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Book Studies
Disability Acceptance Through Literature

 

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Book Studies, Disability Acceptance Through Literature

The Arc of PA’s Include Me program is excited to present “Disability Acceptance through Literature,” a virtual book study for students. Books selected by our facilitators provide opportunities to learn about the many aspects of disability through the perspective of school age protagonists.

Discussions center on understanding, acceptance, presuming competence, and friendship. Values like compassion, honesty, authenticity and diversity steer the ship, and we love when conversations are led by students’ interests. These book studies are an innovative way to provide students interested in reading with a structured opportunity to connect with other students across Pennsylvania. We strive to make the book studies accessible, with:

    • audio recordings of each chapter,
    • vocabulary resources,
    • engaging visual content for discussions, and,
    • by providing copies of the book to families as the book studies gear up. 

These four or eight week book studies make room for silliness and curiosity, and we’re proud of the stigma-blasting power of the program (and that of the students themselves!).

Include Me connects each book study and accompanying lessons to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. 

For more information, contact: cmorrison@includemepa.org or jmacsisak@includemepa.org

 

SEE OUR Spring 2024 BOOK STUDIES!

(click on an area below to view)

Children Ages 5 - 8; Thursdays at 5:00 pm, beginning April 25th, 2024

Title: Tools We Use, A Disability acceptance story series
Group: Kids 5-8 years old
Day/Time: Thursdays, 5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Dates: April 25 – May 9 (3 weeks)

Join us Thursdays at 5:00PM starting April 25th for a springtime “Story Tour”, our Disability Acceptance through Literature program for 5- to 8-year-olds! The group will meet weekly for 45 minutes via Zoom. We’ll read a different children’s book aloud each week and talk a bit about the story together. All learners are welcome!
Registering will save you a seat. Before our first meeting, you will receive an email with the zoom link we’ll use to join in every week.

 

 

Lineup for our Spring 2024 Story Tour includes:
– Whose Shoes, by Stephen R. Swinburne
– Eddie the Elephant Has Something to Say, by Alison Johns; Illustrated by Tara Put
– Wiggles Stomps and Squeezes Calm My Jitters Down, by Lindsay Rowe Parker; Illustrated by Rebecca Burgess

 

Registration is closed. Stay tuned and join us for our next book series!

 

Questions? Contact Celia at cmorrison@includemepa.org and Jennifer at jmacsisak@includemepa.org.

Children Ages 8 - 12 ; Wednesdays at 6:30 pm, beginning April 10, 2024

Title: Good Different, by Meg Eden Kuyatt
Group:
 Kids 8-12 years old
Day/Time: Wednesdays, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Dates: April 10 – May 29 (8 weeks)

Join us Wednesdays at 6:30 PM beginning April 10 for our new middle years pick for Disability Acceptance through Literature! The group (8 to 12 year-olds and our Include Me facilitators) will meet weekly via Zoom. All learners ages 8-12 are welcome!

Registering will save your child a seat. Include your mailing address so we can send you the book! Before our first meeting, you will receive an email detailing how to log in to the google classroom, and the Zoom link we’ll use to join in every week. Audiobook recordings will be available.

 

 

Selah knows her rules for being normal.

She always, always sticks to them. This means keeping her feelings locked tightly inside, despite the way they build up inside her as each school day goes on, so that she has to run to the bathroom and hide in the stall until she can calm down. So that she has to tear off her normal-person mask the second she gets home from school, and listen to her favorite pop song on repeat, trying to recharge. Selah feels like a dragon stuck in a world of humans, but she knows how to hide it.

Until the day she explodes and hits a fellow student.
Selah’s friends pull away from her, her school threatens expulsion, and her comfortable, familiar world starts to crumble.

But as Selah starts to figure out more about who she is, she comes to understand that different doesn’t mean damaged. Can she get her school to understand that, too, before it’s too late?

 

Register Here


Questions? Contact Celia at cmorrison@includemepa.org and Jennifer at jmacsisak@includemepa.org.

 

Teens Ages 12-17; Mondays at 6:00 pm, beginning April 8, 2024

Title: The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Group: Teens ages 12-17
Day/Time: Mondays 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Dates: April 8 – May 20 (7 weeks)

Join us Mondays at 6:00 pm for our newest pick for the ‘Teen’ DATL book study crew! The group and our facilitators meet weekly via Zoom.
Registering will save you a seat! Include your mailing address so we can send you the book box. Before our first meeting, you will receive an email detailing how to log in to the Google classroom and the Zoom link we’ll use to join in every week. Audio recordings of each chapter will be available.

 

 

 

Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.

So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?

 

 

Register Here

 

Questions? Contact Celia at cmorrison@includemepa.org and Jennifer at jmacsisak@includemepa.org.

 

 

 

 

Want to stay up to date on the Include Me Program? Click here to subscribe to our IM News and Tools newsletter!

 

NEW Module Just Arrived - Trauma-Informed Care. Visit our E-Learning Module Series. This series provides information and strategies for teachers, families, and paras to support the education of all students.

The Arc of Pennsylvania’s Making Employment Work course is an ACRE Basic Certification Training. In order to receive certification, participants must attend a 3 day, in-person training and then complete a self-paced, online curriculum. Completing this certification course will qualify individuals to provide Supported Employment services with Pennsylvania’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and Office of Developmental Programs. Our training combines lessons learned from traditional Supported Employment and Customized Employment techniques.

Arc Discovery Employment Transitions (ADEPT) is The Arc of Pennsylvania’s customized employment program. The Arc of Pennsylvania supports individuals with significant impact of disability to seek and maintain customized employment in their community. As a result, The Arc of Pennsylvania’s consultants are trained and nationally certified by Marc Gold & Associates, a national leader in customized employment, to provide Discovery, Customized Employment Job Development, and Systematic Instruction to individuals with disabilities in Pennsylvania who are seeking employment. In addition to providing customized employment services, The Arc of Pennsylvania hosts several certification courses with Marc Gold & Associates for individuals and organizations interested in national certification in Discovery, Job Development, and Systematic Instruction.

Include Me is a new model for inclusive education and gaining meaningful employment for Pennsylvania’s students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Arc of Pennsylvania and Include Me believe all individuals with significant impact of developmental and intellectual disability deserve equal educational and competitive employment rights. Our mission, build and strengthen the inclusive education capacity for all public-school students, and discover meaningful employment opportunities meeting Pennsylvania employee and employer needs. Include Me strives to ensure all impacted students have equal access to all aspects of life and the community throughout their lifespan.

Include Me is an initiative that was part of the agreement on final terms between the plaintiffs and the Pennsylvania Department of Education in the Gaskin Settlement Agreement. We were initially assigned to work with school districts with the lowest inclusion rates. After the initial success, we have grown in reputation among school districts. Currently districts voluntarily chose our services, which are provided free of charge to the district. In addition to our School Age services, we offer transition-age services to help teams plan a path to customized employment for students transitioning from high school.

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