Idaho Parents Unlimited, Inc.

News at IPUL

Check out our new Family to Family project . If you have any comments or suggestions on the website email the webmaster. If you would like to contact one of our parent education coordinators please email parents@ipulidaho.org

Parent Training and Information (PTI)

The PTI Project divides Idaho into three regions. A Parent Education Coordinator is located in each region. The coordinator is specially trained to provide technical assistance, information and support to parents of children with disabilities and professionals who serve those children. They are the core of parent support in our Parent Training and Information Center. Coordinators have expertise about agencies and services that are available to children with disabilities; the skills needed to navigate disability services, agencies, and programs; the challenges of raising a child with a disability and effective coping skills; information about difficulties and supports that are peculiar to your local communities, agencies, and schools; current movements and concerns relative to disability issues; and disability laws including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which governs educational services to children with disabilities, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Your regional coordinator and her phone number are listed on the insert included in this newsletter. With the exception of the Region 4 coordinator, who works out of the Boise office, the Parent Education Coordinators work out of home offices. They are part time employees and are sometimes out of the office attending trainings, presenting workshops, or meeting with parents. Therefore, when you call your coordinator, you may be answered by a message service. The coordinators check their messages daily unless they are working out of town for a few days. They return their calls as soon as possible, usually within a day or two. Our coordinators try very hard to keep track of and respond to each call. Occasionally however, the volume of calls gets very heavy and the demands very high. If your call is not returned in a timely manner, please understand that it is not intentional. Please help us help you by calling the coordinator again or calling the Boise office so we can help you make contact. We sincerely do not want anyone's needs to go unmet.

If your coordinator's phone number is long distance, you can call our 800 number. This number will connect you with the Boise home office. Do not expect to receive technical assistance immediately when you call the home office. The staff at the home office will not be able to provide you with the technical assistance you will receive from your regional coordinator. When you call the home office, our secretary will take your name and phone number, forward it to the regional coordinator, and your coordinator will call you back as soon as possible.

Regional parent coordinators provide services to parents using a variety of methods. They provide regional workshops on a variety of subjects including coping with a child with a disability in your family, developing a vision for the future of your child, disability law, your role in developing an Individualized Education Program for your child, services available to children with disabilities and how to access them, and skills needed to create positive outcomes for your child. The workshops provide a broad, connected, and comprehensive understanding of the issues, laws, and programs that are so vital to meeting your child's needs. If requested, your coordinator can provide presentations for your local support and community groups or school parent meetings. Parent coordinators also provide one-to-one assistance to you on issues very specific to your child. Parent education coordinators are the lifelines of our services to parents.

Rather than providing advocacy for your child, it is the goal of the Parent Training and Information Center to share with you as a parent the information, skills, and abilities that will enable you to become your child's advocate. A parent is the one constant in the child's life. Teachers, service providers, advocates, and friends will change. It is a parent who knows the child best, who understands the child's needs and dreams, who will always be there, who will be the child's best advocate, year after year after year. The child's best chance for a successful life is a parent who can advocate for him/her. If we can help a parent learn to be their child's advocate, we have successfully completed our mission. We hope we can help you become your child's best advocate.