The intent of this column is to discuss topics and issues of interest to those who care about the education of students with special needs. While my personal interest lies in the area of developmental disabilites, I will also address a broad range of subjects as dictated by events in the educational spectrum.
When I am not enjoying a good read here at Suite 101, I turn my attention to a number of projects which all tend to involve education, special needs, and technology. As executive director of the charitable organization Special Needs Network (SNN), I am working to develop an information centre and a number of community-based learning projects in the Ottawa area for children and young adults with developmental challenges. In this capacity I also manage the Industry Canada SchoolNet project known as the Special Needs Education Network. If you are seeking Web-based information related to the education of students with special needs, I humbly suggest that you will find it there! I am also finishing an MA at Carleton University where I have recently started working with the ESP (Enriched Support Program) as the administrator of an on-line project to assist remedial learners.
But that's more than enough about me! What about you? What topics would you like to see addressed in future columns? Inclusion? Cutbacks? Discrimination? Success stories? I would like to hear from you.
Report Card: The Ontario Education Improvement Commission
So here it is, another September, another threat of a teachers strike in Ontario. I've been following the veritable mountain of information and misinformation coming out of the Ministry and the unions, with the intent of forming an opinion to express through this column. Frankly, after reading these arguments, I don't have an opinion when it comes to the whose right/whose wrong angle of this story.
Nobody likes reading a Charlie Brown editorial, so for now I'll take a well-deserved break from that particular discourse, which seems to be little more than two large bureaucracies fighting over money, and try to focus on what most of us really care about: the education of our children.
