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Text Box: It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
— Alan Cohen
Author of Chicken Soup for the Soul Series

Text Box: potential participants as well as to find skilled people to become Support Brokers - one key to the My Voice, My Choice option. The other keys:

¨ FREEDOM: planning your own life.

¨ CONTROL: over Medicaid dollars.

¨ SUPPORT: to be involved in your community as much as you choose.

¨ RESPONSIBILITY: for choices and decisions you make.

Individuals with disabilities benefit from a strong team of professional

Text Box: The Family Advisory Board has really been busy over the summer. To date, they have applied for and received multiple grants to help reach more families in Region 2. We know that family members who experience disabilities often get the most information from other families who have gone through similar experiences. FAB found a way to partner with other community members in Region 2 to help take information about resources to families—where they are in their own communities.

Text Box: Sometimes it is really hard to know what kinds of assistive technology might help our kids or family members. We get used to the struggle because we don’t know where to go for help. That is where the Idaho Assistive Technology Project can help.
In cooperation with the State Department of Education, the IATP provides technical assistance to school districts AT NO COST. In 2005-06, this meant 41 school-based assessments were completed. That is an increase from

Text Box: If you would like information about how FAB could help your community, contact the Region 2 Family Resource Center at (888) 746-2655 or via email jills@uidaho.edu.
If you are reading this from Region 2 and want to know more about FAB or how to become involved, don’t hesitate to contact the Idaho Family Support 360 Project.
More exciting news from Family Support 360: Soon we will be announcing a new Resource Center

Text Box: in another Region of the state. We would like to thank the many people who are helping to make this next Resource Center a reality: the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare, our Family Support Policy Council, and the families of Region 2.
They, in particular, have helped us see what resources and supports should look like! Thanks to them and a big thank you to FAB!

Text Box: and natural supports - such as family members, friends, and neighbors. Working together, they develop a plan for supports that work for the individual. For more info:

www.selfdirection.idaho.gov Support Brokers: can download a job description at the website above, or call Mellie at H&W at
(208) 287-1169

Self-Advocate Leadership Network:
Contact the Idaho Council on Developmental Disabilities online at
www.icdd.idaho.gov
or call (800) 544-2433.

Text Box: 28 assessments in 2004-05.
One of the key areas that the IATP helped districts with involved communication. Other areas included computer access, reading/writing, cause and effect, adaptive recreation, and listening.
The IATP coordinates with skilled Assistive Technology Practitioners (ATP’s) around the state. The ATP’s look at the student, the environment, and tasks through observation and input from IEP

Text Box: For more information on what
Is available through the Resource Center, call us at
888-746-2655
or email
jills@uidaho.edu

Text Box: team members.
If you would like more information about school-based assessments, contact Nora Jehn at (800) 432-8324 or email her at noraj@uidaho.edu.
As someone who has needed help with AT ideas, these no cost assessments are an incredible resource. If you or someone you know would benefit from an assessment, pass on the info to other families as well as your IEP team.

Text Box: Idaho has worked very hard to bring the My Voice, My Choice Self Directed Community Supports Waiver to life. Adults with disabilities who are eligible and qualify for the DD Waiver, may soon be able to choose the My Voice, My Choice option - where community-based supports are the key.
Right now, Pocatello, Moscow, and Boise are the first to offer this option. There, teams from the Self-Advocate Leadership Network and the Department of Health & Welfare are working together to reach