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Alexis Wineman has always been different. And her story of succeeding in spite of her differences needs no embellishment.Wineman, 18, is the first Miss America contestant to be diagnosed with autism. According to the National Institutes of Health, autism is a neurodevelopment disorder whose hallmark feature is impaired social interaction.

When the Montana Office of Public Instruction notified Frazer's schools that because of poor performance, it was stepping in with a federally funded program intended to turn things around, the state office didn't get push-back. They got buy in.

When parenting a child with special needs, moments of respite are few and far between — just ask Michelle Patterson, co-creator of the new Peace Place respite care center at First Presbyterian Church.

When Lara Duranti's husband Anthony was transferred to Malmstrom Air Force Base from Colorado this time two years ago, she was on the phone immediately with the school district working to make sure that when her special needs daughter enrolled at Loy Elementary, she wouldn't fall behind.

This spring, Montana State University's College of Nursing and Extended University offer a series of recorded Webinars designed for primary care providers who offer mental health care in their practices but who are not mental health professionals.Topics cover conditions that often present in the primary care setting: Diagnostics; Pharmacotherapy; Depressive Disorders; Anxiety Disorders; Bipolar Disorders; Cognitive Disorders in the Older Adult; and Managing Neurobehavioral Crises.

With a grant from the state, the Center for Mental Health has hired two case managers whose specific goal is to intervene when a crisis occurs with a child and make sure that the child and their family are referred to the many services available in the community for support, Zimmer said.

“There will always be someone worse off and better off than you. Always.”I hear this repeated whenever we take our daughter with cerebral palsy to medical appointments, and we see children who are bald after grueling rounds of chemotherapy or families dealing with children’s emotional and behavioral issues.I count my blessings and say to myself, “Self, you are lucky.” I look at my daughter happily tooling around in her wheelchair the color and sheen of nail polish while I fight the urge to run from the repetitive questions and forms in triplicate to skedaddle in the direction of the nearest Krispy Kreme.There are times I forget how the world sees my daughter: a cute girl who walks with a strange gait, who most often is drooling and who uses a communication device to speak. I forget that she resembles a broken marionette that has snipped her strings and says so much with a smile. What I see is a strong, capable, intelligent, goofy and amazing child who lightens hearts and communities that are blessed to know her.

Everyone knows a mom wears a variety of “hats.”We function as nurses, counselors, taxi drivers, coaches, and we have other responsibilities. Since my fourth child was diagnosed with a neurological disorder, my number of “hats” has increased.

Everyone knows a mom wears a variety of “hats.”We function as nurses, counselors, taxi drivers, coaches, and we have other responsibilities. Since my fourth child was diagnosed with a neurological disorder, my number of “hats” has increased.

The forum, which included 14 candidates from Great Falls and northcentral Montana, was organized by Parents, Let’s Unite for Kids, Disability Rights Montana and The Arc of Montana.

A forum of legislative candidates will discuss disability rights in Montana at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Cameron Auditorium at Benefis Health System, 1101 26th St. S., Great Falls.The forum is sponsored by Parents, Let’s Unite for Kids, Disability Rights Montana and The Arc of Montana.

Schools across Montana that are trying to improve student success just got an extra boost in their efforts.Schools on the Fort Peck, Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations will receive $1.8 million over the next four years to support the well-being of children, not just academically, but socially and emotionally, by providing for continued “wraparound” services in their districts, the Montana Office of Public Instruction announced Thursday.

Autism advocates celebrated what they thought was a major victory when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010: They expected the law to require all insurance companies to cover pricey, potentially lifelong treatments for those with the incurable condition. But instead of creating a national standard for autism coverage, the administration bowed to political pressure from states and insurers and left it to states to define, within certain parameters, the "essential benefits" that insurance companies must provide.

A 17-year-old senior at Paris Gibson Alternative High School, Jordan Monroe leaves this week for the Jobs for American Graduates National Student Leadership Academy in Washington, D.C. He was one of only four students from the Jobs for Montana Graduates statewide program selected to attend.

A lack of providers who will see children with mental illness or emotional or behavioral challenges; waiting lists to see mental health professionals or therapists; and coverage issues combine to form a quagmire that advocates and professionals from around the state struggle to solve.

Participants at the 4th Annual Beautiful Minds Walk look toward the sky Saturday after releasing balloons marked with the names of friends and family members who struggle with mental illness or have committed suicide as a result of mental illness.

In Great Falls, 36 homeless students were identified in the 2005-2006 school year not long after the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Act was revamped by Congress; last school year (three years later) the district identified 211.That total is roughly 2 percent of the district's total enrollment, and it means there's, again roughly, a 50-50 chance one of your child's classmates is homeless.

GLASGOW — The Assiniboine Tribe's rich and complex history is being told in a striking documentary, titled "In the Land of the Assiniboine."

Produced by the Valley County Historical Society and award-winning cinematographers with Camera One Productions, the film is earning high praise and even a place in national museums.

The Montana Office of Public Instruction plans to distribute copies of the documentary to schools statewide and the Smithsonian Institution is selling it at its museums in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

For 40 years, Gail Bechard has had butterflies in her stomach every Sunday night during the school year.

A preschool teacher at Montana School for the Deaf and the Blind, Bechard said she's always been excited about the week ahead.

Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock rejected a request Thursday to conduct an investigation into allegations of abuse in a special education classroom at North Middle School.