Group items tagged

Top Things to Know for Families with ChildrenYouTube embedded video: http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/7BSJmEggpnYInsurance companies can no longer impose lifetime dollar limits on essential coverage limitsJob-based health plans and new individual plans are no longer allowed to deny or exclude coverage for your children (under age 19) based on a pre-existing condition, including a disability. Starting in 2014, these same plans won't be allowed to deny or exclude anyone or charge more for a pre-existing condition including a disability.Parents have new options to cover their children. If your children are under age 26, you can generally insure them if your policy allows for dependent coverage. The only exception is if you have an existing job-based plan, and your children can get their own job-based coverage.An Affordable Insurance Exchange is a new marketplace where individuals and small businesses can buy affordable health benefit plans. Exchanges will offer you a choice of plans that meet certain benefits and cost standards. Starting in 2014, members of Congress will be getting their health care insurance through Exchanges, and you will be able buy your insurance through Exchanges, too.Pregnancy and newborn care, along with vision and dental coverage for children, will be covered in all Exchange plans and new plans sold to individuals and small businesses, starting in 2014.In 2014, if your income is less than the equivalent of about $88,000 for a family of four today, and your job doesn’t offer affordable coverage, you may get tax credits to help pay for insurance.

Children learn more from television viewing when parents participate as they would during book reading, new research from Vanderbilt University finds. In a first-of-its-kind study, children showed significant gains in vocabulary and comprehension when parents asked them questions about the content, rather than simply parking them in front of the screen.

Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced a new streamlined website and several social media tools that will make it easier for students and families to navigate the financial aid process and make informed decisions about paying for college. The launch of the new website, StudentAid.gov, follows a report from the U.S. Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about consumer protection issues with private student loans and recommendations to improve the student loan marketplace.

About one in five children who appeared to have autism in 2006 and 2008 would lose that classification with the diagnostic criteria for autism released last year, according to a study published yesterday in JAMA Psychiatry1.

WASHINGTON, DC (October 10, 2013) -- Autism Speaks today issued autism-specific resources to help families understand the Affordable Care Act and the new changes that will affect health insurance coverage, beginning in 2014. These resources are a prelude to the “Autism Speaks Insurance Link,” a new interactive web tool Autism Speaks will unveil shortly to help families determine whether they are eligible for autism benefits under their current coverage.

Peer-led interventions that target parental well-being can significantly reduce stress, depression and anxiety in mothers of children with disabilities, according to new findings released today in the journal Pediatrics. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from Vanderbilt University examined two treatment programs in a large number of primary caregivers of a child with a disability. Participants in both groups experienced improvements in mental health, sleep and overall life satisfaction and showed less dysfunctional parent-child interactions.

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — After less than two hours in the maternity ward, with her boyfriend, his mother and a nurse-midwife by her side, Jacquelynn Torivio gave birth to a five-pound, five-ounce son with his grandmother’s dimples and a full head of shiny black hair.

As she held him, Ms. Torivio’s spirits clearly matched her Hopi name, Nuquahynum — “a feather flying high.”

It was the kind of birth that many women in the United States could only wish for. Ms. Torivio had a vaginal birth, even though her previous child had been delivered by Caesarean section. Because of that prior surgery, many hospitals would not have let her even try to give birth vaginally, but would have required another Caesarean.

We want to help you make the most of the latest technologies and innovative ways to use them as we settle into the 2009-10 school year, so we've put together a brand-new free resource for you: the PDF Ten Top Tips for Teaching with New Media. Full of succinct and practical ways to prepare our students for 21st-century success, this guide will help you deliver the relevant and meaningful education all students deserve.

Two new studies that follow the development of children with autism suggest that distinct subgroups of the disorder exist early on and that the severity of symptoms in most of these children remains stable over time. 

Toilet training is teaching an entire new skill. Teaching new skills to children with autism spectrum disorders works best when the steps to the task are organized into simple pieces. Teaching must also be consistent at all times and become predictable to the child in terms of rewards and consequences. In order for toilet training to be successful, the child must move from depending on reminders (timed trips to the bathroom) to recognizing the signs of a full bladder and taking the necessary actions him/herself.

BILLINGS - As of December 13th, a new unit has been added to the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch. A unit designed specifically for the treatment and care of autistic children.

People with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression can lose weight and keep it off through a modified lifestyle intervention program, a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded study reported online today in The New England Journal of Medicine. Over 80 percent of people with serious mental illnesses are overweight or obese, which contributes to them dying at three times the rate of the overall population. They succumb mostly to the same things the rest of the population experiences — cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Although antipsychotic medications increase appetite and cause weight gain in these patients, it is not the only culprit. Like the general population, sedentary lifestyle and poor diet also play a part. Lifestyle modifications such as diet and exercise should work for these patients, yet they are often left out of weight loss studies.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Senate has passed a bill requiring schools to place video cameras in special education classrooms to help protect students from abusive teachers.Sen. Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, says his panel heard heartbreaking testimony from parents of special needs children who were beaten in their class.