contribute. We can contribute by donating money, protesting by writing a letter, volunteering to different schools, and deciding to become a special education teacher.
Easter Seals Hawai’i provides extraordinary services that try to guarantee all people with disabilities or special needs and their families to have equal opportunities to live life to their highest potential. They are the state’s largest provider of services, by providing Early Intervention, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Home and Community-Based Services, and Camping & Recreation, Youth Services, Assistive Technology, Family Support Services, and Partnerships in Community Living (PICL). Donating money to their organization is very beneficial to the people who have disabilities.
Easter Seals Hawaii
Administrative and Development Offices
710 Green Street
Honolulu, HI 96813-2119
Phone: 808 536-1015
visit their site at... http://hawaii.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=HIDR_homepage.
If your child has a disability or a special need, and you would like to offer suggestions and ideas, there are different people who you could contact.
Special Education Advisory Council (SEAC)
919 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 101
Honolulu, HI 96814
Phone: (808) 586-8126
Email: spin@doh.hawaii.gov
Visit their site at... http://www.k12.wa.us/specialed/SEAC/default.aspx.
Patricia Hamamoto
Hawaii State Department of Education
P.O. Box 2360
Honolulu, HI 96804
Phone: 586-3332
Volunteering at the following schools in Hawaii would be of great help. The Children are phenominal and the rewards are pricless. By coming together we can build a stronger community.
Jefferson Orthopedic
324 Kapahulu Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96815
Phone: (808) 971-6931
http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/hi/239
Variety School Of Hawaii
Dr. Colin Denney, Director
710 Palekaua Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96816
Phone: (808) 732-2835
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/hi/private/430
Wanting to make a difference in Hawaii? This is your chance! If you would like to teach at a secondary education facility this is your chance. You can work at Jefferson Orthopedic, Variety School Of Hawaii as well as Assets school, listed below. You can write to the following people.
State of Hawaii, Department of Education
Teacher Recruitment Section
680 Iwilei Road, Suite 490
Honolulu HI 96817
Phone: 586-3420
Assets School
One Ohana Nui Way
Honolulu, Hawaii 96818
Phone: (808) 423-1356
http://www.assets-school.net/
4 comments:
What happens if you want to volunteer, but it isn't a permanent job? Won't the kids be sad that you stopped coming, that you "gave up" on them? I remember someone saying that the stopped going, and when they went back a while later they kids made them promise they were gonna come back, and not lie about it.
We can't lift people up to push them back down again. It is like giving money to people to buy food, instead of teaching them how to fish. With the skills of fishing they can always have the option of getting food, where as giving them one meal will make them want food even more, and no skills to obtain that food.
I learned once that sometimes the people that are trying to good are the ones that are committing sin. What do you guys feel about this?
One fact that really stood out to me was "Educating a special needs child is about 2.5 the costs of educating a regular student. About $7,777 is spent on educating a regular student while $18,492 is spent on educating a special education student." This seems like it must be a really tough issue to deal with because not everyone feels like it's their duty to be paying for these kids. I believe that as taxpayers it is our duty to fund special education programs, but I can see the other side of the issue also.
For my community service portion of our Economics class I worked for the Variety School of Hawaii. I just want to mention that the teachers who work there are really doing a great job helping kids with special needs. I know that I, not only helped some of the kids that I was working with but In personally got a lot out of working there. Being a person who has ADD I could see how some of the exercises and activities they were doing are really making a difference.
Lily~
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