Knoxville, TN -- The Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) is proud to announce the digitization of the Limb Loss Education & Awareness Program (LLEAP) for use as a teaching tool. The curriculum manual, photographs, stickers and bookmarks can be downloaded at no cost from the ACA Web site at http://www.amputee-coalition.org/publications_lleap.html.

The curriculum is aimed at able-bodied students in the 3rd to 5th grades, yet it can easily be adapted for use with children from preschool through 6th grade. The manual contains 24 lesson plans, tips for use in the classroom and an annotated bibliography. Photographs depicting children wearing their prostheses, stickers that can be printed on 2” x 2 5/8” size labels, and bookmarks are all available in full color for download.

Originally printed and distributed as an outreach program of the ACA, LLEAP addresses the social stigma of children with disabilities, particularly those with a limb difference. The curriculum is based upon the premise that children can be taught to recognize and appreciate differences in themselves and others.

Patricia Isenberg, MS, ACA’s Chief Operating Officer and author of the LLEAP curriculum states, “Building upon this appreciation for differences, children will begin to ask questions and develop a personal awareness of their attitudes toward differences. These experiences, hopefully, will encourage children to explore disability issues and their role in promoting acceptance of other people.”

Through a sequence of multisensory activities in the LLEAP curriculum, children will:

• realize that individuals are more alike than different
• identify their own strengths and attributes
• develop an appreciation for the strengths and accomplishments of other people
• explore interdependence and the nature of the helping relationship
• become aware of how limb loss/limb difference might affect daily activities
• appreciate the strengths and accomplishments of people with limb loss/limb differences
• understand the types, functions and limitations of prostheses.

For more information on how to incorporate this curriculum in your local school system, scouting programs or other youth groups, please contact Meredith P. Goins, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator for the Amputee Coalition of America by calling the ACA toll-free at 888/AMP-KNOW (888/267-5669) or through e-mail at mgoins@amputee-coalition.org.

Founded in 1986, the ACA is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. The mission of the ACA is to reach out to people with limb loss to empower them through education, support and advocacy. With a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1997, the ACA established the National Limb Loss Information Center (NLLIC), the nation's only comprehensive source of information for people living with limb differences. For more information, visit www.amputee-coalition.org or call toll-free 888/AMP-KNOW.