Special Needs and Inclusive Library Services (SNAILS)

SNAILS members met at the Oak Park Public Library for a wonderful hands on presentation on Physical/Occupational Therapy and Storytime Yoga with Kristy England, OT, from   Therapy Yoga Gymnastic Rocks . Curious about how to integrate more intentional movement that can be either calming or alerting, as needed? Watch her excellent presentation and learn how to put together a yoga story. Kristy's video , on YouTube (55 min) Oak Park Public Library's Shelley Harris also presented on their new expanded Supported programming classes for kids with disabilities, including why she rebranded as Supported instead of Sensory, plus book representation, autistic communities, #ownvoices , and neurodivergent narwhals . Shelley's video , on YouTube (51 min)  

SNAILS members gathered at the beautiful, newly remodeled Algonquin Area Public Library on November 29, 2018 for our fall meeting. In August, members shared their desire to bring more discussion to our meetings, so we began by talking about a couple of picture books. Discussion Benny Doesn't Like to be Hugged by Zetta Elliott This new paperback title addresses the sensory sensitivity of a little boy as told by his friend. It includes what Benny likes to eat, play, and wear, as well as the sounds he avoids and how his social interactions sometimes differ from others. The book is filled with diverse characters and short, rhyming sentences with a repetitive refrain. It's a solid introduction to unique differences and the importance of accepting friends just as they are. Isaac and His Amazing Asperger Superpowers! by Melanie Walsh We discussed use of the word 'Asperger' in this title when the DSM-5 no longer includes a specific diagnosis of Asperger's b...

Our summer meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 30 at Deerfield Public Library . Please plan to arrive close to 9:00am for morning treats and networking. Our business will begin promptly at 9:30am. Robin Jones This month, we have the privilege of hearing from Robin Jones, the Director of the Great Lakes ADA Center . Robin will be giving an overview of the Americans with Disabilities Act as it relates to local government (i.e. public libraries). Her presentation is jam-packed with legal and practical information, so this is a great meeting for library staff at all service levels to attend. In order to the make the presentation as relevant as possible, Robin would like to know what type of scenarios you experience when serving (or not being equipped to serve) people with disabilities. If you ever wanted to ask an ADA expert a question about legal requirements, best practices, or "what to do if..." this is your chance! Even if you can't make it to the meetin...

At our spring meeting at Mount Prospect Public Library on May 11, 2016, we got to hear from Melissa Lundt, the Special Services Coordinator from Child’s Voice . Child’s Voice was started by parents in 1996 as a way to empower their children who have hearing loss to learn and be successful. There are different programs: Early Intervention, a school program, and a transition program (the school program takes children up to 8 years old). Melissa explained to us how hearing loss happens, what the staff at Child’s Voice do, and the technology that is available to people with hearing loss. What was of most interest to us in public libraries is how we can serve people with hearing loss best. What we at public libraries can do: 1. Face the person when communicating with them. 2. Find out their name and use it. 3. Use visual aids. 4. Repeat important words and phrases. 5. Provide clear rules and expectations. 6. Talk naturally. This was just a sample of what we learned, b...

Our November 12, 2014 meeting took place at the beautiful Batavia Public Library thanks to our incredible host, Joleen Batek. We covered A LOT of information at this meeting, so what follows are merely highlights. Please check back later for videos of the featured presentations. Targeting Autism Our very own Renee Grassi is serving as a board member on the Illinois State Library's new Targeting Autism project! If you are passionate about making a difference in the lives of people on the Autism spectrum, be sure to follow the Targeting Autism blog and consider applying to be a participant in two stakeholder forums where experts and advocates will help develop strategies to support library patrons and family members impacted by ASD. The forums will be held in Springfield, IL in March and September, 2015. SNAILS Celebrations Congratulations to our member libraries who tried something new this quarter! Geneva Public Library offered their first successful Sensory Storytime. A...

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...

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...

Our winter meeting was held on Wednesday, February 12 at the Glenside Public Library.  Thank you to our hosts and to all of those who attended for your contributions to our discussions that day.  It was great to see you!  Here’s the meeting recap, with a video of JJ’s presentation: JJs's List JJ Hanley from JJ’s List spoke to the group about Disability Awareness.  JJ’s List is a website that collects reviews for people with disabilities, similar to Yelp.  Visitors can post information and reviews.  It’s a resource for people to use to find out how disability aware a business is.  The Directory includes at least 23 industry sectors, including libraries.  JJ encouraged the group to post our own reviews of area businesses as well as to add our libraries to the directory.  Contact Sarah Armour (sarah(at)jjslist.com) to help you manage your profile.  JJ’s List will also work with you to help your library get a Disability-Aware Business ...

Surprise! The first meeting of SNAILS was even bigger and better than we had envisioned! Approximately 35 attendees represented 30 libraries, and the crowd was abuzz with excitement about the new group and it's purpose. After enjoying a beautiful spread of breakfast foods and much needed coffee along with a selection of small goodies (e.g. National Association for Downs Syndrome  bookmarks , lists of recommended books for Sensory Storytime and teen programs, and Signing Time demo DVDs), we started off with a lively discussion about public libraries’ role in serving children with special needs. Some interesting comments that came out of the conversation were: The special needs community can be viewed as one piece of each town's diversity pie. Reach out to them just as you would to other groups. We have to be responsive to community need, and that need changes all the time. Parents of children with developmental differences need support and time to network with other pa...

Are you interested in better serving youth with special needs?  Join youth services librarians Holly Jin and Renee Grassi for the first meeting of the newly formed SNAILS Networking Group.  This group will meet in person on a quarterly basis and will connect virtually via blog posts between meetings.  We will discuss... programming ideas for birth through young adult (age 22) outreach services to youth with disabilities training opportunities for library staff strategies for partnerships with local agencies  assistive technologies and special collections to serve patrons with special needs resources to learn more about accessibility Youth Services Librarians and YS Staff, Young Adult Librarians and YA Staff, and LTA and MLS students are invited to our meetings. Dates for future meetings are: Wednesday, November 13 at the Skokie Public Library Wednesday, February 12 at the Glenside Public Library Wednesday, May 7 at the Vernon Area Public Librar...