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Click here to download the registration form for this event (DOC) Untangling the Dots  September 23-24, 2010 MSDB campus - Great Falls Topics this year include: Direct observations of braille students reading and writing braille at MSDB Pre-braille for the young learner Pre-braille for the adventitiously blind or MIVI student Formatting using Literary braille and the Perkins braille writer Transcribing and the use of Technology Functional Braille Creating Efficient braille readers Complex braille issues Review of the Braille Bill Concept Development The Use of Braille Curricula Please return form by September 13, 2010 to: Kerri Norick 145 N. Pheasant Dr. Bozeman, MT 59718 or knorick@msdb.mt.gov

Shriners Hospitals for Children, which provide health care to more than 123,000 children annually, without financial obligation to patients or their families, is implementing a fundamental policy change intended to solidify the hospital system’s financial standing.

President Barack Obama publicly honored Rosa Marcellino at the White House Friday, days after signing a bill carrying her name which will strip the term “mental retardation” from some areas of federal law.

About 300 people from across the state are expected to attend the Montana State Conference on Mental Illness on Oct. 27-29 in Billings. The theme of the conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel is “Recovery and Reform.” The conference will examine mental illness and recovery in a manner designed to help consumers, families, providers and advocates.

The trio of young women clasped their hands, bowed their heads and prayed before taking center stage as one of the closing acts of the three-day Montana State Conference on Mental Illness in Billings. One is a 17-year-old flutist in the Helena High School Band and member of the National Honor Society. One is a 16-year-old singer, dancer and cheerleader. One is a 17-year-old rock climber and No. 1 doubles varsity tennis player. And, each has a mental illness.

Suppose the typical U.S. health insurance plan didn’t cover treatment for cancer. Or suppose most American insurance companies put annual and lifetime benefit limits on cardiac care, limits that didn’t apply to other ailments. Imagine that the health plans still covering heart care applied higher deductibles to that treatment than to other health care bills. These ideas are outrageous, yet they are reality for American families living with mental illnesses.

HELENA — Year after year, the big kahuna in state spending is human services — and Gov. Brian Schweitzer's proposed budget makes no exception here, with substantial increases in Medicaid, the state-federal program that pays medical bills for the poor.

Need a little help at a great price to get where you are going in Montana? The owners of Rimrock Trailways are making a trip across the state to listen to input from riders and potential riders of their buses. "We really want to hear from bus riders across the state - specifically what they like about our service and what we can do to improve," said Eric Forseth, owner of Rimrock Trailways. "In the process of holding workshops in Missoula, Kalispell, Bozeman, Helena, Billings and Miles City over the next couple of weeks we hope to learn how to better serve students and other riders. Everyone wins in the end, we get people where they want to go, and we provide the services that are truly needed."

Four once-neglected horses will soon go to work helping people who also have survived on the fringe. The Egyptian Arabians will be the core staff at Hearts and Manes, a nonprofit organization that will teach life skills to adults with mental illnesses.

When Reed was an undergraduate at Montana State University, he was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition known as retinitis pigmentosa. But it took a few years — and a number of frightening vehicle accidents — before he was able to accept that he was losing his eyesight. Since starting graduate school at Montana State University Billings, he has embraced the reality that he needs to learn how to travel through life without vision.

TRENTON - Not everyone gets a state senator to write their excuse for missing school. But Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, was happy to accommodate Samantha Ravelli, of Ocean City, and her sister, Roseann, on Thursday when the two missed school to attend a Senate session during which Van Drew's bill to form a statewide Reading Disabilities Task Force was unanimously approved.

Ask most basketball players if they'd mind subbing in to a game with less than a minute to play - they'd *scoff* at the notion.  But not Huntley Project senior Sam Shaules.  Q2's Casey Conlon has the heart-warming story of the 30 seconds of game-time that not only make his night - but his entire season.

One of the biggest hurdles for school districts wanting to buy new buses or contract with a company that provides buses with seat belts is cost, since federal law prohibits retrofitting older buses. School budgets are already faced with financial crunches. Although most administrators admit if seat belts make buses safer then they should be required, determining how to foot the bill is another matter altogether.

After years of debate, a health overhaul is finally becoming a reality. Now what?

Many big provisions don't kick in until 2014, including the mandate for most folks to have health insurance and many new requirements for health-plan designs. Before then, you'll see a mishmash of other things go into effect at various times—and of course some of the changes depend on the Senate passing the House's so-called sidecar, or reconciliation, bill of changes.

Here are some ways you can start dealing with the new health-care landscape.

Apr 26, 2010 Great Falls, MT (Register Online) Early Registration - Save $20 Per Attendee! Apr 27, 2010 Butte, MT (Register Online) Early Registration - Save $20 Per Attendee! Apr 28, 2010 Bozeman, MT (Register Online) Early Registration - Save $20 Per Attendee! Apr 29, 2010 Billings, MT (Register Online) Early Registration - Save $20 Per Attendee

Through Crisis Intervention Team training, about 40 Montana officers were in Billings to practice interacting with someone with a mental health crisis