According to Disability Scoop, part of the Health Care Reform Act allocates substantial funding to help individuals with disabilities access care within their communities and not in institutions. The money is available to help people with disabilities who are living in institutions transition into the community with services and supports. Read the full article here and let us know what you think.
Category Archives: In the News
A Coffee Shop in a Middle School Helps Children with Autism Gain Skills and Raise Money
Woodrow Wilson Middle School in New Jersey has set up a coffee shop that their special class for children with autism or multiple learning disabilities is charged with running every Friday morning. The program aims to instill social skills as well as business and life skills to prepare these young students for life outside of the classroom. In addition to providing a service to staff and imparting concrete skills in the children, the program has raised money for field trips and and special activities that have been affected by budget cuts. We’re so impressed with the teachers who put these creative and effective programs together! Read the full article on their program here in the NY Times.
Special Education Funding in the 2012 U.S. Budget
Education is a hot button topic as the U.S. government begins negotiations on the 2012 budget. President Obama’s budget calls for a moderate increase in funding for teacher training, research and early childhood education for an education budget total of $77.4 billion. House Republicans are simultaneously promoting a budget that slashes $5 billion from the current budget and specifically cuts special education, including $1.1 billion from Head Start that would eliminate services for 200,000 children and cut more than 50,000 jobs.
Here are two articles from the NY Times and Education Week that further explain and break down the proposed budgets:
Obama’s Budget Proposes a Significant Increase for Schools
Obama Seeks to Shelter Education in 2012 Budget
Where do you stand on the proposed budget for education services?
Help Line for Families with Special Needs Kids
The Mom2Mom help line was recently launched by the autism center and behavioral health care unit of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The program seeks to offer caregiving moms peer counseling, clinical assessments and the resources and referrals they might need to locate services. Its founders recognize, however, that sometimes what a mother might need most is to talk to someone “who has walked a mile in their shoes,” said Cherie Castellano, program director for UMDNJ Behavioral Health Care.
This sounds like a great resource. With the preponderance of support available online, it’s nice to know there’s still a voice that understands a phone call away.
Autism, Vaccines and Andrew Wakefield
The current media storm surrounding vaccinations and autism is one that, I’m sure, we’ve all been following with great interest. The initial study that linked autism with vaccinations has been dismissed and retracted by the majority of the original authors. Currently, there is speculation that Mr. Wakefield may have falsified data. Many parent advocates are claiming this is a smear campaign being conducted in the name of protecting pharmaceutical companies to the detriment of children.
We know that this is an incredibly sensitive issue with opinions strong on both sides of the fence. We do think it’s an important issue to discuss, respectfully, within our community. For parents, do you believe that the MMR vaccination contributed to your child’s autism? What is your opinion of Andrew Wakefield and his study?
Here’s some coverage of both sides of the issue from CNN, if you’d like to see more on the reporting.
Congress To Consider National Special Needs Parent Day
A resolution calling for the establishment of a national day to recognize the parents of children with special needs is expected to be considered as early as Tuesday in the House of Representatives. Parents, you deserve this and so much more for all that you do.
There is some criticism of this resolution claiming that a day of recognition isn’t what’s needed as much as research, financial support and better services. What do you think?