Welcome to the Central Southwest Region!
NH Connections Central Southwest Region stretches up to towns near Hanover and Lebanon, through areas surrounding Claremont and follows the Connecticut River valley south to the Monadnock region, including Peterborough, and towns east of mount Monadnock, west to Vermont, and south to Massachusetts boarder. (See the full town listing in the column to the left.)
Over 24 School Administration Units (SAU’s) support schools in our region. The SAU’S range from some of the largest like SAU 29 comprising of seven independent school districts in the Monadnock region, SAU 43 Newport with four schools nestled in the western hills, and SAU 32 serving Kindergarten through grade 8 children at the Grantham Village School located in the Connecticut River watershed around Grantham Mountain.The diversity of our region provides immense opportunity for engaging our communities, schools, and families together to provide a unique and individual learning experience for all children in our region.
Please contact Elizabeth Macdonald
Central Southwest Region Facilitator
(603) 866-3111
emacdonald@picnh.org
Here is what's Happening in Your Region
Forums on Family/School Partnerships in Special Education
Last year forums were a great way to hold conversations among and between parents, educators, and community service providers.During the 2009-2010 school year forums were held in three sites in New Hampshire. Click on the region to read more.. In the new school year forums will be held in each of the five regions.Participants will discuss aspects of family-school partnerships. Three topics rated to be the most important will be addressed during more events throughout the school year.
Parents, Teachers, and Service Providers
Assisting Anxious Kids
“Are there any snakes in this room?” A parent cautiously stops near the door to the Science room at Hinsdale Elementary School. “No” replies a teacher confidently. “If there were, I would not be here!” They discussed the phobia they shared while they set up the room for an evening workshop organized by Hinsdale Parent Partnerships. The group hold regular workshops and events, and tonight they brought together parents and educators, to learn collaboratively how they could help children cope with anxiety at school and at home, to help children be ready to learn.
Anxiety can result from many and various experiences,
as more than 30 participants learned at this workshop presented by Dr. Celia Oliver of LifeStrands Counseling Services of Peterborough NH.
Dr. Oliver shared the physical and psychological symptoms of anxiety. She described several different phobias commonly responsible for creating increasing anxiety. Read more about this workshop
Camp and Recreation Inclusion
June 2009 The CRI team trains 30 young Counselors in “Building Relationships to Support Positive Behaviors at Camp”. City of Keene Parks and Recreation, MDS, The Family Council, NH Connections, and parent volunteers sponsored the evening, which included role-play to support positive understanding of different behaviors, and learning styles.
The work on camps was initiated by Shelley Viles at Antioch, and John-Michael Dumais - at the time the Regional Facilitator for NH Connections and Elizabeth Macdonald as one of the Collaborative 4 Autism volunteers (C4A a NHC initiative ) MDS, the Family Council and MFS. Later Keene Recreation Department joined the team.
September 2008
MDS and CRI collaborated in promoting “Gentle Teaching - Supporting People with Challenging Behaviors” by Dann Hobbs, a one-day presentation of the relationship based intervention.
January 2008
The group broadened their scope to serve children and youths with all abilities. They created a new mission: To Increase the recreational opportunities for all children and youths with all abilities
