Monthly Archives: October 2023

Webinar Recordings Available for Purchase

eCourses and webinars, On demand webinars, Online courses and workshops, Videos

Learn on your own schedule with these recorded webinars, available now!

You will receive recording access information by email within 24 hours of order. You will have access to the recording for 30 days.

For Librarians and Educators

Learn basic American Sign Language vocabulary and how to use it in storytime with these lively sessions that teach themed vocabulary while demonstrating storytime activities and best practices for signing with young children. Each webinar focuses on a vocabulary theme and follows a demo storytime with language and culture notes to help you present American Sign Language to hearing audiences in context. $35.00 per recording.

Colorful handprints line the top and bottom of the graphic. Text reads: Little Hands Signing Professional Development Webinar: Autumn Signs (On demand) Presented by Kathy MacMillan, NIC, M.L.S. | storiesbyhand.com   Colorful handprints line the top of the graphic. Under that is a photo of a White woman with light brown hair and glasses. Text reads: Little Hands Signing Professional Development Webinar: Winter Signs (On demand) Presented by Kathy MacMillan, NIC, M.L.S. | storiesbyhand.com    Colorful handprints line the top of the graphic. Under that is a photo of a White woman with light brown hair and glasses. Text reads: Little Hands Signing Professional Development Webinar: Spring Signs (On demand) Presented by Kathy MacMillan, NIC, M.L.S. | storiesbyhand.com    Colorful handprints line the top of the graphic. Under that is a photo of a White woman with light brown hair and glasses. Text reads: Little Hands Signing Professional Development Webinar: Summer Signs (On demand) Presented by Kathy MacMillan, NIC, M.L.S. | storiesbyhand.com

One-on-one coaching calls also available.

For Writers

Text reads: So You Want to Publish a Book | A Webinar for Writers (On demand) | Presented by Kathy MacMillan, KathyMacMillan.com. A photo of a smiling white women with glasses and shoulder length brown hair appears next to the text. Images of an open notebook and someone writing on a laptop are in the background.Sale! $35.00  $20.00

You’ve got the idea, you’ve got the drive, and you’ve got the willingness to work to get your book in print. But where do you start? Kathy MacMillan, Compton Crook Award finalist and author of more than two dozen traditionally published fiction and nonfiction books for children, breaks down the bewildering world of publishing, from writing and revision to submission and publication and the realities of life after publication.

 

Storybuilding | An Online Workshop for Writers with Compton Crook Award Finalist Kathy MacMillan. Words appear against a green painted background next to a photo of a smiling white woman with glasses and shoulder length brown hair, surrounded by her book covers: The Runaway Shirt (picture book), Nita’s First Signs and Nita’s Day (board books), She Spoke (children’s nonfiction), Sword and Verse and Dagger and Coin (young adult fiction).

Sale! $35.00  $20.00

No matter your genre, a rich palette of details brings the world of your story to life. Compton Crook Award Finalist and author of fiction and nonfiction for children, teens, and adults Kathy MacMillan shows how to focus on the specifics you need at each stage of the writing process to build your characters’ world without ever losing sight of the story at its heart.

 

Manuscript critiques and coaching calls also available!

Upcoming live webinars open for registration.

Cogswell-Macy Act Reintroduced in Congress

Deaf Culture Resources

The following text is shared from a press release from the American Society of Deaf Children and will be of interest to anyone who supports educational access for all students.

A blue circle in the center of the graphic reads: COGSWELL-MACY ACT. In the uppper left corner is a photo of a white girl with blond hair studying something in her hand. In the upper right corner is a photo of a girl with olive skin and black hair writing something. In the bottom left corner is a photo of a Black boy with close-cropped black hair. He is looking at a page that an adult is pointing to. In the bottom right corner is a picture of a white woman with blond hair who is smiling at a child whose face is obscured by the circle of text.

Named for the first deaf student to be formally educated in the U.S. and for Helen Keller’s beloved teacher, respectively, the Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act was created to strengthen the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and improve services and education opportunities for deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind children, including those with additional disabilities.

We are proud to share the news that as of September 27, 2023, the Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act has officially been reintroduced in both the U.S. House and Senate.

As a nation, we have come a long way in providing education for children who are deaf/hard of hearing, visually impaired/blind, or deafblind. There is much to be proud of, and there are many success stories.

Still, many children continue to have unmet educational needs. The stories about opportunities lost are harder to share but deserve attention to improve your child’s future. If a child has a significant physical or intellectual disability, it is not uncommon for deafness, blindness, or deafblindness to be underreported and subsequently unaddressed. If we do not act, we accept that many students will continue to be underrepresented and underserved.

Key points of the CMA:

  • Increase training for teachers and other special education professionals so they are qualified to work with deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind students.
  • Require more appropriate and specific data tracking through appropriate evaluations and assessments, which will give us better data and information to best support our deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind students.
  • Encourage states to develop quality improvement services, such as requiring language goals to include measured progress in acquiring American Sign Language (ASL) as well as English, which leads to national expectations for quality services for deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind students.
  • Protection for special education placements for DHH and DB students, including deaf schools and deaf programs for DHH students.
  • Require interpreter training programs to prepare students for the educational interpreting field and move them towards educational interpreting licensure.

Educate everyone! Invite them to explore the full text of the Cogswell/Macy Act

Click here to learn how to advocate and show your support for this important legislation!