Our hosts

Our chats

Saturday: Poster's Choice with Hens and Sara
Sunday: Advocacy 101 with Gina
Monday—NEW: ADHD: It's all in the family!
with Socks and Marge
Wednesday: Education with Sue
Thursday—NEW: Parenting the challgenging child with Sara and Marge

Our favorites

Gina: Resources for parents just beginning to work with schools
Socks: Links and dreams
Marge: My garden

Hens (Carole Henley)

Hens is the mother of two children, each remarkable. Lizzie is growing up at a good rate; her mother describes her as a neurotypical child in many ways.

Her brother, James, has Aspergers Syndrome, sensory integration issues and your occasional rage seizures. Hens is pleased with the current school situation, enjoys the company of people she's met through James, and is watching him making progress.

She admits to bitterness about her dealings with schools previously, and expresses doubts even now about how well James is being assisted. These and many other experiences have equipped her to host one of Net Haven's support chats, Poster's Choice.

Offline, Carole Henley is a secretary for Amtrak Police; she's nearing the 10-year mark with the railroad. Online, she values three sites:

SchwabLearning -- to learn from other people's experiences; encourage others; to laugh, and to make others laugh

Wrightslaw -- to learn how to write a letter to school officials that will get better results with less attitude

Net Haven -- "I go to Net haven to keep my sanity. Net Haven is for ME!"

Sunday
Advocacy 101

Gina (Gina Robuck, M.Ed.)

Gina has been a school psychologist in the public schools for more than 10 years.  She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989 from the University of Iowa and her Master's of Education, Specialist Degree in School Psychology in 1995 from Loyola University of Chicago.

She has worked with special needs children and their families from preschool through high school with a specific emphasis on elementary-aged children.  She has participated in or facilitated more than 500 IEP meetings. 

Her areas of expertise include:  ADHD, dyslexia, autism spectrum disorders, assessment and team development.  Gina recently began her own advocacy business called Solutions-4-Kids Inc.

Her mission, whether working in the schools or sitting on the other side of the table with a client, is making sure kids’ needs are met … whatever it takes.   

Net Haven business directory: Solutions4Kids

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I have several resources for parents just get starting with schools: 

1) From Emotions to Advocacy, by Pete and Pam Wright
2) Negotiating the Special Education Maze:  A Guide for Parents and Teachers, 3rd Edition, by W. Anderson, S. Chitwood and D. Hayden.

I also found a fabulous website called Special Needs and Special Gifts that is excellent for parents just starting out, or parents who’ve been in the system for awhile. I thought it was very well written.

Monday
ADHD: It's all in the family!

Marge (Marge Wetmore)

Marge is an experienced chat host who brings sensitivity, knowledge and common sense to her many chats each week.

A pioneer of chats when they were a novelty with a purpose on AOL, the Illinois businesswoman saw the need to sponsor focused chats tailored to the needs of people contending with distinctive learning styles.

Marge started her own chat site more than eight years ago. Her goal, then as now, was to bring a safe harbor to the web.

She called it Net Haven.

With two grown daughters, four grandsons and a free-lance editor husband, Marge brings a mom's/grandmom's/wife's/woman's perspective to dealing with the problems people and families face.

Wednesday
Education

Sue (Susan Jones, M.Ed.)

Sue brings her experience as an educator to Net Haven's Thursday night education chat and Team Prairie's educational products.

She is a reading and learning disabilities specialist trained in multisensory structured language instruction, specifically Orton-Gillingham methods. She received her Master's of Education in learning disabilities from Loyola College in Baltimore, a B.S. degree in Wildlife/Fisheries, and 14 years' teaching experience in middle and secondary schools.

Her teaching experience includes teaching students in tutorial and small groups with Orton-Gillingham methods at The New Community School in Richmond, Virginia, a college-preparatory independent school for students with specific langauge learning difficulties. With

additional experience and coursework in gifted education, history, and instructional design and technology, she brings a deep yet diverse background not only to the team, but to ResourceRoom.net, her site full of resources for tutors, teachers and home educators.

Sue also consults for issues such as instructional technology, curriculum developement and accomodations, and IEP analysis. She works as academic development specialist at Parkland College in Champaign, Ill.

Thursday
Parenting the challenging child

Sara (Sara Marlow) and Marge

Sara is Marge's real-life daughter. She is the mother of four boys ranging in age from 1 year to 7 years. Her two eldest sons have been in special education programs since they were 3.

Sara's husband is a member of the military, so she has made the ins and outs of her household a full-time job. She claims her profession is Riot Control.

Sara has 10 years' experience in chat rooms, on message boards and in using computers. As host of a parenting chat, she brings to Net Haven the parenting perspective of a twenty-something.

Monday
ADHD: It's all in the family!

Socks (Laura Bilotta)

A longtime Net Haven host, Socks is steeped in advocacy, so much so she is considered an authority about the issue in Florida, where she lives, and elsewhere as well.
She is passionate about her work as a nurse.
She’s an engaged and devoted wife and mother of two.
She’d like you to know:

I am a pediatric nurse by trade ...
"I love my patients. Most are premature infants or toddlers. All are considered medically fragile."

... an adult LDer by birth ...
"My family the sitcom! Seriously we are quite entertaining. Both my husband and I have learning disabilities that we gave to our children. We do not go by any one measure of normalcy but our own!"

... a special education advocate by choice.
"My kids are individuals with great courage,resilience and intelligence.
They are their own best advocates.
They make me proud everyday."

Some Socks favorites:

• Links: Net Haven LD Online
• Dream vacation: A weeklong nap
• Dream: Someday I would like to change the world

e-mail Socks here

Cris (Cris Floming)

Cris is the mother of a beautiful daughter, who was born in 1995 with a host of learning difficulties, including ADHD, epilepsy, processing disorders and vision issues. Cris continues to learn more about her issues and continue to place pieces of her puzzle together.

Despite her challenges, she is a happy, loving, compassionate child whose awesome spirit and can-do attitude help her continue to love school.

Married since 1991, Cris’ husband works in construction. Cris is also stepmother to two children.

For the last nine years, Cris has worked in a school district as a para-professional, initially in an early intervention classroom. This year, Cris works in a literacy center and helps junior high and high school sped students in the science classroom.

From May to October, Cris is also a kitchen manager responsible for planning, cooking and supervising breakfast and lunch (along with two snacks) at Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies, a 25-year-old institution devoted to preservation education.

Cris has a very strong faith. She has taught Catholic Catechism for six years, currently in the first grade class at her church.

Some of Cris' favorite sites:

SchwabLearning.org: - To gain knowledge, and give support to people who are just starting on the journey of Special Education.

Wrightslaw: - The place for law information in layperson language.

Epilepsy Foundation: - To gain knowledge from parents who have children with epilepsy, or have epilepsy themselves.

Net Haven: The best place to be... Chatting with people who know what it is like to be the parent of a child with learning difficulties, or with learning difficulties themselves. Incredible knowledge, awesome support!

Copyright © 2006 Team Prairie LLC, Urbana IL