Stone Soup Group

Supporting Alaskan Families who care for children with special needs.

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Resources for Families in Response to COVID-19

Health Care

Education

Early Childhood:

  • ROCK Matsu Community Baby Shower – For New and Expecting Parents – The Watch and Read section includes videos and links to information that you may find helpful on your parenting journey – https://www.rockmatsu.org/babyshower/
  • Tips for Families: Coronavirus Resources that offer tips for families including age-appropriate responses to common questions, a guide to self-care, and activities for young children experiencing social distancing. Zerotothree.org
  • Five Tips to Make the Most of Video Chats Video chatting with apps such as FaceTime and Skype is a great way for young children to stay in touch with long-distance family and friends. Use these five tips to help children build relationships, communicate and learn from loved ones on the screen. Zerotothree.org
  • At-Home Activity Guide Play promotes healthy development, even when you’re stuck at home. Zerotothree.org

Elementary:

  • ASDK12 Resources Anchorage School District Resource Page
  • Audible Stories Free stories for kids of all ages. Audible Stories is a free website where kids of all ages can listen to hundreds of Audible audio titles across six different languages—English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Japanese—for free, so they can keep learning, dreaming and just being kids – Amazon Audibles
  • Cincinnati ZOO on Facebook Home Safari, daily show with a different animal from the zoo, posted on Cincinnati Zoo Facebook page – http://cincinnatizoo.org/home-safari-resources/
  • Play Every Day Guidelines for playing during the Covid-19 virus physical isolation – State of Alaska – http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/PlayEveryDay/
  • Instruction-grade level based – Knowledge on the Go™ features daily consistent and coherent Eureka Math®, Wit & Wisdom®, and PhD Science™ video lessons, organized by grade and module and delivered by our experienced teachers – https://greatminds.org/math

Secondary:

All School Ages:

General Resources

  • Tips for Staying Safe During COVID-19 – A short video with some tips on how to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stone Soup Group YouTube Page – subscribe today!
  • 70 Resources for Navigating Long-Term Unemployment and Finding Your Next Job – This guide has compiled informational resources for those battling the issues that arise from unemployment and an unpredictable job market. Detailed in this piece are 9 sections on unemployment benefits and assistance, creating a resume and cover letter, professional development and learning, and many more relevant resources. There are even resources on where to look for job opportunities and mental and emotional websites to help deal with unemployment – https://www.onlinemswprograms.com/
  • Stimulus Payments and ABLE Accounts FAQs – Resource on financial questions for Alaskans with disabilities – GCDSE, DLC and SOA
  • IRS Stimulus Payment for Non-Tax Filers – IRS site for non-tax filers to input data to recieve stimulus payment
  • COVID-19 Information in ASL Video Series – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention series of videos about COVID-19 in American Sign Language – CDC
  • How Seniors Can Stay Virtually Connected with Loved Ones – 10 options for Seniors to stay in contact digitally during these uncertain times. Often times, older folk are less aware of the technology options at their disposal for communication, or simply do not understand their uses. This guide breaks down some of the more popular options for families to use to maintain communication with those they love. Each section breaks down each tool in a way that a beginner could understand the purpose and directs them to external ways to find out more information. I believe this could be an impactful additional resource to provide for your community during these times of great uncertainty – seniorlifestyle.com
  • Help for Alaska – Available resources in Alaska – Rasmuson Foundation
  • Alaska Coronavirus Response Hub – Main Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Coronavirus Response page [updated daily] – SOA-DHSS
  • Disability and COVID-19 portal – Southeast ADA Center launches Disability and COVID-19 portal. This portal has over 400 fully vetted resources for people w/disabilities including fast facts, virtual events, & the opportunity to share your stories – Southeast ADA Center http://www.adacourse.org/
  • Mat-Su Valley Community Resources for COVID-19 Rental Assistance/Housing/Food Resources for Mat-Su Valley during CoVID-19 situation – Unitedwaymatsu.org
  • Mat-Su CoVID-19 Resource Guide – Mat-Su Borough CoVID-19 Resource Guide – LINKS
  • Fairbanks Area Health & Social Services Community Resources Fairbanks Area Health & Social Services Community Resources – K12northstar.org
  • Fairbanks Parenting Hotline – Interior Alaska 907-456-9099 / 8am to Midnight Daily / Families will have access to information and resources, someone to talk to, and a listening ear from trained professionals – Resource Center for Parents and Children
  • Ketchikan Wellness Coalition – Community resources & Information during COVID-19 – KTNWC
  • Alaska Law Help Alaska Legal Services Corporation has prepared a resource to help answer most commonly asked questions – www.alaskalawhelp.org
  • ATLA – ATLA is launching a weekly chat via Zoom. From the site “Every Thursday from 11:00am-12:00pm, we will be hosting a virtual open house via Zoom for Alaskans to log on and chat, get answers to their questions, and connect with our specialists. Feel free to drop in and out as needed!”
  • Childmind Institute – Coping with Coronavirus Guidance about how we can most effectively support our children’s well-being, and our own, during COVID-19 – https://childmind.org
  • CDC – Stress & Coping with Coronavirus Tips for managing stress and anxiety during the pandemic and physical isolation – https://www.cdc.gov
  • Boardmaker – Free Coronavirus Communication and Teaching Resources – To help educators, parents, and learners during this time of need, the Tobii Dynavox team has gathered our resources and created Coronavirus materials within them – Goboardmaker.com
  • Covid 19 Tips for Caregivers of Individuals with FASD Alaska FASD webpage – http://dhss.alaska.gov/osmap/Pages/fasd.aspx
  • COVID-19 Resource for Individuals who experience FASD – Youtube Oregon Behavior Consultation
  • How To Talk About COVID-19 With People Who Have Autism (4 Minute Listen) – Parents and caretakers of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities such as autism face unique hurtles in communicating about the coronavirus pandemic – NPR
  • Advice from People who have a Disability on Dealing with COVID-19 – Webinar – Hear from self-advocates and allies on how to deal with COVID-19 as they share tips and strategies on hand washing, mental health, nutrition, and exercise. Steps on how to work with personal care attendants and direct support providers will be reviewed. Be safe in your relationships – what does social distancing mean in your friendships and relationship – AUCD
  • Advice from Family Members and Caregivers on Dealing with COVID-19 – Learn tips and strategies from caregivers and family members on how to organize daily life of caring for someone who has ID/DD and planning what to do if you get sick. Hear thoughts on balancing needs of taking care of children/adults with disability with caregiver’s needs. Ideas on how to help address/relieve anxiety, stay calm and carry on will be shared – AUCD
  • Coronavirus and Students with Autism Many parents are overwhelmed with questions and stress during this time of uncertainty. This article will give you some resources that may answer your questions and set your mind at ease – https://tacanowblog.com/
  • Alaska Autism Resource Center The AARC serves the needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorders, their families, caregivers, and service providers throughout the state of Alaska. We provide information, referral, training, and consultation via on-site and distance delivery.
  • Hearts & Hands of Care Bored? Not sure what to do during the day? Be bored no more! Hearts & Hands will be conducting activities via Zoom for the month of April. We will be posting Zoom Meeting IDs on our Facebook Page each morning or call 907-929-5826 to sign up – https://www.heartsandhandsofcare.com/
  • Special Education News – Online newspaper specific to special education news – www.specialednews.com
  • Plain Language Information on Coronavirus Basic Information with Photos – Vermont DD Council
  • Plain Language Information on Coronavirus – SPANISH Basic Information with Photos – Vermont DD Council
  • Print Out – How Long Do I Wash My Hands – 20 Second Visual – Print, cut out, and put up near handwashing sinks – Star Autism Support
  • Sequence Strip – Hand-Washing Routine – Hand-washing sequence visual – print, cut out, and put up near handwashing sinks – Star Autism Support
  • How Long Do Coronaviruses Live on Surfaces? – How long COVID-19 lives on metal, glass, paper and more with examples and what you can do – WebMD, CDC, FDA
  • Tips for Social Distancing – Tips For Social Distancing Outbreak Distancing, Quarantine, And Isolation During An Infectious Disease – SAMHSA
  • Coronavirus- The Resource Basket – Resources on COVID-19 and Support – The Resource Basket
  • Coronavirus Resources–Updated! – Resource list – Center for Parent Information and Resources
  • Coronavirus Social Story – Adults Help older students/adults understand Coronavirus
  • Social Distancing Social Story – Adults Help older students/adults understand social distancing – https://www.easterseals.com/chicago/
  • Social Story – Learning About the Corona Virus – Social Story – Learning About the Corona Virus – Dr Siobhan Timmins
  • Parenting during coronavirus – What to know about play dates, online learning and more – The Washington Post
  • COVID-19 and Students with Disabilities – National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools
  • COVID-19 Strategies for Siblings – Strategies to support siblings with IDD – Special Olympics
  • COVID-19 Guided Self-help Booklet Series – The University of Glasgow, with assistance from colleagues at Lancaster University, the University of Oxford and the University of Warwick, have published a series of guided self-help booklets developed to support people with mild to moderate learning/intellectual disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak – https://www.scld.org.uk
  • Grief and Loss Resources – Useful resources on grief and loss and how to talk to children – compiled by Family Voices
  • E-Book Central Explore e-books and audiobooks available for free. From children’s books to bestsellers. You can also find accessible e-book offerings, learn about downloading e-reader apps to your device, and more – New York Public Library https://www.nypl.org/about/remote-resources
  • Metropolitan Opera  Nightly Opera shows – Metopera.org
  • 15 Broadway Plays and Musicals You Can Watch On Stage From Home From Newsies to Sweeney Todd, running down some of the best filmed Broadway shows and where to find them – Playbill.com
  • Instacart Grocery Deliver Service – Anchorage, Chugiak, Eagle River, Eielson AFB, Fairbanks, Fort Wainwright, JBER, Juneau, Kenai, Ketchikan, North Pole, Palmer, Soldotna, Sterling, Wasilla – https://www.instacart.com/
  • Harry Potter At Home At the Harry Potter At Home hub you’ll find all the latest magical treats to keep you occupied – including special contributions from Bloomsbury and Scholastic, nifty magical craft videos (teach your friends how to draw a Niffler!), fun articles, quizzes, puzzles and plenty more for first-time readers, as well as those already familiar with the wizarding world – https://www.wizardingworld.com
  • StorylineOnline – Story time with famous actors – SAG AFTRA Foundation
  • Fender Free guitar (acoustic, electic, or bass) and ukulele lessons (3 months and to first 100, 000 people) – https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/03/fender-three-months-free-guitar-lessons/
  • Justin Guitar Free guitar lessons (tons of tools, resources, videos, and free community)
  • The Social Express – FREE Until June 1st, 2020 – Social Learning Made Easy – Welcome to the Social Express, a company focused on Social Emotional Learning and Career Path Exploration. Our animated interactive lessons allow users to practice in a safe environment the skills needed to manage real-life social situations. Our fun and easy to use programs help drive learning and success in and out of the classroom – The Social Express
  • Activities to do at home – Published in the Wall Street Journal – Activities List of Things to do while Home
  • Parenting during coronavirus – What to know about play dates, online learning and more – The Washington Post
  • School of Strength – Online fitness – Special Olympics
  • Sesame Street – A message to parents – Elmo’s dad empathizes with parents and encourages them to take a moment to themselves and do things they like and then leads a short breathing exercise and reminds us, we’re all doing the best we can and that’s great! – Sesame Street’s Youtube Channel
  • Sesame Street’s Covid Resources – Resources for discussing the pandemic, for schooling, ideas, print sheets, etc. – Sesame Street’s website
  • Sesame Street’s Caring for Each Other Page – Additional resources that help communities and families within them – Sesame Street’s website

Policy and Advocacy