NICHCY-+Website+Review

The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities is a comprehensive website that shares information and resources about specific disabilities, laws, regulations and research for children ages 3-22. The website is helpful for anyone looking to expand their knowledge in any of the areas listed above. The website, http://nichcy.org/, is easy to navigate and explore. The NICHCY offers helpful information sheets, tips for parents and teachers, an overview of laws and regulations as well as a multitude of links to outside sources where one can continue their research. This site is solely informational and can be an excellent resource when trying to explore the area of Special Education. The headers at the top of their homepage help to easily navigate the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities. The headers are very generalized categories that pertain to different aspects of Special Education. Once someone has clicked on a header they will be taken to a new page in which they can begin to narrow down their selection. Overall the site is designed to be easily navigated but for a first time user it could become overwhelming trying to make multiple selections to get to the topic one wishes to research. The NICHCY website is an informational website and is not trying to sell products. The domain is .org, meaning that NICHCY is an organization sharing information not trying to sell or persuade people to think in one direction. There are not authors listed because the information is research based and taken from other national organizations. The NICHCY website compiles relative information into one location to make it easier for people to find what they are looking for. The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities is partially funded and supported by the Office of Special Education Programs and the U.S. Department of Education. All of the information referenced on the website is supported by national organizations. The fact sheets have multiple accredited resources listed at the end of each section. As previously mentioned the website is a resource of many different sites coming together to share information in a centralized location. Therefore the information is from accredited, up to date and accurate sources. As stated on the NICHCY home page, “We serve the nation as a central source of information on disabilities in infants, toddlers, children, and youth” (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.) This website is comprehensive when looking for information on children with disabilities. There is a wide variety of information on multiple disabilities. However, many resources offer outside links that will provide people with further information. Most topics are explored on the NICHCY website but for complete and even more comprehensive information the site links their pages with more specific websites. When looking up information on Autism Spectrum Disorders you may be directed to the Autism Society of America homepage. Overall, the website does provide a large amount of information that is certainly an excellent starting point when beginning research of children with disabilities. Education is continually changing from year to year. It is extremely important to stay up to date on the current practices, laws, resources, etc. The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities is up to date with the current research practices and laws. When navigating through their website one is able to determine when a page was updated by looking right below the title of the page they are currently viewing. When looking at the Disability & Education Laws page you can see that it was updated in September 2010 (National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.) One author did not create the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities. The site is a combination of many different resources from national organizations. The NICHCY is associated with the Office of Special Education Programs and the US Department of Education. Both agencies also help to fund this website. There is project contact through the Department of Education but they are not the sole author to the website. I would recommend this website to fellow colleagues, parents, friends, etc. The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities had valuable information that all could benefit from. The disabilities fact sheets are especially helpful because they offer specific tips for parents and teachers and are state specific. All of the information found was accurate and creditable. The majority of the information was research based and the links to further information are provided if one wishes to explore further.
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