*For those of you that are in TLDR mode…please just skip down to the last paragraph for the main points of this thread…
*
I am going to open up a little bit here into our own personal lives to give you some perspective to my request…
Some of you know that I have a 10 year old son (Liam) who is on the Autism Spectrum Disorder in the moderate range. He has some language and gross & fine motor issues, but for the most part, functions at a pre-K school level. He’s in a district segregated special education classroom at a local school here in Apple Valley, CA where there are 9 other students (all boys as a matter of fact) who are also on the Spectrum. Most of them function at a higher level than Liam, but still have issues that keep them from being fully mainstreamed in regular classrooms.
My wife (Therese) and I own and operate two day programs for adults with developmental disabilities. She is the program half, and I am the fiscal half of our mom&pop business. Therese has a degree in Human Development and is currently working towards her Masters in Human Services. She is determined to improve the delivery of services towards our population we serve as well as understand how to navigate the labyrinth that is our County and State education system and learn how to improve it. She has successfully written a request/grant that helped Liam’s school secure 40 computers/laptops that the Feds (previous owner) deemed obsolete for their use, but were still valuable for student use. This included Therese and I to get a van and drive down to Irvine (about 85 miles) to pick them up and deliver them to our school in Apple Valley. The principal was extremely pleased (and surprised) that we could pull this off during a budgetary crisis that our County and State are currently in…but Therese was determined and just knew where to look. Liam’s class was able to receive 4 of those computers which are helpful to teach Liam’s class visually which has been proven to be a better method of teaching students with ASD.
But my wife is not done yet. She wants Liam’s class to get a Smart Board. Some of her investigating has found that Smart Boards have helped students with ASD by the combination of interaction and visualization which Therese has discovered through her Masters studies. The Smart Board she has her eyes on is a used/refurbished one that provides the biggest bang for the buck…about $4800 installed. Now her next question is…how to get a Smart Board into Liam’s class?
Well, again through determination, she has found a way…but needs some help…your help.
The Pepsi Refresh Project is a grant program for anything that serves Education, Communities, and Arts & Music. Once your proposal is accepted by PRP, your proposal goes up for voting among other proposals. There are literally hundreds of proposals that the voting public can choose from and my wife’s proposal (in the $5k category) was accepted as one of them! But only the top 20 proposals will receive the grants…we are currently bouncing between #24 and #25. That’s a good start, but we need your help!
Here is Therese’s grant proposal that is up to vote. Yeah, that’s Therese and Liam in the picture there (I took it at a L.A. Kings game) and the other pic is Liam receiving an award at school among other students.
My Humble Yet Simple Request is to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote for my wife’s grant proposal (one vote per day until the final day of December 31st, 2011). Just simply click on the “Vote for this idea” button in the upper right of the page AND/OR you can Text* 110111 to Pepsi (73774) to vote from your mobile phone (*Standard text message rates apply). PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote every day until December 31st! To “Vote for this idea” does require signing up with your email account OR you can use your Facebook account to vote (probably the easiest way). You get to vote 5 times per day, but only one vote per proposal per day, so just pick 4 other worthy proposals that you feel deserves your vote (some may be local to you!). International Dopers can also vote…please don’t be afraid to help as well! Therese has relatives in Canada who are also burning up the intrawebs. I will keep everyone apprised of our endeavor and if anyone has questions, for me or Therese…please ask! I want to thank you now for even coming into this thread to consider it, and THANK YOU to those who take the time and vote for Therese’s proposal!
