Links to Learn More About Improving School Climate

At the start of the 2008-09 school year, Autism Speaks launched an online School Community Tool Kit to assist educators and school staff in understanding and supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders.  This free Tool Kit includes several modules: an overview of autism, information about inclusion of students with autism, strategies for intervention, information targeted to specific members of the school community, and information about a variety of resources.  Click here to view the press release and learn more about Autism Speaks and their work.

Here are a few more helpful links if you are wanting to learn more about Autism:

15 Behavior Strategies for Children on the Autism Spectrum

How to Create a Backyard Sanctuary for Kids with Disabilities

For Educators: Strategies for Working With Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Helping Asperger’s Teens To Survive and Thrive: 15 Key Steps

Creating a Home Atmosphere of Solitude to Help Cope with Adult Autism

Tolerance.org Classroom Activities

Tolerance.org, a web project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, hosts a variety of resources and lesson plans to help parents, kids, educators and others promote diversity in their schools and communities.  Site visitors can browse a full list of classroom activities or search by topic, grade-level and subject area. Several activities focus specifically on disability rights and disability awareness, although topics on this site touch on issues of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, body image and size bias, bullying, conflict resolution, and more.

UNESCO – Languages of the World

One of the goals of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is to encourage linguistic diversity while respecting the mother tongue at all levels of education. A key component of inclusive education is the value and celebration of cultural diversity toward a greater unity among all children. The UNESCO Education Sector has prepared a World Languages Map, as an illustration of the linguistic diversity of our planet, as well as a tool that contains practical information on the languages spoken throughout the countries of the world. This interactive map allows students to search the globe in pursuit of a greater awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity.