Last year 2,614 people contacted FHI 360’s National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities with urgent questions. What’s an IEP? What does it mean when a teacher says my child has AD/HD? Where can I find other parents of deaf children?
And those were only the calls and emails. Thousands of others came to the center’s website and scoured its online database.
The center, which goes by the acronym NICHCY (pronounced NEE-chee), now has a new way to get information to parents, teachers, and others whose lives are touched by children with disabilities: a smartphone app. With the touch of a finger on an iPhone or a Droid, users can now literally tap into NICHCY’s extensive database of hundreds state organizations and local parent centers.
“Some of the information requests are our job to answer. But a lot are really for other organizations,” explains Elaine Mulligan, NICHCY’s project director. “We’re referring parents out to local centers all the time. DisAbility Connect means they can now refer themselves.”
Amar Trivedi developed DisAbility Connect. He says NICHCY’s database translates perfectly into a mobile app because users need site-specific information and can be immediately connected to the organization’s email address, phone number, and website. And the best part, Trivedi says, is that when NICHCY updates its information online, the app will also automatically update — meaning that no parent rushing to an IEP meeting will be left with too little information too late.
For more information about NICHCY, visit their website here.
Very useful app.. Nice work
Applications are made to make our lives more easier and helps us to embrace how our life more meaningful with this kind of apps. Smartphone can help individual with disabilities.
A really useful app for parents of children with disabilities or special needs.
I have a 18 yr old who is frustrated with school he says school is hard he is ADHD he did not finish the last 3 weeks of school but he is going to go back in the fall when school starts back up he will be a senior he only has about 1/2 the credits he needs to graduate I
Would love to see him graduate and walk across the stage with his diploma in his hand
Thank you for your inquiry about the app. It is currently available free of charge through the app stores for Android and iPhone users. For additional questions, please email NICHCY at nichcy[at]fhi360.org.
How can I get this app to use in our community parent resource center? I would like to learn more about the app and how to purchase it. You can email me at the email address above or call 402-431-2574