Dear Friends,
With the summer on the wane we look back at our accomplishments made so far. With the click of the bright orange RSS Feed Button, The HEATH Online Clearinghouse brings you immediate updates of the many additions to our site. We’ve kept you abreast on announcements of scholarships, internships and/or fellowships, developments in postsecondary education and career developments for students with disabilities. Our Links continue to grow with the addition of new discoveries. We have added more information in our FAQs section based on your calls and emails to AskHEATH. And we look forward to you answering our call for publications.

We are pleased to publish “The Picture of College Freshmen in Greater Focus: An Analysis of Selected Characteristics by Types of Disabilities” which expands upon an earlier publication, “College Freshman with Disabilities: Highlights and Profiles.” The article brings into greater focus the discovery freshmen with learning disabilities portray a different picture than their classmates with other disabilities and without disabilities. Data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) annual survey of American college freshmen in which questions about disability appeared informs the article. Remembering that while this data is in no way comprehensive, we hope you find the final product illuminating.

To answer the many calls HEATH receives from parents and families of young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities we offer our resource paper, “Planning for Post School Outcomes and Emerging into Adulthood.” The article includes suggested goals for transition planning for self determined future. Added online resources are provided.

HEATH thanks the Urban Special Education Leadership for permiting us to reprint their "Planning for Successful Transition for All Students." We know you will find it a wonderful resource.

My summer reading included three great books:
Make the Day Matter! Promoting Typical Lifestyles for Adults with Significant Disabilities by Pamela M. Walker and Patricia Rogan; Forward by John O’Brien;
Disabled Faculty and Staff in a Disabling Society: Multiple Identities in Higher Education Edited by Mary Lee Vance; and
The Short Bus by Jonathon Mooney
You will find information about them in our Bookbag section.

We take you to our Internet Onramp with four articles on transition from The Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota. The Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota is a federally-designated University Center for Excellence in Disabilities that works to improve community services and social supports for persons with intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities, as well as those at-risk, and their families. It carries out research, training, technical assistance, and information sharing on disability issues across the lifespan.

HEATH is so glad you continue to ask us about our Guidance and Career Counselors’ Toolkit Advising Students with Disabilities on Postsecondary. We encourage families and students to use it as well! We want to remind you if you have difficulty accessing the links online to please check your computer’s firewall settings. And please be certain to review our various publications, resource directory, links, and updates for answers to your questions.

We always enjoy hearing from you and welcome your ideas. We invite you to take our survey to let us know how we are doing and what we can do to improve HEATH and its resources. We have taken all your wonderful and helpful suggetions to heart and put them into place. Give us a call at 202-973-0904 or check out our Website for current information at www.heath.gwu.edu.

Longing for an endless summer and wishing you all the very best in the new school year,
Donna Martinez