NAMI started as a small group of families gathered around a kitchen table in 1979 and has blossomed into the nation's leading voice on mental health.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease affecting the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord).MS occurs when the immune system attacks nerve fibers and myelin sheathing (a fatty substance which surrounds/insulates healthy nerve fibers) in the brain and spinal cord.

Common symptoms of a relapse

About 10-15% of patients will have gradual worsening from the start of their MS disease.

Muscular dystrophy is a group of diseases that cause progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass. In muscular dystrophy, abnormal genes (mutations) interfere with the production of proteins needed to form healthy muscle.

Contact the NAMI HelpLine

What to Do in an Emergency

NICHCY is a national information and referral center that provides information on disabilities and disability-related issues for families, educators, and other professionals.

focuses on children and youth from birth to age 22

Resources on the NICHCY website and NICHCY information specialists are available to answer specific questions; offer referrals to disability organizations, parent groups, and professional associations at the state and national leve

What Is Non-Verbal Learning Disorder? Difficulty picking up concepts and patterns affects kids visually, socially and academically

Like autistic kids, kids with NLD often have trouble picking up social cues.

Recognizing NLD patterns

Students in special education have a disability and are in need of specialized instruction. A comprehensive evaluation, conducted by a team from the public school, evaluates and identifies these students. For every student who needs special education services, the team develops a special document called an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

Support for active interagency system leadership teams.Planning protocols to support coordination of services around individual students and their families.Tools for enhancing students’ strengths and interests in an IEP.

The Individual Education Program (IEP)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHSA's mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America's communities.

Congress established the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in 1992 to make substance use and mental disorder information, services, and research more accessible

SAMHSA has advisory councils or committees to advance its goals. Through these councils and committees, SAMHSA draws advice from public members and professionals in the field of substance abuse and mental health.

Section 504 is a federal law designed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs and activities that receive Federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Section 504 provides: "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance . . . ."

Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education.

4. What services are available for students with disabilities under Section 504? Section 504 requires recipients to provide to students with disabilities appropriate educational services designed to meet the individual needs of such students to the same extent as the needs of students without disabilities are met. An appropriate education for a student with a disability under the Section 504 regulations could consist of education in regular classrooms, education in regular classes with supplementary services, and/or special education and related services.

In the past, the term "speech pathologist" was used by professionals to describe themselves, but the term most commonly used today is "speech-language pathologist" or "SLP." Lay people have more often referred to us as "speech therapists," "speech correctionists," or even "speech teachers."

The term "speech" is used to denote the components of vocal activity such as phonation (the production of a vocal tone via the larynx or "voice box"), articulation (the movement of the structures in the mouth to create speech sounds to produce words), resonance (the overall quality of the voice as well as the process that transforms the vocal tone into what we recognize as a person's "voice") and fluency (the timing and synchronization of these components of the complex speech act). "Language" refers to the comprehension and production of language, including the mode in which it is comprehended or produced (oral, gesturing, writing, or reading).

Even the term "speech-language pathologist" doesn't quite capture the totality of our scope of practice.

In 2019–20, the number of students ages 3–21 who received special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was 7.3 million, or 14 percent of all public school students. Among students receiving special education services, the most common category of disability (33 percent) was specific learning disabilities.

Thirty-three percent of all students who received special education services had specific learning disabilities, 19 percent had speech or language impairments,2 and 15 percent had other health impairments (including having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems such as a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes). Students with autism, developmental delays, intellectual disabilities, and emotional disturbances each accounted for between 5 and 11 percent of students served under IDEA. Students with multiple disabilities, hearing impairments, orthopedic impairments, visual impairments, traumatic brain injuries, and deaf-blindness each accounted for 2 percent or less of those served under IDEA.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program provides states and territories with flexibility in operating programs designed to help low-income families with children achieve economic self-sufficiency.  States use TANF to fund monthly cash assistance payments to low-income families with children, as well as a wide range of services.

Contact information for state TANF programs.

The Office of Family Assistance collects and analyzes data on TANF caseloads, expenditures, work participation rates, recipient characteristics, and more.

A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is an injury that affects how the brain works. TBI is a major cause of death and disability in the United States. Anyone can experience a TBI, but data suggest that some groups are at greater risk for getting a TBI or having worse health outcomes after the injury.

Take Action to Improve the Care of Children with mTBI

Get the Facts About TBI minus Related Pages

Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a set of research-based strategies used to increase quality of life and decrease problem behavior by teaching new skills and making changes in a person's environment.

intervention strategies

Systems Change

According to the American Speech & Hearing Association, AAC is any system or strategy that augments or compensates for an individual's inability to communicate effectively.

Explore the following websites for examples of augmentative communication systems:~ prentrom.com (Accent speech generation devices)~ tobiidynavox.com (Tobii Dynavox speech generation devices and apps)~ saltillo.com (Chat Fusion, Nova Chat devices, TouchChat Express)~ ablenetinc.com (Big Mack, Step-By-Step, Super Talker)​​

According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), assistive technology means any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities (not just communication) of children with disabilities. 

A Timely Progress Review (TPR) is Social Security's way to track the progress of a Ticket Holder under the Ticket to Work Program.

TPR Guidelines

Employment Network Responsibilities

The Section 504 regulation requires a school district to provide a “free appropriate public education” (FAPE) to each qualified person with a disability who is in the school district’s jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the person’s disability.

How Is an Appropriate Education Defined?

Education Services Must Meet Individual Needs

An emotional and behavioral disorder is an emotional disability characterized by the following: (i) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and/or teachers. For preschool-age children, this would include other care providers. (ii) An inability to learn which cannot be adequately explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors. (iii) A consistent or chronic inappropriate type of behavior or feelings under normal conditions. (iv) A displayed pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. (v) A displayed tendency to develop physical symptoms, pains or unreasonable fears associated with personal or school problems.

A child with EBD is a child who exhibits one or more of the above emotionally based characteristics of sufficient duration, frequency and intensity that interferes significantly with educational performance to the degree that provision of special educational service is necessary

Eligibility and Placement.