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Gov. Brian Schweitzer announced Tuesday he will restore more than $605,039 to the disability services budget. This is his first decision regarding the budget recommendations made to him by the budget director last month. 

Funding for special education, autism research and other programs aimed at Americans with disabilities is nestled within the $3.8 trillion budget proposed Monday by President Barack Obama.

This week, U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, testified before the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. His words and outlook for the future of special education funding were bleak.

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.

The governor\'s office is proposing $40.5 million in budget cuts.  $17 million would come from the Department of Public Health and Human Services.  The biggest cut would be $6 million in planned provider rate increases for doctors, child care and foster care providers, disability services and children\'s mental health services.

According to many, the United States is experiencing its worst recession since the Great Depression. Nationwide, cuts to mental illness treatment services are the most extensive they have been in the last 30 years. Montana is also beginning to experience budget deficits. While politicians and public officials publicly assure us there has not been budget cuts to mental health services, mental illness providers tell their clients cuts to mental illness treatment are imminent. I have received calls from individuals suffering from severe mental illness who are extremely anxious about their future.

Last week, the Montana State Land board agreed to lease coal tracts to a St. Louis company, and on Tuesday, Governor Brian Schweitzer announced that because of the coal deal, he will not be cutting approximately $600,000 to disability services.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer announced Tuesday that his administration won’t cut $605,000 worth of state services for the disabled — but said he’s not yet decided on $40 million in other proposed state budget cuts. Schweitzer said he’ll announce his decision on the other budget proposals in the next few weeks, as he monitors the status of government revenue.

School districts that want to reduce special education spending from one year to the next without restoring what was cut now have the blessing of the U.S. Department of Education. In the past, federal law was interpreted to mean that once a district set its special education budget, it could not be reduced permanently except for very specific reasons. One of those exceptions to the so-called maintenance-of-effort rule were limited to decreased expenses, such as when an experienced, highly paid special education teacher retired or a high-needs student left a district. Cutting the special education budget for other reasons meant a district was running the risk of losing its share of federal funds.

This post is part Seven of the Special Needs iPad & App Series. Almost from the day the iPad was launched there was an immediate buzz about the special needs apps that were available in the iPad app store. Apple quickly realized that the iPad was perfectly suited to enhancing the lives of individuals with special needs and created a special education section of the app store. Websites and blogs sprung up dedicated to reviewing apps for Assistive Communication, Social Skills, Life Skills,Scheduling and more. The need for the iPad is an obvious one for children with special needs. But what if you can’t afford one for your child, what do you do?

It's Time for School: Building Quality Education Programs for Students with ASD Wed, Mar 20, 2013 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT School Districts across the country are struggling to meet the needs of students with ASD. Budgets are tight making it is hard to think about being proactive when there are not enough dollars to even cover day-to-day operations. However, districts have found that developing quality education programs for students with autism can actually result in substantial savings. During this presentation Dr. Leaf will discuss factors that contribute to the development of classrooms that provide effective educational for students with ASD. Dr. Leaf will share what he has found to be indicators of a "good" school district, teacher and classroom. Dr. Ronald Leaf is a licensed psychologist who has over thirty-five years of experience in the field of autism; he worked with Ivar Lovaas while receiving his undergraduate and doctorate degrees at UCLA. He is co-author of: A Work in Progress; Building Quality ABA Educational Programs for Students with ASD; Sense and Nonsense in the Behavioral Treatment of Autism and Crafting Connections. Dr. Leaf has consulted nationally and internationally with families and school districts; he is Director of Autism Partnership.

Budget cuts in many school districts have some parents and teachers questioning whether they have the resources to support their students. NPR education correspondent Claudio Sanchez and Thomas Hehir of Harvard University talk about how to integrate special needs students into mainstream classrooms.

We live in a world of shrinking budgets, reduced staff and limited resources for Public Schools. Schools are fighting to survive let alone trying to educate our children. Add in the fact that 13% of the entire student age population has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and it’s no wonder that Special Education has once again become the scapegoat of the week. While eligibility, services and placement under an IEP are supposed to be based on need, and not money, that is not always the case. So the ability to motivate a School is one of the most important skills a parent can possess. Let’s start by defining what motivating a school in special education means. It means the ability to get the School on your side so that the IEP Team can tailor an IEP that meets your child’s unique needs and provides a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). 

A limited budget doesn’t have to stop you or your child from getting some of the best assistive technology available to help people with LD. These free resources will help you stretch your dollar while getting geared up for the new school year. Better yet, some of them may already be in your pocket—we’ve included features built into common devices like the iPhone and iPad that can be helpful for people who struggle with reading, math, organization and more.

He's part of a growing group of gamers with disabilities who are speaking out against accessibility issues in games and who run the whole gamut from big-budget AAA fare to tiny one-person indie productions. They're backed by charities, such as AbleGamers and SpecialEffect, plus dozens of passionate individuals doing their best to make the hobby more inclusive to everyone — disabled or not. There are signs that more developers are listening, too. Infinity Ward included a colorblind option and a special "N0M4D" control layout for disabled players in the latest Call of Duty. Indie survival adventure The Last Door has a dyslexia font and closed captions. The recently released MMO WildStar has, among other accessibility features, support for all three main types of colorblindness. Games are finally opening up to audiences that previously couldn't enjoy them, and everyone's gaining from the trend.