School will host workshop to focus on parenting kids with special needs

Redcliffe Elementary School will host a workshop on parenting strategies Jan. 25 for the school's parents and any parent of a child with disabilities.

The session is scheduled Tuesday, Jan. 25 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The guest speaker will be Dr. David Allen, a North Augusta pediatrician.

Any Redcliffe parent is invited to hear Allen, who will discuss general parenting strategies, said Jennifer Minichan. A coordinator within the school district's Department of Special Programs, she is working on the event with anther coordinator, Hollis Adair.

Any parent throughout the school district with a child with disabilities is also invited to attend. Allen will provide additional information about strategies and support for those parents.

Silver Bluff High School culinary arts students will cater and serve dinner at 6:30 p.m. Parents are urged to register and must do so by Monday to be eligible for dinner, prizes and child care on-site if needed. They may register at 641-2624.

The workshop is the latest in a series of sessions for parents, primarily aimed at those with children with special needs. The Special Programs office received a $38,000 grant last fall from the S.C. Office of Exceptional Children at the State Department of Education. Minichan and Adair are administrators for the overall program.

"This has allowed us to have six workshops for parents of disabled students," said Minichan.

One thing the district really wants to do, said Special Programs director Sal Minolfo, is educate parents more about their children's education and needs.

The next workshop after Redcliffe will be held at the Busbee-A.L. Corbett Elementary/Middle School in Wagener Tuesday, Feb. 15, also at 6:30 p.m.

Dr. Alex Mabe, a Medical College of Georgia professor, will talk specifically about strategies and support for parents who have children with ADD/ADHD and learning disabilities. The deadline to be eligible for food, prizes and child care is Feb. 7.

Previously, the Special Programs office sponsored an education fair at North Augusta High School in October.

"We had about 200 people there, families with disabilities and others who were interested in learning more about it," Minolfo said. "There were lot of community-based support agencies who came out. The focus there was to give the parents the opportunity to see what's out there for them in the community, both nonprofit and for-profit programs, as well as state and school district support."

Culinary arts students from North Augusta High prepared the dinner at that event. Later in the fall, South Aiken High culinary arts students provided the same service for a workshop at Chukker Creek Elementary School. The strategies at that meeting targeted parents of kids with autism and Asperger Syndrome.

Two more meetings are scheduled in the spring, said Minichan. In March a parent workshop will be held at the Byrd Elementary School for parents, focusing in part on preschoolers acquiring language skills, as well as general speech and language issues.

The final workshop at Aiken Middle School in April will provide a second educational fair.