Posts Tagged ‘In The News’

Disability advocates are chastising a group of Republican senators for proposing changes to federal law that they say would lower expectations for students with learning disabilities. The senators introduced a bill in September that would allow students with “the most significant cognitive disabilities” to be held to different academic standards and take alternate achievement tests. The […]

On any given day, “Brooklyn” is the fifth largest “city” in the US notes an article published on the NYACTS website. “It stands to reason that its public library would be a sizable establishment with extensive programming…and within its many programs, Brooklyn’s is a public library that serves as a model of best practice for welcoming people with disabilities.

The NY Times had a really interesting article on adult ADHD and how getting diagnosed can be complicated and doesn’t entail a simple test. It notes that more than 5 percent of adults have A.D.H.D., but just 10 percent of those adults have a formal diagnosis.

The New York Times recently published an article about the Harlem Success Academy 3 charter school in Harlem, a kid with special needs and the school’s seemingly unwillingness to deal with this child.  The article included a response from the school and it insistance that they do have other kids with special needs thriving in their program.  It also details the kid in question transferring and doing great in another program.  It’s an interesting and balanced read.  Read more here.

SI Live published an article about a proposal to eliminate some Special Education busing and instead reimburse parents for taking kids directly to school and picking them up. The city is exploring the idea of reimbursing parents who take their Special Ed children to school as a way to save some of the $800 million it spends on busing kids to school. “They could come on public transportation, they might use their own vehicle, and they would be compensated for that,” Schools Chancellor Cathie Black said.

The Wall Street Journal published an article about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal that would eliminate $98 million in direct state funding to help pay tuition at Special Education schools, which can range from $40,000 a year to more than $100,000. Cuomo would transfer most of that cost to local school districts, the way other special education programs are funded through a complex school aid formula that takes into account district taxpayers’ relative wealth.

The New York Times published a great article last fall about our friend Jennifer Choi and her babysitter who was trained at the JCC Manhattan’s special needs babysitting class. The babysitter, Catalina Lopez, was working with the family before she became “certified” to babysit special needs kids, but she said that the program helped her gain more knowledge and insight in handling special needs children. And, Jen gave her a raise.

It’s been in the news for years. Many years. Vaccines cause Autism. The MMR vaccines causes Autism. It doesn’t cause Autism.  People have argued about this for over a decade.  And it’s in the news again.  The journal that published the original article scientifically linking vaccines to Autism retracted their article last year, and now say that is was an elaborate fraud.  Here are articles from the NY Times and CNN that have some unbelievable details about Autism, vaccines, lies, money and greed.

The NY Daily News recently published an article about a Queens church that holds a monthly Roman Catholic Mass for families with in which special needs. The kids are welcome, even if they have trouble sitting quietly for the length of a mass.