Womans-Corner
Articles and Information for Working Women and Family
Special Needs Children

The advice contained within these articles is offered for your consideration by Lisa Simmons. You, as a parent or professional, must decide whether any of the ideas presented here should be implemented in your unique situation. The staff of the Ideal Lives Project encourage all site visitors to always utilize this information in a manner that is respectful and in the best interest of their child, student or loved one.

Finding Answers on the Internet
by Lisa Simmons

The Internet is a wonderful superhighway of information. The variety of perspectives & knowledge you can find on-line is truly astounding -- provided you know how to navigate the road! If you need some tips to help you avoid the usual headaches and delays, right this way. . .

Step 1 - Figure out what you need to know

This may sound obvious, but it will be much more difficult to find the information you want if you just have a vague topic in mind. Each time you start on an "information adventure" decide exactly what information you want to find. If you have a 10-year-old son with Tourette's Syndrome then you may be looking for information on:

• Tourette's Syndrome
  
• Individualized Education Programs
  
• behavior supports
  
• academic supports

Decide before you begin, "today I want to find information on X". That will make the next steps much simpler.

Step 2 - Start with the right search engine

It seems logical to assume that the best place to start is with the largest search engine you can think off. But do you REALLY want to wade through the millions of listings that will come up if you go to Yahoo and type in "disability resources"? It's usually better to look for a search engine that automatically optimizes your results. This means ithey do most of the sorting for you and give you a shorter list of the sites they feel are MOST RELEVANT to your search request.

One I particularly like is Google (http://www.google.com). Google gives you a nice range of results, but offers you only the entries that seem most relevant.

Step 3 - Select the right keyword(s)

Once you've arrived at the search engine you will need to enter a key word or phrase to start your search. This is a critical step -- the effectiveness of your search is, in large part, determined by your choice of keyword. Back to our example.

If the 10 year old is having trouble at school, you may be interested in finding ideas for academic supports to include in his next Individualized Education Program (IEP). Possible keywords might be:

• Tourette's syndrome
  
• Curriculum modifications
  
• Educational supports
  
• The subject, i.e. reading impairments

Each of these keywords will lead you down a different research path. Now, before you start trying to figure out which one is correct let me say this --- ALL of these keywords could lead you to useful information! In fact, if you don't find what you're looking for with your first choice you may want to back up to this step and simply choose a different keyword & try again.

Step 4 - Browse through your search results

You've entered your keyword and now you have search results. Browse through them and select 2 or 3 sites that you think look promising. Why just 2 or 3? Because search engines are designed to be the start of the journey not the end. Your goal is simply to find some starting places that will connect you to the proper on-line community. Once you've found a good starting place you are shouldn't have to return to the search engine.

Step 5 - Follow your nose

Now the real fun begins and you discover how truly "web-like" the world wide web is. Check your first site for the information you're after. If you find good info, but not all that you want, look for a page titled "related links" or "links of interest". This page will offer you an entire array of web sites related to your area of interest. Follow each lead until you:

• Have all the information you need
  
  
• Run out of sites to visit (remember each related link site will have it's own page of links to continue the journey)
  
  
• Stop finding useful information or
  
  
• Collapse from information overload!

If all this sounds complicated or time consuming -- you're right, it can be. It can also be immensely satisfying and lead you to new ideas you might never have considered. But if your time is at a premium, I do have one other suggestion -- "The Internet Resource Guide for Parents & Disability Professionals". This electronic guidebook is the result of months spent using this process to scour the web for quality disability resources. It covers 75 of the most frequently searched disability topics & reviews over 1300 individual web resources. It is a terrific solution for those who need answers immediately or who want help finding accurate, quality information. For more information about the Resource Guide, visit http://www.ideallives.com/resource_guide.htm

Whichever path you choose -- happy hunting and may your research adventure be a fun one!.

All My Best,

* Note: If you should discover a broken link within the above article, please contact the Author and inform them of the problem. Thank you.