By the time he was 17, Antonio Rocha had bounced among 11 New York City schools and was reading at a first-grade level. It wasn't until he told school officials "I want a lawyer!" that things began to change.

With the help of an advocacy group, Rocha pressured the city to pay for 480 hours of private tutoring, which eventually helped him read at a functional level. Now 20 and working for United Parcel Service, he's one of three people profiled (and the only one comfortable with being identified) in WNYC Radio reporter Beth Fertig's new book, Why Cant U Teach Me 2 Read?.

Wednesday's edition of the Independent Record contained a dramatic story and a picture of a Helena man in crisis on the U.S. 12 overpass on Interstate 15. The community of Helena deserves to know the good news and the untold story behind the picture in the paper. The untold story is that all the different pieces of Helena's crisis response system worked well and this man is now safe and receiving the support he needs. He was treated with dignity and respect.

Ed Amberg is retiring in December after nine years at the helm of the Montana State Hospital and 30 years of working at the state's mental illness institution in Warm Springs. During his tenure, Amberg has been a key player in the push toward community-based care, which tries to get help for people with mental illnesses where they live instead of in an institution.

Lawmakers should work to increase the number of special education teachers and establish consistency in the implementation of services when Congress meets next year to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a group of school principals says.

Stone, 33, is blind and autistic, and in recent weeks has used leaf raking as a way to earn enough money to go somewhere she absolutely despises: the dentist.

The reader can read digital files of books aloud. It can also capture images from any printed material and use its text-to-speech technology to read aloud the publication at a variety of listening speeds. It also has a four-inch color display that can render the words being read in large font sizes. The device can read millions of books that have been formatted online for visually-impaired readers, and it comes with a high-resolution camera that can convert printed text to digital text. The reader can then read the words aloud to the user. It can even work with web pages if users first capture the text from a site in a plain text file.

NCRR awarded 18 grants to help determine outcome measures and increase the likelihood of success of future trials of treatments for children. The grants were awarded to 17 Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) institutions to support 18 studies of pharmaceutical treatments for children. The CTSA consortium is a national network of 46 medical research institutions working together to improve the way biomedical research is conducted across the country. The $8.5 million in funding — administered by NCRR and provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development — will support studies which focus on three areas critical to health: pediatric cardiology, neonatology and pediatric neurology.

ANACONDA — As they do in words, apostrophes can become wedged in people’s lives. Can’t. Don’t. Shouldn’t. Couldn’t. A simple apostrophe marks the end of what can, should and could be done. The Anaconda Work and Residential Enterprises, or AWARE, recently launched a quarterly magazine dedicated to deleting these apostrophes, targeted especially to those with developmental disabilities.

“This is a good way to get special-education students integrated with nondisabled peers,” said Marvin Williams, special-education administrator for the district. “Head Start children are good role models for our children with disabilities.” The setting works, Williams said, because the more peer modeling children have, the quicker they learn. It’s better to have their peers show them how to behave than have teachers tell them, he added.

Thanks to the generosity of many, Heather Stone, a 33-year-old who is blind and has autism, may be able to see a dentist sooner than expected.

Click here to download the flyer for this event (PDF) What: Learn about services to make your life easier after high school. Check into housing options, work and volunteer opportunities, and how to connect to your community!  Participants 18 and under who complete a Real Life Fair Passport will earn a chance to win a FABULOUS door prize! When: May 3rd, 2011 3 PM – 7 PM Where: Helena High School Cafeteria Target Audience: Youth with disabilities & their families

New York, NY — Eleigha Love, who describes her brain as a computer, and Jared Schmidt, a teenage sky diver, are the recipients of this year's $10,000 Anne Ford and Allegra Ford Scholarships given to two graduating high school seniors with documented learning disabilities (LD) who are pursuing undergraduate degrees. Anne Ford, Chairman Emerita of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), is a well-known philanthropist and author, who has been a long-time parent advocate for children with learning disabilities, starting with her own daughter, Allegra. The scholarship was created in 2001 by the NCLD board when Ms. Ford stepped down as chairman in honor of her service. In 2008, Allegra agreed to match the existing award, creating a second scholarship. Anne Ford and Today Show Host Al Roker presented the scholarships at this year's NCLD 34th Annual Benefit Dinner, emceed by Paula Zahn in New York City. Jared and Eleigha are two of more than 2.5 million students who are wrestling with learning disabilities. They are among the mere 64 percent of students with LD who graduate high school, and only 10 percent with LD that go on to a four-year college. "We received over 300 applications, and let me tell you everyone of them came from students deserving a scholarship," said Anne, handing out the awards to this year’s winners. “We hear so much about the challenges and struggles of students with LD, and it is so inspiring to see that so many are able to meet and surpass those challenges." "Our goal is to see every child with LD graduate from high school," said James Wendorf, Executive Director of NCLD. "We are still failing about 1 million children. We've seen graduation rates and classroom inclusion rise more than 15 percent over the past 10 years. But we need to continue to empower parents and teachers, reduce stigma among kids, and keep education funding on the top of the education agenda if we are going to see those numbers increase, not decrease." One of the biggest problems with learning disabilities is diagnosing them in time, before children get frustrated with the system. "To a child with learning disabilities, school can be a very isolating place, it can be a very frustrating place and frankly overwhelming," relayed CNN's Anderson Cooper at a recent NCLD lunch. "Too many kids with LD struggle to try and keep up with their peers and suffer from low confidence and self-esteem and lose their love of learning at a young age. It's hard to rekindle that once it's gone, which is why the work of this organization is so important."

The goal of iAdvocate is to share and develop specific strategies with parents for working collaboratively with a school team to improve their children’s education. iAdvocate uses problem-based learning strategies, simulations, and provides contextual access resources to build parental advocacy skills and knowledge.

Parents and caring adults can play pivotal roles in creating a healthy school and community climate that is free of bullying. By working together, educators, parents, concerned citizens, business leaders, advocates, and community members can support the implementation of bullying prevention programs, reinforce bullying prevention messages, and advocate for bullying policies to be implemented.

Webinar - All About Apps for Education: Just the Apps and Nothing but the Apps Thursday, May 5, 2011, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Mountain – Web-Based Training, register Discover the wonderful world of apps for education. This webinar will help you navigate and maximize your use of the iPod/iPad. The presenters will take you on an app adventure and share a variety of apps in such categories as early childhood, literacy, autism, communication, organization, and more. Funding for this webinar is made possible by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education. The source of funding is from federal award, Grants to States-Special Education CFDA 84.027, P.L. 108-446 Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Basic Vocabulary Organization in PRC Devices Monday, May 16, 2011, 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mountain – PACER Center, Bloomington, MN, register This free workshop is for parents and professionals to learn more about Unity vocabulary organization included in all Prentke Romich Company PRC Communication or AAC Devices.  Participants will be introduced to the vocabulary options available.  This workshop will be held in the PACER computer lab where participants can bring their own device or use computer emulation software (Vantage Lite PASS software version 5.02).  The training will include hands-on experience to become familiar with how Unity supports creation of spontaneous novel communication, and to teach basic device operations such as customizing messages, changing icons, hiding keys, and backing up the device. The presenter is PRC Regional Consultant Helen Canfield.  The workshop is limited to 20 participants. Classroom Suite Version 4 Foundations Wednesday, May 18, 7:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mountain - PACER Center, register This workshop is designed for educators, SLPs, OTs, AT specialists, paraprofessionals and parents who are new to (or have limited experience with) Classroom Suite V.4. The goal of the Foundation Workshop for Classroom Suite V.4 is to enable educators to use Classroom Suite to teach early concepts, reading, writing, and math to students struggling because of learning difficulties or access issues. This workshop is sponsored by Cambium Learning Technologies. Registration fee $225. Kurzweil 3000 Version 11 Foundations Thursday, May 19, 7:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mountain - PACER Center, register This workshop is designed for educators, SLPs, OTs, AT specialists, paraprofessionals and parents who support students with learning disabilities and are new to (or have limited experience with) Kurzweil 3000. This workshop is sponsored by Cambium Learning Technologies. Registration fee $225.00. Putting LAMP (Language Acquisition through Motor Planning) to Work: AAC Strategies to Promote Communication Friday, May 20, 2011, 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mountain – PACER Center, Bloomington, MN, register Language Acquisition through Motor Planning (LAMP) is a therapeutic approach based on neurological and motor learning principles.  The goal is to give individuals who are nonverbal or have limited verbal abilities or speech a method to independently and spontaneously express themselves.  This workshop is for parents, professionals, and SLPs and will give an overview of the LAMP treatment approach, discussion of the components of LAMP and how and why children with autism would benefit from using a voice output AAC device, and discussion of features that are beneficial for teaching language to children with autism and other disabilities.  Lunch will not be provided.  A one hour lunch break will be taken and maps to area restaurants will be provided.  This free workshop will offer 0.5 ASHA CEUs.

Click here to download the Schedule/Description (PDF) Click here to download the Brochure (PDF) What: Healthy LIVING and The Summit in conjunction with various local Flathead Valley and Montana speakers invite you to join us in an all day event guaranteed to give you a better understanding of autism and the world our autistics children live in. Come fill your backpack with the maps, tools and strategies you will need when you work or play with Autistic children. Registration and Payment Due by: Wednesday, April 20 Conference Fee: $25.00

Click here to register for this event What:  On April 7, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a notice of proposed rulemaking to clarify and update the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). DQC is pleased to host this webinar featuring prominent FERPA legal expert Steve Winnick of EducationCounsel LLC to offer an initial analysis of the proposed regulations, including the extent to which they provide much-needed clarity to states to both use data for continuous improvement and protect the privacy, security, and confidentiality of student-level data. According to the notice, the public comment period for these proposed regulations will close on May 23, 2011. Only comments submitted formally, through the Department's articulated process, will be considered. The DQC will work with its partners to develop formal comments following these initial analysis. Participants are encouraged to submit their own comments as well. When: April 14, 2011 10:30-11:30am Mountain

What: This webcast will introduce information for professionals on some of the emerging trends in biomedical research and health care environments that present new opportunities for partnership, collaboration, and support, as well as: Provide an overview of translational science, e-science and health information resources in electronic health records, including the related trends and issues affecting information professionals. Identify skills that information professionals need to work with researchers, information technology professionals, clinicians and community partners in these environments. Learn about community engagement in translational science research and roles for clinicians and information professionals in this arena. Address meaningful use of health information by patients accessing their electronic health records, as required by recent legislation to facilitate quality improvement at the point of care. The discussions at these webcasts are invaluable even if you are not in a medical library.  Please contact Tori Koch at 406-238-2226 or by email at library@billingsclinic.org if you are interested in attending. When: April 20, 2011 12:00 - 1:00pm Mountain Cost: Free

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan confronted difficult questions asked by special educators who are members of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), in a document released today.  Ask Arne: A Conversation with CEC Members and the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (found here) addresses the inclusion of students with disabilities and the professionals who work on their behalf in controversial education reform initiatives supported by the Obama Administration, including pay-for-performance and measuring student growth over time for accountability purposes.