University of Virginia Curry School of Education

Parent Information Resources

Parents of students with disabilities may search these links for information in addition to the links maintained by category in another room of the office of special education.

• The fine resources from National Parent Network on Disabilities (NPND)
• The Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin sponsors the Family Village Web Site; it has been on the Web for a long time and includes lots of valuable information for parents of individuals who have disabilities.
• The US Department of Education's pages on Including Your Child
• Federation for Children with Special Needs, including many valuable resources about technical assistance programs, a project about parents engaged in education reform, and other activities.
• The Parents Exchange from Philadelphia which provides links to more than just local resources.
• See the compilation of e-mail lists for parents of students--including discussions about Down Syndrome, ADD, and deafness as well as a general one called "our kids"--on our page about discussion lists
• Parent News
• Special Child Magazine for Parents of Children with Disabilities not only is devoted to addressing the needs of parents of children with disabilities, but also has special section specifically concerned with Family Issues
• Elaine K. McEwan provides several good links from her page entitle "Educational Resources for Busy Parents and Educators." The page on ADHD focuses more on school principals than parents, but there's good hints there. Also, see the page on reading at home.
• Developed by Maureen A. Lowry-Fritz, a mother and an attorney, specialedmoms.com provides various resources for parents and advocates.
• The National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems, which provides links to lots of resources
• The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA); also, see our other links about legal aspects of special education
• The web site for the National Institute on Life Planning, with resources about the transition to adulthood
• The Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota
• Some resources for parents of children with behavior problems that're especially useful for residents of the US state of Washington
• Some sources for parents with children who have Down Syndrome:
  • Information for siblings
  • A group in Japan concerned with DS
  • Tracey Finch's materials associated with the Down Syndrome list
• The Casten's Family Empowerment Network
• Steve Savitzky has assembled an extensive list of general resources about the internet for parents of all kids.
• Project Appleseed, the campaign to encourage parental involvement in schools
• A web page hosted by Randy Ryan and devoted to raising kids with special needs
• Steve Levine's pages devoted to parents of kids with disabilities in Texas, but many of which are appropriate for parents from other places, too.
• Disability from the perspective of some kids: Just Because We Have A DisAbility Doesn't Mean We BYTE!
• Debbie Day's Resources for Parents & Teachers of Blind Kids
• Parent resources assembled by Ameri-Corp Speech and Hearing and called Parent Pals
• The addhelpline provides support and resources for parents of individuals with attention deficit disorder
• Information from a company selling specialized toys.
• Pam Shillingburg of a company called Finalcare provides some guidelines to help parents plan for the care a child who has disabilities.

Use our comments box to tell us about other resources.