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The disquieting side effect of our increasingly detailed longitudinal studies of students is we keep finding warning signs of a future graduation derailment earlier and earlier in a child's school years. Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found those warning signs as early as 6th grade— chronic absences, poor behavior, failing math or language arts, which when put together lead to a 90 percent risk that a student won't graduate on time. A study to be released this morning at the American Educational Research Association convention here in New Orleans presents an even earlier warning sign: A student who can't read on grade level by 3rd grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time. Add poverty to the mix, and a student is 13 times less likely to graduate on time than his or her proficient, wealthier peer.

Click here to visit the Western Montana CSPD homepage to register What: Want an intriguing conference that will channel you and your students to an invigorating new level, change the current path of your classroom, and set the course for change in your school? Then don't miss the 2011 August Institute. There is something for everyone regardless of how you perceive your classroom technology integration skills and teaching. You’ll leave with new ideas, knowledge of at least one free online application and many techniques to set your students on an exciting path of innovation and self motivation. When: August 8-10, 2011 Where: Missoula, MT

Click here to register for this event What: Please join HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau for an informative webinar showcasing: “Autism Case Training (ACT) – A Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Curriculum.”  This curriculum is designed to educate future pediatricians on fundamental components of identifying, diagnosing, and managing autism spectrum disorders.  It was developed in a partnership between HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship Training Program and CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early” team. When: 9am-11pm Mountain Registration: Available at http://mchcom.com/

Click here to download the full flyer (PDF) What: Have you been waiting for your children to start school before you complete your GED or prepare for College? Wait NO Longer -- Call 406-523-4033 to enroll in Spring/Summer classes! Education for the whole family begins at Even Start, located at 310 S. Curtis in Missoula, MT. Adult Education GED ESL –English as a Second Language Vocational Training Prepare for College Parent and Child Together Time Activities for Parents and Children to Learn and Play Together Early Childhood Education for Children Ages  0-8 years Physical, Intellectual, Social, Emotional and Language Development Scientifically-based curriculum Parent Education Child Development Language and Literacy School Readiness Community Resources

What: In order to help keep you more informed, we are hosting monthly calls to update you on various disability issues as well as to introduce you to persons who work on disability issues in the Federal government. This call is open to everyone, and we strongly urge and ask that you distribute this email broadly to your networks and listservs so that everyone has the opportunity to learn this valuable information. If you received this email as a forward but would like to be added to the White House Disability Group email distribution list, please visit our website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/disability-issues-contact and fill out the contact us form in the disabilities section or you can email us at disability@who.eop.gov and provide your full name, city, state, and organization. We are excited to announce that Dr. Jill Biden will be speaking on our next call that will take place on Monday, June 27 at 10:30 AM Eastern. We apologize for the early time, but due to the time difference in Greece, this was necessary. When: June 27, 2011 8:30am Mountain Conference Call information: Dial in for listeners: 800-230-1951 Title: White House Disability Call (use instead of code) This call is off the record and not for press purposes.

Click here to register for this event What Mark your calendars for Friday, November 18 and plan to attend the 2011 Prematurity Summit! This educational conference will feature sessions on Post Partum Depression and PTSD relating to premature birth, a parent panel on the effects of prematurity, and the importance of waiting until 39 weeks completed gestation for delivery. This conference will provide a luncheon, light snack and materials, and CEU’s will be available! Seating is limited, so make sure to reserve your spot early! When: Friday, November 18, 2011 11:00am - 5:00pm Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel 3rd Floor, Ballroom C 27 North 27th Street Billings, Montana

Working and non-working parents alike are forced to scurry to school in the middle of the day to pick up children for issues that the school could have typically handled internally. These repeated pick-up calls beg the question as to whether the school can legally require parents to come get their special needs children before the school day concludes.

Course covers strategies to help children whose early experiences deprived them of the nurturing needed to develop the essential capacity to connect with others. Emphasis is on significant discoveries in the fields of neuroscience, childhood trauma, grief and loss, child development, and family systems that have fueled the evolution of the Attachment Treatment philosophy to a broader method of caring for emotionally distressed children, the Relational Development treatment approach.

The animated characters in your preschooler’s favorite TV show invite her to interact, play and learn. But is she learning? Only a little, according to a Vanderbilt study, which found that educational programming is minimally effective unless parents watch too—and engage the child. In a first-of-its-kind study, parents were trained to pause, ask questions and encourage the child to tell parts of the story while they watched educational videos together. When evaluated, the 3-year-olds whose parents used this simple technique—known as dialogic questioning—showed significant gains in vocabulary and comprehension over those who watched alone.

A major pediatricians’ group is issuing new guidelines for physicians diagnosing intellectual and other developmental disabilities. In a clinical report published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its recommendations, which were first released in 2006. Specifically, the new report emphasizes advances in genetic testing in recent years that can aid in providing a more precise diagnosis for children with various delays.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The secret to boosting the language skills of preschoolers with disabilities may be to put them in classrooms with typically developing peers, a new study finds.Researchers found that the average language skills of a child’s classmates in the fall significantly predicted the child’s language skills in the spring – especially for children with disabilities.The results support inclusion policies in schools that aim to have students with disabilities in the same classrooms alongside their typically developing peers, said Laura Justice, co-author of the study and professor of teaching and learning at The Ohio State University.

“We are finding more solid evidence, based on higher quality studies, that these early intensive behavioral interventions can be effective for young children on the autism spectrum, especially related to their cognitive and language skills,” said lead author Amy Weitlauf, Ph.D., assistant professor of Pediatrics and a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator. “But the individual response to these treatments often varies from child to child.”

Quick, name the most common chronic disease of childhood in the United States. I bet you didn't say dental caries, or as any kid who has heard the ominous whirring sound of a dentist's drill would call them, "cavities." Fifty-nine percent of kids between 12 and 19 have at least one cavity, and poor and minority children are disproportionately affected, according to this study by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Developing effective, real-world-ready approaches to providing early diagnosis, treatment, and supportive services for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the goal of 12 research grants awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). These grants are part of a broad research effort to provide models for the delivery of needed services to children, youth, and adults with ASD, across different communities and care settings, appropriate to each age and individual. NIMH is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).