Special Needs and Inclusive Library Services (SNAILS)

Grab your calendar and circle Saturday, November 1 because you do not want to miss Handicap This! What started out as a friendship between Mike Berkson (who has cerebral palsy) and Tim Wambach (who does not) grew into a partnership and a passion to make minds handicap accessible. Through their comedic theatrical performances, Mike and Tim share the message of inclusion and tolerance, often bringing audiences to laughter and tears. Handicap This! is playing at North Shore Center for Performing Arts in Skokie  on  Saturday, November 1, 2014 at 8:00pm.   Tickets are $26.00 and $36.00. If you plan to go, please leave a comment below so I can share the coupons that were dropped off at Skokie Public Library and we can meet up before the show!

The fall meeting of SNAILS will be held on Wednesday, November 12 at Batavia Public Library at 9:30am. We're looking forward to seeing all of our west suburban friends and hoping library staff from the other local suburbs will join us as well. We'll be hearing a short presentation about Lekotek 's play therapy services, professional memberships, and library programs; meeting Jo Kaeding , a librarian and PhD candidate from Australia ; and learning about Batavia's library services for children with special needs.  Please RSVP to .   After lunch, from 1:00 to 3:00pm, attendees are welcome to stay for a two-hour workshop led by Lekotek play experts.   This two-hour workshop will be offered at $25 per person, if we have a minimum of 22 people in attendance.  If more are interested in attending, the cost will be less.  Please email by Friday, October 24 if you are interested in attending.  We'd love to have a great group! For an ove...

Today's guest blog post was written by Paula Shapiro.  Paula is currently a Youth Services Librarian at the Deerfield Public Library in Deerfield, Illinois.  Thank you, Paula, for making this fantastic contribution to the SNAILS community! I always have loved working with tweens. I think they are interesting, funny, insightful and often trying to find a way to fit in.   With that said, as most of us can attest, it can be tough to be a tween! There is not a lot of programming out there for tweens with special needs and I believe that this type of programming is important and beneficial to kids of all abilities. With the help of our wonderful teen librarian, Nina Michael, we started to plan our first program: Board Game and Pizza Night For Tweens of All Abilities.     The vision was to have it be a buddy-type program where we paired up neuro-typical tweens with tweens with special needs.  Here is the   visual schedule (from Boardmaker ) that I ...

Don't miss Webjunction's upcoming FREE webinar entitled "Serving the Underserved: Children with Disabilities at Your Library."  This presentation shares inspiring programming and innovative ideas for libraries to serve children with special needs.  It is hosted by Renee Grassi, Youth Department Director at the Glen Ellyn Public Library. Click here to register! Date : October 21, 2014 Time: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time (1-2:30 CST) Webinar Description :  Whether large or small, rural or urban, all library communities serve patrons with special needs. Developing an awareness of and sensitivity to children with disabilities is crucial for providing top-notch library services. This webinar shares inspiring programming and innovative ideas for new services to target this special population. Learn about what online resources are available for staff to serve children with special needs more fully, and explore strategies to reevaluate and make new ac...

The Deerfield Public Library hosted the August SNAILS meeting at their redesigned library. Tamara Kaldor from Chicago Play Pro was the featured guest speaker who shared information about using apps with children with disabilities. We also welcomed Paula Shapiro, Youth Services Librarian at the Deerfield Public Library , who shared what her library has done to serve children and tweens with special needs. Below is a recap of the meeting, but be sure to stay tuned for a forthcoming blog post highlighting in more detail Paula's innovative buddy program for tweens of all abilities. Using Apps with Children with Special Needs Tamara is a developmental therapist and advocate for people with disabilities at Chicago Play Pro. Her primary focus is working with children with special needs, but for the last several years, she has worked with librarians to help train and promote accessibility and inclusion in public libraries. As she explained during her presentation, "When I think ab...