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Health insurance can be an invaluable resource for families with children with autism to help make the often high-cost and high-frequency treatments for their child more affordable.  However, making sure that services and providers are covered can be confusing and time-consuming.  Below are some tips for how to make the process more manageable and to maximize coverage.

Click here to register!Whats and Whens:Pre sessions, Wednesday, January 18, 1-4 pm include workshops on: Proposed Montana Common Core Standards Math Proposed Montana Common Core Standards in English Language Arts Instructional Uses of English Language Proficiency (ELP), WIDA assessment results ACT Plus Writing training Thursday, January 19, 8:30-4:25 pm 8:30 am, Keynote: Tony Alpert, CEO of the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, will provide updates and insights on the adaptive online assessment implementation in 2014-15. Friday, January 20, 8:30-11:30 am 8:30 am, Keynote: Montana GEMS data warehouse project. Conference presentations include sessions on assessment and data training for the 2012 MontCAS CRT test administration. Regularly updated information about the conference offerings and a call for proposals can be found at http://www.opi.mt.gov/curriculum/MontCAS/#p7GPc1_ Where:Red Lion Colonial InnHelena, MontanaContact:Judy SnowPhone: 406- 444-3656.

As a parent of a child with special needs, I understand firsthand the financial struggles that come with the job.  When I discovered the iPad and the benefits it could have for my son, it became my mission to find a way to provide one for him.  This is a simplified version of the steps I took in getting my iPad covered by insurance, and it is my hope that others can benefit from this information. 

Click here for more information! What:MCT in Missoula is putting on two special performances of Once Upon A Mattress, designed specifically for people with Autism and Aspergers.  This means they will be moderating noise levels, using increased visual aids, eliminating any lights shining into the audience and making other adaptations to make the play accessible and enjoyable for people with different sensory processing. Quiet areas will be provided for children who want to withdraw for a break.  A company in New York originally did an adaptive play for school children on the autism spectrum to great success and heartfelt appreciation by the children and their families. MCT is adopting some of the lessons learned by the NY company and doing some adapting of their own. MCT plans to put on at least two performances and may extend if that seems desirable. To help apprehensive theatre-goers who might not know what to expect, a website is being created so that families can travel step-by-step through the evening and be fully prepared for the fun to follow. When:Tuesday, January 24, 2012Show begins at 6:30 pmWhere:Missoula, MTMissoula Childrens TheatreContact and Reservations:Alexandra Volkerts - (406)449-2344 or email her at Alexis@disabilityrightsmt.orgTickets are available at the MCT Box Office or to make your reservations call (406) 728-7529. All seats are $10.

Today, the Department of Education announced new steps to help close the achievement gap for students with disabilities by moving away from a one-size-fits-all, compliance-focused approach to a more balanced system that looks at how well students are being educated in addition to continued efforts to protect their rights. While the Department has effectively ensured access to educational resources for students with disabilities, not enough attention has been paid to educational outcomes, which have not sufficiently improved. This is partly due to the fact that federal policy has focused more on procedural requirements and not enough on critical indicators like increasing academic performance or graduation rates for students with disabilities.

Today, the Department of Education announced new steps to help close the achievement gap for students with disabilities by moving away from a one-size-fits-all, compliance-focused approach to a more balanced system that looks at how well students are being educated in addition to continued efforts to protect their rights.

Since the current process of conducting on-site state compliance reviews has not focused enough on improving student outcomes, the Department will not be carrying out the visits scheduled for the 2012-13 school year to allow it time to develop a new and more effective system. However, the Department will continue to review annual performance reports as well as monitor state supervision systems.

Morris is a dance professor at the University of South Florida, and more recently, an inventor. She was introducing kids with spina bifida and cerebral palsy to a chair she dreamed up. On this weekend in their class, the chair would let them dance. Not pretend to dance, not be pulled by a dancer, but actually dance.

On any given day, the feeds of my social media accounts are brimming with resources, stories, and motivation about disabled people: parenting tips, educational advice, how to work with someone who has a disability, etc. About us, but too often not including us. There are countless communities geared towards supporting parents, family members, and professionals, sharing words of encouragement on how to be the best advocates for the disability community. And while I understand such support networks are usually well intentioned, in many cases, they take the power out of the hands of the people who know themselves and their needs best: people who are actually disabled. Don’t get me wrong – allies, or what I refer to as advocate-allies, are incredibly important to advocacy efforts. “Ally” implies being supportive, while “advocate-ally” paints a more accurate picture of people who join in along with self-advocates. And true advocate-allies deserve the utmost respect. But a real advocate-ally is someone who doesn’t overshadow the voices and efforts of the people who experience being disabled every single day. Of course, as a disabled child is just beginning life, parents and professionals have a responsibility to play a key role as advocates. Obviously, a four-year-old wouldn’t be able to discuss medical procedures or know what kind of environmental access modifications are needed, so we can hope that parents will make sound and informed decisions on their child’s behalf. But as disabled children grow older, if they can communicate effectively in any way, then the primary goal should be to embrace the child’s form of communication, working with them to develop their own voice for advocacy. It can become problematic if parents or professionals are reluctant to relinquish their positions of authority and move to the role of advocate-allies, advocating alongside, instead of on behalf of, disabled people. Therefore, as important as it is to step up as advocates, it’s more important to know when to step down.

It’s a daunting tasks setting up an autism classroom or appropriately integrating students with autism in to general education setting. Students with autism are all so different and have a vast array of needs. Many of these learners need to be taught individually. It can seem impossible to effectively teach a group of such different students when so many of us our understaffed. Before starting to set up the physical structure of your room or making any schedules, you need to plan out what your students will be working on, how they will be working on these tasks, and what types of centers your classroom needs.

Quality special education services are intensive, individualized and expensive. Because parents want quality services for their children, parent-school conflict is normal, predictable . . . and inevitable.

Educators believe they are “the experts” in educating children. Some educators and service providers feel threatened by strong, articulate parents who are active advocates for their children. How do schools deal with perceived threats? Some schools try to limit parents’ ability to advocate for their children.

In this article, you will learn how to manage a crisis with the school. We describe typical parent-school crises that cause parents to seek outside help. You will learn that a crisis has two sides: danger and opportunity. We will describe how to avoid common pitfalls and provide strategies you can use to weather a crisis.